Monday, May 4, 2009

Contrast


This is my fav from the weekend. Unedited. At first I wasn't even sure why it stood out, then I remembered another thing I learned from one of the photography books I was reading a few days ago... I will try to explain this where it sort of makes some kind of sense.....(The book is from our library called, Compete Digital Photography 4th Edition by Ben Long).
He says that our eyes are more sensitive to contrast than to color. Who knew!? That is why lighting in photography is key, that is why evening and morning are the best times of day to take pics. The side light makes long shadows and more contrast. I image that this is the reason we are often drawn to black and white photos so strongly. The contrast!
Another book said if you want to make something look interesting light it half way... like side light that only lights half or part of ones face.


I also learned to day how to make pics really big on my blog. Tell me if you like them like this or not, or if you can even tell on your screen. I am curious to know how it looks.

9 comments:

Cathy said...

This is a beautiful picture. I love the way the flower in front is very focused and everything else is blurry. It really makes it pop!

Anonymous said...

I love the contrast. Some day I want to get a grown up camera that can do depth of field. For now I'll just have to "smart blur."

Paula

Anne said...

I love the big pics...bigger is better right? :-)

Penny said...

So pretty -- and the picture is big! =)

janette said...

the picture is definitely bigger on my screen...and with my dial-up took longer to load...thats how I originally noticed. (but, it was worth the wait! It's so pretty)

I took some photos last night and this morning on the new camera...loving it! I will have to post some soon!

David said...

Good example! The flowers that are in front of other white flowers in the background definitely don't "pop" as much as the ones against the dark background near the left side of the photo.

You should drop by my blog. I gave my 50mm F/1.2 a nice workout on Sunday. I think you'll like.

jenni said...

Great Pic Beth!

Kaye Butler said...

Love the bigger pictures. You'll have to tell me how.

ShalomSeeker said...

I'm gonna have to ditto Kaye Butler here: Love size; want to know how. (Not that I even own a camera...) I just love what you're doing with bokeh!
-J