I started getting interested in photography by accident. Last year I came across some beautiful photos of flowers by Hichako on Flickr. I just loved them so much, that I was inspired to take up photography. I was hoping that one day I could produce pieces of art as beautiful as Hichako’s to put up on our wall.
Christchurch, New Zealand is known as the "Garden City". I took this photo at the Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
What started you on your journey as a photographer?
Today I have learned that “dawn + camera = great photos”.
Who would have thought that waking up before the sun comes up and picking up your camera could get you such amazing shots!
When I went out it was raining, and cloudy, and I was resigned myself to do reflection shots through puddles etc, because the sky looked so dull.
Then I saw it, the sun started peeking through the clouds, and I was so excited that I pulled the car over at the docks and started snapping away. It was still raining, so I was careful not to get the lenses wet. I was able to catch the sun breaking through the clouds, creating amazing colour contrasts.
By the time I got to the beach, the sun was higher and the rain had stopped. The sun was dancing along the clouds and the water, so needless to say, I was a bit trigger happy trying to capture my first sunrise.
I am looking forward to my next morning adventure into dawn photography!
Today I have learned that if the fog starts to get too heavy, go higher!
The blue skies together with the blanket of fog creates amazing photos. One thing is to be patient, one minute the skyline can be hidden, the next minute it totally clears up.
It pays to have a pick of places to go to when the fog comes in, that will give you the kind of photos that you are after. This may mean asking other photographers where they go, or go on your own scouting mission.
One way to know if you got a good spot, is when you see all the other photographers flocking to that spot on a foggy day. Like you can see in the photo below.
Today I have learned that you can take advantage of the fog, by looking out for objects that slowly dissppear into the fog
When the fog sets in you don’t need to abandon your photo session. Look around you to see if there are any interesting shots that involve objects that recede into the fog as it gets further away from you. This can create a lovely moody, mysterious shot.
Today I have learned that you can take amazing night shots from a bridge overlooking a motorway by adjusting the aperture and using a tripod.
I have been attending a photography course during the evening. Today we went on a “field trip” to do night photography.
I was able to produce professional looking photos of the car light making a trail in the darkness by doing the following:
1. Pick a spot overlooking a motorway
2. Choose a time of day and area where the traffic will be moving steadily (this won’t work if cars are congested by traffic lights)
3. Make sure it is dark enough that the car lights will show up in the photo
4. Place your camera on an tripod (this is essential)
5. Play around with your setting so that you have a long exposure. I put my SLR digital camera on the aperture number which was 22
6. Set your camera to self timer (to avoid camera shake when you push down the shutter)
7. Focus by pushing your camera half down, and then all the way to activate self timer.
8. Your camera should take a picture but it will seem like it isn’t doing anything for awhile, then a photo will appear on the LCD of streaky car lights!
