Photagraphs in the Rain

Sometimes the Niagara Region is somewhat like Western Oregon: if you wait for the rain to stop to go outside to do

Photo of wet leaves

something, then you may be waiting a while.  Son #3 and I decided to go out in the misty rain last week and we got some amazing shots.  Most of our pictures were later in the day and we hiked down into the Niagara Glen.  It is a great walk and if you are visiting Niagara Falls be sure to take the hike down to the river.  It is a bit of work getting back up but it is free and is worth the effort.

A little up the road from there is the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens.  We wanted to take some shots but there was still a fine mist coming down but we thought that anyone could take pictures in the sunshine and we would “take the path less travelled” and we did get some very nice pictures as a result.  The photo I have posted is obviously not even of flowers but to show that there can be wonderful images almost anywhere in any climate.

Son #3 took the photo of the leaves.

More about Black and White Photography

Light.  And Dark.  And all the shades in between.  What happens is that your pictures are too ‘dull’ or too contrasty?  Take some photos of light colored flowers against a light background and depending on the colours they don’t stand out.  When the sun is bright and shining on your subjects parts

flower black and white

Brightness and Contrast in your photos

Black and White 40's style glamor

One of the things that I do regularly now that I’m in the digital age is to increase the brightness and contrast on almost all of my photos.  I will open the file, do any touch ups and then increase the brightness and contrast.  This basic function will be in any photo editing software be it PhotoShop, Paint Shop Pro or inexpensive or even free software.  If I have planned to convert the picture to black and white, I will do these steps first.   You will have to play around with the adjustments but once you get a setting you like and you have taken a series of pictures you will probably find that you can use the same settings for that whole series.

Photographing Children

I love to photography children.  They are so alive and interested in their environment.  That also sometimes makes it more difficult to get a good picture as well.  Particularly in the studio.

As a solution, I often take families out for walks in a park or some such which is great for the kids. This way I get a lot of good candid shots.  They will be xploring, I set up the shot, call for their attention and ‘click’ – there’s the shot.  Do this with a family for an hour or so and you will have many memorable pictures.  Make sure that you chat with different members of the family as you are on the walk.  This way they will be more comfortable with you and the pictures will be more natural.

Things My Mother Taught Me About Photography

My mother was one of those people who took lots of pictures and cared about what she was shooting. She actually would submit her pictures to contests and win prizes. The first thing she said to me about taking pictures was “watch your background”. Told more than once, I daresay – like many other thing that were hounded into my thick skull. You might say, “Watch your background – Well of course!! Who wouldn’t?” Yeah, I know, but one needs to look further – see what resulted from that simple command.

When you are watching the background, hopefully you are really looking at the whole picture. That’s what this imperative got me to doing: looking. Instead of just pointing away willy nilly with the camera, even as a youngster I tended to slow down and look. This fared me well later in life when I was in India visiting my father. You can see photos of that India trip here. I’ll tell you more about how and why later.

Even as a child the photos that had fewer and fewer clothlines and spires sticking out the tops of people heads. Not only that with the simple drill of looking the composition naturally became more attractive.

Nor did it hurt that my siblings and I had use of a camera that used 2 ¼ film. We really had no idea of how fortunate we were. I never really notice what others were using so didn’t know what was being generally used back then.

So the next time you pick up a camera and rush out to take pictures of the cousins from Nebraska , slow down a bit and look – tell me if you can see what the camera sees.

Photo Tips

Hello everybody – Hope you enjoy! Visit my photo site at Martin Glyn Jones Photo Site