Taking photos of flowers seems like it should be easy.  After all, don’t you just drive along the road, stop when you see a pretty scene, and get out and shoot?  Well…..yes…. driving along and noticing pretty scenes is certainly what gets you there.  When flowers are this prolific, though, getting a shot that has interest and dynamic qualities takes some observation.

Look at this scene for a minute.  What do you notice?  Here’s what I saw.  The contrast of yellow flowers against the white salty field and  blue shadows on the hills certainly makes the flowers stand out.  Still, though, as a sea of flowers, they looked flat and uninteresting.  I could see a few curves in the floral landscape, but nothing strong enough to stand out.  I could tell if we drove down the road to look for angles in the pattern of flowers, I was going to lose the light and the shot.  I studied this scene for a while before I saw the one yellow flower sticking up above all the rest, standing out against the white background.  That lone flower added the dynamic quality and interest I wanted.  That was the shot that told the story of the flowers.

Along with a few hundred other people that spring, my husband and I went on a wildflower search. We were doing roadside photography to get an overview of the Park, and weren’t walking on any trails for our views.

No flower shot is simple, but this one was especially challenging.  These are tiny white flowers that grow close to the ground.  We had been photographing the flowers spread across the valley in front of the hills when I spotted them.  I tried several ways to photograph them, but they were too tiny to stand out against the brown hills.  Finally, I decided to see if I could position myself close enough to create a line of flowers against the blue sky in the background.  I set the camera for landscape shots, laid down on a blanket I had spread in front of the flowers, and tipped my camera up until the hills in the background were spread along the bottom of the frame and the flowers were positioned against the blue sky.  Lines create a sense of motion, and angled lines create the strongest sense of action.  I wanted an angled line of flowers against the blue sky to bring out the delicate flowers and create a strong sense of action. 

When you are looking for strong nature shots, looks for lines and angles.  If you can’t find them, position yourself so you create them.

One day, our guides offered a walk through a valley and along a river called Moose Creek.  As we walked along this gorgeous river valley scene, I looked for ways to show it off in a photograph.  The first problem to solve was positioning the river and mountains so they looked dynamic.  The second problem was managing the light so both the detail in the river as well as in the valley would be present in the photograph.  This was the early 2000’s and digital cameras were not yet at the quality I wanted for a price I wanted to pay, so I was shooting film.  That meant I couldn’t try and check my results and then try again if I didn’t get it.  We also weren’t coming back any time soon. 

Lines and angles in a photograph give it a dynamic feel.  I positioned myself so the river created one predominate angled line, positioned against the folding angles of the mountains in the background.  I used a landscape setting, wanting the whole photograph to be in focus, but also needing a fast enough shutter speed to get some freezing of the action in the flowing river.  I trained the light meter and focus area on the green of the hills in the background, with the objective of blending the light from the sky with the light from the dark green to achieve a good average.  Halfway down on the shutter button, hold it, and reframe to get the angle I wanted.  I took several shots to ensure that I had one good one.  This was it.

Ross Fountain at Butchart Gardens, British Columbia

Take a hard look at the water flow details in these two images.  In first, the water has a silky flow, cascading down the fountain configuration in a smooth line with no hint of water droplets or splash.  The second photo is all action, frozen in place, with water droplets and splash as part of the movement.  The differences were not happy accidents: I manipulated the camera to slow the shutter speed in the fountain shot and to speed it up in the kayaking shot.

My husband and I were visiting Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia.  We had strolled through the sunken garden to the end and were watching this famous waterfall as dusk began to develop and the fountain lights were coming on.  Low light conditions were working in my favor.  I knew if I set the camera on a landscape icon, the camera would adjust to a setting that would increase the focus throughout the frame and in doing so, would slow the shutter speed down.  If the evening had been brighter, I would have insured that result by setting the light sensitivity of the camera – the ISO – to a low number (100, as opposed to 1600) to reduce the shutter speed.   Be sure to hold the camera steady when you do this, as the slow shutter speed will also pick up any camera movement and produce a blurry shot.

Kayak in White Water

We ended that trip with a slow walk along the river in Missoula, Montana. We came upon an overlook and were watching young people practice their kayaking techniques.  Freezing the action was the required result.  Who wants to look at a blurry kayaker?  I still used the landscape icon.  The day was bright, so I could use a 200 ISO to increase the light sensitivity so I would have a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action as well as focus through the entire frame.

How do you figure out how to make those adjustments on your camera?  All cameras come with a manual that most people toss in a drawer because it looks far too complicated to read.  You don’t need to read the whole thing.  It does pay off, though, to read the sections on how to change the icon settings from automatic to one you select and on how to set the light sensitivity — the ISO –  on your camera.  If you understand how to use those two settings, you, too, can manipulate your camera to get the result you want.

Clearly the subject is the kite surfing.  Or is it?  Maybe the subject is the contestants waiting their turn on the beach.  Or is it the surfers plying their skill against the backdrop of the Marin coastline, skimming across the cold, foggy bay?  Or do the two interpretations tell the story of the day?

In the image on the left, I have used the color and mass of the kites to emphasize the action – clearly groups of people waiting to launch, most likely to compete in a contest of some kind.  I kept the kites on the ground at an angle to the water and bottom of the frame, and I timed the shot so one kite surfer was coming in for a landing with his kite still in the air.

The lone kite surfer out in the water also caught my attention.  I followed him with my camera, keeping him and the kite stretched across the frame, as seen in the image on the right.  The outline of the Marin peninsula in the background muted by the fog enhanced the feeling of isolation.  I used the telephoto and shot as he skimmed across the frame.

Which one is better?  Neither.  They both tell a story.  The question to answer is this:  which one would you as the photographer like to tell?

Kids Love to Run

Kids love to run. My two-year-old grandson had discovered speed and mobility and was practicing in his backyard. I wanted to capture the moment.

I decided to practice a panning technique I had learned in a workshop. I set the camera on a slower shutter speed; on a point and shoot camera, that would be a landscape or portrait icon. I picked him up in the frame as he was beginning his run off my right shoulder. I locked in the focus and exposure by training my little square light meter and focal point on his head and held the shutter button half way down. Then, holding the camera level, I moved the camera with him as he ran through the scene, tripping the shutter as he hit the mid-point, and continuing to follow him through the scene after the shot was taken until my camera was over my left shoulder. The results show him learning to run as he moves through his backyard.

Chateau at Vaux le Vicomte

My husband, Dale, and I had taken the train from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte for the day. Fortunately, our drizzly Paris day turned to gorgeous sunshine as we arrived at this first-built of the royal palaces from the era of Louis XIV, the predecessor-palace to Versailles. We had spent the day touring the buildings and walking through the first of the European formal gardens built by the original landscape architect, Le Notre, all restored after decades of decay. I had been trying all day to get a good, dynamic shot of the palace and its gardens, to no avail. They weren’t bad, but most were flat, didn’t show off the palace or gardens, or lacked a dynamic quality. As we were walking toward the Visitor’s Entrance, I was watching the scenes unfold. We turned a corner and I spotted this scene, full of angles and light, and shot. I knew I had my memory.

How did I know? Angles created the dynamic action and action is one of the four elements of a Wow! photograph. The other three – color, light and pattern – were inherent in this subject and the weather that day. I stood where the placement of the gardens and the building in the frame of the photograph set the lines so the gardens and the palace are at an angle to each other. The clouds cooperated – they were also at an angle to the building. I tilted the camera up slightly to include the sky. The end-points of the planting areas also created angles leading to the building. I used the zoom lens to frame down tightly on the patters. The building is slightly off center, allowing the lines from the trees and garden on the right of the frame to lead the eye in from that side.

And so you have it! If you are having trouble getting your photograph to come alive, look for the angles!

Millennium Bridge, London

People make the world go around. Nowhere is that more true than in a big city. My husband and I were touring with friends in London one September day and found ourselves at the Tate Modern entrance of the Millennium Bridge, overlooking the Thames and St. Paul’s Cathedral as we walked down the ramp to the museum entrance.

The sky told me we were on the best end of a rainstorm, with the clouds creating an interesting backdrop to the building and contour to the light. I was struggling for a way to show off the city scene and the bridge when I rounded the corner from the bridge to the ramp and found it in front of me. The mass of people moving from one end of the pedestrian bridge to the other gave life to the city scene and created a sense of perspective, as well as setting off the construction elements of the bridge. I used the zoom to create a tight crop and shot.