Photography Class 101

I'm naming every Sunday post Photography Class 101. I love it for it's lack of creativity, and for the fact that it reminds me that I'm learning as I go. You'll learn to hate it. Or have you already? Either way is fine with me.

The Pioneer Woman had a challenge this week called Four Legs. We've got a lot of 4 legged things around here, so it was a matter of choosing a photo of the many subjects available. I chose Lucy.


I love the lighting of this picture. Burgh Baby talked about this in her photo blog at one point. This was taken in the late evening, when the sun is the very best for photography. (Read all about it in Burgh Baby's post.)

Another reason that I love it is because Lucy is being natural. She's not posed. I like candid. There's nothing wrong with posed, mind you, but good candids are sometimes hard to get no matter the subject.

And last, I like the angle. Lucy is above me (obviously) and it's not a view I'd normally have of a dog. I like different. And being as corgis are short breeds, it's not often that I'm lower in stature than they are. Unusual is, well, unusual.

So there it is. Lighting is the learning curve this week. And viewpoint. That, too. Good lighting from a fun angle - it makes for a great photo. (Too bad it's so elusive.)

5 comments:

Michelle said...

If it weren't so elusive, would it still be "good" then? Don't we define good as something that is challenging and difficult to achieve?

That is a great shot, and I love it. I never thought of late evening like this being a good time for photos. That shows what I know, huh? :)

wendy said...

What a nice picture!

Keri said...

It's really good. Did you process it in any software?

In addition to the reasons you gave for liking it, the composition is really nice, following the Rule of Thirds.

My only not-quite-positive comment/question is: what are the black things in the foreground? They're a little distracting. A careful crop might solve that.

What software do you have/use? If you have the Canon software installed for downloading from camera to puter, then you may have Digital Photo Professional. While it is not capable of a lot of things, it is really good at adjusting curves. (this will let you adjust your highlights and shadows and contrast and brightness - you can even adjust one of the primary colors to enhance it over the rest - red, green, blue). I read an article in Popular Photography that explains it very clearly and simply. I'll try to find it and link it in another comment...

Good work. Good for you for learning and trying and sharing.

Karen said...

Keri -

Now I know who to talk to when I want photography advice. Thanks for being so helpful! This photo (like most of mine) are straight out of camera. I figure the better I get, the less editing I'll need to do, and if I'm learning I need to improve my photo taking skills and not my editing skills. (That'll come later.)

The black in the foreground are Micah's shoes. The boy won't stay dressed for love or money. It's not a perfect picture by any means, just a work in progress. And she's my favorite dog. :)

imbeingheldhostage said...

I agree, the angle is awesome. Too many times we tower over our subject. This makes her look like she's Queen of the hill.