What’s in a Name?

I am a big fan of Patrick Rothfuss. If you know who I am talking about then double extra bonus points for you! I have just finished re-re-re-re(maybe one more re-) reading his two books while I am awaiting the third and something struck me as interesting. I HATE NAMING my photos or entitling them if you will. I believe in a way it detracts from them! Well for the most part, sometimes I will find something that just works. If you have read the book or thee books then you will know why this is relevant.

So here is my question for you…. Do you enjoy naming your photos? If so why? I find it one of the hardest parts of my photography. In fact if you check out my G+ page you will find of a lot of the photos are named… Why you ask? Because I feel like its a failure on my part if there isn’t a name along with my photos. But at the same time I feel that in a way I am forcing my view upon whoever is viewing my photos. Maybe they don’t see the same thing, maybe it creates a different feeling, maybe there is some other connection that just isn’t there for me and by titling my photo I have now taken that chance away.  AAAAHHHHH THE PRESSURE!!!

This is especially true of photos of people or animals, for the most part I focus on nature and landscapes but sometimes…. ahhh sometimes its just too cute or too perfect to pass up and when I get it home and load it up its still perfect! But it will just sit there…. in an abandoned folder on my hard drive lost forever due to the fact I can’t, or won’t name it! *sigh* There is a literally a folder… and the folder itself was just left as “unnamed”.

The pressure… I pretty sure there are people out there that would love a job to just sit around a name photos, to be honest it would be a fun job, but I would still be afraid I am taking away something that someone else may see by the simple action of slapping a name on it!

 

 

It’s the little things

Perfect perfect! I cant wait to get home and get it off the camera. *later* WHAT??!! It didn’t look like that on the camera display!

Ever had one of those shots? They are probably the most common type of shots. Its why most of us have 500+ photos from a trip we went on and only publish 20. I have them all the time! I hate them! They are the bane of my existence, well at least the bane of my computer storage. So here are a few tips that help bring that 20/500 ratio to a more solid 250/500. You friends and family will then be overwhelmed with all the photos you took!

The first problem is how the display on your camera shows the photos. This varies from camera to camera, brand to brand, and greatly affects how  you see your photos! Now the first question is did you change anything in the Picture Styles(C)/Picture controls(N) in your camera? Did you know you could? That would be the first thing to check. The second is do you shoot in RAW or in JPEG. To K.I.S.S. on the difference between RAW and JPEG lets just say that the RAW file is bigger/better for the simple reason that it contains more data. I can’t get into all the deep details in this post because it would be epically long but it would be in your best interest to dig  more into you camera settings themselves. As Kate has a Nikon and I have a Canon maybe we will do a collab post in the future on our settings.

The second problem, lets be honest, is being in focus. There is no amount of sharpening that can fix an unfocused photo. There is no option to go back and hit that exact same spot at the exact same time under the exact same conditions. So take your time, no rush, and FOCUS. Also if you are doing manual focus make sure you dont bump, or do if you need to, the little +/- dial thingy (no idea what its called diopter adjustment dial). It might also help, especially if you are going to be printing or submitting to a contest to buy a LCD loupe. Now if you know photography you know that a loupe is typically used to look at negatives up close, you also might recognize it as what your cartoon favorites always pull out to inspect diamonds. Now if you are going to have a diamond sharp photo you need one of these to check your focus before you are all packed up and enjoying a nice drink in front of your computer. They can run between 15$ and 100$ depending on what you want.

The third most common problem is from your computer to paper, PRINTING! It can suck. The first thing you should invest in after your camera and computer is a monitor calibration tool. Now many people will tell you they can trust their eyes or know what their prints will look like and to you I say….

How many white or was it black dots do you see?

As you can see, between our eyes and our brains there can be some variance in communication. When you spend three or four hours in front of your computer this can become exacerbated. Colors may even begin to switch on you, even if you just sat down. Even blue light cutting glasses won’t save you here!

If you stare at the blinking pink dots, you will see only one color, pink. If you look at the the + in the center, you’ll see a circle of pink dots and a rotating green dot. Now, stare at the + without moving your eyes. After ten seconds scroll down a bit and watch a bright green circle appear to move with you *Click on the image to be taken to the site its from*

The last and but not least remember you can adjust your white balance and exposure when you do it get home. Many find it helpful to shoot +1 or more exposure wise because you can always go in and darken what you need to, while on the other hand its a lot harder to bring things out of the shadows.

Here is a before and after of the same version and while it may not be a big difference, it is big enough to post or to trash in my opinion.

Before

As you can see dull, gray and boring. I like the darkness of it myself and the shadows in the background but this photo doesn’t say Japanese Sakura like it should.

After

As you can see in the second photo a bit brighter, colors with a little more pop and not so heavy on the shadows. All changes were done in Camera Raw itself and didn’t step into full photoshop.

Its the little changes and steps that make a difference in your photos. Its the time you take and the effort you make.

-Don’t be afraid to push the button, go on, PUSH IT!

~Anne