Black and White or Color?

Black and White or Color is a questions that photographers have to ask themselves about their photos. When film was used it was a no brainer you had to use what was in your camera, so the decision was made earlier when you loaded film in your camera. With digital you can make a choice in post processing. Many photographer shoot in color and convert to black and white with the computer though the digital cameras can shoot black and white. I am one who tends to convert to black and white with the computer because that way I can make the decision based off what I think looks best for the photo. Most of the photographs I take do not make great black and white photographs but there are some that the color was a so so photo but the black and white was far superior.

Why would one choose black and white? There are many reasons. One reason is that black and white enhance elements of the photograph that color does not. Another reason that the photographer may be trying to create a mood. Still another is trying to give the feeling of a by gone era. Still some photographers just love to work with black and white. There is right or wrong reason for deciding to work with black and white instead of color it is up to the choice of the photographer.

The photographs I am going to share are actually the same photograph only one is the black and white version and the other is color. I think that the black and white version is the better version of the two. I took this photo of the spider web along Boyson Trail early one foggy morning last week using my 100mm Macro lens. The settings for the camera were iso 100, f/11, 1/12sec. Yes, I have actually been carrying my tripod a mile down the trail so I could use it. This thing that caught my eye about this spider web was the shape, size and symmetry and then there was the lovely dew all over the web and near by branches.

Here is the color version of the spider web. It is a nice photograph but it I felt that the green was taking attention from the wonderful dew covered spider web and the drops on the branches.

Here is the black and white version. This one I feel is much better because the spider web is the center of the attention with the plants taking more of a back seat to the spider web.

There is nothing wrong with the color but in this case I feel that the black and white version is the better version because you see the spider web first and the black and white emphasize the lines of the web that are coated with the dew. While you do see the web in the color version I don't feel that the lines of the dew covered web are as strong while the plants are trying to capture your attention.

As to how I converted the photo from color to black and white I used Adobe Elements and clicked on the convert to black and white and then played with the different black and white settings until I was happy with it. I did do some editing to the contrast and brightness in both the color and black and white versions. I know that you can do this in Adobe Lightroom, I have done black and white conversions in Lightroom, and in Photoshop and probably in all photo editing software. I choose to use Elements because I am used to using it.

If you get a chance take time and have fun playing with black and white versions of some of your photos.

Robotics: taking sports pictures in low light

This past weekend was the kickoff for the FTC, FIRST Tech Challenge, 2012-2013 season. I was one of the photographers for FTC Iowa at the event.

This is a great program because it gets kids interested in Engineering, Computers, Math, Designing and Sciences through hands on experience. At the beginning of the season the game is revealed and the kids have to design and build a robot so they can compete against other teams at competitions. The FIRST organization has programs from elementary with Jr. Lego League through High School Robotics. It is also a great way for adults get to involved by helping with a team. You do not have to be an engineer or scientist only be willing to work with the kids. I am also photographer with our local high school teams. To learn more about FIRST you go to their website: FIRST Robotics. For the Iowa FTC you can go to: FTC Iowa. For more about my local high school teams: Linn Mar Robotics. Infomerical over now back to photography.

As a photographer of sports events you often have bad lighting and there is nothing you can do to improve it. If you are inside you usually have to adjust your white balance because of the color of the lights. The lighting may not be one type of lighting but several with areas that may be almost too bright. I have also often found that you often can not use flash or any other added lighting and if they do allow flash you are too far away for it to do any good. So the only thing you can do is to have a lens that can do well in low light and set your camera with a high iso and fast shutter. Even then you might still have problems with pictures being underexposed and lots of noise.

The photos I am going to share are three from this past Saturday. I really likes these because they show the kids intensity and expressions shortly after finding out what this season's game was, "Ring It Up". The kids in the photos are from my high school local teams.

The first photo is of three members of the team looking at the rings that are the playing piece of the game. The challenge of this photo was that the light in the room was very low and there was a light shining off a balcony that caused a bit of lens flare. The photo is a little noisy but still acceptable. I was using my Canon EF-S18-135mm lens. My settings for this photo were: iso 3200, f/3.5, 1/32sec. I wish that I could have used a lower iso, but this was the only way to get the photos.

The second photo is of the young man in the red shirt. He was at a different area of the field looking the rings and the holder there. I love the expression on his face. The photo is a little noisy and my camera almost wasn't fast enough to capture the shot before he moved. I do not ask the kids to be pose for me I work around them getting the shots as they are doing their thing. A challenge on this photo was not just the low lighting in the room but there was a bit of filtered light coming through the glass doors but the lighting that was filtering was not natural light but light from another room that had something else going on. The settings for this photo were: iso3200, f/3.5, 1/32sec.

My last photo is of one of the members measuring the plywood base that is in the center of the field. This area was better lit but as you can see from the shadows it was not centered on the field instead it was off to one side. The team was measuring all the different parts of the field so they when they build their own practice field they will know exactly how the official one was built. I love how intense the young man was he was oblivious to what was around him. My settings for this photo were iso 3200, f/4.0, 1/100sec

The biggest challenge was the lighting and not able to use a flash. I could have used a flash at a small part of this event but unfortunately my flash decided that this was the day to die. Even if I had been able to use a flash I still would have not have been able to at most of the event because of situation. The photos at the field would still had to be without a flash because of the situation. During the competitions I am not able to use a flash at all because it is distracting for the kids and officials during the matches.

Saturday morning marco photo walk

This past Saturday one of the photo clubs I am a member of had a Macro photo walk at a local park. We decided that it should be held at 6:30am so we could get out and shoot before the bugs became too active and the breeze started up. We have several members show and had a good time.

All these photos were shot using my Canon Macro 100mm f/2.8 lens. All of these were shot using natural light.

My first photo from the day is of an orange bug on a yellow flower. I like this photo because of the way the light was on him and the edge of the flower. My setting were: iso 200, f/3.5, 1/100sec

My second photo is of a spider. I like the way he was sitting there with the light hitting him. I would have liked to have taken him from a slightly different angle but he moved when I moved. My setting were: iso 200. f/3.5, 1/100sec

My third photo is of the spider's web. This was a bit of a challenge because I could not get all the web in focus because my depth of field was too shallow and the water I misted it with kept evaporating very fast. My setting were: iso 200, f/3.5, 1/320sec

My last photo is of a bee. He was very active and was a bit of challenge to get one that I liked. My setting were: iso 200, f/5.6, 1/160sec

All of these photos were very minimally edited, most of these have not even cropped.

Out early one morning

This past week it has been much nicer so I have been out more to taking photographs. I have been heading to near by park first thing in the morning sometimes before coffee. Usually this time of year the parks flower beds are over flowing with flowers but this year they are not doing as well because of the very hot and dry weather we have been having.

Here are some that I took Friday morning at Noelridge park using my Macro lens using natural light. The reason I chose these to share is that they are bright and cheerful to me.

Here is a Sunflower. I like the way the leaves are pointing both right and left and that there are still a few dew drop still on it. My settings for this photo were: iso 200, f/11, 1/80sec

Here is a bee on a Sunflower. My setting for this photo were: iso 400, f/11, 1/125sec

Here is a close up of the same bee. My setting for this photo were: iso 400, f/11, 1/64sec

Here is the center of a lily with an ant on the petal near the center. I just love the color of this photo. My settings for this photo were: iso 400, f/11, 1/50sec

Macro photography

Macro photography is very close up photography often getting details and images that are not possible any other way. This is a type of photography that intrigues me and I am trying to learn to do better. I love working with macro and while I am not that great at it I am getting better with it as I learn how to see the images and work with the lens.

My macro lens was the lens I bought as soon as I could afford it after buying my camera. I have the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I would have loved to have bought the 100mm f/2.8L but that was not in the budget and I was told by several photographers who do wonderful macro work that the lens I bought was terrific. I have to agree that it is a very sharp lens.

Here is an early attempt with the macro lens. Chocolate Covered Cherry, the setting were iso 800, f/4.0, 1/12sec

 While I like the photo I can see how I could have improved it. My iso was was too high, my f stop way too low, I should have positioned my lighting better and a slightly different angle would have made it more interesting.

As I have played with the macro lens outside as well as inside. Here is a dandelion puff that I took in my yard. The settings for this photograph were iso200, f/11, 1/40sec

In this photograph I like how you can sense the silkiness of the dandelion puff while seeing the detail of the puff, but the problem with this is the background. I should have been in a different angle. The green/white line is very distracting. While I would have loved to try again shooting the dandelion puff I was not able to because we did not have more in our yard or many of the normal places this year because of the weather.

I played with the very close up as well. This is a circuit board that we had lying around the house. The settings for this photo was iso200, f/5.6, 1/32sec

This photo does show an improvement in my ability to handle the lens and is better that the others there are still a couple of things I would change. I would use a more indirect but even lighting maybe even a back lighting at the same time. I think that this would bring out the colors of capacitors. I love the intricacy of circuit boards. They are often tiny works of art but there is something about this photo that is sterile and a bit boring to me.


This last one is a rose that was part of a bouquet that my husband gave me. The setting for this photo are iso200, f/11, 1/6sec

One of my recent ones was an experimental one because I was playing with my reflector and using a desk lamp for the light source. I am please with the depth of field, the color, the shadows and the background. To allow me to control the camera and lighting easier I used my cable release for my shutter. On this photo I sprayed the rose to create more texture but I think I went a bit overboard with the spray. I do think I need more practice.

I decided to try again with the rose, a couple of days later, only this time be a bit further away and use only one drop of water. The setting for this rose are iso200, f/11, 1.0sec

I like the drop falling off but think that even thought I also was trying to diffuse the lighting a bit the shadows are a bit harsh but I still like this photo.


As you can see there is a definite improvement with each photo but there is still lots of room of improvement and experimentation in my adventures in Macro photography.

Fireworks Again

I tried shooting fireworks earlier this summer at a Kernels baseball game but the photos were not the long tails that and brilliant lights that we associate with fireworks.

My problems was that my iso was too high, my f stop too low and my shutter too fast and needed a tripod to hold the camera.

I had another chance on July 4. We, my family and I, decided to go to the Kernels game and watch the fireworks they had. We also were able to see the Cedar Rapids Downtown ones from the game as well and occasionally there were other fireworks going off.

This time I lowered my iso to 100, raised my f stop to f/11, and used my shutter remote to have the exposures of 2 seconds or longer. While I was not able to take in my tripod I was able to take my monopod. These were  much better.

This was one at the very beginning when the field lights were not completely dimmed. I really like the the field in the foreground with the fireworks with long tails in the back and the starring of the fireworks just before they exploded.

The next two are during the Kernels firework show with the downtown fireworks in the background.

The next two are after the Kernels fireworks show ended but the downtown one was still going on. These were further away and we had a little bit of monopod movement but I like the effect it gave to these.

These are a lot more interesting that my previous attempt with fireworks. I can still see a lot of room for improvement but these are so much better. A tripod would have been better because they are much stabler than a monopod but the monopod made these possible because there was no way I could have hand held my camera for these. Also using my shutter release cable allowed my to have longer exposures without adding any movement from pressing the shutter release button on the camera.

Photo contests

It is that time of the year. The beginning of Photo Contest season. It seems to me that it starts in summer and goes through the end of the year. Many contests in the same area will stagger them so people can enter several of them using the same photos.

I do like to enter some contests for various reasons but the main ones being is seeing what other photographers are doing, seeing how well I am doing technically to other photographers and getting feedback from others. There is no guarantee to any photography contest because, as with all arts, the judging always is subjective. It can be technically perfect and lose out to one that is not as perfect but it really appeals to the judges. Often times the only feedback you get is looking at the other photographs but by seeing what was judged the best at the show can help you improve your photography or see what trends are popular, one show does not show a trend but several do.

Recently I have entered photographs into two contests, The Iowa State Fair Photography Salon and the Linn County Fair. I will not know if any of my photos were accepted for the State Photography Salon much less placed until late July, there was a limit of 4 photos. I am realistic enough not to expect any of my photos to be accepted into the salon.

The County Fair was this weekend and I did well. All ten of my photos were hung and 3 placed in their categories. I did noticed that in many of the categories that the very colorful, almost over saturated, photos did better that the ones that were less colorful. While one of my Black and Whites did well, for the most part B&Ws did not do well. I also noticed that while the county allowed any size photo up to 11X14 almost everything that placed was 11x14 or matted up to that size. I have noticed that in most contests the larger photos do better and many are now requiring the outer dimensions to be 11X14.

I placed first in Creative Enhanced. The photograph is an HDR of Mission Espada, this is in San Antonio, TX, that was printed on metallic paper. The metallic paper really made the photo pop. This one was the only one of my photos that had judges comments- "Excellent use of HDR, Choice of metallic paper really gives this piece and embossed feeling!"

I placed second in Nature. The photograph is of a Door County, WI Fish Boil. This photo has very little editing. Mainly just a little bit of cropping. This was also printed on metallic paper which made the flames look almost 3D. The reason I choose Nature as the category was that this was it fit best.

I also had another second place photo. This one was in the Still Life. It is a Black and White of Wild Rye. This was taken at Wickiup Hill. I choose this one as a Black and White because I liked how the Black and White brought out the  graceful lines of the plant where as the color was boring.

As you can see these are each a very different style from each other but each of them appealed to the judges in one way of another.

HDR

HDR, High Dynamic Range, is becoming a very popular technic of processing photographs. It is a process of allowing a greater dynamic range from the very light highlights to the very dark shadows. This is usually done by taking several shots at different f stops, this is called bracketing, then stacking them and adjusting the composite image with special software. The image resulting can look more like the eye sees to be something totally abstract or anything in between depending on the images and the photographer.

I have played with this technic a little bit with varying success. I think that my most successful HDR is of the inside of San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio. The photograph was taken about 2pm on a very sunny day so the light coming through the stained glass windows washed out most of the colors. I still need to reedit this photo and add the window with all its colors back into it.

It is comprised of 3 sections, right middle and left each with 3 brackets so a total of 9 photos were used. The method I used in processing this photograph was to process each section as an HDR then merge them together. This allowed me to work on keeping the halos down around the windows. I think I did a pretty good job on managing the halos and keeping it natural looking.

When I tried merging the sections together and then merge the brackets together as an HDR I was not happy with the results. It did not look right to me.

That is the nice thing about computers. You can try working with the photos in different ways and if you are not happy you do not have to save it while keeping your original files safe.

Does HDR work for all images. No, it is just another tool in the photographers toolbox to use when needed. I have seen HDR photographs by other photographers and while some have been amazing others have been awful. It really depends on the image and the photographer if this technic adds or subtracts from the photograph.

I hope that by next week I will have edited the photos I took on a recent trip so I can share them.

Orchids

Reccently I went to a local greenhouse during the week and was able to take pictures of some of their flowers. I usually like to be able to move the flowers around a little so I can get the best angle for the picture but this time I was not allowed to touch at all. So I had to try to get a good angle.

This Orchid photo was one of several that I took. I like how one bloom was in focus with the others less so and the background as totally out of focus. It has to me a peaceful garden look. I had a couple of people suggest that I should have tried a vertical photo. Maybe next time.

The settings for this photo was iso 400, f/5.6. 1/400sec

This next photo is of a Dragon Orchid. I am not as happy with this photo because I could not get futher away from it or an angle that I was happy with. This was one if I could have turned the pot a bit I could have moved a bit and gotten a better photo. Sometimes this is how life goes.

The settings for the Dragon Orchid photo was iso 400, f/11. 1/160sec

Trying Fireworks

Recently we went to a Minor League Baseball game, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, and after the game they had fireworks. They have fireworks after games through out the season so I can go back and try fireworks again and again.

I took pictures of the games and fireworks but want to share the firework photographs. I was hand holding the camera for all of these shots. I will talk about how I could improve them after the photos.

Fireworks one. iso 800, f/3.5, 1/20sec

Fireworks two. iso 800, f/3.5 1/20sec

Fireworks three, iso 800, f/3.5, 1/10sec

All of these photos have the same problems.

1- I had my shutter speed too slow. I should have had it at 2-4 sec which means that I would have needed a tripod of someplace to set my camera.
2- too low of f stop. A higher f stop would have helped because I would not over expose the image with a slower shutter speed.
3- lower iso. This would have allowed for longer shutter, lower noise and better quality image.

If I had done these I would have had more colors and longer tails which would be more interesting to look at and come closer to what we see with our eyes.

In images one and two more in the foreground would have helped make a more interesting by giving more dimension to the images, where as image 3 had things in the background that added interest.

I will try again with fireworks and share my results. While I did not photograph the firework well I did learn what I did wrong so I can improve next time.

A Beginning

I am going to try blogging again. This time I am going to write about something I have fun with and want to improve my skill at- Photography.

I am not much or a portait photographer but I do love taking photos of architure, nature and things around me. I am getting more into Macro photography.

Not all my posts will have photos but at least one a week will be a photograph. My assignment for the year is to post a photograph a week. This does not mean that all the photos will be good. It does mean that for one reason or another this is a photograph that I want to share. It maybe that there were mistakes in the photo or I am trying a new technique or it is one I like or it could be that I think it is good.

I will appreciate all comments, others looking and commenting on my work as well as passing on tips and links will help me to improve as a photographer.

As to my camera. I am using a Canon T2i. It fits my hands well and was afforable and has been very dependable. I have had very good luck in the past with Canon cameras. I have an old Canon Powershot that I took on a trip and unfortunately it was dropped on to a tiled concret floor several times and continued to work for a few more years.

My lens are: a EF-S 18-135mm and Canon EF 100mm Macro. I am looking at other lens but right now I have to wait a bit before I can buy another lens. I occassionally rent lens to try out so I can decide which lenses I would like to buy and will post my results and my opinion of the lens.

I think that I have rambled enough. Welcome to this adventure of this dangerous combination: A Mom (me) and a Camera.