Funtography

{Fritzy, April 18th, 2009}

It figures that my favorite photo that I have taken so far on my new camera is not even of my own horse!

I love that this picture is offset. I don't even mind the lines of the panels on the left. Or that her ears are missing (more on that later.) I love the imperfection of it. But most of all, it just grabbed me the moment I saw it. As I said yesterday, I like candids. I like random pictures that were not necessarily posed, but just an animal being an animal. If I can, I prefer to capture personality, character, and an animal being natural.

That is what is so amazing about photography to me. I see a picture and I know instantly whether or not I like it. This "draw" to a photo is probably different for everyone, based on our own experiences, interests, and internal creative eye. Obviously, there are some photos out there that are just amazing technically. But not everyone might like that picture of Fritzy, and that is okay.

I am not a "technical" picture taker. Notice I did not call myself a photographer. I am a hobbyist, at best. I don't even qualify for amateur status yet! As I said, I'm just a girl who likes to take pictures. By not being technical, I mean, I'm not big on editing. I prefer things a little imperfect, a little edgy, a little raw. I might boost the color saturation (sometimes too much.) Or I sharpen or soften a picture up (sometimes too much.) Or add a border. Other than that, I don't do much. I don't even have an fancy editing programs or "actions" yet. I just use free programs (like Picasa) with basic effects.

I like taking close-ups, and weird crops. By that, I mean I like details and interesting things. Even if the ears are cut off, as in the top photo of Fritzy. I mean, I didn't even realize I'd cut her ears off when I took the shot. They weren't the focus of the picture. I liked her eye- her expression. To me, it was more artistic without the ears. For fun, I've tried cropping my pictures in unique and different ways. Try it! Enlarge it if you can, without losing distortion, and play around with cropping out pieces, of your horse's eye, ears, tail, whiskers, etc.

For example, here is a decent profile picture of Morgan the cat.

Here is a cropped version. I like them both. But the second one....interesting detail. Did your eye goes to the cat's eye much quicker? And I love the whiskers in this shot!

Oh, and then I got crazy and did this for fun. (In Picasa, under effects, I chose 'focal black and white' then moved the color where I wanted it to be.)

Another one, of a magnolia blossom. I am still trying to figure out how get a good macro (up close) shot with my camera. Does anyone know if I need a macro lens to do really amazing macro shots? Anyway, here is another uncropped shot.

Then, I just clicked "crop" on Picasa and chose the first crop option they pre-selected for me. Look how interesting this photo became! I like the movement of the petals going off to the left.

Lately I've loved velvety horsey muzzles. Especially this particular one. Yes, I'm biased!

Actually, I think I shot them this way, rather than cropping them later. This second one is better in that the background is more blurred (shallow depth of field/focus) which allows it to fade away behind the muzzle, rather than be distraction like the panels in the above one of My Boy.

Let's talk about that "blur." In the comments of yesterday's post Linda at the 7smn Ranch mentioned bokeh. Some of you might have been wondering what in tarnation is bokeh?! It's okay, I just learned what it was a few months ago myself!

Here is Wikipedia's definition: a photographic term referring to the appearance of point of light sources in an out-of-focus area of an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of-focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject.

For example, here is a picture of some lotion and a jeweled perfume atomizer. The first one shows the atomizer in the front, and in focus.

Now, the atomizer is in the back. See the little light "bubbles" or spots? (Click to enlarge.) That is a little bit of bokeh. It's so cool!

There are two things I'd like to work on, aside from just continuing to learn all of my camera's options! One, action shots. This was a fun capture, because all four of Fritzy's hooves were off the ground simultaneously, which I thought was neat. But learning to hold steady and focus on a moving target is a challenge!

Second, would be people portraits. Now this takes some willing subjects. Paint Girl?! You ready to let me snap some photos of you? Hey, I even let her try my new camera! I wanted her to see what it felt like to look through the viewfinder. She snapped a few pictures of me and Fritzy. She said wow, it takes pictures fast!

Now, about yesterday's color vs. black and white photo of My Boy. You know what's funny? I really liked it in black and white. But after reading your comments and looking at it again, I'm liking the color more now, too. I loved the time of the day, the sun was behind my horse and it really added a neat glow even though it was partially shady where I shot it. I think the black and white contrast would have been better if I'd shot it in black and white, which I can do on my camera. I actually shot it in color though, then edited after I downloaded it. I played with the shadows, etc., but I never think it switches over well after-the-fact. Thank you for your insight! I played around a little bit more with the color picture...one is never done playing, right? Either that, or I've got a problem!

I want to thank all of you, who inspire me with your own photos! And for those of you that have graciously let me email you with my silly questions (umm, sorry, I'm probably not done yet!)

As you can see, I am having a lot of fun with my Nikon D40! Thanks for taking this little journey with me. I promise I won't be blogging constantly about taking pictures. It's just that with a new toy....well, I'm sure you know how it is!