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Thursday, December 8, 2016

Photography Tips for the Holiday

Christmas tree at Missouri Botanical Garden photo by mbgphoto

Everybody enjoys looking at photographs from the holiday season. It is the time we gather with friends and families, decorate for the occasion and celebrate the birth of our Savior. What a great time to document these wonderful memories with photos. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Before the season is upon us check out your camera. Make sure it is in good working order and that all your lenses are clean.
Make sure your batteries are charged and recharge them after each use.
You may want to consider purchasing an extra memory card to use for your holiday photos.
Make a list of things you want to photograph during this Christmas season.
Every year I try to photograph something different for the holiday. This year I plan to go to my church after the decorations are up and take some photographs of the nave. I'm thinking they may make a nice card for the following year. What can you try new this year?

Special Events

Special events are always a great time to take photos. In the photo at the top of this article I photographed a tree at Missouri Botanical Gardens. Since the photo was taken in the evening I used a tripod and a remote shutter release. If you don't have those items available to use try to find somewhere to stabilize you camera. A post, the top of your car, a bench and other stationary items will help you to avoid camera shake and capture some beautiful evening shots.

Try a Photo Walk

A photo walk through a decorated area is a great way to capture some street shots and decorations. In the photos below I walked through historic Main Street in St. Charles, Missouri. This historic town on the banks of the Missouri river served as the first capitol of the state.

Below are a couple of the photos I shot.

Click Here for Zazzle products from these photos

Group Photos

Group photos are a great way to preserve the memories of the people that attended the gatherings during the holidays. Although candid shots can be fun, a planned group shot is a great way to include everyone. Take the time to check the background in your photo. You wouldn't want to end up with a candle sticking out of someones head.

Also make sure to check your lighting. I prefer natural lighting, rather than flash, so in these photos I used a lens with a lowlight capability and a 1.8 aperture on the camera. If I end up with a yellow tone, I can always adjust it in post processing with a slight slide of the tint or exposure slide.

For both the lighting and the background you may have to move your group to a better location in the room. The first photo below is of my sister and her family. Although the tree is in the background, I zoomed in on the people. I see too many photos where someone has tried to get the whole tree in with the people. That is usually not a good combination so my motto is decide what your focus is (the people or the tree) and set up your shot accordingly.

The second shot below is a group of high school friends of my husbands (he is in red sweater). These guys have known each other for over 55 years and I wanted to capture them all in the photo. They were somewhat patient with me as I moved them around to make sure everyone was seen in the photo.

Special Moments

Be sure to have your camera ready for those special moments. Here is my husband with our oldest granddaughter, Rachel. In these shots the background are not always perfect but I zoom in on the faces and capture the moment.

Kids and the Tree

Kids under the tree is always a good shot for Christmas. Remember to take some shots before the presents are unwrapped. In these photos you see our youngest granddaughters.

Zoom in on the Ornaments and Decoration

Along with the photos of family, friends and events, I like to take some artsy photos. Christmas decorations and ornaments are always good subjects. I like to use a little Bokeh ( a term that refers to keeping what is important in focus and blurring the rest). In the first photo I was sitting on the sofa right in front of the candle in the foreground. I set my aperture to 1.8 and zoomed in on the candle. I was hand holding the camera so I steadied it on my knee. I got the effect I wanted with the candle in focus and the fireplace blurred. The second photo used the same principal but was taken of an ornament on the tree during the daytime.

Another fun Christmas shot is to take a photo and then edit out all of the color except the red. I did that in the photo below of our Christmas tree and fireplace.

Merry Christmas in Black and White
by mbgphoto

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Thursday, October 12, 2017

Review of Worldwide Photo Walk

Worldwide Photo Walk

Saturday, October 7 was the Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. This walk sponsored by Kelby One had over 21 thousand participants on 985 walks throughout the world. As I looked at the map I noted that just over half of the participants were in North America and the rest of the walks were scattered throughout the world. The stated purpose of the walk is for photographers to go out on a walk, shoot photographs and have fun with other photographers.

The walk will have a contest at the end where everyone is asked to submit one photo from the walk. The photo at the top of the page is my submission.

Supporting Charity

The participants of the walk are encouraged to donate to The Springs of Hope, a Kenya orphanage. The organization feeds, houses, educates and empowers young orphans.

barge going down missouri river photo by mbgphoto

View of Barge going down Missouri River

Walk in St. Charles Missouri

The walk that I participated in took place in the historic downtown and the riverfront area of St. Charles. A group of us (about 15) met at 8:45 Saturday morning at the old train depot on the riverfront. We were given a bit of guidance from the leader of the walk and then we all gathered for a group photo.
After the group photo we broke into smaller groups and began our walk. The group I was in walked down the riverfront for about a half a mile, talking, laughing and stopping to photograph interesting sites.

After a while we turned up from the river for a stop at a farmer's market.

Next we followed the itinerary for the walk and walked a block up from the river to historic Main street in St. Charles.

Historic Downtown St. Charles lamppost photo by mbgphoto

Main Street is a delightful area with cobblestones streets and lots of wonderful old buildings that are turned in to shops and restaurants. It can get quite busy on a weekend afternoon, but since we were there in the morning the crowds were slim and we were able to get some good shots. The next photos are the sidewalks and shops along Main Street.

St Charles shops on main street photo by mbgphoto

Changing Decor for the Seasons

It is early fall when we are taking our walk and the shop owners have decorated for the season.

fall pumpkin & gourd decor photo by mbgphoto

Taking a Rest

Our walk lasted just over 2 hours. Here are a few of the group stopping for a rest on some bundles of hay. After the walk several of the participants stopped at a local restaurant to enjoy some good food and discuss photography. It was a fun morning that I enjoyed thoroughly.

Photography Books

I enjoy reading photography books to get ideas from other photographers and to hone my photography skills. I have found Scott Kelby's digital photography books to be very helpful. Here is a book he now has with the best of the other books.

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Thursday, July 27, 2023

Photographing Wildflowers in Missouri

Purple Coneflower

I love wildflowers and, in the spring and summer, they are abundant in Missouri. It makes photographing them so very easy, I can find them in parks, along the sides of roads, on my neighborhood walks and even in my own yard. When I am planning to go out specifically to take photographs, I usually bring my Sony mirrorless camera along with a 55-200 zoom lens. It makes it easy to take pictures at a distance and also to zoom in for closer shots. When I am taking my dog for walks in the neighborhood, I always have my iPhone handy, and I find that it takes great shots of the wildflowers I find in the neighborhood and at our park.

The photo at the beginning of this article was taken at O'Day Park in O'Fallon, Missouri. It is a purple coneflower, that is very popular in my area in the summer months. It is one of my favorite wildflowers. I took my granddaughters to the park and brought along my Sony to capture the wildflowers that were in abundance.

O'Day Park Wildflowers

O'Day Park is a 57-acre park in O'Fallon that features a lodge, playground, camping and miles of paths and trails throughout the park. Near the playground area, I discovered a paved trail that had lots of beautiful wildflowers along the sides. They were in full bloom during our visit, and I was able to capture several different types of Missouri wildflowers. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Plains Coreopsis

Rough Blazing Star

Queen Anne's Lace

Purple Coneflower with Bee

Around the Neighborhood

The photos in this section were all taken on my walks in my neighborhood. They were all taken with my iPhone.

Trumpet Vine

Purple Coneflower and Golden Alexander

Lance Leaf Coreopsis

In My Yard

As I was looking at lists of Missouri wildflowers online, I noticed that many of the flowers in my flower beds are considered wildflowers. I know that all of them were started with a single clump given to me by and friend and all have spread like crazy. They make a colorful bordered on the side of my house.

Primrose

Wild Geranium

Bottle Brush Blazing

Black-eyed Susan

Learn More about Wildflowers

There are many books to give you tips on photographing wildflowers. Here is one I found on Amazon.

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Review of Missouri Botanical Garden

Water Lily and Reflection

Missouri Botanical Garden in South St Louis is a wonderful place to discover nature and so much more. The garden was founded in 1859 by Henry Shaw on his country estate. Today it is a National Historic Landmark and is considered to be one of the top 3 botanical gardens in the world.

Some highlights to see and do when you visit the garden include:

Climatron- a geodesic dome that is used as a conservatory.
The Doris L Schnuck Children's Garden- this area is a delight for children and I have spent many hours there with my granddaughters when they were visiting.
Japanese Garden- this beautiful area is one of my favorite spots to stroll in the garden.
Chinese Garden- another favorite spot of mine in the garden.
Tower Grove House
William T. Kemper Center for Home Gardening

These are but a few of the many interesting highlights in the garden. The garden is also the host to many festivals and special events. I recently toured the garden on a special night they had for photographers to photograph the Chihuly works of art that were featured in the garden from May through October.

Chihuly Exhibit

Dale Chihuly is a world-renowned artist who does amazing works with glass. In his works in the Missouri Botanical Garden art and nature are united in a fantastic exhibition.

I spent several hours at the exhibit in mid-September where I entered the garden at about 6 pm when it was still daylight and stayed for several hours so that I could also capture the beauty of the Chihuly art lit up in the night. Here are a few of the photographs that I took. The first one shows the first Chihuly art I saw when entering the garden.

Chihuly-Vivid Lime Icicle

The next three photos show a beautiful red and yellow tower that I photographed first in the daylight, then closeup and finally a nighttime shot with the crescent moon above it.

Chihuly Tower in Daylight

Closeup of Chihuly Tower

Chihuly Art at Missouri Botanical Garden

Chihuly Tower at Night

The next photo was taken at night in the lake by the Japanese garden.

Float Boat and Niijima Floats

Here are three more of photos from the exhibit.

Boat with Chihuly Art in Reflecting Pool

Turquoise Martins in Chinese Garden

White Tower in Blanke Boxwood Garden

These are just a few of the many Chihuly works of art throughout the garden. It was truly an inspiring experience.

Water Lilies in the Garden

Along with the Chihuly works I was able to enjoy the flowers in the garden when we first entered in the daylight. My favorite flowers that were blooming in mid-September were the beautiful water-lilies. They were in several pools within the garden. The ones I liked the best were the ones that I photographed in the reflecting pools in the central axis area of the garden. My favorite is the purple one in the opening photo for this article. The light was fading and it really made the reflections of the flowers stand out. Here are a few more of my favorites.