Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sunset. Show all posts

Sunday, July 12, 2015

How to Get Fantastic Colors

When it comes to photography, I’ve had people ask me, “How do you get those great colors in your images?” This is something any photographer can get, especially when you are asking about my sunrise/sunset photos, but it’s not easy to get unless you go after it.

There are two times a day when you have the best chance for awesome colors, sunrise and sunset, which is why these times are called the “magic hour” or the “golden hour”. Most people work in offices, drive back and forth to work and then live in their homes. If you are not outside, you are not going to catch these “magic hour” periods and get those fantastic colors.

Sunset in Laruens County, Ga
 Photograph is a career/hobby where you have to be outdoors if you want the best colors and you have to be ready all the time. Scout a good location and make sure you are there early you might even want to bring your tripod but it’s not necessary unless you want to do long exposures.


Sunset over an abandoned Pawn Shop
 If you use an iPhone, like I do, there is actually a Magic Hour app in the App Store that will let you know exactly when “magic hour” will occur each day so you can be out there and ready. I also just found out as I wrote this article that they make a companion version of the app for my Apple Watch as well, which is nice as I tend to keep my notifications on my phone silenced as I get so many. On the Apple Watch, I can have it vibrate my wrist and let me know.

Sunset in Stateboro, Ga
Now, one other thing to keep in mind is the “magic” colors don’t happen every day, so don’t be discouraged. Nature works on it’s own schedule and even if you go out this evening and there are no awesome colors in the sky, keep going out there, they will come. One of the biggest things you need to learn as a photographer is patience. If you don’t have patience, then you are not going to do well in my areas of photography, especially shooting people, nature or sunrise/sunset. All of these parts of photography require patience as I am sure most of the professors here are AI will agree.

Now get out there and find that fantastic color!!!

Comments/Questions

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wide-Angle Wednesday- Keeping on task!


Greetings from the frozen Midwest!

I’m really starting to think the Arctic misses me and wants me back. I lived three years in beautiful central Alaska, and you would think I was used to the frigid temperatures. With that said, it’s been so cold I have not been out to shoot for a long time.  Additionally if I braved the frozen wind, I don’t have an idea to where or what I would like to shoot.

This mindset leads me to talk about being on task. I know that in order to keep the fire burning and to hone the skills, I need to keep shooting.  This is especially a challenge when not in a photography focused course, the landscape is just blah, and of course the weather. The last photog course I had ended in November and since then I have been focused on math and currently I’m working on color theory for web and multimedia.

So where do I go from here?

I recently found out that this time of the year is a great time to photograph bald eagles migrating down from the North. Sounds like an awesome field trip to the areas they are known to flock. After consulting a few local photog friends, it doesn’t appear I will have a lens with enough focal length to capture the eagles from the area in which people are allowed to show up and observe the flocks. The subject is there but not an option if I can’t get close enough. Though this gives a goal for next season.

Not all is lost, I just had to find the focus and get on task. Remember what Confucius is quoted to have said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Now to turn the page, I have taken sometime to brainstorm some ideas that sound interesting and of course is do able. I figured a great start is finding a theme that can be revisited in times like this. For a previous course I developed a photo series focused on a local historic park in which I titled “Discovering Maramec”. Granted the course has come to an end, but I could always revisit Maramec. Nah I think something new is needed. I looked at maybe a theme based on forced or odd perspectives. Another idea is a scavenger hunt of objects or locations. I’m thinking something similar to the vacation car ride A-Z game we played with our son in our travels across the country. I figured I could come up with a list of random objects and or locations using the alphabet. Figured the theme would be a unique series of 26 images.

Now that I have a focus, I’m going to look at completing this series in one week!
I look forward to sharing what I plan to call “The Alphabet Series” next week.

Last week I wrote about resources, and today I wrote about staying on task with a side of creativity. Feel free to share your ideas by commenting below anytime, any day.

May your Wide-Angle Wednesday be spent someplace tropical!

From My Camera to Yours,
Wednesday's Student Ambassador