These are the very first shots the night Rory came home from the hospital after her birth.
Quick! Get a shot of her brother meeting his sister for the very first time. I was not quite prepared. The light was poor. As you can readily see there is a lot of grain(noise) in these photos. I had not planned for dim lighting and did not want (simply forgot) to use flash.
Hey! A shot is a shot. I have to live with that. It’s all we got. No one else was holding an iPhone nearby. I wish….
Another day, another dawn. Yawn.
Not every day, but often enough, I get a nice sunrise to photograph. Yes, I keep a camera on my desk. It is special because the clouds come along in full color like this only once. It is never the same and never repeats but always the same color palette.
Point and shoot. My camera does the heavy lifting and sets the settings automatically. Cheating? Lazy? The lighting can be difficult to get a proper exposure. How does it do it? Magic.
Street photography. You shoot what you see. I was shy. I did not get the real shot… the front on over the top shot. I saw it. But the camera and I were simply not in position. So I describe it… alas! Colleen giggled. Even she was taken aback! Security in a museum! Maybe in a club? Nope! Museum security. Are you hoping to be noticed? Do you care? I do not know. We (Colleen) both got a laugh. I regret I did not get the definitive illustration for this post. Yes, there is much to be critical. Um… “girl, does your mom know what you wore to work today?”
You cannot teach new tricks as you drive along. Do not try this at home!
I saw the sunrise behind us as we drove along. I could see it in our rear view mirrors. Colleen does not know how to manually focus my camera. I could not teach her on the fly. She tried. We failed…from her side mirror. I was a bit more successful from my side. It is a matter of knowing where you want the camera to focus and then doing it. Got it? simple!
It’s not as easy as it seems and Colleen is definitely not at fault. She simply had never tried to manually focus the camera. And I suppose she did not understand the subject at hand was the sunrise. Plus, the lighting was extreme contrast. And… You need a bit of experience. And luck! I got it from my side.
Test. Limits. I test mine all the time. I test the camera all the time. Sunsets, the moon, they test the algorithm of the camera manufacturer in low light conditions. You pick you choose you shoot. Sometimes you win and sometimes not.
Detail, color, focus, all are factored in to make the image of my imagination. Then we see whether or not the camera was up to the test. In doing so there are compromises and choices to be made. Post processing can only get you so far. The idea, “I’ll fix it later in Photoshop.” is so wrong on so many levels.
Dawn. Great light. Maybe!? The right moment? Can my camera capture the moment as I see it? All good observations and questions.
Ok! The camera has trouble focusing upon clouds. No contrasting lines help to define a focus point. Set the focus point on the trees or something at the horizon. Exposure. The scene is dark and the meter tends toward overexposure. Metter the sky to increase the saturation of the morning color. Finally, cheat. Use Lightroom to increase vibrance and saturation. It might just look like what you saw at the critical moment.
I guess I was doing street photography early on before I recognized the term. We were on a tour. My mother had worked for Pan Am and got employee ticket discount and a tour. We went as a family and were in Japan. Riding in the tour bus I glanced out the window and raised my camera to catch this slide. Yeah, right in the middle of traffic… you know, women put on makeup, and…. It struck me odd then, and it makes me smile now.
You think shooting a black cat is hard? Try a white one. It’s hard too. Camera sensors do not like extremes in lighting or color. Willow’s eyes are dark in order to expose his fur properly. Ok. One compromises. It can be altered and corrected in Photoshop easily enough. I do not like to work. For the most part, I accept imperfection in the picture. And I hope and wait for a better opportunity. Willow is unfortunately camera shy. He runs when he sees the camera.
Eensy weensy
Eensy weensy. I grew up singing eensy weensy. The convention is that it is itsy bitsy spider. I disagree.
Mission failure. I did not get a good shot of the spider who made a web on my desktop. Really! Literally! Colleen got me a SAD light – seasonal disorder. It’s bright!
I spied the spider on the inside of my window. Different! The light was too bright. The spider was overexposed. No detail. I did not check the image and exposure. I simply ditched the spider. Bad! I should have saved him. But. I hate bugs. Gone! Outside is fine. Inside, you are toast.
No cats were injured in the making of this picture. Ha ha. Cats like to be in tight places. Sometimes. They like the coziness? I was just lucky enough to have a camera at hand. Willow posed for a few seconds more before he realized his cooperation was needed. Then, he bolted. He does not particularly like close-ups.
A grab shot is – you take what you can get. There is no time to work the scene for better composition or lighting. Go with it. Chalk it up to good humor.
PhotoCritical 