by successfulbob | fine art photography, photography, photography - art quote, photography education
Do you see your image in your mind before you push the shutter button??
Should you?
Probably if you want to create more artistic and impressive images. Today’s photo art quote comes from Painter Diego Rivera
“I dream a lot. I do more painting when I’m not painting. It’s in the subconscious.” Diego Rivera
I feel a good amount of pre visualization can move your images to another level.
This brings to mind a thought to spend lots of time with other people’s images and artwork to spark ideas. Just remember that just like a computer GIGO. (garbage in = garbage out) Look to find great imagery and art to study. You will find that some of the ideas will mix and match giving you a whole new way of seeing and creating your photographs.
Arthur Rainville passed on an idea that I try to keep up with. Arthur suggests each night before retiring try to study an artist for about 15 minutes. That could mean quickly reviewing a prolific artist’s entire catalog or studying intimately one or two paintings. You can do this with books, magazines or the Internet. It is amazing how your brain will incorporate things studied just before falling asleep. Arthur is a true photographic artist always trying to push the bounds of wonderful image making. I admire him greatly.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, macro, photography, photography education
Flowers of all shapes sizes and colors often make a good subject for photographs. And if you can get to a place like Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, all the better for having a pile of subject matter to pick from.
Since I’ve been all artsy-fartsy with the birds I’ve been photographing I thought it might be time for a little realistic imagery. Here are a few from the Selby Gardens botanical collection…
Not sure of the name of this one but I love the color contrast against the soft background. Natural light filtered through foliage gave the soft lighting against the sunlight falling against the green leaves in the distance.
Orchids are very interesting subjects. They almost look Sci-Fi to me especially when you get in close. Something from another world.
Another orchid. These are from the Phalaenopsis family.
In order to focus closer to get these details of the throats of the orchids I added Vello Extension Tubes to the 35-100mm Lumix Vario f2.8 lens. Images made with the Lumix GH4
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, Lumix GH4, photography, photography education, wildlife photography
So you want to see the befores?
I received a request to show the images I’ve been playing with the last couple of days how they looked pretty much straight out of the camera. I can do that…
Great Blue Heron at the Venice, Florida Rookery. Art Photo here
Sandhill Cranes, Sarasota Florida.
Sandhill Cranes behavior images. Art Photos here
Sandhill Cranes at dawn Sarasota, Florida. Link to post here
Photo gear used was the Lumix GH4 and the 100-300mm Lumix G Vario f4-5.6 lens. A faster lens would have been better but the reach of this is quite good (200-600mm 35mm equivalent) At just under $500 this is a pretty nice lens to chase down waterfowl.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, Lumix GH4, Lumix Lounge, photography, wildlife photography
This time I went to the rookery in Venice Beach about a half hour south of Sarasota. Apparently I am a little area for the big nesting season but there were a few Great Blue Herons, some Anhingas and some other smaller birds in the area. Not the ideal time of day to shoot but with a little imagination, a couple textures and some Photoshop Blend Modes I might be on to a little something here…
Playing around with the concept night and day… Great Blue Heron from Venice Beach Rookery.
Original image captured with Lumix GH4 and the Lumix Vario 100-300mm lens.
Back out to shoot some more… Later!
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | bird photography, photography, photography education, wildlife photography
When photographing birds I always try to spend enough time with them to learn some of their habits and behaviors. Spending time allows you to start to predict different things that will set your images apart. The prediction will be the difference between going, “WOW that was pretty cool!” and wishing you had been able to capture the image and getting the moment in your camera.
Once you start to study the birds behavior you start to see tell tale movements that will cue you in on the bird getting ready to take off or stretch or any number of things that will lead to more interesting images than a simple bird at rest. Here’s a couple examples of my Sandhill Cranes in motion.
Sandhill Cranes in Sarasota, Florida.
Here the Crane is reaching for some seeds at the top of the vegetation.
Of course, once I get the raw photos it’s time to apply my ‘Photo-Synthesis’ technique to add texture, color and depth to the images. I use Photoshop. Add layers of texture and change Blend Modes to create the look.
Check back one post to see yesterday’s Sandhill Cranes in silhouette and more ideas on photographing birds in nature including equipment used and getting set.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
