We conned a work colleague, Steve, to go out at o’dark thirty to shoot photos with his new Nikon D90.  This was his first photowalk with his camera, and we wanted to give him plenty of subjects to shoot.  As usual, we inserted a theme to our shoot and a little internal photo contest between ourselves.  Steve was given no handicap for being the new guy – military guys don’t work that way.

“Hey, Steve, there’s a big building to your right that’s kinda famous.”  

Mark put his macro lens on his camera and started shooting close ups of the blossoms.  This brings to mind my easy answer to the question, “which camera is the best one to buy?”  Buy the one that your shooting buddies have.  You’ll get lots of free advice about the camera, and you can borrow accessories, like a lens you don’t have.  I loaned Steve my macro lens, so he could get in there closer to the petals.

Just to be different, I shot some pear blossoms.  You know some people just have to be ornery….

As I mentioned earlier, the Washington and Jefferson monuments can be seen from the tidal basin.  We all took shots of them, incorporating a few cherry blossoms, just to be sure to meet the theme requirements.  We all approached the subject differently – one of the benefits of shooting with others is the opportunity to see the many different ways a subject can be interpreted.

On our way out, I found this scene and grabbed a few shots.  Nothing terribly original, but pleasant nonetheless.

You need to get out there and use your camera in order to get photographs.  It doesn’t matter where you venture, just go shoot.  This was a fun little photo session for all three of us.  Off we went, to Arlington National Cemetery, scene of Mark’s most recent blog.    Steve took this final shot there with the cherry blossom theme still in mind.

The main concern is light.  There is an over-abundance of light. It’s bouncing around the pretty little snowflakes and can fool the meter in your camera.  If you’re a point-and-shooter, see if you have a snow setting on your menu; they adjust the light and usually change the white balance.  DSLRs don’t have such settings, so you want to prepare before you head out.  You need to overexpose by .5 to 1.5 stops to get things right.  Once you set your exposure compensation to positive EVs, you should check the LCD to ensure you have things where you want them.  You can make further refinements in Lightroom, Aperture, or whatever you use for post-processing, but getting it right in the camera is always the best option.

As always, feel free to break rules that don’t fit the situation.  Let the highlights blow out if you feel it adds to your picture.  Here, I wanted to maximize the bright (obnoxiously bright) pink hat on Granddaughter2, so I let the light pour in.  You can see the yellow, reflecting from her hood, changing the pink to orangish.  I shot it this way on purpose.  This gives the photo a high key (very bright) effect.

In direct light, your camera may have a tendency to be a little bluish, especially in the shadows.  This is, again, pretty easy to adjust out.  If you’re shooting in RAW, you’ll be able to have the extra flexibility available there, but you can make some adjustments in JPG, as well.  For example, the picture on the left is from my film days.  After I digitized it, I noticed a distinctly blue cast to the photo.  I had to live with it in the film days, but not any more.  I fixed both of these photos in post.

Of course, sometimes the blue belongs.  Glaciers have a great blue color from the density of the ancient, pressure-packed snow.  This is another film image from my time in Alaska, courtesy of the US Army.  I plan another trip there, this summer.  To give you a feeling for the scale, that boat is 85 feet long.

Snow can be a good place to look for abstract shapes and forms.  The snow adds uniformity to the scene and can cover a lot of the distractions normally there.  Set a low shutter speed to catch the snowflakes blurred.

So don’t just sit inside when the snow hits.  Go out and have fun with your camera.  When you come back in, make sure you wipe it down with a soft cloth to remove any moisture.

The final shot is a gratuitous plug for son-in-laws who help out the wife’s old man.   Sure glad they showed up this weekend: they brought the grandkids; and I’m getting too lazy to shovel 30″ of snow.  Thanks!

PS.  If you’re on Facebook, you can become a fan of our blog at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/home.php?filter=pp.  We will soon have a link where you can purchase photos from both of us.  We’ll let you know when we have that in place.

So today, I had some personal business in the morning and wanted to just gather my thoughts for the afternoon.  I headed out to the Shenandoah Valley through the lovely town of Sperryville to catch the tail end of the fall foliage.  It peaked last week and would have been nice, but cold soaking rain is not my favorite. 

In Sperryville, next door to the general store is a maple tree, resplendent in orange and gold.  The sun was a little bit high in the sky, but I was able to filter the light for some nice backlighting.  

Across the way, a small B&B had the pumpkins on the porch, and the porch had a view of the tree.

Up and across the Blue Ridge to the river—didn’t see grandma’s house anywhere.  It’s tough, sometimes to get good photos here as the persistent haze is what gives the mountains their name.  A little boast on the clarity slider on an applied gradient, helps cut through to see the distant colors. 

Finally, back home.  Folks, don’t forget to really look around your own back, or in this case front yard for fall color.  I planted this Japanese Maple, 6 years ago and have watched it grow with the house. 

I shot a bunch of pictures from the river overlook with the intention of building a panorama.  We’ll see how that turns out, if it works I’ll write about it.  Oh, if not, it will never be seen.  That is the last tip for today, if you want people to believe you are a good photographer, don’t show off your bad or average work.  Be selective, very selective.