Spring, Cameras, Photography, Etc.

Friends, spring is here! I heard red-wing blackbirds singing Saturday morning on one of my many trips to the school for various sporting events, both real and imagined. C heard a woodcock on Sunday. Today it was warm enough to walk outside in just a sweater and feel almost, dare I say it? Hot.

Yes, yes, I know I just jinxed myself (and all of you within a 100-mile radius of me--sorry), and I know the boy red-winds precede the girls by many weeks in order to establish their territories, and I know woodcock have been known to resume their wild mating dance with only a patch of bare ground between the snow drifts, and I know we're still due of our April Fool's Day blizzard, at a minimum, but oh it does feel good to have the warm sun on your face, doesn't it? (I feel like breaking into a rendition of John Denver's "Sunshine on My Shoulder Makes Me Happy," but since I'm in the library stacks, I'll spare everyone and refrain). Maybe it's just that daylight savings threw me in such a loop I slept about two hours last night and am now completely slap-happy (it might have been the two pots of tea, but I prefer blaming daylights savings).

So, on last week's new camera post you all left some great comments regarding photo tips, which I want to share here, but first, the camera. After an informal poll of bloggers whose photos I admire, I selected a Cannon Rebel T3i. With the standard lens that comes with it, which I can't name right now since I don't have it with me, but it's a sort of zoomish thing with a function that makes your pictures non-wiggly even if you do wiggle while taking them (do you love my technical jargon?). I love it very much and one of the things I love most about it (which happened to be one of the only things that gave it bad reviews on the Cannon site) is the very loud, snappy shutter sound it makes when taking a picture. When it's set on "continuous" and takes many pictures in short succession, it sounds just like the beginning of "Girls on Film." So Duran Duran runs through my mind when John Denver doesn't.

Now, on to your comments:

IM said...

Tip: Take your camera everywhere. Take tons of photos. But don't be afraid to delete delete delete photos and delete quickly (do you really want to go through thousands of photos at one sitting?). It's so easy to hang on to them because you only kind of like them. Save the ones you love and dump the rest and soon you'll have an amazing set of photos.

Play with light. Get up before sunrise to catch that morning light and dew on the spider webs in the field.

Look for interesting patterns in objects (bark, buildings, moss, clothing, etc.) and focus very tightly so the pattern is the focus of the picture, not the whole tree or whole building or person wearing the clothing.

Maple syrup in process.

Aunt Kirstie said...

That is awesome! I love mine. I have had it for over 2 years and I am still learning new things. Your pictures so far are great. I suggest joining Flickr for feedback, inspiration, and tips.

Jaimie said...

As far as tips, I am such an amateur that I really don't know. Oh yes, I do have one: don't use your flash. My brother has more photography training than I do (I also took one darkroom class, when I was 19, which I LOVED, but that was *cough cough* years ago).

Two years ago I asked him for one good tip to improve my photos, and he told me not to use my flash. That was the last time I used it. I'm pretty sure I haven't used it at all in the last two years, but perhaps I have once or twice.

What is your favorite tip?

Thanks everyone! These are great tips! (I did wake up very early Saturday morning, looked out the window at the stunning gold light on the trunks of the trees and put my head right back on the pillow). And I actually deleted photos of my kids yesterday, that weren't even blurry or anything, just not that good (I have three years' worth of photos waiting to be made into photo books on Snapfish--oh I wish I'd heard that delete tip a long time ago!).

My favorite tips are: 

I think it's called the "rule of threes" or "the golden mean" (I could look it up, but am too lazy): divide your viewfinder into thirds horizontally and vertically, and put whatever your point of interest is at the intersection of two of these lines. However, I also enjoy photos that purposefully break this rule to good effect.

Don't cut your subject off at a joint (knee, ankle, wrist, elbow, etc.)

If your subject is facing the side, have them looking (or running) into the picture, rather than out of it (unless you are going for the opposite effect, I suppose).

I also love close-close-ups, short focal distance with blurry backgrounds, taking pictures with dead trees in the foreground (this is more interesting in Utah than in Maine--junipers just have a nicer shape dead than, say, a white pine). 

I'm really looking forward to photographing dragonflies with this camera--which is not a hint, just something I'm excited about.

Keep the tips coming, if anyone's got more. Also, I just had the realization of how much work I have ahead of me in the next couple of months (two writing packets and two workshop pieces by May 1), so I might be a bit MIA around here for a while. But I do hope to pop in every now and then.