Elizabeth Minemann Photography

To be honest, I’ve never really ‘thought’ about composition. It came natural to me. This doesn’t mean I don’t need to hone my skills. I absolutely need to keep working to become more and more creative with composition. An image that really stands out has a lot to do with composition and perspective. Composition has recently jumped up in  “the-things-I-need-to-improve-in-my-photography” list. Yes. I have such a list. Literally. Remember the notebook I recommended? It is important for someone who is learning photography on their own to become their own teacher and student. What do I mean? Be the teacher–find resources and understand basic photography concepts. Be the student–go out and practice the concepts learned from a book, blog, magazine, forums, etc.

Sometimes, we are inclined to center our subjects. There are some instances where this composition totally works! Symmetry can be very pleasing, especially when the subject adds visual interest. Most of the time, it is recommended to use The Rule of Thirds. This is a concept used in photography to divide your frame into three equal parts and allowing for negative space. By using the rule of thirds, it is the negative space that is adding/enhancing the visual interest of your image. For example, if I had centered the rose below, it would have looked like a regular snapshot. The negative space to the right adds visual interest to the rose and to the image as a whole. Of course, composition can get more complex but this is an easy way to start practicing composition. Even if you don’t have a DSLR, you can still practice this concept with your point and shoot camera. Trust me, it will make all the difference! Good Luck!

Note: The concept of the shoot below was to photograph a vase of roses sitting on my desk in parts. I wanted to put these ‘parts’ together so that it recreates the vase of roses by looking at the images from top to bottom. Do you see my vision?

I whipped out my camera today between breakfast and lunch. My little brother was not in his best behavior today; he was pouting and turning his face away while I was trying to shoot close-up portraits. It was quite hilarious. Since the close-up portraits weren’t going to happen, I used my wide angle lens to get creative. I really liked how the light was coming in through the window and providing directional light; perfect for a black and white image. I promised him he would go out today and play with his bike. Hopefully, that will lighten his mood. Another subject in the house was Daisy, our dog. She is always moving! I wanted to try creative wide angle shots with her but she is impossible! She was trying to lick the lens! Ha ha! She stood still for 5 seconds. Long enough to take her portrait.

I am drawn to color more than to black and white, but lately, I find myself processing more and more in black and white. This isn’t going to be a tutorial for black and white images, because I am still working on my craft. I will give you some tips that I have picked up along the way to help you achieve some awesome black and whites!

1. Directional Light: The best black and whites images are those with directional light. This kind of  light creates a play with lights and shadows. Notice how the light source in the first image is ONLY comes from the window? He is (almost) parallel to the window. For directional light, the subject should be as close to parallel to the light source. For close-up portraits, I will demonstrate in a separate blog post the techniques I use in posing the subject relative to the light source.

2. Black and White Gradient: adjust the color stops to increase the shadows/darks and increase the highlights/whites. Make sure you get a nice pop without losing too much detail in your darks or whites.

3. Burn and Dodge Tool: Use this tool to burn the shadows/midtones/highlights and dodge midtones/highlights for added depth.

If you simply desaturate an image,then the results will be a very muddy black and white. A muddy black and white looks like a flat gray image. If you want to make a convert an image into black and white that is back-lit or lit with flat light (facing the light source directly), the dodge/burn tool will help you create depth to the image. The second and third images of the dog was slightly back-lit (the window was behind her). She has black fur so I needed to dodge the midtones in her fur to bring out the detail. I also burned the shadows in some areas to give the perception of depth and dodge the midtones and highlights in her eyes to bring more light to them. There is a lot more to talk about regarding black and white conversion, but these are some beginner tips to get you started! Please let me know if you have any questions! Enjoy.

A big “Ah-ha!” moment for me in understanding aperture was when I first tried to photograph orchids. I wanted to capture an entire orchid while leaving the others out of focus. Since I love to shoot wide open, I noticed that only bits and parts of the orchid were in focus. If I step back and took another shot, more of the orchid was in focus. I increased my aperture and took more shots. Each time changing my distance between the lens and the flower. I went back to my computer and examined the photos and then it all made sense. I could clearly see the plane of focus and its depth. At a larger aperture and closer distance, the depth of field was barely a sliver. The more I stepped back, the more the depth of field increased. This meant more of the flower was in focus.

Aperture is the quantity of your subject in focus. This quantity isn’t only affected by the aperture your chose, but by the distance between you and your subject and the focal length. A really good site to help with depth of field can be found here. Simply choose your camera body, focal length, aperture and distance from your subject. The online depth of field (DOF) calculator will let you know the total depth of field. Play around with numbers and take notes. Then, go out and put it into practice. Come back to your computer and examine your photos by comparing your camera settings and the distance at which you took the picture. One more tip when shooting flowers wide open- switch to manual focus. In order for the camera to lock focus using autofocus, the camera has to find an area of contrast. This can be quite difficult and frustrating when shooting a solid colored flower. Also, focusing manually enhances the learning experience.

I keep a notebook with notes for every “Ah-ha” moment and to write down any questions I may have for concepts I want to master. For those interested in learning to shoot manual, here are a list of basic concepts to learn: shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance and how all these together create a correct exposure. To get better, it takes practice. You know the saying “Practice makes perfect”? Its true. As always, please let me know if you have any questions!

Low light shooting can be frustrating but it is really rewarding to be able to utilize the available light in any room to capture an image. Sometimes I use the excuse that I don’t have enough light or that my cropped sensor camera can’t handle low light very well but I will now start challenging myself and my equipment. In this instance, my available light came solely from my computer monitor.

There are three functions of exposure that I need to manipulate: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.  I first start by bumping up my ISO. Since I am shooting objects, I don’t worry too much about grain that comes from ISO. For these images I used ISO 4000. Then, I open up my aperture to its largest size. I am using my 35mm f/2. Can you guess what aperture I used? That’s right– f/2. This means my depth of focus is extremely shallow. I turn on the LCD screen (to make sure the sliver of focus falls in the right place) and go from autofocus to manual focus. The camera will not be able to capture focus in low light. Lastly, I dial down my shutter speed. I know that I need more light to enter the lens and by lowering the shutter speed I prolong my exposure time allowing for more light. I used a shutter speed of 1/50. This is low and I am in “danger” of motion blur, but I am confident since my objects are stationary and I have a pretty steady hand. This would be difficult to do with moving objects or subjects without risking motion blur or missed focus.

For low light situations plus a moving subject, I would start by setting my shutter speed to 1/200 to be able to “freeze” motion. If my subject is moving very fast, I would choose a faster shutter speed. I would then change my aperture to ensure I have sufficient depth of field for the subject. This comes from practice and from personal preference. I love bokeh so I go as wide as possible. Once my shutter speed and aperture is set, then I would bump up my ISO until I achieve the correct exposure. This is where a full frame camera comes in handy because they can handle high ISO very well with minimal noise.

Since I work with a cropped sensor, it is very important to make sure to expose properly when using high ISO. The results of underexposed shooting increases the grain of an image and not the pretty artsy kind! The colors are off and its very difficult to process/fix those kinds of images.  I am learning to embrace the pretty grain and see its artistic value. Doesn’t it have a film quality to it?

The first image are the little early presents my brother Abi bought me for my birthday. He ordered them from Japan and it was pretty cool to see the box arrive from across the globe! It is a little plush toy (for a cell) that says “Good Luck” and a little plant that moves using energy from the sun. For now, they live on my tower.

I hope my little explanation of low light shooting helps anyone who is interested in photography. Please let me know in the comments!