by laurenawagner | Feb 25, 2017
How to Light Paint at Home
Light painting is so much fun and it’s really easy to do. Just like with product photography it is very important to set up your shots, and stage it. It is also important that you put your camera on tripod or other stable surface. Once you have your setup and equipment ready you need to turn out all of the lights, and be sure you have a flashlight or two. Then you need to shine a light on your subject, and have your camera focus on it. Then it is very important to witch the focus to manual. This allows you to keep your object in focus in the dark. If you don’t bump your camera you only need to do this step once. When doing your settings it is important to keep your shutter speed long. The longer your shutter speed the more time you will have to paint. When painting it is very important to remember to leave shadows. this adds contrast and drama to your images.
Another really cool method for light painting is adding faux bokeh, or fake blur. You do the same steps I mentioned above, but you begin by lighting the part of the image you want to be in focus. Once you do that turn the light off and spin the focus ring on your camera. Remember the further you spin the focus ring the more blurry the background will be. Then carefully light paint the background and be sure to not light up the object you want to be in focus. Doing this will give you the fake blur that can be found on the second union pacific train image, and the vintage jewelry box.
Aside from that I recommend light painting all different kinds of objects. You can even do macro light painting. This can be seen on the conversation heart image. If you want more tips on light painting click here.
by laurenawagner | Feb 22, 2017
Turning Normal into Fine Art
While I was visiting Jackson I stayed at sky mountain lodge and the first three images are from the different things from there. The entire time I was on my photo excursion and that is evident in my post from the Grand Teton National Park. One day there was a beautiful sunrise and I lucked out and got some cool photos. I’m currently living in Idaho so there are lots of different farms to take photos of. I just drove around and found some neat places. Click here for some tips on fine art photography.
by laurenawagner | Feb 22, 2017
Capturing the Beauty of the Tetons
Nothing is better than capturing the Tetons. They look so majestic and nothing is more impressive than seeing the sunrise. So I woke up very early to go take pictures of them, and sadly the clouds covered the mountains so I missed the sunrise. I did make the most of my time there so I did get some cool overcast images. Although I did get very lucky later that day. I was in Jackson and then all of the sudden some moose started walking through the center of town!!
Here are some tips on how to take images of landscapes and wildlife.
My tips are to have a deep depth of field. When capturing animals be quiet, respectful, and try to keep your distance. I was a bad example and I was standing still and the two moose walked right past me. (I would be lying if I didn’t say I was tempted to pet it.) It was only later that I found out moose are very dangerous animals.
by laurenawagner | Feb 15, 2017
Capturing the Beautiful Details of Nature
Nature is so amazing. Every plant, fruit, bug, ect. has such detail and shooting in macro allows you to capture that detail. Some tips for macro nature photos is to add water. Water is natural and accentuates the detail of what ever objects it is on. It is also a cool idea to try and get objects to appear within the water droplets. Another tip for capturing bugs is to not be afraid of the dead bugs. Dead bugs are easy to take photos of because they are not moving. The last photo in this post has a dead fly, whereas the second to last image has a living one. It was way easier to take photos of the dead bug, and for beginners that is something I recommend.
by laurenawagner | Feb 15, 2017
Capturing Details of Ordinary Objects
Macro photography is so much fun! You are able to see tiny details you would typically overlook. One hard thing about macro is getting the object to be in focus. There are three factors in gaining focus. Those are manual focus, move, and zoom. By changing one of those factors it will change the way your camera is focusing.
