Hello Sunshine
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder… Today Ruth and I spent some time at Mounts Botanical Gardens in West Palm Beach. This little oasis is next to the PBI airport and is full of beautiful plants and flowers. I would never imagine we could get so many cool pictures there. How beautiful will all the flowers be in the Spring?
This odd-looking thing is a flower waiting to pop into nature. I guess that is something they share with butterflies.
Birds of Feathers
Sometimes you discover you may be good at photographing subjects you are not particularly interested in. That is the case of birds. I am not really interested in birds but for some reason I sometimes take good pictures of brids. I am still not good at photographing moving subjects so portraits will do. Also, I was thrilled to realize I am getting better at capturing backgrounds and having an idea in my mind how they will look in the final print…
Backyard tourist
Sometimes we forget how beautiful is the place where we live. I took a day off from work and decided to do some backyard tourism. I went to the Flagler Museum in West Palm Beach and tried to look at the place with my tourist eyes. It was a beautiful day and took many pictures despite the harsh light. A perfect date for me and my 7D. I took this picture with my Tamron 10-24 wide-angle lens. A gradient ND filter helped to enhance the sky and clouds.
Sometimes you do not know what you have…
I took this bird shot with my old canon XSi. We went to Magic Kingdom in Orlando and while waiting outside one of the rides Michael and Aidan were feeding some birds. I used one of my favorite lenses, the Canon 55-250mm. It is a great lens for portraits outdoors with lots of light. You cannot beat it for the price! I almost forgot this shot until I uploaded to Flickr yesterday after looking for old shots with this lens. I was so impressed with the quality of the picture! I was getting so used to my XSi camera and getting decent shots. I now have a brand new 7D and this time I am taking the time to know the features and learn to use it. It is such a machine that sometimes I feel like I am riding a wild horse!
The lense does not make the photographer… but it helps!
There is an old saying that the robe does not make the monk. When it comes to photography, having very expensive equipment may not translate in better pictures but good equipment can certainly help. When you have the right lens, you can easier translate your vision into an image. Imagine National Geographic photographers without big zooms for animal shots or wide angles for breathtaking landscapes. Imagine low light photography without tripods or wide apertures…
My new camera makes me a better photographer, I am a klutz when it comes to exposure and manual settings. My Canon 7D has an amazing metering system. Bracketing is very easy to do with all those handy controls. My portraits got better after I started using my 50mm 1.8 lens… My landscapes got better after I started using my wide-angle lens and a gradient neutral density filter.
I had to make a decision on getting a lens to replace my Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS SLR Lens
Last but not least I have on my list is a macro lens… like shoes there is no such thing as having too many lenses 🙂
Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas
This is my first time visiting Las Vegas. I am not sure what I had in mind, but a spectacular place in the middle of the dessert was not even remotely in my thoughts. We landed around 11am, rented a car, checked into our hotel and drove a short 30 minutes to The Red Rock Canyon conservation area. The park has a visitor’s area and a 13 mile driving loop with plenty hiking paths on different levels: easy, moderate and hard. The first area we visited was the Calico I, with massive orange-reddish rocks. As I would learn later in the trip, Las Vegas is the place for extremes: extreme cheesiness, extreme luxury and extreme nature. The Red Rock Canyon was a spectacular place, the Mojave Desert at its best. Bring water, sunscreen and a camera… a polarizer or neutral density filter are a must to get the deep blue sky and manage contrast between the bright sky against the rocks and mountains.
Canon 7D, Tamron 10-22mm 3.5-4.5, B+W ND gradient filter.
Toys make the perfect subjects
Today I went with Aidan to his favorite joint: Playmobil Fun. That place is toy’s heaven! I took the time to bring my camera and make the toys my subject of the day. They don’t move, they have amazing colors, they are the best subject! Well, almost. As I started taking pictures I had my own rule: I would leave all toys as they were left in the tables, I would not stage them. I also wanted to get some pictures for the Active Assignment group in Flickr.
I do not have macro lenses and I did not use a tripod. I am learning to love my 55-250 IS lens so I had to crank up the ISO and shoot wide. Trusted the IS… lots of blurry pictures! LOL
I still managed to get some decent shots. My new camera is amazing at getting the right exposure.
Tip: remember to set the white balance to the right light; in this case I used fluorescent setting.
Having a Flickr day
Rubber thoughts
One of the things that made me start the blog is that I wanted to stop uploading my pictures to Facebook. But WordPress does not offer a good way protect your pictures (at least not on the theme I picked). So I started researching online. I found Flickr, which has become one of the most popular options for photographers.
Basic account is free but the number of uploads is limited. You can upgrade to an unlimited Pro account for $25 a year. I like that I can create a photo stream to plug anywhere. I can even blog from Flickr but their design is very poor. I can setup rights to keep pictures private or public and have them available with several copyrights options. Yes, it is still “the cloud”…
Today I discovered I can create a HTML code plug in my blog so now I don’t even have to upload pictures in WordPress. Just click on your picture, click on share this, and select the option: email, link, HTML code… Pretty shabby….
10,000 hours to Greatness
Malcolm Gladwell explains on his book the Outliers that successful people excel at their craft because they have devoted at least 10,000 hour of practice. So I did a little calculation… If I dedicate 3 hours a day to photography, 365 days a year for almost 10 years then I may excel as photographer. He reaches the conclusion that at the end talent is not the most important thing, practice is.
That is a daunting task! He made the case for young Beatles and Bill Gates and I wonder if, once you passed your 20’s, you can still reach for greatness.
I certainly cannot spend 3 hours a day taking pics! I am a mom and have a day job (that does not involve photography). I already ditched the broom and duster to go around capturing what the eyes cannot see. My house is dusty, my external hardrive getting full. It is liberating to know that talent is overrated, but eye opening to know I may be out for a long, long trip…
Inspiration…
Thomas Hawk
What inspires you?
Thomas Hawk is not your average gifted photographer. He envisions his art as an “obsessive compulsive view on photography”. He describes himself as a “photography factory”. His goal is to reach one million photographs in his lifetime. Yes, you do the math! At his actual rate (he currently uploads more than 50 pictures a day) it would take him 50 years to reach his goal.
Anyone taking pictures out there may be baffled by Hawk’s goal. I certainly am. This is no easy task! I don’t even think I can look at all 50.000+ pictures he already has on Flickr. I’ve been haunted by his images, he has an incredible eye to abstract reality, an amazing sensibility for patterns. Not only his images are riveting but his titles are for the most part fun and creative.
We have similar age so I hope to be around when he achieves the milestone. What inspires me the most, beyond his images and titles, is his conviction and self-knowledge. Understanding his compulsion and using it as a driving force for his art. That is inspiration!
Latte Fun
It is not a secret that when it comes to photography, kids are my favorite subject. A year ago I decided to spend some money on a DSLR camera instead of paying for cheesy portraits. Of course, my son Aidan is my favorite subject! He is very expressive and always gives me an opportunity for a great picture. Today we went to Latte Fun in Palm Beach. I love that place! It was hard for me to stay away from other people kids and not taking their pictures!
When it comes to portraits I like candid shots, kids engaging in activities instead of posing for the camera. Playgrounds are the best places to take kids pictures: Great props, consistent light (if indoors) and plenty color for your composition. Also in playgrounds kids are very happy and happy kids = great shots!
Lately I’ve been using my Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS for portraits a lot. It is not an expensive lens, I can stay way back and let my subjects do their thing and the image stabilization lets me hand hold the camera. Yes, I have to pump the ISO in low light but I have to compromise until I can afford the prime. Digital ISO is way better than film’s so don’t be shy to push 800+. Another lens I love for portraits is the famous “nifty fifty” Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II. For the price you cannot get a better portrait lens.
Couple of tips: Dress your kid in solid color clothes and get close, close, close…
Super Moon
Today was Supermoon day! So I decided to give it a try and practice some moon shots. I goggled how to do it, and it didn’t seem too complicated.
Camera: check, Tripod: check, Long zoom: check, check
Well, when you have a 3-year-old the whole idea of planning for a shoot goes down the drain. We made it late for dinner and by the time we got home the moon was past its biggest size. Then, it’s been so long since I’ve used my Manfrotto that now I remember why I haven’t used it more often. Same thing with the remote cable Yeap, I was not prepared.
So my shots were way over exposed (I forgot to read the whole line with the basic formula: ISO 100, f 11, 1/125). Still, it was fun to play with my camera. Even on digital, long exposures bring interesting possibilities. Oh well, I have plenty time to prepare for Nov. 14, 2016.
Bye bye Elan (aka) There is always a new begining…
Tuesday I said goodbye to my old faithful film camera…
Bye bye Elan IIe…
It was a simple goodbye. I packed it on a small box and UPS her to Canon’s camera heaven.
For many years I hanged on to that camera like my photographic soul depended on it. It was my 30th birthday gift and I still remember my expression (because someone took a picture of the exact moment). It was my first SLR camera.
But I will not romanticize those old times. Yes I still remember the red light bulb in my dad’s darkroom, the texture of the photo paper in my fingers. His old Canon Ae-1, I wished I had.
But in reality what I remember the most is spending a fortune on film and development, traveling with film canisters everywhere. And after waiting for days to have pictures printed the revelation that most pictures were a waste. Film is not a friendly medium for amateurs and beginners. And the pictures I liked? Well, I couldn’t possibly remember the camera setting to replicate the lucky shot.
Digital photography liberated us, amateur photographers wana be….
Nothing better than the little trash can icon on the camera reminding us that it is ok to get it wrong. When you see 500+ shots in the folder, you know that some shots will turn ok…. Oh, and the metadata on the pictures! Little gnomes that grab all that info we don’t have time to write distance, lenses, aperture…
Digital photography rocks!
My Life on a Frame 
