rim lighting
Posted in photos by Judy - May 18, 2012
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Rim lighting is where a light source is highlighting the edges of your subject.
This type of lighting helps to separate your subject from a dark background, emphasizing its shape, and giving it depth and dimension.
You can achieve rim lighting by placing your light source behind and slightly above your subject, being careful to make sure that your subject is blocking the light so that you do not get any flare.
This method is used with portrait photography. The rim lighting in portrait photography is sometimes called “hair” lighting since the hair of your subject will be highlighted at the edges.
To obtain the rim lighting in my two photos shown here, the light, (in both instances, the sunlight), was at an acute angle to my subjects.
In the photo above you can see a distinct outline in the front of the subject, and the top of the subject is just being “kissed” with light.
In this photo, with the sun at an acute angle, the light only hits the top and front of the glass bowl, highlighting its edges with sparkle and bokeh, and separating it from the darker portions of the photograph.
Rim lighting can be used in any type of photography, but is most often used in portraiture, fine art, macro, and wildlife photography.
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High key photography is a lighting technique that creates images that are bright, with very little contrast.
When shooting high key photos one still must be sure not to overexpose the image.
By setting your exposure level to one of the higher values on your camera, you can create high key (very light) photos without losing all the details of the subject.
As you can see in these two photos of white dogwood blossoms, there are no shadows, and there is an even tone throughout.
The edges of the blossoms seem to fade into the background, creating a soft, dreamy effect.
Processing the images in black and white helps to emphasize the even tones in the photo, and the brightness of the highlights.
architecture in black and white
Posted in photos by Judy -
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Architecture, with its strong lines and angles, makes for interesting photographs.
Shooting architecture in black and white can make your photos more dramatic.
Take photos of the entire structure, showing its strong presence in its surroundings,
but also make sure to zoom in on any special details of the architecture you are photographing.
Look for interesting window shapes, textured brick work, spires, or detailed trim.
The shape of the stonework in my photo above brings a lot of interest to this photo.
The dark stone against the lighter ocean and sky emphasizes this shape.
In this photo, the natural background, and the organic lines of the vines, emphasizes the strong lines of the columns sitting a top the stone wall.
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Black and White photography can emphasize a recurring pattern, or design in your photo.
While patterns can be seen in colored photographs, the color can distract from the details in some cases.
Strong contrast in your black and white photos, where the blacks are black, and the highlights are bright, draws attention to patterns and designs.
In my photo of the bench, above, the shadows made a great repeating pattern, which drew my eye to the bench.
I darkened the shadows, which in turn, made the highlights look lighter, creating more contrast, and emphasizing the interesting pattern.
The pattern on this leaded window is also emphasized in black and white.
This time I darkened the blacks somewhat, but tried to keep the darks and lights more level so that the textured detail of the leaded window would show.
This still has a great “contrasty” feel to it due to the light coming through the leaded window,
giving most of the photo a brightness against the dark wood frame.
trillium’s for mom
Posted in photos by Judy - May 08, 2012
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This past weekend I went to visit my parent’s. They live in upstate New York in the house that I grew up in.
They live in beautiful farm country, with acres and acres of fields and farms and woods.
When I was a kid my brothers and sisters and I used to play for hours in the woods across the road from our house.
There is a winding creek that we waded in and searched for frogs and pollywogs.
I even took my Barbie doll camper and all of its gear down to the creek to set up “Barbie doll camp.”
We made stone forts and pretend camp fires. We filled many summer days across the road in the woods.
One of the things that I remember so well is that the woods was filled with trillium’s. Beautiful white, or sometimes red wild flowers with lush green leaves.
Almost every time we played in the woods, before we’d go back to the house, dirty and wet, we’d be sure to pick a huge bouquet of trillium’s to give to our Mother.
She always smiled and said thank you and told us how beautiful they were.
Then she’d promptly put them in a vase so that they wouldn’t wilt and set the vase in the center of the kitchen table.
It wasn’t until all of us kids were much older, and out of the “playing in the woods” stage that she told us that she hated the smell of trillium’s!
And even then it was a slip-up, she didn’t mean to let that little tidbit come out.
Isn’t that just like a Mom?
To smile and tell us how lovely the flowers were, day after day, but never letting us in on the fact that she didn’t like the smell of trillium’s!
That’s what makes Mom’s so special!
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
repetition
Posted in photos by Judy -
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Shape is an important element to look for in black and white photography. The strong rectangular shape of this window works well in black and white.
This photo not only has many different shapes, but an added bonus of shadows, giving more interest.
the element of lines
Posted in photos by Judy - May 04, 2012
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Outdoor café in Vieques, Puerto Rico
I have just begun a black and white photography class and the first assignment was to pay attention to the element of lines. Since black and white (or I should say monochromatic) photos obviously remove all color, it is very important to find things in a shot that the black and white processing will enhance. Not every photo works in black and white, but many do. The two photos I have posted here show strong lines. The photo above is quite busy, but by removing the color, and processing in black and white, the strong lines of the wrought iron in the gates and the chairs comes forward.
Decorative Stone Wall in Vieques, Puerto Rico
The stone wall in the photo above is perfect for black and white processing. The horizontal lines of the top and bottom of the wall, the vertical lines of each slat in the wall, and the lines radiating out from each circle create a bold photo that works very well in black and white.
a bridge with a view
Posted in guest contributors by Judy - Apr 21, 2012
photograph by Debra Kulis
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The title states that this is a bridge with a view. Not the “normal” view that many would think - no sweeping vista, no mountain scene, no river dotted with sail boats. The view I am talking about in this photo is the unique point of view that the photographer, Debra Kulis, used when shooting this photo. If the photographer had taken this shot from atop the bridge we would have seen a pretty reflection photo, with the colorful houses reflected in the water. Nice, but nothing special. Photographing the scene from below the bridge makes this photo more interesting. By placing herself, and her camera, below the bridge our eyes are drawn to the intense color of the rusty bridge. The diagonal shadow made by the bridge helps to direct our attention to the reflections in the water, and adds to the depth of this photo. This is a great example of how a unique point of view can take your photo from being a simple documentation of a pretty scene to a unique and interesting photo that draws the viewer in.
sometimes wishes do come true
Posted in photos by Judy - Apr 16, 2012
