Digital Photos


Terry Grogan
This week's lesson dealt with composition. I've really taken the time to look at the photos from others - especially the ones that strike me - and figure out what about the picture creates that feeling. I've concentrated a lot more on composition and the results have been very good. I'm pleased at the difference it's made in my pictures.

Clicking  here takes you to some of my favorite Vegas pictures. I didn't include them on this page because they all have some small touch up via PSP - mostly just a slight crop of the left or right to fit a 1024x768 desktop for wallpaper.

Point of View

Here's my dog. I had just been laying in this chair and decided to get up and do a few laps in the pool. Darby immediately grabbed his toy and "took over". In the past, I would have gotten out of the pool, grabbed the camera, and took this picture from above and to one side. This time, I stayed in the pool and asked my husband to hand me the camera (yes, I had my precious Rebel that close to water). I really like the effect taking this picture from below.

Shooting Mode - Aperture-Priority AE
Shutter Speed - 1/1600
Aperture Value - 9.0
ISO Speed - 400

The Rule of Thirds

This is one of the sprinklers around the hotel we stayed at in Las Vegas. I thought it was really interesting. I took the photo with the main image slightly off to the right rather than dead center. I used one of the camera's program settings to take this image. I chose Landscape because I wanted the majority of the picture in focus.

Shooting Mode - Landscape
Shutter Speed - 1/50
Aperture Value - 5.6
ISO Speed - 100

Know When To Go Vertical

This was the walkway down to the pool area. I really spent a lot of my vacation looking for ways to compose images. I liked the lines of the path, the greenery beyond, the palm fringes above the walkway, and the shadow on the left wall. This picture "begged" for a vertical shot. I took this one in Landscape mode as well to keep as much in focus as possible.

Shooting Mode - Landscape
Shutter Speed - 1/80
Aperture Value - 7.1
ISO Speed - 100

Use Lines

I got lucky and found this Mantis sitting in a tree. I loved the lines of the pine needles with the contrast of the mantis "going the other way", so instead of getting right up close to the mantis, I backed off a bit and framed him to the left. I think the effect is pretty neat. I used one of the program settings - Macro - in order to get rid of as much of the background as possible (short focal length).

Shooting Mode - Macro
Shutter Speed - 1/800
Aperture Value - 5.6
ISO Speed - 100