A Giveaway Like No Other

Help me spread the word!!!

Check out the giveaway here. Hope one of you wins!

Thanks!

P.S. I'll let you know about our photography group this month. My hubby just got another job and we're trying to get our schedules all figured out. I'll keep you updated.....

Better late than never...

Direct Light

(or at least as much direct sunlight as you can get on a cloudy winter day) Indirect Light
Catchlights

Please pardon the Kool Aid and chocolate stains

on my subject's mouth.

My little friend needed a bit of BRIBERY

(which I was not above)

in order to help me with my homework.

Guess What!?

Guess what!?

We are going to have a special guest speaker come to our next photography group class!!!

I am so excited! I have been following her blog for a while now and she has agreed to come and speak to our class! Her name is Jessica and you can see her here. Woo hoo! Tell your friends, bring your neighbors - it's time to get back in the saddle again and take some pictures!!

Let's Party!

Wednesday, January 27th, 8:30 pm -- MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!!

Challenge:
* Work on your "homework"
* Take lots and lots of pictures. Take advantage of those windows. Turn off your flash, bump up your ISO if you need to (if the pictures are blurry), and snap away! Go outside on a cloudy day - those clouds are GREAT diffusers! Wrap up your kids in the cutest scarfs, gloves and hats and get CLOSER!!!! I would love to see what you've got!
* Try this: Put your child in direct light and take a picture. Put same child out of the light (this can usually be done by taking a few steps away from the window) and take another picture.

* I'll try and draw some diagrams of our official homework. I know we were a bit confused on the whole perpendicular/parallel stuff (what was I thinking!?) :)

* Post some of your pics. I love when you share!

Homework Challenge

These are all out of order but here they are.

Challenge 2...Catchlights

Challenge 3...Parallel and Perpendicular???

(I'm not sure if she's exactly parallel to the window, but I'm definitely perpendicular to the window). :)

Challenge 1...

Direct Light
Indirect Light.

I can't remember how to meter for the background light vs. metering on the subject so I don't have one to show. Julie do you have an example and a quick way to explain how to do it (again)?

Shooting Indoors

Thanks everyone for coming last night!! It was great to back in the saddle again and talking about photography. Here's a recap of the powerpoint last night:

Indoor Photography can be a bit tricky. Usually there’s not enough light to get a “good” result. Because of this, we have to make some sacrifices to get the photos that we want.

Sacrifices:

•ISO – (the light sensitivity) We have to turn up our ISO to get the shot, but this causes our pictures to be grainy. If you do shoot with a high ISO, you can turn your picture to black and white to help.
•Do you remember what ISO is?
•ISO, or film speed, is really just a setting to determine how quickly an image will be captured by either the film or digital sensor.
•It uses numbers such as:
100, 200, 400, 800, etc.

•Depth of Field – You can choose a lens with a lower f/stop. A 50mm f1.8 is affordable and lightweight. This allows your camera lens to open up really wide and thus a faster shutter speed to take better pictures in a darker environment.

•Shutter Speed – “As discovered through the challenges a flash will help to ‘freeze’ the action, but a flash also comes with its own limitations and/or complications. A tripod can be helpful, though sometimes hard to reposition quickly.”

•Color of the light – you can create a custom white balance or choose the appropriate wb setting for the environment (tungsten for normal lights).

So, what do we do?

•I say make the most of NATURAL LIGHT!
•Find it. Be aware of where the natural light is in your home.
•Indirect vs. Direct Light
•Indirect provides a well-lit area that doesn’t have the strong shadows, or contrast, of direct light. This is what you want!
•If you don’t have it, use sheer curtains or blinds to block the direct light.

INDIRECT LIGHT

DIRECT LIGHT

Of course there will be times when you will just need to use your flash. We talked about that a while ago, but here are some highlights:

•Move your subject as far away from walls as possible.
•Don’t stand too close to your subject, or he/she will get “washed” out.
•“A good rule of thumb is to keep your subject as least 5-6 feet in front of you, with at least that much behind the subject and the closest wall.”
•Meter on the subject as much as possible.
•Remember, your camera’s flash has an effective range of about 10-12 feet.
•If you try to shoot something further away than that, you will only light up the foreground while the background will be dark.
•Look at the surfaces in front of you.
•A glass, shiny, or mirrored surface is going to reflect the flash.
•If someone has eye glasses, have them tilt their glasses down by lifting the part of the glasses that goes over their ears.
•You want to avoid the evil red eye.
•This is when the flash is reflected off the back of the retina.
•You can use the red eye reduction (small bursts of flash).
•Have the person look just a little over your shoulder instead of directly into the lens.
•Produce more light so the black part of the eye shrinks down.

Back to Natural Light…

•Windows and doors are great places to find natural light.
•Place your subject parallel to the light while you are perpendicular to the light.
•OR… Have your subject facing the window while you are sitting with your back to the window.
•Both create beautiful catchlights!!

Make sure to…

•Open your aperture as far as it can go (the lowest number). Remember the teeter tater? The more open the aperture, the faster the shutter speed.
•If you don’t want to shoot in manual mode, use your Aperture Priority Mode to set your aperture.
•Be prepared to have some blurry pictures from moving objects.

If you dare to shoot in Manual Mode…

•Do you remember when we talked about using fill flash and some of the pictures were over exposed? Here’s the deal. You have to pay attention to your metering.
•If you are indoors and your subject is in front of a bright window, you can do one of two things:
•Expose for the background and use a fill flash for your subject OR expose for your subject and have the background overexposed.

Your CHALLENGE:

•We are going to take advantage of our windows this month!
•You can use any type of camera this month, but do not use your flash.

Choose one or all of the following options for taking your photos:

1.Position your subject in direct light and then reposition your subject in indirect, or filtered light.

2. Capture catchlights – have your subject face the window while you’re sitting or standing with your back to the window.

3. Position your subject so that he/she/it is parallel to the window, while you are perpendicular to the window.
4. For those with SLRs or digital SLRs: If you can adjust the exposure meter on your camera, try metering for the background light vs. metering on your subject and setting the exposure for your subject. Also note that you could use a wall in the room or the floor to set your expose meter.

A Little Halloween Treat

•How to shoot pumpkins and a practice with ISO.

(First turn off your flash)
•Turn your ISO up to 200 and take a picture.
•Turn your ISO up to 400 and take another picture.
•Turn your ISO up to 800 and take another.
•What happens?

If you are trying to take pictures of a lit pumpkin:

1. Use a tripod.

2. Turn your ISO up to 800.

3. Turn off your flash.

I'm Baaa-aaack!

Okay, I must apologize folks. There really is no excuse for not having photography group. SO..... I'm sorry and let's get on with it!!!!!

Next meeting:

Wednesday, October 28th

8:30 pm

We will be talking about taking pictures outdoors and indoors. It will be GREAT!!!! Bring your cameras. Bring your friends. Bring some treats. Bring some paper and a pen for notes and let's start taking some pictures again!!! Same place. Same time. Questions: e-mail me at: taggartphotography@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Also, if you haven't posted any pictures for a while, POST THEM!! I would love to see some of your work and what you're doing to improve your pictures!

Ta ta for now.

Julie

Photography Group TONIGHT

Just a reminder of our photography group tonight at 7 pm at the Cedar Hills Park - you can see more information by scrolling down below the "Composition" post. Hope to see you all there! It should be fun (any excuse to get together, right?) ;)

Bring your cameras and if you want, your families!

Composition

Last night's class for a lot of fun - it's so great having you all at my house laughing and having a good time! Thanks for coming. Here's the presentation. I'll add some more pictures later (no time this morning). If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks!

COMPOSITION -
“The artistic arrangement of the parts of a picture.”
Oxford American Dictionary

•Remember, these are just “guidelines” not hard-core “rules.”
•Photography is an art – and the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
•You might like a certain picture style and not others. That’s okay.
•You can decide what you like best.

Good news! This month’s lesson is for ANYONE – regardless of the type of camera. These are all ideas you can use even if you want to shoot in Auto mode (but I hope you don’t).

One of the best ways, in my opinion, of learning about composition is to find a picture you like. Study the picture and try to figure out why you like it.

Photo courtesy of Christie

Does it have good lighting? Does it have an unusual angle or lines? Are the color unique or different?What do your eyes do when you look at the picture?Now, try to copy that picture. See if you can replicate it.

Photo courtesy of Stephanie

BUT FIRST>>> Just in time for the 4th of July......

Tips for Shooting Fireworks:Bring a tripod and flashlight to the fireworks display. It's dark and you'll need longer exposures, so use the tripod to avoid blurry pictures. The flashlight will help you adjust your camera settings in the dark. Taken from: Cory Adams Photography

Set your camera to Fireworks mode (if you have that feature), which will automatically take care of the settings. If you don't have Fireworks mode, set your camera to

Manual mode:

ISO 200,

aperture f/8, and

shutter speed between 5 and 15 seconds.

After you take a few pictures, take a look at how they are turning out, and adjust the shutter speed accordingly (leave the ISO and f-stop alone).

Include a landmark in the photo, such as a statue, stadium, park, lake, or whatever the surrounding area includes. As the fireworks explode, they will light up the landmark beautifully.Take a lot of pictures! You can take over 100 pictures and only keep 2 great ones. The more pictures you take, the greater chance you have of capturing the perfect shot. Be a ruthless editor; you only need one or a few photos to frame and share!

Remember that fireworks come fast and furious during the finale of the show. Therefore, you may need to decrease your shutter speed. 15 seconds will likely be overexposed during the finale. Try 5 seconds instead.

Now, on to the show…Don’t worry if these look familiar, we are going to review the“10 Ways to Improve Your Pictures” first, and then we’ll add some more at the end.

1. Get CLOSER. In my opinion, the number one thing you can do to improve your pictures is to move in closer.
Use your zoom.
Step in closer.
Don’t be afraid to cut off heads.
Fill the view finder with the subject.
Keep your arms close to your body and take a deep breath, hold it, and then take the picture. This will help prevent blurry pictures.

2. Avoid Cluttered Backgrounds
•Look behind your subject to make sure he doesn’t have a tree or pole growing out of his head.
•The more simple the background, the better. A cluttered background will be distracting while a simple/plain background will emphasize your subject.

3. Rule of Thirds

•Keep the main point of interest away from the middle.
•Pretend there is a tic tac toe board in your viewfinder. Put the main interest at one of the intersections of those lines.
•You will have to lock your focus and then move your subject off center. This is done by pushing the button half way.

•Don’t put your subject dead center in the picture. Lock your focus by pushing the button down half way and then recompose the picture.
•THE EXCEPTION, in my opinion, is with group pictures. If you are shooting more than 2 people, I think it should be centered. You can still lock the focus on their eyes and recompose so there’s not so much head room, but don’t move them off centered.

4. Get down on their level.

•Don’t shoot everything from a standing position.
•If you are shooting kids or animals, get down on their level by getting on your knees or tummy.
•Shoot at eye level.

5. Know your flash

•Avoid red eye by producing more light (shoot outdoors, open window coverings, move your flash off of your camera).
•If your flash only works up to 10’, don’t try to shoot something further away when you have low light.
•Try using your flash outdoors (fill flash). This works well on really sunny or cloudy days. This helps lighten up their eyes and any other shadows caused by the sun.
•Try turning your flash off indoors.

6. Frame Your Subject

•Use trees or a building to help frame out your subject.

7. Try Unusual Angles

•Look for unusual angles by adjusting your camera. Don’t be afraid to be creative.
•If you have a horizon, try to keep it level or your picture will look crooked (like a picture of the temple, ocean, sunset, etc.)
•Also, be sure to keep your horizon true to the rule of thirds. Place it along one of the lines.
•Don’t always shoot horizontal. Turn your camera vertical as well.

8. Watch the Light

•If you are shooting outside, avoid the middle of the day. The best light is sunrise and sunset.
•Cloudy days are good as the light is being filtered through the clouds.
•Try using natural light indoors by placing your subject next to the window. You can use a white cardboard to reflect light on the other side.

9. Look for Interesting Lines

•Fences, roads, railroads, etc. all make good pictures. They help your eyes move to the main subject.
•Look for patterns.

10. Be a Picture Director

•Don’t be passive. Help people look their best.
•Move people around, add props or try different viewpoints (360).
•Bring people’s faces together.
•Take LOTS and LOTS of pictures. The more pictures you take, the better chance you have of getting the “perfect” picture.

•When taking pictures of people, posed pictures aren’t always best. Try to take pictures of people without them knowing or while they’re busy doing something else.
•“Grandma Pictures” – your subject doesn’t always have to be looking at the camera smiling.
•If you can avoid it, don’t tell kids to say “cheese” or “smile”. Tell them a joke. Bark like a dog. Laugh really loud. Get them to smile naturally and you’ll get a much better picture than a forced smile.

Digital Photography School - 5 Elements of Composition:

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-elements-of-composition-in-photography

Patterns, Symmetry, Texture, Depth of Field, Lines

I could go on and on forever!! Just by googling photography & composition, I found ENDLESS ideas. Hopefully this will just give you something to think about as you are taking your pictures.

One Last Thing...
•Rules were meant to be broken (except the commandments)
•Don’t be afraid to try new things – even if it breaks the photography rules.
•Also, don’t forget to read your camera manual. So simple, yet so important.

HOMEWORK
•If you want it, here it is…
•Check the blog for an extensive list of what has been talked about tonight.
•Try to implement a few (if not all) of these composition guidelines.
•Post them on the blog.
•Questions?

Next Meeting

We have persuaded Julie to take us on

another fun photo walk!

Our next meeting will be held on

Wednesday, August 5th,

at 7:00pm

at Heritage Park in Cedar Hills

(4450 W. Cedar Hills Drive)

There are two easy ways to get there:
- Take State Street to 100 East in PG and turn north (at Purple Turtle). Drive north 4.1 miles. Turn left onto Cedar Hills Drive. Park is on the left at the bottom of the hill just before the elementary school.
-You can also take State Street to 2000 W, PG/ 1100 East, AF. Turn north and drive past AF Hospital and Mt. Timpanogos Temple. At the intersection just south of Lone Peak High School, turn right onto Cedar Hills Drive and follow the road through the roundabout. Park is on the right just after the elementary school.

We will meet together first for Julie to present our lesson outdoors, and then we can explore this beautiful park and practice our new skills! Feel free to bring your family and/ or invite your friends. Everyone is invited to bring a potluck dessert to share. (But still come of you don’t have something- I will be bringing yummy carrots and apples to share,

cause I KNOW that’s what you all had in mind when you thought of desserts!)

Hope to see you all there!

(PS- if anyone notices that I am missing any information, will you please add it?)

UPDATE....next meeting.....

For personal reasons, I've decided to postpone our monthly meeting/class until next week.

Wednesday, July 1st, 8:30 pm

Same Place

I'm REALLY excited for this next meeting. If you've never been to one of our meetings or if you know someone who has never come, this is the meeting you don't want to miss!!!

We will be talking about composition. Basically, this is how to compose your pictures to be more pleasing to the eye. This is the lesson I've been waiting to teach since I started this class!! So, even if you're not interested in aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc......, and you're just wanting to improve your pictures, you'll want to make sure and come!

If you have any questions/concerns, please e-mail me at: taggartphotography@gmail.com

Hope to see you there!

Thanksgiving Point Pics... finally!

OK- so I'm a slacker... but I'm still fun!
Here are some of my favorite pics from our photo walk.

Thanks for taking us Julie- it was a lot of fun!

IT'S OFFICIAL!

Check out my new website!

www.jtaggartphoto.com

Woo hoo! I am so excited!

I promise....

Life has been a bit hectic and I'm sorry I haven't posted notes from our last meeting. I promise it will be coming soon.

In the meantime, you can work on your homework! :)

Go out on a sunny day and take a picture with your flash and then without your flash.


Side note: I just found out that there might be a conflict with our next meeting. PLEASE check back here soon and I'll post dates as soon as I get more information.

Oh yea, and this next meeting is not one you'll want to miss! This is the one I've been looking forward to since we started our photography group!!!! Woo hoo! It's all about composition (i.e. how to take good pictures). So, if you know of someone who would like to come - even if they don't want to learn all the technical stuff - bring them! For this class it doesn't matter what kind of camera you have. This is just some general rules/ideas of how to take better pictures. Remember our first meeting and I gave you the 10 ways to improve your pictures? This is it - except in more detail! This is the stuff you can sink your teeth into. The meat. The fun stuff. Okay, you get the idea. Start spreading the word and I'll look more into the dates.

Also, does anyone want to volunteer for the treats?


Julie

Okay, I'm not joking when I say I have "Mommy Brain"

Okay, really, I can't remember.... do we meet on the last WEDNESDAY or THURSDAY of each month? I can't remember................

Photography Challenges

I just joined a photography group online. They have weekly challenges and then you post your pictures on facebook for all to see. This last week's challenge was:

"Statues, Sculptures and Silhouettes, Oh My!"

I decided to post these two pictures from a bridal shoot this last week. They're not my absolute favorite pics from the shoot, but they went along with the theme.

This week's theme is: "We Are Family"

If anyone would like to join, please let me know. We can post our pictures here and/or on facebook. You can interpret the theme any way you want.

Julie

Our Next Meeting

Just a little reminder - our next photography group meeting will be on:

WEDNESDAY, May 27th at 8:30 pm.
Same place. If you'd like to bring a friend/family member with you, please do. I think we're officially over all the super "technical" stuff. We'll be working on some general picture rules and/or composition that anyone can use - no matter the camera. The more the merrier. Does anyone remember who's supposed to bring treats? I can never remember (mommy brain)!

We will be talking about our flashes at this next meeting. Also, bring any ideas with you of places we can go on our next photowalk - it was a lot of fun and I look forward to our next one.

A little challenge before our next meeting: Get out and take some pictures! Lots and lots of them. The more you practice, the better you'll get. Also, try shooting in manual mode. Just for fun. If they don't work out, you can delete them. One more thing - don't be afraid to post some of your pictures here - I really really want to see your works of art!

I look forward to seeing you a week from WEDNESDAY.

Getting Closer -- I mean REALLY close

Lisa, I hope you don't mind. I like this picture for a lot of reasons - and I'm glad you were practicing the "GET CLOSER" technique. First, she's a super cutie - I love that she's eating a colorful donut. So, I thought I'd crop it EVEN closer and see how it looked. I then did a little photoshopping to see what I could come up with. What do you think?

Thanksgiving Point Photowalk

We had such a fun night at Thanksgiving Point last night. Our family LOVES that place! We go about once a week if we can!

Here are some pics: BTW, I post all of my pictures straight out of the camera. I never photoshop any of my pictures for the photography group/class. BUT... just so you know, I almost always photoshop any other pictures. Is anyone interested in having a photoshop class???

I was playing with aperture with these two.

f2.8, 1/1250s, ISO 100 f14, 1/80s, ISO 200

Trying different angles.

We were having so much fun playing with shutter speed. It was a lot more fun than shooting my garden hose in the front yard! Stephanie and Christie shot some amazing pics! Since I didn't bring my tripod, I didn't dare go for the really long shutter speeds.

1/30s, f22, ISO 100

1/2500s, f2.8 ISO 100

What we were really doing..... trying to keep our kids from falling in the water. :)

I love pictures that tell a story. My girls love to make handprints with the water. So cute. Someday those handprints will just keep getting bigger until they lose interest in making them anymore. :(

Stephanie and her hubby taking pictures. You can see her pictures below. Way to go! She's owned her camera for about 2 weeks and has learned what has taken me years to learn!

I was trying to see how many different ways I could shoot the same flower. Here are two of the pictures.

Christie sitting in the Secret Garden.

I was so worried that pigeon was going to drop a bomb on me!

A really close-up picture.

What our little boy was LOVING!!!

I look forward to our next photowalk!!

Thanksgiving Point

This photo walk was a lot of fun, it was hard to pick my favorite pictures!

Shutter Speed

1/4000s - ISO 3200

1/640s - ISO 100

1/8s - ISO 100

Playing with aperture at Thanksgiving Point...

f/22

f/14

f/5.6

Thanksgiving Point Update

Okay, since the only ones that have been in contact with me about Thursday are the ones that aren't able to make it, I'm going to go out on a limb and make a decision.

Hopefully this works for more people....

We will be going on THURSDAY, MAY 14TH at 6 pm.

Please let me know if this will or will not work for you.

Thanks!!!!

Julie

Thanksgiving Point

You are invited to come with our photography group to THANKSGIVING POINT GARDENS on Thursday, May 7th at 6 pm. We will be practicing some of our mad skills in the beautiful setting. Please e-mail me (Julie) at: taggartphotography@gmail.com to let me know if you can make it. The price is $10/adults and $6/kids, but because we have a membership, you will only have to pay half price. Bring your cameras and enjoy a night out! Please check back here for more information as the day gets closer (in case of crazy, stormy weather or for a second date if too many of you from the group can't make it that night). Bring your significant other - it's a great place to have a date!

Here are some pics we took last week at the gardens just for fun.