SPOTLIGHT- Water drop photography

Water drop photography is a sudden passion of mine, especially over the winter (when I've been too scared to risk my equipment for some good winter shots, I've really got to get over that!). I've seen photos here and there on the web and found it fascinating...soon I was reading as many tutorials as I could in my spare time.

I started with an aluminum pan and an eye dropper...and today, I haven't upgraded to much more than that. I feel the most important tool I have is my speed flash. Right now I only use one, but more would be ideal.

If you were to Google "images for water drop photography", you would see thousands and thousands of them...the hard part is to make yours different from the other thousands you see on the web. To do this, you can use different backgrounds, different lighting, even include a colored gel on your flash, add food dye to the water, or use the colored glass stones or marbles in the bottom of the tank. Experiment with different color combinations. I've gone as far as surrounding my tank with CDs for the rainbow effects you see in some of my photos, or putting glitter in the water, or adding bubble soap. This will add to the viscosity of the water, actually slowing the water down (hint: the colder the water, the higher the viscosity). Another trick I have found that helps a lot is shooting in dim room so that the flash is freezing the water drop, not outside light. Sometimes I shoot from outside a glass tank so I can literally shoot from any angle, above the water, under the water, or exactly level so you can see the disruption in the water from above and below. Other times I shoot in an open tub (either black, white, or silver). You can pretty much use anything as a tank...even a wine glass! You can also shoot from any distance. Would you like to see more of the water? Or like me, I like to show the close up water drop so you can see the detail within the water.

Manipulating water is so much fun. You never really know what you're going to get until you see a beautiful liquid sculpture captured in time. This is a fun project for any photography enthusiast!!

If you are interested in this...here are a couple of tutorials I have found incredibly helpful!

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/water-drops-behind-the-shot
http://arwenarts.deviantart.com/gallery/10746987#/d34aweg
http://www.cognisys-inc.com/HowTo/water_drops.php (for if you're super serious and have money burning a hole in your pocket, but it includes some really cool water shots!)
OR just Google "water drop photography tutorials" and there will be a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips!

Have fun with your new found hobby...it's really a lot of fun and addicting cause the possibilities are endless!! With the new age of digital cameras, you can take hundreds of photos and pick your best...and trust me, you will need to do this. Water drop photography takes perseverance and patients...but I promise you, it will pay off in the end!!

SPOTLIGHT Portraiture

I would just like to spotlight some of the recent portrait photography I have done. I specialize in natural light portraiture, but do have a studio available.

The first is of my daughter, Zoey who's 3rd birthday is coming up!

The next spotlight is of a family who is a lot of fun to photograph...we had a great time! I have known Kati Finn my entire life since she is my cousin, hard to believe she is married with two children now!

And the last spotlight is an updated edit on my very first portrait shoot! Shanda was such a good sport and was really good in front of the camera.

For more of these and other photo shoots, please visit http://www.rosesreminiscencephotography.com

Winter Blues

Well...it's winter and I can't get out much to photograph anything. I could, but I'm not one to risk my equipment! I have managed to get some nice winter shots though.

I can't wait for spring to come! I can't wait cause not only have I improved and learned so much since last year, but I have some fun new options with my lenses! I got a reverse adapter which ables me to get almost microscopic with my photography. So be on the lookout for some fun new macro and close up stuff this spring. For now, let me share some of my favorites from last year.

Wiscoy, NY

Wiscoy Creek

When I was a child, my parents would take us "creek walking". They would take us to a creek and we would walk it and go fishing. Today, my father reminded me of those times when he took me to Wiscoy Creek for an adventurous photo shoot.  Wiscoy Creek is a stream, approximately 15 miles long, in western New York in the United States. It is a tributary of the Genesee River and joins that river in the town of Hume in northern Allegany County. The Wiscoy originates from two branches in Wyoming County. The North Branch begins in the township of Wethersfield and the West Branch originates in the township of Eagle. The branches meet in the hamlet of Bliss and flow southeast through the village of Pike. The creek's name is derived from the Seneca tribe word meaning five falls creek.

As you stand on the bridge in the Village of Wiscoy, five tiers of waterfall are visible. They start with a pair of jagged edged 2-foot falls, then progress to a 15-foot tall cascade, then a 20-foot cascade. Far into the trees you can see the reflections of moving water from the top tier.

What a beautiful day we had! My brother took off his shoes and got right into the creek. Not having rain in quite a while, and though the falls were still really impressive, the currents were not strong. We were also able to hike right down to the creek's edge, even with all of my equipment! If you enjoy nature, romance, hiking, photography of running water, or adventure, this is a MUST visit!!

For more info on these falls and a map, visit http://falzguy.com/wiscoy-falls.html

Thanks for reading!
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My work may not be reproduced, copied, edited, or published, in any way without my written permission. Thank you.

 

The Journey Home

The Journey Home

This photo evokes feelings of extreme loneliness. Which is funny because I took it while on a photo shoot of my brother and his girlfriend. Most of the photos taken that day were about love and togetherness, but while we were taking a break, I shot this. It reminds me of my journey through this life and how most of it I felt so completely alone, like I was the only one on earth and no one could help me. But at the end of my seemingly endless rail road track is my home, my husband, and my daughter. Sometimes in life we have to go through something completely devastating to show us how strong we are and how to appreciate true happiness. I am home now, and sometimes I look back and actually appreciate my journey home.

Thanks for reading!

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My work may not be reproduced, copied, edited, or published, in any way without my written permission. Thank you.

HDR Photography

Natural Beauty in HDR

This is only my second attempt at HDR photography. I practice on flowers, and in the HDR world, flowers are pretty boring subjects. Hopefully soon I can start practicing on something a little more dramatic such as exteriors of buildings. According to Wikepedia, HDR Photography is defined as:

 In image processing, computer graphics, and photography, high dynamic range imaging (HDRI or just HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wider dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight.[1]


The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, the latter of which in turn are individually referred to as low dynamic range (LDR)[2] or standard dynamic range (SDR)[3] photographs.

Tone mapping techniques, which reduce overall contrast to facilitate display of HDR images on devices with lower dynamic range, can be applied to produce images with preserved or exaggerated local contrast for artistic effect.

Linked Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging
More information on how to achieve HDR photography can be found here: http://photocritic.org/hdr-photography-how-to/  (this is a great resource!!)

Leave some comments on what you think about this photo. As always, thanks for reading and following <3

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My work may not be reproduced, copied, edited, or published, in any way without my written permission. Thank you.

Welcome

Akron Falls, NY

Welcome to my new photoblog! I will try to keep this up to date with my most recent photos of adventures, people, and nature. This was from my most recent photo shoot in Akron, NY. Unfortunately, I lost a hood to my zoom lens while navigating the rocks and water, but I think this shot was well worth it! Heading out to Pike, NY tomorrow for more waterfall adventures and will post my favorite from that photoshoot ASAP. Thanks for reading and following <3

© All rights reserved.

My work may not be reproduced, copied, edited, or published, in any way without my written permission. Thank you.