Summer brings more opportunities for action photos. Whether it’s a stadium event or your friends and family enjoying the summer activities, you’ll want to capture the action in a way that tells the story. Most dedicated cameras have selectable shutter speeds and with the right settings you can convey motion and action. A fast shutter speed, such as 1/500 of a second or shorter, will stop the action in what we call “Freeze Frame”. The paraglider appears sharp and crisp with a 1/400 second shutter speed. This speed also means you can hand hold your camera and there is no need for a tripod.

If you slow your shutter speed in the range of 1/125 of a second then fast moving items will be slightly blurry which conveys motion. The slightly blurry rugby ball tells the story with more impact. You can still hand hold the camera if you have a steady stance. Separate your feet to shoulder width and at 90 degrees from each other and brace your bent elbow on your chest as you take the picture. Take a picture and adjust your shutter speed to fit the speed of your subject to yield the desired amount of blur.

Using a tripod you can slow the shutter even more and pan with the moving object for a more artistic capture. The shutter speed for the sailboat on San Diego Harbor was ¼ of a second. This technique requires some practice and a bit of trial and error but can be very rewarding as a photographer.

The great thing about digital photography is that you can capture several images at different shutter speeds, review

them immediately and then decide which is the best setting for your story.

One of the silver linings to the rains we’ve endured is phenomenal nature photo opportunities all around us. This spring and summer will be a wonderful time to get out and capture nature’s beauty. Heavy rains can bring tall bright green grasses, vibrant and plentiful flower fields and extensive healthy new growth on trees. Here are some tips to help your nature captures really tell the story.

Full new growth on trees can provide a striking backdrop for silloetted branches. Position yourself so the leaves are lit from behind and then adjust your camera for the brightness of the leaves. You can do this by pointing the little square in the viewfinder at the leaves, pushing the shutter half way down and then while holding it down, reposition the camera for the scene you want. On most cameras this locks in the brightness (exposure) settings for the leaves. Likewise, high flowers such as these sunflowers can be backlit by the sun for a bright and uplifting feeling.

Mixing textures, such as soft leaves, grasses or blooming trees with the roughness of bark, man made structures or natural hardscape can further accentuate the softness of the new growth. Include scenes with interesting shadows on a green grass field to add depth and intrique.
If you’re shooting flowers up close you’ll get the best detail in soft light such as morning or late afternoon or on slightly overcast days. Keep in mind that what looks like a lot of flowers to your eye, may not appear that way in a two dimensional photo. You can always get low and close to the flowers you do have to fill a good percentage of the frame with color. That will give the feeling of flowers everywhere.

Composing your images when you capture the photo has a lot to do with their appeal. However, pushing the shutter button is only the first step in composition. Every photo app and program has a cropping tool which gives you a second opportunity to adjust your composition. “Cropping” is simply removing part of the image, like cutting it off with a pair of scissors. Many “ho-hum” photos can become “stunning” with a little cropping.

Often we capture too much sky and that dilutes the impact of the image. No problem, crop it out! Likewise, too much scenery that doesn’t tell the story can make your main characters get lost. By cropping out the extra scenery you often have an opportunity to reposition and bring emphasis to the main focal point of the piece.
Overly bright or dark areas can make the whole image appear light or dark. Crop out some of this area and you’ll find a totally different reaction to the scene.

Trees at the base of the rock face. 

This is particularly true for bright areas near the edges of the image. Your eye will no longer be drawn away from the main subject, once you crop out that bright spot.

A moose seems to be watching the weather as we are. 

Sometimes we crop just to fit an aspect ratio (width versus height) for a particular frame. Most cropping tools also give you the opportunity to rotate the image, which can be a life saver for shots with horizons. First make sure your horizons are level and then crop to suit.

So pull up some of your past images, and play around with cropping. With a little practice you’ll not only turn “ho-hum” into “oh-boy” but you’ll also be training your eye for the next time you click that shutter.

With the holidays coming, it’s a good time to refresh photographing your friends and family.
Whether you’re capturing spontaneous moments or staging your friends and family for that group shot set your camera to burst mode where it will take a series of shots when you push the shutter. Many people have a forced smile, but within a second or two they will relax and the smile will look more genuine, and in spontaneous shots you’re more likely to capture that special expression. This burst mode also helps with catching everyone smiling but that shouldn’t stop you from directing your group. Tell them where to stand, to look at the camera, chins up and tell and show them, with your facial expressions, what mood (happy, silly, or serious) you’re trying to capture. It’s okay to be bossy, everyone will like the outcome. We all know, tall ones in the back and then arrange your group so that there is a smooth line of head heights, whether that’s a peak in the middle or sloping from one side to the other.

Pick your location without too many distractions in the background and when you compose your shot, fill the frame with story. If the story is a portrait picture of friends, then fill the image with them. Show enough of the scene around them if that’s important to the story and position your friends to one side. Try converting your portraits to black and white for a more professional portrait look. A group shot is usually best horizontal whereas a vertical shot will make a single portrait look longer and taller.

Direct sunlight is the toughest environment for people images. If you can’t find shade then turn your actors so the sun is shining on one side of their face and use a flash to fill the shaded side with light. This will help to give your image some depth. If your camera has an adjustment for flash intensity, experiment with it until your friends are lighted but not washed out. Finally, put your zoom to work. Usually the best portrait shots are from a distance using a telephoto to “zoom in” on your friends. If you are too close, less than six feet, then you run the risk of acentuating facial features in an unflattering way. Use your camera’s “Portrait” picture mode if it has one and if you can adjust aperture, use a low F-Stop number to have your background out of focus.

Chances are you’ll be catching waves this summer with your camera or phone. If you “zoom in” or use telephoto mode the distant waves will appear larger in your image. If you don’t have a telephoto mode you can always shoot from a cliff or pier to get closer to the wave. Ocean Beach Pier provides an excellent opportunity to be directly over the surfers. You can also crop your image to make the wave appear even larger. If you really want an upfront perspective, grab a waterproof camera and swim out to the waves. This is really only for the strong swimmer and one who doesn’t mind losing a camera now and then. Yes it happens.

Sunlight can help or hurt your images. Early morning or late afternoon light can shine through a wave and illuminate the water’s color making the image more interesting. Morning light can illuminate a surfer but often afternoon light can be blocked by a wave creating shadows. Showing a little of where the surfer came from and where they are going adds interest to the story. Showing a little of the foreground, like an earlier wave which is now closer, can help add depth to your image. If the ocean’s horizon is showing, then make sure it is horizontal when you capture the image or later in edit mode.

To get that freeze frame look you’ll need a shutter speed of roughly 1/400th of a second or faster. This is not too hard on sunny days because the camera will automatically decide to have a quick shutter time and at these speeds hand holding your camera should be fine. However, it is okay to have the fast moving parts of the wave be blurry as that conveys motion to the viewer. So grab your favorite camera device, zoom in, watch the direction of the sun, and compose your image to tell a story.

Leading Lines are lines or paths in the scene that direct the viewer’s eyes. They can be straight lines, curving paths or even a series of objects in a line. As with all photography “rules of thumb”, using leading lines in your images is optional, but if you do include them, use them thoughtfully.  Humans like structure and as advertising design experts know, a viewer can be lead across the page with the proper use of lines. The same is true for your photos.

Sometimes lines can detract from an image if they lead the viewer’s eyes away from the main subject or if there are too many competing paths for the eye to follow. The lines should direct the viewer through the image as you wish, and usually to the main focal point of the image. Before you click the shutter, you will have to move around to force the lines to point in the desired direction. Do this by identifying your main subject and taking note of the lines in the scene, then move to a position of behind the line so that it points into your image and at your main subject. Just by a little movement you can change where the line enters your scene and where they point.

Use of lines is a subtle aspect that can make the difference between a snapshot and a quality image. With digital photography, you can view the image you’ve taken and determine if the lines “work”. Then move a bit and try another shot. Your learning curve can be quick on how to use leading lines to your advantage.

Winter’s weather can bring some dramatic elements to your photos. Clouds can add mood or be the main focus of a scene.  A cloudy sky is great lighting to photograph small objects with detail, such as flowers.  Rainbows and lightning will “brighten” any photo and wet objects, such as the Rainbow Eucalyptus bark shown here, emit much deeper colors.  Snapshots of people in the rain are often thought provoking and snow, especially for those of us in Southern California can be a beautiful scene.

Capturing images in these lighting conditions often requires a minor bit of camera knowledge.  You want to see the detail of the clouds but you may have trouble balancing the light and dark areas of the scene.  If you’re shooting with a cell phone, practice pointing the camera at light and dark areas of the scene and notice how the overall picture changes.  Also look for an HDR or Cloudy Day shooting mode to help with proper exposure.

With most cameras when you push the shutter button half way down, your camera will decide how bright to make the image.  If your camera is primarily pointed at something dark, then it will brighten the whole image, and vice versa.  So play around with pointing your camera at different parts of the scene, pushing the shutter half way down and then moving the camera for the composition you want before pushing the button the rest of the way down.

Many cameras today have a featured called “Exposure Compensation” which allows you to brighten or darken an image.  Play around with that adjustment until you get a good balance of detail in the sky and subject.  Take several pictures at different exposure levels to give yourself options when you view them on the computer.  Simple photo editing tools, such as iphoto for the Mac, Picasa for the PC and many apps for your phone or tablet,  allow you to adjust the “shadows” separately from the “highlights”. 

So don’t discount winter’s weather for your photos.  Grab your camera and look for the drama.   If you’d like more examples go to www.DaveNessPhotography.com

Summer brings sunny days at the beach, hikes, vacations and lots of opportunities to capture photos.  A photo that is completely sunlit can sometimes look flat and less interesting than one where you use the shadows to your advantage. 

Shadows can provide a visual balance to the bright sun and they convey depth, that third dimension that is missing in a two dimensional photo.  When photographing your friends, have them turn sideways and let the shadows accentuate their facial and body features.  The result will have greater depth, make your friends look trim and be much more flattering.

Include the shadow of a well known object, such as a tree and the viewer envisions a larger scene than you are actually showing.  The viewer will see the shadow of the tree and project in their minds a tree overhead.

Or use shadows to accentuate the items in the scene, such as the Olive trees in Tuscany and the Sea Slug Eggs on the beach in Uruguay each with trailing shadows.  The repetition of the Olive tree shadows adds an interesting graphical element.

Usually you’ll find the most pleasing images early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is low and not so bright.  If you find yourself hitting that shutter midday, keep in mind how shad ows can help tell the story, balance your image and show depth.

Spring is here, Capture flowers with a story.

Capturing the natural beauty of flowers in an engaging photo begins with where you position your camera and a few basic camera tips. You can highlight a particular part of a flower, showcase a single flower in a field of many or capture a scene accented by flowers. Each tells a different story. What’s important is to select your story and then compose your shot accordingly.

Your image will have more depth if you capture the flower from an angle as opposed to straight on. Side light, such as morning or afternoon sun, creates shadows that also add to the image’s depth.

Sometimes you’ll create more interest if you show only a portion of the flower. This allows you to fill more of the scene with the beauty and detail. As you compose your shot, position your camera so the background tells part of the story. If you want the viewer to focus on a minute detail then fill the screen with the rest of the flower so there is only one story.  If you are highlighting one flower in a field of many, blur the background to bring focus to the main flower.

Use your Macro setting, sometimes depicted with a flower symbol on your camera, or select a low F-stop number on a DSL lens, and get close to the flower if you want the background to be blurry or if you want only part of the flower to be in focus. In close up shots the subtle textures and shapes of the flower will show best on an overcast day where the sky provides a soft light.

We are fortunate to have many beautiful flowers in San Diego County and the nearby deserts. Balboa Park provides many opportunities to photograph flowers including the Botanical Garden, Flower Garden and along most of the walkways. The days are getting longer, grab your camera, capture and enjoy.