Jim Larson Photography

This is a simple photo of a very nicely restored wooden boat we saw while in the San Juan Islands. I like the shine, the deep wood color, plus, it’s a boat!

I was trying for a very symmetrical image and almost got it except for the dock line.

When your subject has a lot of depth to it, be sure to use a smaller aperture on the lens (larger number f stop) to aid keeping as much as the subject in focus as possible.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L at 70mm, 1/60 at f11, ISO 100

When you are out shooting, look for interesting perspectives that are out of the ordinary. Here is one I shot from our 36 foot charter boat in the San Juan Islands. People are normally in the back of the boat, so I got on the very front (sitting on the bow rail) and shot towards the back. I had to use a very wide angle lens to get what I wanted in the frame.

Canon 20D, Canon 17-40 f4L at 17mm, 1/800 at f4, ISO 100

While vacationing in northern Idaho, we spied a father and son enjoying each others company along with some great wind.

When you have an action shot like this, it is important to remember to leave room for the action to go. In this case, I made sure that the sailboat was not centered in the frame and especially not leaving the frame, but about a 3rd of the way into the frame.

Keep on shooting!

Canon 10D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS at 135mm, 1/1500 at f5.6, ISO 200

The photo at the right is one of my “abstract” shots. I like to look for interesting subjects that make the viewer think about what the subject really is.

A while back I stepped into our guest room at our house. The lights were turned off. It was sunny outside. I looked over at the window shades and saw something that had some abstract potential. I grabbed the camera, put it on a tripod since it was rather dark in the room, and lined up the shot so that the horizontal lines of the blinds line up perfectly with the edge of the frame. Several different exposures were tried, looking for the one that would not blow out the highlights or make the dark too dark.

I’ve sold some of these images through the stock photo sites listed to the left, so I guess I’m not the only one that likes abstracts.

Keep your eyes open for some abstract opportunities.

Canon 20D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS at 85mm, 1/30 at f2.8, ISO 100

Here is Alle again.  She is really larger than this photo makes her look.  My desire for this shot was to see the contrast in sizes between the flowers and her.  It actually worked quite well, because the contrast is opposite of what one would normally expect.

We normally think about the contrast between colors or the contrast between the lightest and darkest areas of an image.  Next time you are out capturing images, think about contrast in a physical sense too.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 70mm, 1/500 at f8, ISO 100

Last month, I took a morning tour of my home town of Boise, Idaho. It’s funny how we always take photographs when we are on vacation, but not as often around our familiar territory. Maybe it is just too familiar so we don’t perceive it as interesting. I was amazed at all the places I found that morning that were quite interesting, at least to my eye.

I was busily shooting images of the capitol building when I happened to turn around and see an even better shot in the mirrored windows of an office building. Several shots were taken, some without the sky, some with. This was my favorite. The sky makes you think just for a minute as to what makes up the entire image.

So, next time you are wanting to take some photographs, try touring a location near to you. You might be surprised.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-105 f4 L IS at 54mm, 1/800 at f5.6, ISO 100

I warned you that this pooch might show up in the blog again. Alle was kind enough to pose for another studio shot. It helps to have some doggy cookies around to keep her interested in doing a good job.

The inspiration for this shot came from a forum on Fred Miranda’s web site. The gentleman there used a kitten as the subject, but I pictured Alle sitting in a similar pose.

Setting up for the shot was very simple. I used a single studio light with a 10 degree grid on the front to make it look like Alle was on stage in the spotlight. I used a Sekonic light meter to set the camera for the correct exposure. With a very dark background and a very white subject, the internal camera metering was thrown way off. Normally I like to photograph animals with the camera at their eye level, but to keep the idea of the spotlight, I needed to shoot down just a bit to get the entire spot.

Grab you favorite pet, some treats and take a fantastic image!

Have fun and keep shooting.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L at 50mm, 1/125 at f10, ISO 100

This photo was taken in my pre-digital days and was scanned from a Kodacolor ISO 25, 35mm negative.

The location of the shot is at Redfish Lake in Idaho which is a very popular tourist spot, especially during the summer months.

I got up early one morning while on vacation and headed for the lake.  There is a very good chance that mist will form on the lake around sunrise which can make for very interesting photographs.  On this particular morning, I spotted a father and his young son exploring the shoreline.  The positioned myself to get a good lead-in line with the shore and was blessed with the dinghy swinging just right on the anchor to point to the subjects as well.

Always keep a camera with you, as you’ll never know what will show up unexpectedly.

Nikon 8008s, Lens and exposure unknown, ISO 25 Kodocolor

We were just getting ready to wrap up a group photo shoot for a family using some pretty traditional lighting. I wanted to try something a bit different with the young gentleman and turned off all the studio lights except one. I put a grid on the studio light to contain it. The black background kept the focus just where it needed to be.

Try some lighting that may be a little out of the ordinary and you may be surprised with the results.

Keep on shooting!

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L IS at 57mm, 1/125 at f18, ISO 100

While sailing on Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho, we spotted a lone kayak on the water. The water was calming down for the evening making it a great place for him to paddle.

Shooting directly into the reflected sun can cause some strange light meter readings. In order to get the proper exposure, I shot several images, adjusting the exposure by 1 stop in 1/2 stop increments both under and over what the light meter said. This “bracketing” of the exposure allowed me to pick out the best one after the image was put on the computer. I ended up using the slightly underexposed image, as the others were rather blown out in the reflection highlights.

Next time you are out shooting and you are unsure of the correct exposure, take several bracketed shots. One will be right on!

Canon 10D, Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS at 200mm, 1/1500 at f8, ISO 400