Close-up Photography Workshop

Close-up Photography
Workshop

I want to thank one and all for participating in the Across the Bay Tent and Breakfast Close-up Photography workshop. It was a great pleasure meeting and working with you all. I wanted to post this simple little web page to show just what it was I was doing while you were making your images. I hope seeing the final results of some of the images I was demonstrating helps tie up any loose ends from the lecture portion of the workshop.

Feel free to call or email with any questions you might have. If you have access to a scanner and want to post your images here for everyone to see, just email them to me and I'll build the page and post your images.

Hal Gage
272-4356
halgage@alaska.net

Here is that poppy that we were working with. As you can see the sun came out giving a slight back lighting to the flower. The only complaint I have here is that the flower is "facing" out of the frame. I think it would have been stronger if I had composed (by moving around to the left of the flower) the picture with the white flower on the right and the orange flower in the lower left (just the reverse of what I have here). Oh well, I'll know better next time.

Even so, we still have a very strong image here, one that could easily be used commercially with lots of relitive blank space on the lower right for text to be super imposed.

Here are a couple of images I did while you were working with your "multiple of one subject" assignment. I really like the repetition of the seaweed forms. After working with the above scene, I decided that there needed to be an interruption in the direction and texture of the pattern. I placed the dark, dried piece of seaweed in the upper third intersection of the frame.

At the left, those same seaweed patterns were used to subtly mimic and repete the shape of the crabs claw.

I have made it my task this summer to make a good image of Forget-me-nots. Here are examples of reducing depth of field to center attention on your main subject. The light spray of water is a nice touch adding life and sparkle to the image.

I made images of this flower at a variety of f-stops to try out different depth of field effects. Although the shallower depth of field images were nice and will be useful, as an image, this one with more depth of field holds my interest the most. The lighting is from above, to the right and slightly behind the subject. The background was shaded overgrowth.

Here is that Himalayan Poppy. I have yet to find a really good example of this flower. Either it is not open symetricly, hanging with its head down, or just not in very good shape, as above. None the less, The center stamen area is of great interest. As you can see, I placed the center of interest in the lower right quadrant so as to point into the frame. The diangonal placement also adds to the dynamic feeling. On the right I have done a little Photoshop magic; don't like it blue? How about chartruse!

A flower with a deep bloom like this, is not a likely cadidate for a straight on exposure. It would be difficult at best to get enough depth of field to get from the tip of the stamen to its base in focus all at once. A better option is find a composition that flattens out the plane of interest. By composing for a three quarter view, I accomplish two things; more things of interest in focus and a subject that seems to be entering the frame, creating some movement for the eye.

Here are a few images from our trip to Soldovia. Although the cross picture worked fairly well with less depth of field, I made a better composition with the foreground flowers in this one. Sometimes you just don't know what you're going to get. That is why I try a variety of things knowing that one or more will be good images.

The yard decor just above the corner garden on the board walk.

Laura making images at the docks in Soldovia.

Bet you were wondering what it was I was doing with those creepy little spiders. This was a tough one. At some point as you get closer to the subject, you get a diminishing return. The spiders were at a variety of distances from the lens. Trying to find one area to focus on in this mass (mess) was impossible. I went for as much depth of field as my flash would give me and hoped for the best.