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Archives for February 2011

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Sunrise Sky

It’s amazing how many sky images are popping into my head, since I wrote the Exploring with a Camera: Capture the Sky post on Thursday. This one is from an early morning walk in Parco di Monza. I remember the morning well, I had to get up early to take Brandon to school for a field trip and started my walk just before sunrise. It was early, but the time paid off in the form of a gorgeous sunrise, and one more beautiful sky to share with you.
Stop by Ashley Sisk’s blog Ramblings and Photos today, to visit all of the photographers who are linking in their “Capture the Sky” images as part of her Scavenger Hunt this week. Thanks Ashley, for including Exploring with a Camera! I look forward to seeing all of the sky images the participants have captured.

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An Artful Arrangement

I am musing on “still life” over at Mortal Muses today, head over to see a companion photo to this one. This theme encouraged me to photograph two of my favorite foods of Italy – Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Amarone della Valpolicella wine. Yum. Both of these items will be much harder to find and quite a bit more expensive when we return home, so I am enjoying them as much as possible now.

Not only that, but I was able to capture this still life in our beautiful kitchen. Aren’t those marble countertops nice? The apartment we’re living in here has much nicer finishes than our home in Oregon, and we’ve gotten a little spoiled.

It’s nice to capture these little memories in an artful and intentional way. I’m on a quest to photograph “what I’ll miss” in the next few months before we move back to the US. I’m going to be a blubbering mess as we get closer to actually moving – we have just over four months left!

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Subconscious Choices

The other night as I was falling asleep, this image popped into my head as the next in my series. I’m not sure I completely agree, but I’m also not sure you can argue with your subconscious mind. It does as it wills. This image is from Lugano, Switzerland in December 2009. The odd thing is, I haven’t thought about it twice since I took it. I never edited it or even noticed it in my photo review.

Here’s my internal debate about whether to include this in the series:
– It is definitely a vehicle with groceries.
– Not really any crates involved .
– It’s not red, but there is red in the photo.
– It’s not in Italy but it’s in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland. But maybe the series is Europe?
Since this series seems to be evolving on its own, I guess I just have to follow along and see where it leads.

What do you think? Is it included or not? Here you can view images one, two and three.

I am off on vacation for the next week. Again. I know, it’s crazy, but true. Tonight we go to Venice for one night, because it’s Carnevale! This was one thing that I didn’t want to miss in my No Regrets Year. Sunday we fly to Sicily for the rest of the week since Brandon has the week off of school. From what we hear, it’s completely different from Northern Italy so it will be interesting. I have a few posts ready for you over the next week, and I’ll be back with more pics in a little over a week.  Who knows, maybe more in the series will appear.

See you later!

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Exploring with a Camera: Capture the Sky

Welcome to Exploring with a Camera! Today I’m going to talk about capturing the sky. The sky is a subject that I’ve  been fascinated with over the last few months, and I wanted to share what I’ve learned through observation. This post has a lot of information, and at the bottom you will find a link tool where you can link in your sky images to share too. I hope you will include any tips or personal observations you have, and increase the knowledge through the power of a community.

What is it about the sky that is so fascinating to me? I think because it is always changing, it is always interesting. The sky is never the same. The weather and clouds, the change in light from the time of day and season, and where you are located all have a dramatic impact on how the sky looks. Not only that, compositional choices, camera settings for exposure and post processing can have a big impact on the final appearance of the sky.

Here are a few things I’ve noticed…

Big Sky

The image leading this post off is an example of what I call a “big sky” image. Captured on the Oregon Coast in 2008, this wonderful sky has stuck in my mind. Why does the sky feel so big in this image? First, the photo was taken with a wide angle (short focal length), which enables the capture of a lot of space. Second, the horizon is positioned low in the image, so the the sky is dominant. Finally, you can’t ignore the effect of the cloud formation. The formation itself leads you into the distance and gives more depth. I want to mention that I did boost the color in this image, to emphasize the blue of the sky.

Here’s another big sky image, from the Amalfi Coast of Italy. This image is similar to the Oregon Coast image, not only in subject, but in the focal length, placement of horizon, and interesting cloud formations.

Big sky images don’t have to be of nature, they don’t even have to have blue sky in them. This image of London is a great example of a big sky in an urban environment. The same elements, wide angle and low horizon, apply to this image as well.
You don’t have to have clouds to capture a big sky, that just seems to be what I am drawn to when I capture the sky. I hope some of you will share some cloudless skies in the link tool to provide examples.

Orientation

How you choose to compose your image, horizontal (landscape) or vertical (portrait) orientation, has an impact on the feel of the sky. The image below, of the sky above Mt. Vesuvius in the Bay of Pompeii, emphasizes the height of the sky, rather than the width or expanse as seen in the previous images. The vertical format compresses the depth of the clouds coming toward the viewer to create height.

Here is another vertical example, above the Swiss Alps. I find it interesting how both of these images make the sky and the clouds seem so large compared to the massive mountains. Note that both also use a low horizon, to emphasize the sky.

Contrast

When capturing the sky, I like to have something to provide contrast to the sky itself, something to ground the image and provide a frame of reference. I find I ground my images with a piece of something real, even if I don’t include the horizon. The tree in this image of sky from Madrid grounds the image, giving a little bit of context without changing the focal point.

And if you can have an interesting object help ground your sky, why not? This ancient Greek temple in Paestum, on the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, both grounds and provides a point of interest to the fabulous sky on this day.

Contrast that with a slightly wider angle crop, below, and you can see the difference in the focal point of sky versus temple. The sky is still an important feature, but the temple becomes the primary focal point.

Slice of Sky

You don’t always have the luxury of having a broad view of the sky to capture. You can create equally interesting sky images by catching a slice of the sky. These images are trickier for exposure, since you have a bright sky behind often significantly darker surroundings. My camera light meter will always choose an exposure in this situation that results in an overexposed sky, so I deliberately underexpose. This will make the foreground darker, but the correct exposure on the sky will make it the focal point.
Here is an image from an early morning walk in Parco di Monza. The slice of sky is the dominant feature in the image, but there is context in the foreground.
The image below comes from an especially frustrating evening walk in Lisbon. I could tell the sky was gorgeous with the clouds and golden light, but I couldn’t get anywhere I could capture the broad vista I wanted. There were buildings all around, everywhere I walked. Instead of the big sky, I focused on a slice of sky. I like this image for the subtle details of the city in contrast with that gorgeous sky.
This slice of sky, the view when exiting from a Paris Metro station, gives me an interesting feeling of emerging. The looking-up perspective and escalator provide the context that changes the image from a standard sky shot to something more unique.
Reflections

The sky in reflection is gorgeous. Water reflections are a great tool to expand the impact of the sky in an image. In this image of the Venetian Lagoon, the reflected rays of light and colors of the sky continue the effect of the sky through more of the image. 

Using selective color processing on a reflection of the sky can completely change an image. In this image of my son from 2007, I loved how revealing only the sky in color gave me a feeling of springtime hope and moved the focal point to the sky in reflection.

I like this sky reflection from a modern Vespa for a couple of reasons. First, you can see that it has just rained from the drops on the mirror but the sky is reflected blue – things are clearing up. Second, a modern silver Vespa, while unique if you are from the US, is not all that interesting on its own. This sky reflection provides significantly more interest to the photo.

Backdrop

Finally, I want to explore the sky as a backdrop. Sometimes an image just doesn’t work without the backdrop of the sky. It may not be the focal point, but an interesting sky in concert with other elements make a great image. This Parco di Monza sunset image needs both the sky and the tree in silhouette to work.

The focal point in this image is the life boat on the Ferry from Italy to Croatia, but the light in the sky is what makes it interesting. Can you imagine this without that light? I can, and it’s not anything special in my mind’s eye.

I have taken lots of images of church steeples and domes and monuments, and I can tell you this: the sky makes or breaks the shot. This evening sky in Split, Croatia makes all the difference between a ho-hum church steeple and a marvelous evening shot.

So, what skies attract you? Is it cloudless skies of blue? Stormy, threatening skies? I would love to see your images. Let’s see how you capture the sky.

You can link in your images below, link will stay open until March 9. All images, recent or archive, are welcome. If you viewing this post in a reader, click here to come to the blog to see the link tool. I would love it if you would include an Exploring with a Camera button with your image, you copy and paste the button code from here.

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The Next in the Series

OK, here it is. The third in the series I showed you yesterday. This is another image found on the streets of Parma. I’m toying with calling this series “Classic Italian” but we’ll have to see how it forms up. So far, it seems to be classic red vehicles on the streets of Italy near some sort of grocery crates. I don’t know if that will hold, but who would have thought I would have three of these? We’ll see what I find next week, when we visit Sicily.

The Exploring with a Camera: Breaking the Rule of Thirds link is now closed. The winner of the “C is for Camera” journal is Michelle, who goes by Pixie Dreams on Flickr. Congrats Michelle! Thanks so much to all who linked in, it was great to see all of these wonderful images. Don’t forget to visit Tammy Lee Bradley at Bliss and Folly to see who won the Vintage Camera trio.

Come back tomorrow for the next Exploring with a Camera post, this week we’re going to Capture the Sky!

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The Birth of a Series

Walking down a side street in Parma a couple of weekends ago, I happened on this lovely scooter. Of course I had to stop and photograph it, trying out several angles and compositions. Good thing it was a pedestrian zone, as I kneeled in the street for quite some time waiting for people to walk by so I could have an empty sidewalk. Every so often a scene like this will grab me, and not let go until it has its way with me. I’m always content to just follow the photographic muse when that happens.

When I got home, realization dawned on me. This image is the second in a series. Even though I didn’t plan it, the photo is a perfect complement to Where Fiats Retire, an image from Sorrento I shared a couple of months ago. Similar processing (read below for details) and I was good to go.

I’ve never had this happen before, an image come along months later that so perfectly pairs with an earlier shot. And not just any previous shot, a favorite. I loooooove that Fiat shot. Guess what? I looked through my images and there is another shot in the series, which I’ll share tomorrow. I wonder how many more are hidden there? Will they start appearing to me more often?

I guess this is how a series is born. I had no idea!

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A quick reminder – today is the last day to link in to Exploring with a Camera: Breaking the Rule of Thirds. Tomorrow morning I’ll draw for the winner of my giveaway as will Tammy at Bliss and Folly. Take a look at all of the wonderful images shared and be sure to link yours in too!

Photo processing in Photoshop Elements 8:
1. Cropped out some distracting info on the right edge.
2. Ran Pioneer Woman Seventies Action.
3. Added a Hue/Saturation Layer, and increased Hue to +5 and Saturation to +16 to increase the color of the  scooter back a little bit brighter.
4. The wall behind the scooter was too similar in color to the scooter, competing for attention. I added another Hue/Saturation Layer with Saturation set to -27, and used a layer mask to only apply this change to the red wall.

Here’s the original, straight out of the camera, for comparison:

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