Crop Corner

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a village called West End. In the `70s the village was flooded to make way for a hyper space bypass........hang on, sorry, getting mixed up with some other far fetched stories. What really happened will unfold before your very eyes, right here. Welcome to the story about a group of intrepid photographers. The problems started early, when some of the regulars and a few of the newbies were unable to come, but that just meant all the more fun to go round for the rest of us.

Lelik is standing in front of a dragon he carved while holding the head of another one. The decorating team artists use large Styrofoam blocks to carve some of the decorations. As creative artists, we need to stay open and ready for the unexpected. Last year, I was on the ship MS Amsterdam as it cruised around Cape Horn from Santiago, Chile to Rio de Janerio, Brazil. I tried to prepare myself for new experiences, but sometimes special opportunities sneak up on you. I got lucky and found one.

My home area of northwestern New Jersey has a black bear population estimated at about 2,000. In fact, we have so many bears, and not really enough good habitat for them, that they are becoming a nuisance in many areas. Most folks have to take their bird feeders down every night or the bears will smash them down to get at the bird seed which they love. Am I able to get lots of bear photographs here at home? No way, José! The bears do most of their traveling and depredations under the cover of darkness.

Photos tell many stories. A single picture can sum up an event, observe an animal's behavior, and portray a sense of place. A group of images by a particular photographer can show much more, though. Within lies the heart of the photographer and what his or her passion is. To be a nature photographer today takes being able to adapt to a wide variety of subjects and create great images of all of them. But everyone who puts an eye to the viewfinder is reacting to something that excites him or her when the shutter button is pressed. Anyone can take a photo. Making that photo stand out from the crowd takes something special--a true knowledge and love for what's in front of the camera.

When should you use a flash to take a picture, and when shouldn’t you?

This process is demystified a bit by the following article from ScrapJazz.

A posed picture that shows the love between a dog and a child is always a strong picture. Here, NYI graduate Murnice Kuesel came in nice and tight to focus attention on this loving pair. What about the torn jeans that expose the boy's right knee? Is it distracting? We don't think so. Rather, it adds to the informality of the setting. I've been evaluating NYI student assignments for nineteen years now. In that time there has scarcely ever been a week that I haven't seen the photograph of at least one dog. Let's see now: 52 (the number of weeks per year) times 19 equals 988. So I would guess that over the years NYI I've seen an absolute rock bottom minimum of nearly 1000 dog pictures. And I know that there have been many more than that because I usually see more than one dog picture per week on the average.

Here are some ideas to help you take pictures that capture the essence of the current season - winter, spring, summer, or fall. Even if you're in a different latitude and your climate is considerably different from ours in New York, you may still find valuable tips here. Our discussion of a particular picture that we think captures the essence of the current season often involves a photographic technique that is basic to good photography in general. So, whether you live in Australia or Oahu, Beijing or Boston, check out this page for ideas you may be able to use now or later.

From the Lessons from the Scrapbook Page blog:

5 tips on how to take great photos.

My favorite was:

Take charge. Some moments are best captured passively—letting the action happen on its own. Others can improve with direction from the camera person: you. Suggest location, arrangement, and props to enhance the image.

Around my house - I’ve been trying to find more interesting locations to take photos.  For example, my daughter just started taking a class at the preschool where she’ll be officially starting this fall.  I wanted to take a quick picture - and decided to take it outside - in front of the flower garden.

I have so many semi-posed pictures inside the house - and you can only be so creative.  Now that the weather is nice, and the flowers are in bloom, why not take advantage of it?

This photo was made some time back, but the beautiful model, Paula, has always been one of my favorites. Her classic beauty captivated me from the first time I saw her, and the photo still captivates me to this day. I had her dress in a dark dress with a very subtle pattern, which would not be intrusive and would not take attention away from her face. When shooting portraits you want the face to be the most important thing in the photo. The light was very simple. I used two flash heads attached to a Novatron 340 power pack. One head provided the fill light measured at f/8 with ISO 100 film. The head was fitted with a white umbrella. The second flash head was fitted a honeycomb grid and a Rosco 3008 Tough Frost diffuser. The honeycomb grid provides a natural vignette while the diffuser softened the light just enough to make a gentle transition from highlights to shadows. The Key light was measured at f/16. The Rosco Diffusion material is a heavy duty sheet of plastic material which was originally made for use in motion picture light and is quite heat resistant.

In photography, how the camera sees the scene is much more important than how you see the scene, because it's the camera that takes the final image. In order for you to "see" the scene the way the camera will expose it, you need to understand how the camera's exposure metering system works. Once you select the right metering system, you're on the right path to achieving a good exposure. We will use the image on the left to demonstrate how each of the metering systems operates. cameras when they're used in manual mode, although it's not the most sophisticated metering system available. Manufacturers often provide center-weighted metering on auto-focus cameras to ease the transition from manual to auto-focus cameras.