|
|||||||||||
|
I recently received Honorable Mention for my photo, Cosmos Reaching Towards the Cosmos, in the Black & White Spider Awards, in the category of Silhouette (amateur), a category that I have never entered before. I am honored.
My photo, Cupid, was selected for the February 2025 cover of West Orange City Lifestyle magazine.
Lighting is a key componet of photography. If a photographer is unhappy with the lighting in a photo, they can alter it in a darkroom or through an app, but it's better to know how light is going to affect your work while you are shooting. This is learned over a period of time and through trial and error.
My absolute favorite time for taking photos is at dusk. You really get great contrast when the sun is setting. The sunset can also create a dreamy effect. Foggy days, which I refer to as nature's filter, are also great for shooting photos.
My least favorite type of light is bright sunlight because it yields too many shadows. In some cases, you want shadows, such as with black and white photography, but in many cases, shadows are unwanted guests. The example that comes to mind is when there's a long reflection of your own shadow in the photo. On bright sunny days, I always try to find a shady place from where to shoot.
What kind of light is your favorite for taking photos? What type is your least favorite?
Send me your answers at kmartta333@gmail.com and I will post them here.
I shoot exclusively with an iPhone. When I reveal this to other photographers, I am met with three reactions: a "tsk, tsk"; a "wow!"; or "me, too!"
I have nothing against traditional cameras. Back in the late 70s, during my college days, that's all there was. Although digital cameras were invented in 1975, they were not widely used. But I enjoyed learning the nuts and bolts of shooting photos and developing then in a darkroom. Today, however, we have choices and here are five reasons why I adore the iPhone:
1. Portability. You can take it anywhere, in a purse, a fannypack, or a shirt pocket. And if you see something amazing that you just have to shoot, you don't have to fiddle with your camera. In photography, time is of the essence.
2. No toxic chemicals. Darkroom chemicals have been shown to be carcinogenic (https://ehs.princeton.edu/heal.... ) This is especially the case for photographers who spend a lot of time in a windowless darkroom, breathing them in.
3. On-site editing. The colors in your photo are dull? Saturate it on site. There's an ugly trashbin in your shot? Remove it right there.
4. Lots and lots and lots of apps. There are a gazillion apps from which to choose, and they are right on your phone.
5. Quick distribution. A friend wants to see the amazing photo you just took. Shoot her a text or email. When I had my point and shoot, I had to wait until I got home to my laptop, plug the camera into it with a cable, and wait for my photos to upload before I could send them.
As with most tech devices, each generation of iPhone improves. I am currently using the 16 Pro.
I'm a lopper. No, I don't go around lopping people's heads off but I have been known to lop off parts of images. This is not intentional but it happens on occasion when I am rushing. And they are small lops: part of people's feet, top of someone's head, and tops or sides of structures that should be in the photo. Small or large, they ruin what I am trying to convey.
The photo below would have been a good one if the right shutter hadn't been lopped. The distance from the edge of the photo to the shutter should be equal on both sides. Sometimes you want an asymmetrical effect, but not in this case.
If you're a lopper like me, there are a couple of things you can do:
1. Slow down, take your time, take a deep breath, and concentrate.
2. Bracket. In college, my instructor told me to always take three photos using different F-stops and different angles. A similar directive applies to digital photos. Is everything you want in the photo? Is there anything you don't want in the photo that's too large to edit out later, such as a car or person?
Happy shooting and stop the lop!
What are you thoughts on this? Let me know: kmartta333@gmail.com
Picture this! I now have a website for my photos, courtesy of Sitewelder.com. I can't say enough good things about them. Lots of great features, including this blog feature. Most importantly, their customer support is amazing, a rarity in the online world.
In this blog, I will share my latest photograpy news with you, mostly gallery shows and installations. But I will also discuss the art of photography, from my perspective. I don't claim to be an expert but I know where I need to improve. I can also write about some invaluable things I've learned over the years from other photographers and my own observations.
My first foray into iPhone photography happened after I stumbled upon a website called P1xels from an Exhibition (that is not a typo). The creator, whose name I shall not mention because he hates when I do that, is an extemely creative and insightful artists/photographer himself, offering tips about apps (at the time, I thought apps were sometimg you ordered in a restaurant before your food arrived), what makes a good photo versus a mediocre one, and things to avoid, such as virtual frames. The website featured the work of many amazing photographers and the site owner highlighted a different artist every week. The highlighted works included a brief from the site's owner: what he liked about the photo and his interpretation of it.
I had never seen anything like this before as I was one of those people who used my iPhone for family photos and pictures of my cats. I wanted to learn to do what they were doing so I followed the website religiously, not only learning about new apps, but trying them out. Over time, I felt I was ready to submit my work to the site.
For the first few months, nothing happened. Then one day, I clicked on the site and saw one of my photos featured, a photo titled, "In Memory of Muriel." Muriel was an award-winning watercolorist who had passed away. In her memory, I photograped a cherry blossom tree but when apped, it looked like a watercolor painting. I was over the moon to have it selected.
I went on to have several more photos accepted to the site. But sadly, a few years ago, the owner announced that he was dismantling the site because as much he loved managing it, he had no more time to do it. It left a big void, not just for me, but for the other artists who contributed as well.
I started poking around the net again and found a lot of information about various photo competitions, both nationally and internatonally, I stated entering my work. Over time, several of my photos were selected for virual and offline galleries.
I will spare you the War and Peace of my life but suffice it to say, I have come a long way since 2013, when my first photo I took with an iPhone was of my tomato garden.
