Perspective, Highlights, and Aperture

I wanted to share two photos I had taken back in early June.  As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have a hard time deleting photos... EVEN when I know they are not technically up to par.  I am slowly and painfully going through my library and parting with the photos that I know just need to be deleted and sent into cyber heaven.

In the process I came across a series of photos that are a really good example of perspective.  They also are a good example of why it is just not good to take photos during the middle of the day.  Both the photos have areas of blown highlights (for more info click here).  I don't remember the specifics of when I took these photos, so I'm not sure if changing my settings would have solved that problem.  I will go into how to fix your highlights in another blog post.  There is some post-processing things you can do, but it is much better to have the exposure right in the field.

Now to address the perspective.... The first photo was taken from the side so you can see part of the stem, the leaves, and the center (all in focus).  Then through a larger aperture (smaller f/number), the background is blurred, along with several other flowers.  Here is a link to a pretty good explanation of aperture if you are interested.  In order to get this perspective I had to lay down on my belly so that I was facing the flower.

ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/125 sec

© Corrie M Avila

In this second photo, I was kneeling over the flower.  So you have a nice birds eye view of the entire top, but that is all you see.  Frankly, it just looks weird.  Almost like the top of the flower is floating.

ISO 100 ~ 60mm ~ f/5.0 ~ 1/125 sec

© Corrie M Avila

So when you are composing your photo, think about perspective... Your natural eye automatically adjusts for depth and puts the pieces together.  The camera does not do this.  For the most part, a photo is just more pleasing to the eye when you do not have the subject head on. Of course there are always exceptions to this rule.

Well, I'm off to continue sentencing badly composed and wrongly exposed photographs to their eternal demise.  Hope your evening is less morbid than mine is <3

Happy Shooting!

Corrie