Photography Lesson Part II

Okay, so I have had a lot of comments, both on the blog and from friends in person, about my photos, so I am going to address a couple of the most popular ones here:

1. I could never take photos like yours!

Yes you can!  Yes we can! Go Obama!  (Oops.  I just got caught up in the moment).  Si se puede! (There, I'm really done).

Here's the thing - You absolutely can take photos like mine.  I don't care whether you have a point and shoot camera or a Nikon D700 (I get excited just thinking about the D700.  My Precious.  My dream).  

2. You have "the eye".

Thank you, but it's just about knowing how to get what you want out of your picture.  This is the subject of today's lesson: Perspective.  Know how to get the most out of your subject.  

I like to get close up to my subjects.  I don't like to have too much background stuff that doesn't mean anything.  And when I do get too much stuff in the background, I tend to blur it out in post production.  

So here's an example of perspective:

I took a lovely shot of Mom's Disney roses:

They are lovely roses and this is a perfectly lovely picture, but it doesn't do much for me.  You can't get any sense of the texture of the roses and all of the greenery in the background is distracting.  So...  I got closer:

Much better! Now you can see the shadows between the petals and you are not bombarded by background greenery.  

Okay, here's another example.  This is an especially good example when your subject is not a stationary flower, but rather a moving being that could care less that you are taking their picture (read: animals, children).  

I took this photo of The Noodle:

Again, a nice photo.  You get a sense of his coloring and his shaved tummy.  But I wanted less background, more Noodle.  So...

See?  It's that easy.  Now you can see his eyes and get a sense of what he is thinking. ("Cookies. Meat.  Cookies. Ice Cream.")

Finally, here is a photo of Caterpillar playing at the table with her very creepy dolls:

Cute.  She always looks cute in pictures.  But... Get a little closer and....

Voila!  You can see her amazing blue eyes.  And bonus: All Caterpillar, no creepy dolls.  

This should give you a good start on your own photography.  Good luck!

*None of the photos in this post were altered with PhotoShop.  The differences were all achieved by changing the focus of the camera.  I will post on how to PhotoShop later...when I have a couple of hundred hours.