Saturday, September 20, 2008

Weather talk

I often say that I rarely take photos when the weather is ugly. It's because I want to avoid the hassle of making the images look good through post-processing. I am not against photo editing, the truth is I suck at post-processing. There are hobbyists that are well-versed in that area, like my friend Romy who can make a drab pebble shimmer like a piece of jewelery. Since my skill in Photoshop is not that good yet, I just rely on good weather condition. Great light will always produce good images. The image below is SOOC- straight out of the camera:
Untouched beauty
Untouched beauty
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 5.8 mm

The weather is seldom perfect. But if you want your photos to convey a sad mood then rainy days can be your friend because raindrops symbolize tears and conditions that call for anti depressants.

Taking photos of droplets is a lot easier than stalking bugs, at least you can get very close to the droplet without fear because it won't sting you. I saw a lot of photos of reflections on water drops last year and I thought that it was impossible for my little camera to produce such images. Well, I was wrong. One of the tricks is to focus on the reflection itself. It's also best to use manual focus, but if you think that the water drop will fall in any second then use full auto mode. I guess tripod would be very helpful but I haven't used one yet. Take a look at my water drop photos:
My creation
1.Shedding tears
2.Look Deep into nature

Water drops give dramatic effect to flowers. In case you don't feel like going out to take photos, then use a medicine dropper to put a few drops of water on petals. Make the drops as big as possible so that it be easier to focus on.

Between two loves

I only have a few droplet photos in my gallery. Now that it rains almost everyday,and the bugs are slowly disappearing, I think I will concentrate on droplet reflections. One of Chris Marquardt's photography tips is to Learn to love overcast days. Maybe I should.

4 comments:

Erica is Rich said...

Hi sis!

Are you a full time photographer?

What do you do in Finland? When are you going to Helsinki?

Want to meet? Hehe.

Erica

Sue said...

Hi Erica!
I am a nurse by profession. Photography is just my hobby. I used to work in a government health-care facility in Vantaa. No plans of going to Helsinki so far, but if you would someday want to visit Savonlinna, you are welcome here in our humble home.

Talusaling said...

Wow i like your shot.. it's simple and natural, not other photographer that i know (always using photoshop) so he feels like he's very professional.

Sue said...

Blogger Sue said...

Thanks for the visit. Don't get intimidated by those hobbyists who act as if they are super pros. Just do your thing. It's fine to use photo-editing softwares, however over-using it is another story. Minor adjustments here and there should be just fine. It's a crime to make nature photos look fake :-)