Photo Tip of The Day

Hi everybody!!

Today's photo tip involves one of my favorite things: COLOR! It's my personal opinion that the world looks better when it is very colorful, bright, and a little out of focus... which brings us to these photos:

These photos were posted today (by me!) on www.dailythanks.org, a gratitude project website. The first is a close up of a glass vase, taken with a handheld Canon 50D, indoors, at noon, with only window light. (Settings 1/10 second at f5, iso 100).

The abstract shine of the window light on the textured surface of the vase reminded me of a nebula, so I shot handheld and got a little camera shake to add to the "galactic" feel. I imported into Lightroom, ramped up the vibrance about 35 points, added text in photoshop, and voila... Gorgeous, darling.

The second (red/orange/purple) photo is shot similarly using a different glass mosaic vase, as is the third photo... The only difference being that I added a few light paintbrush stroke starbursts in yellow to the final shot to imply raindrops.

So that's my color tip of the day: Find something bright, gorgeous, and shiny; Shoot it slightly out of focus; Ramp up the vibrant color. Done.

Photo Tip of the Day: Grab a Grab Shot

One of the best tips I've been given is to never leave a shoot without taking at least ONE random, artistic, hurried, "grab" shot of something other than what you were hired to shoot.

If it's a portrait session, this means taking a picture of the lone yellow daffodil blowing in the wind beside your car in an empty parking lot. I grabbed this shot right after a family portrait session last week while I was putting my gear into the trunk of my car. No light testing, no reflectors, no color balancing, no calculated framing or composition, no photoshop... just a quick press of the shutter button. That's all.

Frequently these grab shots won't amount to much more than filler in your Lightroom catalog, but I can often use the colorful ones in abstract, unexpected ways that surprise and delight my clients. I often use flower photos like these to mat individual portraits or add a little artistic flair to a textured wall... usually the client will say something like, "Oh, I'm so glad you captured that beautiful flower on film... I noticed it as I was leaving, but just didn't have the time to stop and look at it!"

Honestly, as a photographer, you have the rare opportunity to stop time, if only for a moment, and the one spontaneous image you grab could just be the one your client will remember forever.

This particular photo will be used as a background image to enhance an amazing set of eyes, but I also kind of like it all by itself.... Funny how that happens, eh? :)

© Leia Jobe 2011

Photo Tip: Using Color To Create Energy

© 2010 Leia Jobe

Throw a splash of color against a monochromatic background... this draws the eye immediately and gives a touch of dimension to an otherwise plain setting. In this case, I used selective coloring (i.e., leaving only the skirt in full color and muting everything else) via tools in Lightroom... but most modern photo editing software is capable.

AND when photographing little girls, you can't go wrong with a flowy ballerina skirt.