Photoshoot!

Last week I managed to convince a friend of mine, Rachelle, to do a portrait session with me. So we did the session and it went swimmingly. It was fun, comfortable, and I got a lot of great stuff. Two big changes that I saw in this session; The equipment (my new lens), and the model. My friend that I photographed is actually an actress. And boy, did that make a difference! It was a lot smoother and more natural in instructing poses and ideas for photos. After all, one of the main goals is dramatic photos, and it turned out an actress was exactly what is needed!
Archipelago Photography; insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Campin

This past weekend my church, Wesley-Knox, went camping at Pearce Williams (if you recall, the camp I worked at last summer). It was a great weekend. So relaxing and fun. And it gave me a chance to break in my new lens. I did a lot of switching back and forth between lenses depending on the situation, which means that I'm gonna have to start getting my camera cleaned occasionally. Because as careful as I am, I'm sure that there is some dirt getting into the camera when I switch. The new lens (EF 75-300mm USM) has afforded me a lot of new opportunities including many more candid photos. Also, some super-close portraits and some killer action shots were mine this weekend, because of my new equipment. I think this is the start of a new era of photography for Archipelago.
Archipelago Photography; islands of thought and image, connected with a name.

New Lens!

Today, as a graduation present, I was given by my parents a new lens! It's a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 III USM, and I am so happy. I've been fooling around with it a bit today, and I plan on using it some tonight on a portrait session I am doing. So far I've been very impressed with the massive range of distance I can now cover. This is my first telephoto lens and I'm very impressed with all the things I can now do with it. But to begin with, baby portraits.
Archipelago Photography: insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Second Best

Sometimes it all comes down to instinct. If something has caught your eye as photo worthy, it's because your eye is telling your mind that it has the potential for art. And sometimes that first photo, if thought-through and deliberate enough, is all you need. If you get the exact aim you were looking for the first time, why make twenty more? Sometimes it can yield better results. But more often than we'd like to think, the first shot is exactly what we want, and the photos go downhill from there. But, this isn't me saying to snap-one-and-run. It's a very good practice to continue altering and changing your frame and exposure from the original, but when analyzing later, pay special attention to the first photo. It's often the one that best captures the original intent you had when photographing. Such was the case with these two, both made this weekend.
Archipelago Photography: islands of thought and image, connected with a name

Crop-tastic

Here are some examples of how cropping a photo can really help it out. When I saw judging events at my Camera Club nearly 90% of the photographers are advised to crop in to the action. Very advisable in a lot of situations. And it doesn't need to be drastic, just a small crop can be photo-saving.

Lesson 1

This is the beginning of a series I'm working on. It's pretty self-explanatory. Hope you enjoy.

Also, a little recap. If there's anything on the site that you enjoy and feel you would like to own, just send me an email and we can get it done. Very reasonable pricing.
Archipelago Photography; insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Panorama Lesson

It's been a while since I've shown some panoramas but today's pano's are for educational purposes only. The first is meant to be an example of how you can make a pano, that isn't instantly recognized as one. At first it looks like a wide angle photo, but with very little distortion. it's actually a 3 part panorama. The second photo is a warning; zoom! A panorama works best if the photos are as un-distorted as possible. So the angles are the same from photo to photo. To do this, you need to zoom in. As much as possible. The drum kit pano was made as wide-angle as my lens can go (the opposite of what i just advised). So it was really close, and the photos are actually bent. You can't tell very much in a single photo, but in a panorama it causes blur and warping. Look at the cymbals, they are warped and distorted very badly. Even the drums are warped, and at one point you can even see a line between two of the photos. If the camera was farther away from the kit that wouldn't have happened.

Especially with some of the new cameras coming out now, that can create a panorama within the camera (still amazes me to see it happen), pano's are becoming less and less rare. Therefore the novelty has nearly worn off. Which means that the normal rules of photography will start to come into effect to balance out the sheer number of panoramas. If everyone can make them, then it becomes a matter of quality and skill to create a pano that people will enjoy. Composition, colour, and quality will very soon become even more essential in panorama photography.
Archipelago Photography: islands of thought and image, connected with a name