A dozen ways to shoot water, or any subject

I’m brainstorming how to approach this month’s subject of Water, and thought I’d share some ideas on subjects for the photo.

Technical:

Long exposure - blurred moving water
Short exposure - flying droplets, frozen falling waves
Macro - a droplet hanging from a leaf
Shallow or deep focus - ??
Composites: merge several shots to create something new
Camera motion (with long exposure): move the camera to follow water, zoom while shooting

Light: from behind, above, below, the side. Colored light, morning dew, rays of light under water
Characteristics: reflections, lensing, refraction, frozen, steam, colors (of the ocean)

Conceptual:

Relationships: Water in, on, around, behind, in front of something
Natural vs Constructed: dew drops, rivers, canals, dams, ice sculpture, drainage
The effects of water, or lack of it: drought, erosion, sea level rise, melting glaciers
Water as Metaphor: flowing, finds a way, downhill, refreshing, erosion, parched, dehydrated, baptism
Personal: what does water mean to me, how does it affect me - wash your hands

As a photographer it’s fun to practice and master the technical skills.  Next I try to use those skills to express or interpret something in a new and unique way. (with complementary composition, good focus and exposure, and nothing extraneous in the image.)

I'm looking forward to see what everyone does.

- Ron

The Art of Photoshop Compositing

 Julieanne Kost from Adobe has an excellent short course about photo composting on Lynda. At 3 hours, it covers a lot of topics:

— What makes a good composite?

— Refining your story

— Composing using the basic principles of design

— Customizing your Photoshop workspace

— Preparing elements from your source images

— Adjusting color, tone, balance, and perspective

— Mastering the Pen tool

— Unifying with texture, focus, leading lines, and structure

Even if you don't use Photoshop you can get some good ideas from this course.

If you have a Santa Clara County Library card then you can get Lynda free. Follow these steps:

1. If you have a SCCL card but have not registered for an online account, get signed up at 

https://sccl.bibliocommons.com

2. Log in to the library and select the “Learn 24/7” topic.

3. Select the link “Lynda.com”

4. On the Online Resource page, select the “Lynda.com” link.

5. Sign into Lynda using your library card signon number and pin.

6. Search for “The art of photoshop compositing”

7. Click on the course link, buckle up, and get started!

—Harlan