http://www.lightstalking.com/lens-flare
On this website there were 17 photos taken, using the sun or another light source, so create a flare. This flare was different in every photo, coming from different directions, and different colors. Most of the photos use the sun, and when they do, it's either behind the subject to shine out from behind it, or it is coming right from the side to shine on them.
The website didn't have any captions or anything to teach how to get this effect, but looking at the photos, it's sort of self explanatory. These photos gave me ideas to experiment with the sun in photos, and gave me an idea for my self portrait. I may line up some things that are important to me and sit with them where the sun is coming from behind me.
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| Photo by Justin Lowery |
I like this photo because the sun is setting, and it adds a really cool effect to the sky and horizon. The colors are beautiful and they caught my eye. You can see orange were the sky meets the ground, then yellow, and before you see the blue sky, you can even see some green hues.
This is a photo where I am actually okay that its blurry, even though I do think it would be best if the tree in the background was also in focus.
In this photo, the rule of thirds is probably the most dominant rule of photography. They made the horizon be lower, and the sun off to the left, making nothing centered, thus making the photo that much more interesting. Also, viewpoint is obvious in this photo. Lowery probably had to lay down in the field and be uncomfortable while the sun shined in his eyes.
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NYC by Bike...
On this website, a man named Tom Olesnevich took a photoshoot, biking around New York City. He strapped a camera to his bike, on that looks like the the prong of the back wheel. I'm assuming he had it on a timer, to just take photos at random times, so that he could focus on not crashing his bike. All of these photos are a bit blurry, but in this case, that is okay.
This website really made me want to be courageous with the pictures I take, and how I take them. I would be too afraid of something happening, to do something like this, but it makes me want to try something other than just holding the camera.
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| Photo by Tom Olesnevich |
In this photo, I see the rule of thirds, lines, and simplicity. Nothing is centered, which goes to the rule of thirds. The white line on the street guides your eyes down the road, and then the lines of the sides and top of the bridge itself creates a tunnel. This photo is also very simple, because of this time it was taken. In the background, you can see the sun is setting. This makes all the colors in the photo similar, keeping things nice and simple.
Storms...
This website has a bunch of pictures, of weather storms in different areas. Some are above a lake, while some are in the dessert, or in the city. Many of these photos are just dark clouds, but the timing of the day and the perspective they were taken at enhances the storm clouds, making it look mysterious, scary, but also beautiful at the same time.
From these photos, I learned it doesn't have to be sunny and a beautiful day to get an amazing photo of nature. Sometimes it's even better if it's dark and mysterious, as long as you can get the lighting right so that the photo doesn't come out too dark. These photos also helped me to realize that storms are beautiful. I have always been a little freaked out by thunder storms, but these photos show me a different side of thunder storms. That side is quite beautiful.
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| Photo by Michael King |
I really liked this photo, because when I looked at it, it looked like something created in a movie by CGI. It looks so unreal, and I find it amazing when photographers capture moments in nature like this one. I also love how, even though the dark clouds are taking over, the sun is still shinning through a small opening in the clouds. This gives a sense of happiness. This is such a dramatic photo, and I just love it so much. This is what I want to be able to do someday, time things and be able to capture beautiful, uncontrolled happenings in nature.
In this photo, like the photo from the Lens Flare website, has the sun off center, following the rule of thirds. I also can see framing, by the shrubbery and trees to the left and right of the sun, as well as the dark clouds.
B&W Landscapes...
These photos are all shot in black and white, and are landscapes around the world. They are all in different areas and different settings. All of these photos look very dramatic and also look very simple, which is very nice.
I learned from these photos, that if you are going to take a photo and have it in black and white, it is best if it is a very simple photo. The simpler the photo, the better it will turn out when it's in black and white because too many things in the photo being black and white will not be interesting. It'll be visual overload, and it won't grab your attention as well as if it was a simple photo.
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| Photo by gato-gato-gato on Flickr (I couldn't find the photographer's real name) |
This photo grabbed my attention because of how empty it first appears. Once I really looked it it though, I saw more than just the tree. I saw the details in the grass, and the clouds. I really like how
the picture was only one main tree, because once it's in black and white, details are brought out a lot. This then adds to the photo, and when the original photo was simple, it makes me picture pretty perfect. I also like how the sky is darker at the top and fades to a lighter. I'm not sure though how the photographer got that effect, wether it just was that way, or it was edited.
If you cut this photo in half horizontally, it is balanced. I would cut it right under the tree, and that makes the two halved balanced with darkness and light. The tree is also in the rule of thirds, which you can see if you added an imaginary grid.
Popular Camera Settings...
http://gizmodo.com/5965080/the-cameras-and-settings-that-captured-this-years-best-photos
This website shows six pie charts, showing what photographer prefer to use. There is a pie chart for types of cameras, prime lenses, zoom lenses, shutter speed, F-stop, and ISO. Each pie chart has a key, with a list of different things pertaining to the chart next to it, along with a specific color. The most preferred tools, is the Canon 1D Mark IV, a 50mm prime lens, a 16-35mm zoom lens, shutter speed of 1/320s, F-stop of 2.8, and an ISO of 200.
This showed me that a very small percentage of photographers like Sony cameras, which is the camera I have. I haven't tried Nikon cameras at all, or Canons all that much, but I do have a Sony camera. I know it's not the best quality, but I do really like it. I also did take note of the settings most photographers use, so that I can test them out myself and see if I like them too. Many photographers seem to not favor shutter speed over F-stop or ISO, or the same way around. It looks as if they like the keep all of them balanced, for the most part.
