Assignment three by Steve

[Steve]

Hello,

Here is my third assignment.

I had a little trouble focusing on the wind turbines because of mist in the air, or at other times the Wyoming wind, even with the use of a tripod. Any suggestions for help with these problems would be appreciated.

This was a hand-held shot. The orchid was in a hotel garden in Livermore California. I happened upon it right after a short rain shower. I thought the water droplets looked nice.

Steve

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Those are two really great shots Steve. I think they are your best two photographs yet. I see you’re paying extra close attention to the edges of your photograph and it’s resulting in a world of difference in your photographic outcome. Congratulations.

On a technical note, you’ve done exactly what the assignment asked for. Your first shot uses motion manipulation to show the momentum of the wind turbines. Your second shot isolates the flower from the background without fully getting rid of the context. Therefore, from a strictly technical point of view, both of these shots are brilliant. You’ve done a great job of executing this assignment.

Similarly, your focus on both shots is excellent. Even your first shot of the wind turbines is relatively steady considering you said you were up against the wind.

One idea to combat against the wind and movement caused by your finger touching the button to take the picture, would be to set your camera to take a picture on a self timer. Most cameras allow for you to set the camera for 2 seconds or 10 seconds of delay. This would allow you to use your tripod to set up the shot, and then after you’ve clicked the button you could move to the side and use your body to help block from the wind slightly. Even the slight movement from your finger touching the camera’s button is enough to cause small but noticeable blur when looked at from close up. Using the camera’s timer helps with this.

Your second picture is also spectacular. It has great clarity for a handheld shot. I can see the reflection in the water drops which means you’ve created this picture with a very steady hand. But what I really like about this picture is you’ve used the perfect aperture setting to capture the flower and the background. It’s not too shallow that you lose the details on the petals that are further back, but you’ve managed to blur the background enough to isolate the beautiful colors in the shot.

Too often, when taking pictures of flowers, photographers will use too shallow of a depth of field and they’ll only capture the clarity of a small depth area (i.e. the center of the plant), but the petals that are further back will be slightly blurred. In this picture we’re talking about the depth difference of an inch or two. This is a very small margin for error, but you’ve managed to show your skills at setting a precise depth of field.

Great work!

[Author]

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