Through the Gadling Lens: enhancing vacation shots with macro photography

by Karen Walrond on

This week, I received an email from Gadling reader, Brenda:

I read your post on choosing lenses and I was curious as to how big exactly a macro lens is because all the other lenses were identified by their length in mm and I couldn’t find a precise range for the size of a macro lens by searching on google so im not sure what it is. I would appreciate it if you could clear this up for me.

This is an excellent question, and because I love to do it, I thought this week we’d spend some time on macro photography — what it is, why you need a special lens, and how it might enhance your travel shots.

And so, without further ado:
According to Wikipedia, “macro photography” is when “the image projected on the “film plane” (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject.” Which, for me, is a bit technical. For those of us laypeople, macro photography is basically very-very-very-very-very close up photography. The beauty of this type of photography is that it can bring out the details of the subject of your photograph that you might not normally notice with the naked eye during the everyday.

In order to do macro photography well, if you have an SLR camera, you will likely have to purchase or borrow a special “macro” lens (or, if you use Nikon products, a “micro” lens — for some inexplicable reason, Nikon likes to call their macro lenses “micro,” but trust me, they’re the same). If instead, however, you’re in the market for a point-and-shoot camera and you’re interested in macro photography, be sure that you buy one with a “macro” setting — not all point-and shoots have them, and without it, you won’t be able to get a nice sharp macro image.

Here’s why the lens is important:

The following image was taken about 2 feet away from a bouquet of daisies I bought earlier this week, shot with a 50mm “normal” lens:

Now, if I went to get a bit closer to that yellow daisy, the closest I can get my camera with that 50mm lens is about 1 foot away, and still maintain some sharpness and focus:

But watch what happens when I get any closer — say, about 6 inches away:

See how I completely lose all focus? All you notice is a bunch of muddled (albeit pretty) colours.

Okay, so now I’m switching lenses — this time, I’m using my 60mm macro lens.

First, I’ll take the shot about 2 feet away, like I did with my 50mm lens:

You’ll notice that from this far away, the 60mm lens behaves like any other 60mm lens — petals are sharp, not just on the yellow daisy, but on the surrounding daisies, as well.

But! Because this is a macro lens, check out how close I can actually continue to maintain focus:

In the above image, I was actually holding the camera a mere 3-ish inches away from the daisy. This time, you can clearly see all the details in the centre of the flower. Without my macro lens, this sort of sharpness would be impossible to capture.

A few tips when it comes to macro photography:

  • You’ll remember that we talked about lens focal length; however, as Brenda noticed, there really isn’t a specific “focal length” when it comes to a macro lens — it’s possible to get 50mm macro lenses, 85mm macro lenses, 100mm macro lenses, whatever. For my purposes, I like macro lenses that are in the “normal” range — 50 to 60mm — so that I don’t have to worry about any wide angle or telephoto distortion in the resulting images.
  • When it comes to ISO, aperture and the like, the rules remain the same — just remember that if you’re focusing on a very small part of your subject, you’re concerned with light, etc., in a tiny region, so you’ll need to adjust accordingly. For example, the subject might be in bright light, but what you’re actually focusing on might be in shadow — so adjust your ISO for low light, rather than high.
  • The cool thing about macro lenses is that they can also be used as regular lenses — so, for example, when I pack my 60mm macro lens with me, I don’t worry about bringing another “normal” lens — the 60 mm macro will do the trick — I just have to stand farther away from the subject than I would when taking a macro shot. Make sense?

Okay, so now that you know what macro photography can do, here are some reasons why you might want to take a macro lens on your trip:

You’re going to a location with amazing flora.

As you can probably guess, macro photography is a great way to show the details of really exotic flowers — you can see the smallest details of petals and other characteristics of a flower that your naked eye wouldn’t necessarily notice. I always take my macro lens when I travel to tropical places, because the flowers are so unusual; similarly, if I’m going to England or, say, the United States Pacific Northwest in the summertime — places where the locals are truly passionate about their gardens — I make sure to take the macro along.

Some images which prove my point:

In the shot of the ginger lily, above, the macro lens allows you to really notice how the light falls on each individual petal, rather than just taking in the blossom as a whole. The resulting image shows a palette of cool pinks, reds and burgandies.


In the above image of the iris, notice how you can see the tiny little yellow hairs along the inside of the white petals.

And finally:

In the above image of this lilly, you can almost see each independent grain of pollen on the stamens — an aspect of the flower you might not notice (until you get all that pollen on your hands and clothes, I mean, or start seriously sneezing).


You’re going to a place with big bugs.

One of the most popular uses of macro photography is taking photographs of creepy-crawlies and other other-worldly insects. With a macro lens, you can see their little buggy faces, the hairs on their legs, and other details that a regular lens would miss.

A couple of a very accommodating dragonfly that I took recently, using my macro lens:

Notice the detail of his wings in the first shot, and his turquoise eyes (who knew dragonflies had turquoise eyes?). And in the second shot, is it me, or is that bug smiling?


You want to take really detailed shots of your travel companions.

Say you’re planning a beautiful, sunny beach vacation, or a strenuous hike in the mountains or desert. Carrying along your macro lens will help you take really focused shots of your travel companions’ Coppertone tans, or the sweat as it rolls off their brows after the hike:

Notice how you can see every little wrinkle in the skin at the base of my thumb. It occurs to me my hands don’t look that young anymore.

My husband, on a hot Texas day, after dousing himself with the hose.

You’re just in the mood to take some artsy-fartsy shots.

The very cool thing about macro photography is that sometimes you can get so close to your subject, it’s almost hard to tell what your subject is anymore. I love playing with my macro to get in close to subjects which have very vibrant colours or patterns — the results are often unrecognizable, but artistic enough that they find a framed place in my home:

You plan on eating.

Finally, an admission: I love to eat on vacation. And one of my favourite uses for my macro lens is to shoot images of food. Sometimes you just gotta get close to see how luscious everything is:

So get out there and grab your macro, and see what you can capture – sometimes, the very best way to remember your vacation is up close and personal. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: taking photographs at night

by Karen Walrond on

Recently, I received a note from a friend of mine who’d just returned from a vacation:

I just returned from a vacation in which much of our activity was at night. I didn’t carry a tripod, and I was dissatisfied with using either the auto setting on the camera (the flash burst overexposed my subjects’ faces) or the in-camera “night setting” (the subjects’ skin seemed blurry and everything in the background had a nuclear orange glow). Do you have any tips for making night shots easier or better?

Night shots are definitely tricky, and sometimes downright impossible without a tripod. That said, this week, I’ll share some of my tips and tricks to taking photographs at night.
1. First, turn off your flash.

As you know, I’m not a huge fan of flash, but even more so at nighttime. To show you why, I asked my husband to come outside with me last night to our little garden swing, so I could take his photograph. The swing is in a quiet part of our garden, and the only light we had was a citronella torch to keep the mosquitos away.

This first image, was shot using a flash:

You’ll notice that while Marcus is well-lit, and you can see all the details of his face, it’s quite obvious that there was a fake light source utilized to capture his image. I call this the “party pic” effect — using your flash is fine if what you want to capture is your friends at the club having a good time, just to prove they were there.

However, take a look at the following image, taken without the flash:

In this case, although the details aren’t nearly as sharp, notice how the mood is captured — this is much closer to what I saw as we were sitting in the darkness outside. Now, in this case, I’d cranked up my ISO to 3200, and was handholding the camera — this is why the image is as grainy as it is (tips on how to avoid that to follow). But the point is made: taking the shot without the flash captures the ambiance. And this is true, whether your subject is a person, a martini glass in a bar, or a street scene.

So now that you’ve turned off your flash, what should you do next?

2. Take your camera off manual mode. Don’t get me wrong: you can take nighttime shots on fully manual mode, but you really have to be an expert on aperture, ISO and shutter speeds. If you are an expert, than really, you probably don’t need to be reading this post — go forth and capture great images, my friend. If you’re not an expert, however, trust me, your best bet is to have the camera in automatic mode.

3. Consider your ISO.

Remember about 7 months ago, we discussed ISO, or the “light catchers” of your camera? Be sure to read that post before you go forward, because it talks about how ISO, aperture and shutter speed are all related. So go ahead, and read that. I’ll wait.

Okay.

So, in a nutshell, the general rule is as follows:

The lower the ISO number, the fewer light catchers you’ll be using to catch the light. Low ISOs work better in bright sunlight — no flash necessary.

The higher the ISO number, the more light catchers you’ll be using the catch the light. High ISOs work in overcast or low light — and again, no flash will be necessary.

Now, for the purpose of nighttime shots, this isn’t to say that you can’t shoot in low light with the a low ISO. And so, a corollary to the general rule above, is as follows:


For nighttime shots:

If you don’t have a tripod (or something you can use nearby to steady the camera), crank up your ISO as high as possible, hold your breath, squeeze the trigger, and hope for the best. This is not an ideal situation, because of the following:

1) Since you’re using a high ISO, this means that you have tons of “light catchers” working in your camera to capture your image with the low available light you’re letting into your camera through your aperture. This usually means that your image will come out looking grainy — the lower the ISO setting, the less grainy your images are; the higher your ISO, the more grainy. The shot I took of my husband in above was taken at an ISO setting of 3200 — a staggeringly high ISO, resulting in the grainy image that you see. Also:

2) Since you’re hand-holding your camera, the high ISO setting still might not be high enough to reduce camera shake. Remember, in low light, if you’re camera is set on automatic, the shutter will likely stay open long enough for your light catchers to capture your light — and when your shutter is open, the *slightest* movement will cause a blur. Cranking your ISO up to a high setting will shorten the amount of time your camera’s shutter stays open, but it might not be enough.

The following images are a couple of shots I took in London last winter at dusk (so not full nighttime), handholding the camera, and setting the ISO to somewhere in the neighbourhood of 1600:

Again, notice that the images are somewhat grainy — but still, the mood of London on that cold November night remains intact, without the distortion of a flash.

Now, if you do have a tripod (or a way to steady your camera close by), this is a much better situation. Here’s what you should do:

a) Lower your ISO as much as you dare. Again, you’re doing this to try to lower the amount of grain in the resulting image. Don’t get it too low — the shutter may never close — but somewhere in the neighbourhood of 400 — 640 might be able to do the trick. (An aside: your shutter *will* close if you set your camera on “shutter priority” mode, where you can set the time for how long you’d like your shutter to stay open. Once you’ve mastered shooting at night in fully automatic mode, try playing with shutter speeds, next.)

b) Affix your camera to your tripod, or whatever makeshift “tripod” you may have jerryrigged. Note — your tripod doesn’t have to be huge — there are tons of travel tripods (like the Gorillapod) that are out there which are sturdy enough to handle your camera, but small enough that you can toss it into your camera bag.

c) Set your camera on “timer” mode. Why do this? Because at a low ISO, even the act of clicking your shutter might cause enough camera shake to create a blurry image. By setting your camera on timer, this will give the camera enough time to settle after you’ve squeezed the shutter, and before the camera takes the shot.

d) Aim, focus, and squeeze the shutter. Now note well: if you’re shooting people, they’re going to have to stay VERY STILL while the shutter is open, or they’ll appear blurry. However, movement can be a nice effect if you’re shooting a busy city street — the buildings and lights around the people will remain perfectly in focus, and the blur created by the people milling around will convey the movement.

The following are some pretty stunning shots shared in our flickr pool captured at night:

This beautiful shot of an alley in Venice shared by Geir Halvorsen was shot with a point-and-shoot, and an ISO speed of only 400. I’m guessing that Geir had a tripod or a railing to steady the camera — as you can see, it’s a great shot.

In the above amazing shot shared by ohad*, the ISO setting was at a mere 100 — the kind of setting you’d have for broad daylight! In this case, the shutter stayed open for 13 seconds — which explains why the image is generally pretty sharp, but you have those lovely lights created by the cars below.

And speaking of lights, what about that “nuclear orange glow” that my friend mentioned in his email to me? That’s generally caused by the street lamps — because street lamps aren’t has bright as sunlight, they burn with an orange glow. Personally, I like the effect — it adds a coziness to the image — but if you find that it’s too much, try adjusting your white balance setting (often indicated by a “WB” on your camera, check your manual) to the “lightbulb” setting, and try shooting again.

So that’s it! As with every photography technique, the way to master it is to practice, practice, practice — go out in your own neighbourhood at night for a photoshoot, so you’ll be ready and know your camera prior to taking it out on vacation. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: photo gifts for Father’s Day

by Karen Walrond on

About a month ago, I shared some ideas for some last-minute gifts for Mother’s Day. Well, Father’s Day fast approaches (this Sunday, for those of you taking notes), and so this week, I thought I’d share some of the best gifts you can get Dad this special day. Now, I admit: the Mother’s Day gifts were easy for me to come up with, because, well — I’m a mom. So this week, I enlisted the assistance of some dads and other friends out there in cyberspace, and the following are some of the best ideas that they had.

I have to say: they’ve got pretty good taste.
For the sportsman: A GoPro wearable camera.

This suggestion came from my husband, Marcus: the GoPro wearable camera. My husband is an avid mountain biker, and an avid surfer — and like most people who love to do very active sports which require a keen amount of concentration, it’s very difficult for him to get up close shots of him doing his thing. The GoPro wearable camera actually allows you to mount the camera on your person or to your gear, so that you get some wonderfully intimate photographs (and videos!) of you being the daredevil you know you are. They’re impact resistant and water resistant, and I have to say — some of the images that are on the GoPro site captured by their cameras are pretty astounding:


Amazing images. The cameras range from US$159.99 to US$ 199.99, without accessories.


For the camera buff who doesn’t like the idea of a bulky SLR:

Recently, my colleague Scott Carmichael pinged me to ask what I thought about the new Olympus PEN four-thirds camera. “If you hate massive SLR’s as much as I do,” he asked, “would this camera be the best thing ever invented?”

Now, I love my SLR, and it’s pretty hard to convince me to lay out a lot of cash for anything less. But I have to admit this Olympus four-thirds camera is pretty great. With its retro design, it looks like a throwback to the cameras of the 60’s. And because it doesn’t have the mirror box of most SLR cameras, the entire camera is as small as a point-and-shoot (as shown to the left) — but! The lenses are interchangeable just a regular single-lens reflex. This, my friends, is huge. Couple this with the fact that the camera can record high definition videos, this baby is really a powerhouse.

That said, I have to say that its hefty price tag (starting at about $800 for a body and a lens, and rapidly going past US$ 1000 if you throw in a flash and a couple of spare batteries), I have to question if it makes more sense to just go ahead and by the SLR. But I’m willing to confess that I’m an SLR purist, and this could just be my bias talking. Scott ended up purchasing the Olympus, and is thrilled with it — you can start following his reviews here.

For the shutterbug who is always looking for inspiration:

When I asked the question on Twitter and other areas of the internet, I received a couple of responses related to great books for finding inspiration. One such twitterer (tweeter?), @Hugh_Resnick, recommended Camera Ready: How to Shoot Your Kids, by Arthur Elgort. Despite its dubious title, @Hugh_Resnick shares that the book is written by a fashion photographer who speaks simply and clearly about how to take pictures of children. I imagine that this would be the perfect sort of gift for the new dad, who just can’t get enough of taking shots of the new child in his life. And let’s face it: shooting kids is tricky. They’re just so wiggly.

I also received another good book recommendation from my friend Tracey, founder of Shutter Sisters. Her recommendation has a bit broader appeal (and might be easier to obtain a copy of): The Photographer’s Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos, by Michael Freeman. She was pretty impressed with the book, as was the author of this book review, which provides a chapter-by-chapter roundup of the content of the book. The general premise of the book appears to help teach a photographer how to visualize the final image before actually squeezing the shutter and taking the shot.

Hmm. I think *I* might actually pick up a copy.

For the dad who’s always on the go:

You really can never go wrong with buying any photographer a new camera bag — or maybe that’s just me. Still, for someone who travels a lot and loves to shoot while they do it, a good camera bag can be indispensible.

When I look for a camera bag, there are three things that are important to me:

1) it’s easy to carry around while I’m rushing from one terminal to another (which usually means a backpack);

2) I don’t want to to scream “there’s an expensive camera in here!” — it preferably has to look like any other backpack; and

3) since I shoot digitally, I generally want to it also hold my laptop, since invariably, I’m going to spend my evenings on my trip with a glass of wine and Photoshop.

There are lots of great sites out there with really good camera bags, but for me, the brand I’ve found that most easily fits all of my criteria is Crumpler — and specifically, I own the Customary Barge. A warning — these bags aren’t cheap — but I love how they’re so cleverly designed so that zipped up, they look like any other standard sports bag; and yet, they have enough padding that the bag can fall out of the overhead compartment and I won’t (really) worry about whether my camera, lenses and computer will be able to withstand the impact. A great bag.

Again, there are lots of other great manufacturers out there, and I’m always looking for the next great bag. If you have a specific brand you’re pretty fond of, I’d love to hear it.


For any dad who owns an SLR — a new lens:

Let’s face it — if the father in your life is a bona fide shutte
r bug, he’s not going to turn down receiving a new lens. Of course, there’s always a risk to buying gear for someone who has a beloved hobby — you just never know if you’re going to get “the wrong” item. However, if you think that a lens is what Dad needs, here are some tips to purchasing them:

1. Make sure you know the brand of camera, including make and model, before you purchase the lens. Often only particular lenses fit particular cameras, so this knowledge is essential.

2. Figure out what sorts of lenses Dad already has — as we’ve discussed in the past, lenses are often defined by focal lengths and apertures. You don’t want to end up buying a duplicate lens, and knowing what Dad has (and what he’d like to shoot, or is fond of shooting) would be a plus.

3. Consider a fixed focal length lens. Often, lens kits come with zoom lenses, which are certainly convenient, but you can get some beautiful fixed-focal-length lenses with wonderfully low aperture numbers, which create great images and lovely, buttery depths of field. My favourite? A 50mm 1.4 lens (which I used for the photograph at the top of the post).

4. Finally, you can always purchase Dad a novelty lens. I recently received a Lensbaby as a gift, and I have to admit, while I likely wouldn’t have thought of purchasing the lens on my own, it’s sort of fun to play with, now that I own it. The Lensbaby allows you to manipulate your focus, so that only one part of your image is in focus, while the other goes to a funky blur. Like the picture of my dog, below, where only his nose is in focus:

It makes for a cool effect.

And with that, Happy Father’s Day, everyone. If you have any other photography-related gift ideas for Father’s Day, please leave them in the comments below, for those of us who are going to definitely be doing some last-minute shopping. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: seeing the light

by Karen Walrond on

When you’re first starting out in photography, you’re likely to read, or hear, or have told to you:

“See the light. When you can see the light, you’ll be a great photographer. You just have to see the light.”

Many times, I’ve had new photographers retort with exasperation: “God, I hate that. ‘See the light.’ What light? There’s just light! I see it! What are they talking about? How do you ‘see the light’?”

In many ways, the exhortation to see the light is one of those things that, annoyingly, you’ll understand it when you finally see it. But basically, what you’re trying to do is not just acknowledge that the light exists, but really notice the quality of the light — is it golden? blue? white light? Is it coming in at an angle? Is it merely ambient light, or tightly focused? Are there shadows, or reflections? Once you’ve assessed the light, you can adjust your camera ISO, white balance, aperture and shutter speed accordingly, to capture the light and image as authentically as possible.

For tips and a refresher on how to adjust your camera’s settings, click here. However, for an illustration of the various types of light, and how to maximize what it does to your images, read on.
1. Light

First, let’s just take a look at light:

Sunsets are obviously very popular subjects, and for good reason — the light is very easy to identify, and it’s easy to see what the light is doing. What makes the shot shared by RuthannOC, above, such a great shot is not just that it captures the colour of the sunset — certainly the most striking aspect of most sunsets — but you can also see the rays of sunlight coming out from behind the cloud. The light here is very easy to see, and therefore make the resulting image a great capture.

This photograph, shared by Jon Rawlinson, is another great example of how being aware of the quality of the light and capturing it accordingly can result in a great shot. You’ll notice that this image was in the waning hours of the day, and judging from the cloud cover, I’m betting that there wasn’t much sunlight during the day. However, as the light got lower in the sky, the light was able to brilliantly illuminate the buildings, making them seemingly glow. In addition, the light is somewhat golden, which helps to establish the time of day.

The lesson to learn here is that even though you’re outside, the quality of the light can change throughout the day. Be very cognizant of what the light is doing, to maximize how you take your scenery shots.

This photograph shared by insEyedout is particularly spectacular, because he was mindful of how the quality of light changes and enhances the colours of the picture. Obviously, this photograph was shot at dusk — at just the time that lights are starting to illuminate the buildings. Incandescent lights tend to have a very yellowish hue (which is why, when shooting indoors, you might want to check your white balance to make the less yellow) — but in this case, the yellow light adds to the element of coziness in the feel of the image. Beautiful capture.

2. Shadow.

Obviously, different types of light can result in different types of shadows and silhouettes, which can also enhance your photos. The following are great examples illustrating how.

In this photograph shared by PDPhotography, the photograph is framed so that the window isn’t the only subject — the shadow it casts on the wall is included, too. This image was taken inside Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, and by framing the photograph this way, you can just imagine what it might have been like to be incarcerated inside, with the blue skies and freedom on the outside. The effect would not have been the same if PDPhotography had just shot the image through the bars — the shadow on the wall conveys the loneliness and the feeling of being convicted far more effectively.

One of the greatest things that shadows are able to do are convey the time of day. In this black and white photo, shared by Michael Joseph Goldst…etc, even though you can’t see the colour of the sunset, you can tell by the wonderful length of the shadows that this was taken late in the day. The photograph was clearly mindful of the light in this shot, since he made certain to capture the low sunlight in the top left hand portion of the image, as well as the length of the shadows to the lower right. Well done.


This spectacular image shared by t3mujin debunks one of the most common “rules” of photography: the one which says that you should always make sure that the light source is behind you, and you never shoot into the light. If t3mujin followed that rule, he would’ve never captured the wonderfully moody image you see above. Remember that when you have a person in your shot, you don’t always have to be able to make out their face or features — sometimes just having them in the shot in full silhouette conveys the ambiance of the shot in a way that shooting their faces full on might not be able to. This shot is one for printing and framing.

3. Reflections.

In addition to light and shadow, light can be captured by virtue of reflections, which can often result in a really compelling shot. The following three images are good examples. Just remember: turn off your flash.

The image shared by Buck Forester is sort of the classic reflection image — the wonderful mountain vista reflected in the water below. This image is actually a bit more difficult to capture than you might think: after all, when you’re in a beautiful setting, you’re often so captivated by the mountains and the treeline, you’ll likely forget to look into the water for the reflection.

The trick to these images is to be sure to look through the viewfinder carefully, and really see what you’re taking the shot of, so you can be sure to frame it to include the entire reflection. Also, this obviously works best when the water is exceedingly still.

This fantastic shot, < a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/moody75/3387524541/">captured by Moody75 is such a great reminder that you don’t need to have a body of water to capture a great reflection — he was able to get a wonderful landscape of the entire city of Barcelona in his companion’s sunglasses. Talk about capturing the beauty of a city and the feel of a vacation all in one.

It’s nighttime, it’s raining — the temptation would likely be overwhelming to put your camera away. But this shot shared by mingthein shows why you might want to hang on to your camera a little longer. While you could never get the sharpness of the reflection that you can in Buck Forester’s daytime shot, above, wet streets at nighttime can make for a beautiful reflection of the lights on the street above. Again, remember to turn off your flash and steady your camera before taking a shot like this one.

So remember: see the light. If you have any examples of how you managed to see and capture the light, please share your links to your images, below. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.

Through the Gadling Lens: the latest, greatest shots from the Gadling Flickr pool

by Karen Walrond on

It’s been a little over three months since the last time we waded through all the amazing images shared in our Gadling Flickr pool, and it seems like it’s time to do so, again: after all, schools have closed (or are about to close) for the summer break all over the world, and prime vacation-photo-shooting season is upon us. So to help provide you a little inspiration before you head out for your summer holidays, I thought I’d go through eight of my favourite photographs from the Flickr pool and share with you what, in my opinion, makes them great. As with all art, of course, beauty is subjective; however, hopefully you’ll see something in the images shared here which will spark some creativity in you the next time you pull your camera out.

And so, on with the show:
1. Capture the ambiance the weather gives to the scene.

I love the image above, captured and shared by AlphaTangoBravo/Adam Baker, primarily because of the way he totally captured the mood of the scene as the two surfers venture out to capture their first (last?) waves of the day. The way he does this? Buy shooting into the sun, he draws your attention to how bright the day was, and the cloudless sky. In addition, he makes sure to crop the image so that the long shadows of each of the surfers, giving you some clue as to the time of the day that the image was shot. In addition, notice that there are no other people in the shot, other than the two friends in the shot — it gives the feeling that there are no other people in the world other than the two men. Fabulous capture.

2. If there’s something particularly stunning about the day, don’t forget to capture it.

In the same spirit as the first image in this post, this shot shared by insEyedout does a great job of featuring what was most stunning about his visit to The White House, in Washington D.C. — the amazing weather. The difference in this case, however, is instead of shooting into the sun (which, admittedly, can damage your sensor if you do it too often, so shoot into the sun sparingly), he uses the glow of the sunlight off of his companion’s shoulders to communicate the bright sky. And speaking of sky, look at that amazing blue! I also love how he doesn’t take your focus off of the sky, by shooting from behind his friends — had the women in the shot been facing us, you might not have noticed the sky, in favour of looking at their faces or smiles. Well done.

3. Look for patterns.

I love this photograph of the Painted Desert in Arizona, shared by Ash Crowe — and one glance makes it pretty apparent why, I think. Obviously, the coloured striations within the rock formations are pretty spectacular; however, how amazing is it that the pattern repeats itself in the cloud formations in the sky? One of the coolest things that you can do when taking any sort of landscape or scenery shots is to look for any sort of patterns within the frame of the shot — patterns always create interest. Really fantastic shot.

4. Don’t forget about flora and fauna.

While we’re still outside, just a reminder not to forget the flora and the fauna. Because, seriously, do I even need to explain why this image shared by fiznatty is so amazing? This is one of those once-in-a-lifetime type images, captured in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

A note about taking photographs of wildlife: obviously, the best way to make it happen is to gain trust — and many times, this means being very still, and being very patient. Also, be sure you don’t take risks: it’s not a great idea to touch wild animals, and remember — when cute babies like the above are around, mom and dad may not be far behind.

5. Do a bit of preparation for fabulous interior shots.

If you’re going somewhere with tons of architectural history, you’re likely going to want to take some interior shots, like the amazing one of the stained glass windows in Sainte Chappelle in Paris, shared by Amy Mengel, above. In my experience, shots like these are possible if you pay close attention to the light that is falling inside the building. In essence, this means:

  • Turn off your flash. Particularly when shooting inside a church or cathedral — your flash is going to wash out the vibrant colours of the glass.
  • You will likely have to up the ISO setting in your camera, unless you happen to have a tripod on you. Remember, if there’s low light, you’ll want a higher ISO setting; if the area is brightly lit, then you can get away with a lower setting (click here for a quick review on ISO). Play with your setting and take a few shots to find the best one.
  • If your camera has a white balance setting (sometimes indicated by “WB”), then adjust accordingly before you take the shot. In essence, this means evaluating what the main light source is in the room — incandescent light (which can make your resulting photograph yellow), florescent light (which can make your resulting photograph green) or natural light. Consult your camera manual beforehand to learn how to adjust white balance.

6. Don’t be afraid of movement.

I love this image shared by t3mujin of a typical tram in Lisbon, and it teaches a valuable lesson: not all out-of-focus images are bad. The blur of the vehicles in this photograph convey speed and movement, which help you to place yourself right there on the busy street corner. Also, I love the use of colour in this image — all of the colours in this shot are generally bland and neutral, save for the bright yellow pop from the paint colour on the front of the tram. Fantastic.

A tip on how to create a great blurry shot? Just shoot and shoot and shoot — keep clicking from the same and different vantage points over and over again. Mere statistics will tell you that you’ll end up with at least one shot that you’ll be pleased with.

7. Don’t forget to look up.

I absolutely adore this image shared by tysonwilliams.com of an intersection in Florence, Italy, particularly because it teaches a valuable lesson: don’t forget to look up! The beauty of this shot is that the negative space (the space between the buildings) communicates the narrowness of the streets and exactly how the streets flow without ever actually showing you the images. In addition, the tall buildings convey the feeling of being closed in amongst all the architecture. And finally, I love how the image is framed so that the intersection isn’t straight up-and-down, but instead, at an angle, providing visual interest. A beautiful shot.

8. Don’t be afraid to shoot at night.

And finally, don’t forget that cities can be absolutely stunning at night, as evidenced by this really beautiful shot shared by macdonaldj2wit of the Washington Monument. The easiest way to take an amazing shot like this is as follows:

  • Look for a location with lots of points of light, to create visual interest — traffic lights, car lights, whatever.
  • Set your camera on automatic or program mode.
  • Set your ISO as low as possible, and the affix your camera to a tripod or rest it on a very level surface.
  • Turn on your camera’s self-timer.
  • Focus the shot, and press the shutter, and then step away from the camera.

By setting the timer, the camera will have time to settle from any movement caused by your clicking the shutter release. The camera will likely keep the shutter open for quite a while in this low light, so it’s absolutely imperative that the camera keep absolutely still. Once you hear the shutter close again, take a look — picture perfect night shot.

So, how was that for a few stunning images? If you’ve got a few great images you’d like to share (or tips that you think might be valuable), please feel free to leave them in the comments section below. And as always, if you have any questions, you can always contact me directly at karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom – and I’m happy to address them in upcoming Through the Gadling Lens posts.

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks.
Through the Gadling Lens can be found every Thursday right here, at 11 a.m. To read more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.