Jim Larson Photography

One night I decided to see what I could do with some oranges in the studio.  I put them on a piece of laminate countertop material and turned out all the light.  The effect I was looking for would require a very small light source to give some very distinct shadows.  I also wanted the shadows of one of the oranges to cast itself on another orange.  20 shots or so later, I found what I was looking for.Setting up for this particular shot was relatively easy.  I put the camera on a tripod, stopped down the lens to f22 to let in as little light as possible to maintain the blackness of the background.  The trick was to open up the shutter for 1/2 of a second, then manually trigger an external flash unit once I heard the shutter open.  A better way to do this would have been to have a flash cable going between the camera and the remote flash.  I didn’t have one, so ingenuity had to come into play.Try taking some ordinary objects you see every day and make some interesting images of them.  It will make your artistic side come out.  Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 30mm, 1/2 at f22, ISO 100, Canon 550EX Flash

Here is another example how zooming in or cropping a photo can help with the composition. Again, this is another abstract (sorry for those non-lovers of abstract), but it is a fun one.Look at all the diagonal lines. Not only do the boards of this structure make some interesting lines, but the shadows of the boards do too. It make a much nicer black and white image too in my opinion.Next time you are shooting, try tilting the camera just a bit for some great diagonal lines and see what creative images you can make.Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 70mm, 1/30 at f8, ISO 100

Are you ready to see another abstract? This one is not quite as abstract as the others I have posted, but still may make you wonder just a bit as to the subject matter. This particular one is a close up of a large fuel storage tank. The sun was nearing the horizon which gave some very interesting shadows to the image. I especially like the shadows of the stairs near the top as they elongate due to the curvature of the tank.

Canon 40D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 70mm, 1/500 at f4, ISO 100

One of my favorite things to do is portrait photography and one of my favorite subjects for portraiture is kids. Here is a good friend of ours posing with her guitar.

This one was taken with studio lighting in a pretty standard configuration. The slight tilt of the guitar gives a good diagonal to the image. Also, the subjects eyes are the main focus and are at the 1/3 position in the frame. Make sure the eyes are in focus, even if other parts of the image are not crystal clear.

Have some of your kids pose for you. Natural light works well if you do not have lighting equipment. Near a window with diffused light coming in is excellent.

Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8L at 55mm, 1/125 at f9, ISO 100

Another one of those “take it or leave it” subjects is Abstract photography. As you’ve probably figured out, I kind of like it as seen by some of my prior posts.This particular one was taken at the Boise train depot. At the time, there was an old caboose on display there. One of the things that caught my eye was the steps and the interesting shapes and color. I got fairly close to the step so that the background would be blurred.What do you think? Is abstract photography for you?Canon 20D, Canon 24-70 f2.8 L at 70mm, 1/200 at f8, ISO 100

Architecture photography is fun for some, very boring for others. This can be the case from both the photographer’s and viewer’s perspective.  I happen to like it and I always have my eyes open for interesting subjects. I especially like light fixtures that hang on a wall. When the sun is shining it can make for some great shadows that add to the photograph.

Don’t feel like you have to take a picture of the entire structure. Zoom in and get what interests you the most. Try taking some at different angles to add some diagonal lines to your composition.

Canon 40D, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS at 90mm, 1/800 at f8, ISO 100

Living in Boise, we are blessed to have clearly defined seasons.  Fall is one of my favorites due to the very vibrant colors of all the trees.

This past Sunday, I was driving just northwest of the city and saw these trees.  I pulled off the road, grabbed the camera and tripod and picked my position to shoot.  I generally like to shoot colorful trees with the light from the sun coming in slightly behind the trees instead of shining on my back.  It does two things.  First, it tends to bring out a lot more color, as it is not just reflected light from the leaves you are seeing, but the light shining through them.  Secondly, you will see the darkest part of the trunk which will help to add some contrast to the photograph.

Next time you are out in the fall trees, try shooting from different angles and see if you come to the same conclusion.

Canon 40D, Canon 70-200 f2.8 L IS at 135mm, 1/30 at f16, ISO 100

Weather plays a very big part in our photography. It can block out the sun with clouds, or block out a mountain with fog. This is what happened on this day at Snoqualmie Pass in Washington state.

The same scene can change radically over the period of just few minutes.

Olympus E-10, lens at 26mm, 1/640 at f5.6, ISO 80

As mentioned yesterday, perspective can be added to an image by placing similarly sized objects at different distances from the camera. This is a great example of that. The horizontal lines of the lockers appear to be converging at the far end.

Keep your eyes open for depth enhancing opportunities.

One other thing you may have noticed from the camera data below is that I “stopped the lens down” (made the opening or aperture smaller) to increase what is know as “depth of field.”  The larger the number (f22 in this case) the smaller the aperture is in the lens.

A regular lens can only truly focus on a single plane that is parallel with the image sensor or film in the camera. If I would have taken this image with the aperture wide open, you would been able to spot where the lens was focusing. By stopping the lens down, you increase what appears to be in focus. Sometimes you want this, other times you don’t. Try both ways when you are shooting something that has depth and see what works best in your particular case.

Keep on shooting!

Canon 10D, Canon 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS at 75mm, 1/180 at f22, ISO 400

How do you make a 2 dimensional photograph acquire some 3 dimensional properties?  One way is to look for similar objects that look very different due to the atmospheric conditions.  This is illustrated here by the hazy skies above Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho.  The haze is quite prevalent in this morning shot.

When you look at this image, you see the super dark feature of the close by cliff.  As the distance increases to the mountains across the lake, the objects begin to get a lighter and lighter cast.  It makes it quite obvious that there is depth to this photograph.

Keep your eyes open for things that show depth by changes in contrast.  This contrast doesn’t always have to be dark to light, but may be the contrast between close up people and far away people.  Those closer will be larger, those farther away will be smaller.  Our mind knows that they are the same size, so it gives us the illusion of depth.

Canon 10D, Canon 28-135 f3.5-5.6 IS at 135mm, 1/750 at f8, ISO 100