Book of Love

Here's my recent photo entry taken while relaxing yesterday in my bed. I saw a book and deeply inspired by the song called the "Book of Love" . I've seen the movie "Shall We Dance" (with Richard Gere and Jenifer Lopez) and I love the song featured in that movie. Eventually, I came up with a concept based on the title itself.

My Featured Photos: "SOLITUDE"

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"There are too many little things in life but it's the little things that count."

The photos were shot in Portrush. It was summer of 2006 when we got a chance to see the place. It is Northern Ireland's favourite tourist destination with exceptional beaches and superb restaurants. Portrush is being situated on a mile long peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean on the North coast of Ireland.It is is the surfing capital of Northern Ireland. I used "SEPIA" in the above photo to make the place so dramatic and has a dreamy- like effect.

What's "BOKEH", anyway?

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Heve you ever heard of the word "Bokeh? Bokeh (derived from Japanese boke ぼけ, a noun form of bokeru ぼける, "become blurred or fuzzy") is a photographic term referring to the appearance of out-of-focus areas in an image produced by a camera lens using a shallow depth of field. Different lens bokeh produces different aesthetic qualities in out-of- focus backgrounds, which are often used to reduce distractions and emphasize the primary subject. I used macro lens on the above photo.

My first featured photo

A very good friend insisted that I should frequently feature my "Flickr photos" in this website and write a description about the photo. It would surely be a great idea to start with since I always enjoy doing photography and its challenges!

Top of the list chosen by you all is:

"OVERLOOKING"

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It was Spring of 2006 when I took this photo outside the Belfast Castle in Northern Ireland. It was a beautiful sunny day. Even the weather cooperated! I decided to do a framing in this photo. I used the trees and plants as the frame of my subject(the castle). Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/betchay/122009294/in/set-72057594080025767/

Get Intimate with my Subject

Flowers are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. I have never thought that I become fascinated with flowers until just recently. In a variety of colors, flowers can create a striking details and structures. Here are my shots:

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Seeing with Better Eyes (Good Photography)

The psychology of seeing and how it affects composition. Your eye (and lens) sees something, but your eye is connected to your brain …. which interprets what you see….. it adjusts color balance, ignores un-important things, tries to “edit out” those things you don’t want to see. You now must re-program your mind so that you really do see everything.

• Here’s my sample photo. A simple case in point:

It's your first time to visit Las Vegas and you see one you like and take a snapshot. You see the outstanding hotel when riding along the road…. but not the car window wiper at the bottom, the car mirror above, the lamp post on the right, or even the half cut building on the right…… your mind ignores those distractions for you.

Here’s what you must learn to do: Eliminate unwanted distractions …. either by cropping them out during printing (like I just did) or move in closer and crop them out with the camera and lens.

Or…… you could think about what you really want to show …. walk around, crouch down, look at it harder …. and then shoot.

The point is you must concentrate and think harder about what it is you want to show… and force yourself to see and eliminate those things you don’t want to show. This should become habit…. you should practise doing this with everything that “catches your eye”. Your eye WILL begin to see better … and you will begin to think about the lighting, the angle, the “feel” of those things as you look around. Sometimes you might feel weird or cursed because of the way you “stare at” - study - things, but it is essential that you develop this habit if you really want to get better. To become a true serious amateur or top-notch professional you need to be constantly studying subject matter, light, composition, etc AND figuring out how you want that shot to look in print.

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Source:Photography course

Taking better pictures: Composition

Good composition is essential in photography. It allows you to convey messages and emotions through the images that you shoot. It is easy to achieve by following a few simple guidelines.

Rule of thirds

Learn the "rule of thirds." As you look through your camera's viewfinder, imagine there are lines dividing the image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, essentially dividing your image into nine equal-shaped blocks. Frame your subject at one of the intersection points instead of in the center of the viewfinder, as shown in my own photo illustration.

Framing

Careful framing of your subject can make a dramatic difference in your photos. Remember—every photo has a foreground and background, so use them together to add an interesting element to the shot.

Visual cropping

Crop your photos visually before you take them. Look into the corners of the viewfinder. Do you see things that shouldn't be there? You can remove, or crop, these elements from your photos simply by moving closer to your subject, zooming in on your subject, or moving your subject within the viewfinder. Try different angles. Look for anything that will diminish the impact of unwanted objects in your photos.

Angle of the View

Believe it or not, the best angle for a photo is not always upright and directly in front of the subject. Some of the most interesting photographs are those taken from a unique vantage point. Get down to the level of the flowers before taking the picture. Climb a tree to take a picture of a meadow. Always ask yourself if the photo would look better taken as a landscape or portrait shot. Experiment and try different perspectives. Look for angles that are interesting and demonstrate the mood and inspiration you're trying to capture.

Perspective

To capture the essence of what you experience when viewing a scene, it helps to add an element to your photo to convey this perspective. In the following picture, the vine leaves helps to add an interesting perspective to the scene.

These simple guidelines should help you find your "camera's eye." The key is to experiment and have fun, and the resulting photos will wow anyone who sees them.

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credits: photos by Betchay (All Rights Reserved)

author: Kleber Stephenson

A Series of My Photo Mosaic 1

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Series 1