Trillium and a busy week...

Boy, it's been a busy week! I managed to finish a run yesterday - after a few weeks of short runs on a painful knee. Much better at last. It's nice to be able to run outdoors again, too. :) We also did an upper body workout - and we'll be back at the gym tonight... biking and lower body. Boy oh boy! ;)

Last week's presentation at the Akron Camera Club went very well. Thanks very much to those of you who signed up for our seminar afterwards! We're looking forward to seeing you again! We've also been busy preparing for our June seminar in California, and our August seminar in Ohio. We've had many requests for online classes, so we're working on putting that together as well. We expect to be able to offer our first "Webinar" sometime later this year. We'll keep you posted.

I did manage to get my website updated. My latest travel information is now online, along with workshop information, news, and the like.

Wildflowers

I spent more time shooting with my new 180mm macro than with my wide angle lens on this trip. The Smoky Mountains are beautiful, and we did get some nice evening and morning shots - but we spent some time during the day searching out wildflowers for macro photography. We were there at exactly the right time. Trillium grows everywhere at the lower altitudes - white, pink, and yellow varieties. We also found Columbine, Buttercups, Irises, and a thousand flowers I can't name. That's Wild Columbine (aquilegia canadensis) on the right and Yellow Trillium (trillium luyeum) below.
I could have been perfectly happy to spend another week wandering through the woods. :)

The trick with shooting flowers is to find an angle that allows you to capture the flower with green leaves in the background. Most of the time, the flowers are pretty close to the ground, so unless you are shooting from above, you need to get very close to the ground. Use a tripod that can go as low as possible, and lie down if you need to. Don't mind the bugs - as my mother always said... "They're more afraid of you than you are of them." (Of course, all bets are off if the bug has eight legs.)

A shallow depth of field blurs the background, and lets the flower stand out. The center of the flower should be in perfect focus - that's not as easy as you think. :) Shoot on a windless day if possible - or wait for a calm moment. You'll likely need to increase your ISO to reduce your shutter speed as much as possible... but remember that with a high ISO, you'll get more noise, so try not to go too high. Use a translucent filter (or a sheet) to soften direct light - or shoot in the shade for soft, even lighting. Overcast days are perfect for flower photography.

Try to keep distracting elements out of the frame - the eye goes to the brightest spot in an image, so make sure the brightest spot is your flower.

Jay and I will be presenting at the Akron Camera Club on Wednesday this week. We are putting the finishing touches on the presentation today. It should be fun!

Today's Presentation

I'm just about to head out - it's time for another presentation. I'm speaking with a small group today - about Landscape Photography. I'll be talking about lighting, equipment, and what it takes to get some of the shots you see on my website. I'll also touch briefly on some of the research and planning that goes into landscape photography. I always enjoy doing presentations - it's a lot less formal than teaching a class, and I really enjoy getting to know people.

I have another presentation coming up next week - for the Cleveland Photographic Society. That one will focus on shooting for stock and making money from photography. It will be a bit more formal than today's talk, but I'm ready for it.

A busy couple of weeks - presentations, our Death Valley workshop... and more! :)