Sick, tired and stupid!

I seem to have acquired some kind of flu.  I felt well enough to go outside and attempt some pictures today with the idea of finally getting a post up.  In my brain boiled state, I failed to check my camera settings.  Scott Kelby calls it WHIMS - White balance, Highlight warning (must be a nikon thing), ISO, Mode and Size.  I had white balance and ISO set for the last thing I attempted to shoot - a woodpecker in a tree in late evening - and then forgot to move off manual mode after my first 10 pictures.  As a result I shot 100+ pictures of flowers in the sun that are blown out and grainy.  But at least I was shaky and unsteady so they are mostly blurry too....so I have that going for me.  But it was a good lesson and a cheap one.  You can buy the most expensive camera, best lens and coolest tripod but if you don't check the basics before you shoot, you will not get the results you want.  So from now on, I will start each shoot with some FUN'EM- Function button (ISO, White balance, Flash, Shooting mode) E (erase the memory card) M (Check the mode dial).  And when I am done, I need to remember to reset everything - Program AE, Auto White Balance, High Speed (Continuous shooting - how many times have I left it on 2 second delay and missed a shot!) and regular flash (as opposed to wireless mode).  

The shrinks tell us that it takes 21 days to form a habit.  So I am resolving to do my FUN'EM for the next 21 days.  What is your WHIMS?

Turing the park into a studio

I love flowers.  I love taking pictures of flowers.  I always loved the pictures of flowers on a black background but couldn't figure out how to take them.  I spent $3 at the craft store and got pictures like this.

I took this outdoors in low angle sunlight.  What I added for $3 was two yards of black cloth.  I got it on sale but you can usually find black cloth in the scrap section.  Or use a piece you already have.  The cloth I got is very thin.  That doesn't matter unless the light is behind (which can be a nice effect too).  You only have to darken the background a bit to get the contrast.

  

The advantage of the thin fabric is more clear in the park.  

Heavy fabric would crush the little flowers.  With light fabric I can drape it over anything I can find behind the subject.  If I know I am shooting flowers, I put it in my camera bag.  It weighs less than a 4 pack of AA batteries and will fit just about anywhere.  I use the same fabric for shooting objects in my "studio" (kitchen).  Same theory - I drape it over a box and I have a solid black background for a lot less than a light box.

Another example:

In this one you can see a hint of the background because the direct sun hit it.  This is easy to fix in Photoshop or almost any other photo editor (levels, brightness and contrast).

 

And of course you are not just limited to black.  White, green, blue all look nice too.  Try different things and see what you get.  I just bought a yard of military camouflage ($1.97 at Beverly's - 10% Group discount) that should blur quite nicely.