I was at the park again with my kids, and took the little G11 along with me. Believe me, I’d love to be able to get away and find some new and more interesting scenery to photograph. But my wife is always trying to catch up on housework projects on weekends, meaning I’m stuck with the kids. Oh well, it’s fun in it’s own way, and at least I can still use the time to experiment and practice with the camera. So this image is one I captured today, just got down low and snapped while Sophia was at the high/away point of her swing so that the background was mostly sky. It was a good dramatic stormy looking sky, and if I was at her eye level the background would be blah looking suburban homes. The only other “trick” was to use the on camera flash for some fill light. To bring out colour, make her face clearer, and to make the eyes sparkle.

The Tao Of Photography, by Philippe Gross and S.I. Shapiro

Without knowing anything about Tao or Taoism, I read the description and reviews of this book on Amazon and decided to order it. I was mainly interested in the book as a means to inspire my photographic vision and enthusiasm, which had kind of been in a slump of late, and I chose this one over a few others mainly because of price and positive reviews.

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I’m no lighting expert by any stretch, but I do have an analytical mind and just wanted to share two images that I happened to come across on Flickr, as random examples. These are by different photographers but both apparently staged outdoor portraits. One with natural lighting only, and the other with the aid of artificial lighting.

Naruto

Originally uploaded by Walter P.

I saw the first image (above) and what went through my mind is how cool it’d be to have the chance to photograph beautiful women in costumes in an outdoor setting like this. The next thought that crossed my mind was a reminder of how challenging outdoor portrait photography can be if the lighting gods are against you.

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I just had to post this link to an article about lens sharpness on The Luminous Landscape. Ouch! The truth hurts… or sometimes it’s just plain funny.

Anyhow, great article by Michael Reichmann.

Sharp.