See the snow

I don’t have too much experience taking pictures when there is a lot of snow or reflective surface so I went out and got some advice. Here is some from outdooreyes.com where I found a great article called: How To Photography During The Winter by Philip Tulin.

An excerpt says:

How To:
The snow reflection goes from forty to fifty percent with dirty snow, up to eighty to ninety percent with fresh fallen snow and even higher reflection with wet, fresh fallen snow.

1. If the freshly fallen snow is pure white, meter the pure white area only with spot-metering. There will not be any detail in the snow. Open up 2 stops.

2. If the snow is side lit and you see a lot of detail in the snow, then the snow is not pure white. Pure white has no detail. Textured snow is 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 stops lighter. If you open up to 2 stops, your photograph will be too light.

3. If the day is sunny and the snow is in shadows, it can vary up to 1 stop.

4. If the day is overcast, meter the snow and open up 2 1/2 stops.

Darrell Mishler

mndcreativeconcepts store

demphoto site and amazon store

Gourmet Wild Rice

Motreasures

Medium format Hasselblad system from my collection.

Normally I would talk about topics related to taking a better picture, but this article will tout and self promote... I am selling a medium format Hasselblad system from my personal collection. The system includes a 500C/M body, Ziess lens, 45 degree meter prism, A12 back and accessories. The link at the top connects to the M&D Creative Concepts online store where the system can be purchased using Google Checkout.

I bought this from a photographer and teacher in the Denver area and I am the second owner. I have only shot about 10 rolls of film and am extremely happy with the quality of photograph that this system delivers. I am migrating to the digital world, dragging and spitting, mind you and carrying around this camera system makes getting to the "off the beaten path" a little more difficult that with a SLR, hence the change.

Thank you for putting up with this bit of self promotion and as always enjoy the art of photography,

Darrell Mishler

www.mndcreativeconcepts.biz

www.demphoto.com

www.wild-rice.biz

www.motreasures.biz

Kodak has a ton of good information, how about wall art?

This offering is going to be a little different, I'm not going to talk about the details of taking pictures, but identify an idea for a creative project found on the Kodak Projects & Ideas web page.

How about some wall art?

Choose an attractive photo

Select a photo of something you find attractive—beautiful scenery or maybe a family portrait—that can easily be divided into 3 sections vertically.

Crop your photo

Using a photo editing tool, crop the image into 3 equal parts. To start, zoom in on the left third of your original picture. When you're happy with that section, save it, and repeat with the remaining 2 sections.

Print your photo

Make an 8” x 10” print of each section.

Hang your wall art

Place each print into its own frame, and hang side-by-side, leaving about 1/2" between them. Then step back and admire your new art!

As always, enjoy the art of photography,

Darrell Mishler

www.mndcreativeconcepts.biz

www.demphoto.com

www.wild-rice.biz

www.motreasures.biz

Pick your shots

One of the lessons I learned from a professional photographer friend was to pick-my-shot. Since hearing his advice, I have taken the time to get the feel for the area, place that I plan on taking photographs of. If you have a plan, visit the site during the day, review the directions of the best positions for the pictures that you want to take. Where is the best shot looking east or west, remember the color saturation of the morning and evening light.

Having spent time reviewing what I am going to take a picture of, I'll come back when the light is right - a morning sunrise reflection, an evening sunset color swath and return to the locations that I want to capture.

Here is a break down of from the bbc.co.uk site and is demonstrated by a picture from Tom Ang:

1. If you see a potential shot, walk around to find the best position from which to take it.
2. You may also have to wait for the best light.
3. The best position may depend on the zoom setting that you choose.

Once again from Darrell, enjoy the art of photography,

Darrell Mishler

www.mndcreativeconcepts.biz

www.demphoto.com

www.wild-rice.biz

www.motreasures.biz

Color and your photographs

Once again, I'm using a resource from BBC - A Digital Picture of Britain. There is a good explanation of using color to make your photograph more interesting. One good practice is to be aware of "hot" and "cold" colors. Reds, Oranges and Yellows are warm or hot colors, where Blues and Greens are cool or cooler colors. Choices of color add to the contrast and make the photograph more "interesting" to the eye.

One of the most frequently cited examples of the power of color contrast is to have a blue water lake scene surrounded by green forest and a red canoe sliding across the water at an angle either from lower left to upper right or visa-versa.

Here are some good tips from the above BBC source:

1. Redder colors will create a warmer feel for your shots than blues or greens.
2. Color affects the way we look at pictures, so try to use color creatively in your shots.
3. Look for images that contain contrasting colors, such as red and green or yellow and purple, to add tension or drama.
4. Using shades of the same colors will create a sense of harmony.

As always, enjoy the art of photography,

Darrell Mishler

www.mndcreativeconcepts.biz

www.demphoto.com

www.wild-rice.biz

www.motreasures.biz

Lines for a better photograph?

Lines in your photograph can add symmetry or chaos. What is your purpose for having the lines, are the lines interesting or are they detraction? Here are some hints for effective use of lines. This is another tip from the BBC web site that provides a lot of good information on taking interesting and artful pictures.

• You can create a sense of direction using naturally occurring lines.
• Direction and orientation of lines can imply certain feelings.
• Slanting or 'oblique' lines imply movement, action and change.
• Curved lines or S-shaped lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings.
• Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance, for example, the outer edges of a road converge as it disappears into the distance, giving a two-dimensional image three-dimensional depth.
• Repetitive elements create a sense of rhythm, which is often more interesting if the rhythm is broken by a missed element.

Flash and lighting

Not a complete expose on the subject of course, but some things to keep in mind when using a flash and lighting techniques.

These tips are from: Digital Picture of Britain web site.

1. Use your camera's red-eye reduction setting (if it has one) when taking flash photographs of people.
2. Avoid red-eye by turning up or providing more light in the room.
3. Aiming the flash directly at your subject can result in harsh lighting. Try to bounce the flash off a reflective or white surface, such as the ceiling, to produce a softer light.
4. 'Fill-in' flash (which may be a setting on your camera) is useful for subjects that are quite brightly lit from behind

Enjoy the art of photography,

Darrell Mishler

www.mndcreativeconcepts.biz

www.demphoto.com

www.wild-rice.biz

www.motreasures.biz