Taking a perfect picture
One thing I intended to do this winter, but have spent next to no time working on, is learning how to really use my camera. I’ve done a whole lot of link-saving and read plenty of advice, but I haven’t tried any of it out yet. Partly because so much of what I read reminds me that I could use more task-specific lenses than the one that came with the camera. It takes terrible indoor shots unless the sun is blasting through the windows. I’m learning more and more how terrible the shots look when taken with a flash.
Much of what I want to shoot indoors is food and objects or spaces around my home as we make our much-needed improvements. When I cook at night, forget about taking photos of the food. They come out completely washed out by flash or yellowy and out of focus. In other words, not very appetizing.
I bookmarked a bunch of lenses on ebay, but one comes out to the same amount I’m spending on seeds and pear trees. Which is more important? The latter for this month. But maybe in another month or two, when I get a couple more freelance gigs out the door, I’ll invest in lenses; a macro and a wide-angle to start. And I will begin using my tripod (an ancient number Chris picked up at a yard sale ten years ago for two bucks).
I sure wish I had paid attention to the photography/videography class in high school. Although when I look back (I know, it’s a looong way back and I should not trust what I call my memory) but when I look back, I seem to recall that the teacher did not disseminate very much information. We mostly watched videos (it was the very beginning of MTV) and planned out our class credit music video. We did a high school insanity version of Soul Man from the Blues Brothers, set on the auditorium stage, featuring fake horn playing, lip synching and Salvation Army suits that didn’t quite hit the mark. It was terrible. Later, Eric M. and I did our own to that popular Steve Winwood-Chaka Khan song, Higher Love, with me in a really bad dress and giant hat, all back lit projected shadow dancing on the wall. O, high school. I do not miss you. Not at all.
"In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly for the stillness and longer nights of autumn and winter before any thought will subside; we are sensible that behind the rustling leaves, and the stacks of grain, and the bare clusters of the grape, there is the field of a wholly new life, which no man has lived; that even this earth was made for more mysterious and nobler inhabitants than men and women. In the hues of October sunsets, we see the portals to other mansions than those which we occupy."
~Henry David Thoreau
February 19th, 2008 at 7:53 am
[…] her able hands | in the garden, in the kitchen and on the page wrote an interesting post today on Taking a perfect pictureHere’s a quick excerptOne thing I intended to do this winter, but have spent next to no time working on, is learning how to really use my camera. I’ve done a whole lot of link-saving and read plenty of advice, but I haven’t tried any of it out yet. Partly because so much of what I read […] […]
February 19th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Ah, the 80s. Good times, good times. If the photos you have had on here already are before you really get a handle on your camera, I can’t wait to see the ones when you do. I myself am surprised how much one can do with a camera without even reading the directions (I haven’t learned mine yet either).
February 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I really love my camera. It has a great macro feature built in. I need to learn to use a tripod too. I think there’s lots of merit to learning to take better pictures. Lighting really is key, so if you want better pictures of food in your kitchen you may need to install bright lights or bring in a floor lamp to help out. You know that picture you took of asparagus on the grill? That is one of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen!
February 20th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I’ve got tons of cameras and I’ve had a photoblog for over three years. When I started the “At Home…” blog I quickly discovered that indoor photography and food/product photography is a whole ‘nother animal. It’s very difficult. I was really surprised at the difficulty in obtaining a decent shot. A light box helps but I’ve been too lazy to construct one. I hate flash and so I do my best to make sure there’s plenty of light and hold the camera as steady as I can. The macro feature is helpful too. The fast lenses are insanely expensive. I’ve got a ton load of camera gear but I just can’t bring myself to part with the dough required to get a quality fast lens. I use my mid-range Fuji S5000 for the indoor photoshoots.