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when the weather turns ...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-10-30T19:48:54-06:00

sometimes crappy weather can really add to your images! back in august i went up to steamboat springs to cheer on a friend as he did his thing riding the bareback broncs in the local rodeo series up there. so before the rodeo i had to set about lookin for some horseys to shoot of course. well the weather turned pretty ugly and gray and then the rain started. so rather than get frustrated or put the camera away ... i said cool... i love bad weather!

sometimes bad weather can really add to an image. this shot that i took of the horses in the holding pen turned out to be one that i have really grown fond of. and while i could have used a flash to compensate for the dark skies and diminishing light ... i decided to go without the aid of a flash and instead use all of my other settings to get enough exposure from the shot. i had to push up my iso setting and that added to the grainy look of the shot which i think really works with the mood of the shot.

i also decided not to retouch any of the marks and scars on these horses. these horses are part of the rodeo circuit and they are working horses. they get pretty beaten up (cosmetically speaking .. the people that manage these horses take pretty good care of their herd). but i like that they are marked up and dirty and everything. they look tired and weary ... but i guess that is the life of a rodeo horse.

so even though the weather issues (the misting rain and dark skies) are not overtly noticeable in this image, it did force certain shooting decisions that i think really helped to create and interesting image.

shooting in the snow ....

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-10-10T10:19:44-06:00

if there is one season that i love to shoot in ...it’s winter! okay, its not exactly winter yet in colorado ...but it sure did look like it when we awoke this morning (and felt like it too i might add - only 15 degrees!). so i couldn’t resist grabbing the camera and taking some fun shots. of course i immediately set out to find some horses grazing in the frosty pasture. and bingo as luck would have it i had a good setup for some nice wintery scenery shots with a couple of grazing horses. you can view a few of those shots here: photo gallery

and then along came a Ty-ball! (my black lab who is officially named just ‘Ty’ but he is affectionately named Ty-ball). since he has that beautiful black velvet coat it just looks great with the little frosty bits of snow and with the white snowy background which i shot a bit out of focus.

know thy equipment ...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-09-21T12:08:23-06:00

one of the interesting things about photography ... well for me anyway is the great opportunity to ‘bond with my equipment’! i know this sounds odd, but its true ... i love the experience of learning and one of my very natural curiosities is to get very techie. i realize that does not at all sound appealing to some of you who are very non- technical. but for those of you who have a desire to jump in and take that camera off of “automatic” [or what I love to call the “auto-magic” setting] and learn some cool new things ...well its worth the time.

i often hear from people how they don’t know how to use their cameras and well this concerns me a bit! and yes i am talking about all of you who are not photographers but who like to take snapshots and pics of your friends and family and etc. and all amateur photographers out there ... go ahead read the manual and learn about all of the cool things that you can do with your digital camera!

cameras are so sophisticated these days and there are limitless ways that you can create unique images. but you just might have to take that camera off of its auto-magic setting to create a new and interesting image. i always urge people to play around with your camera settings and get to know the different options that you have. did you know that your camera probably has a setting that is specific for portraits and then another for a landscape image? these settings contain common presets that work best for creating the best focus range, light metering, color temperature, and etc... i know, i know, you are thinking that you don’t know what all of that means. well you don’t have to worry they have chosen a formula for you. but you do have to at least get in there and be adept at using those controls. so go ahead get into that camera menu and change some settings and start shooting! you will learn some new things and you will take better shots as well!

cool new things ...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-09-01T15:23:36-06:00

from time to time i like to share some cool finds about photography related stuff and this week i would like to share 2 cool new things that i am using.

i recently ordered a product called ‘camera armor’ for my canon (which is kind of my beater camera). its the camera that i take with me trail riding because i would never take my baby ... which is my nikon along for a bumpy trail ride where it could possibly get hurt! well, i also don’t necessarily want my canon to get all banged up either ...so i went searching for something to protect it a bit more and found ‘camera armor’! check out their site - camera armor; they make a very rugged silicone skin for your camera that fits your (nikon or canon) model like a glove. so i now have my canon all wrapped up in its protective armor and i feel much better when i am out there riding around and takin pics! love the product. good stuff.

the other cool new thing i recently discovered .. just today in fact ... is a product called SneakPeek Photo. so this is a mac product (sorry pc users) and its basically a “quick look” plug in that allows you to get a quick peek at your images and even some of the data that is attached like the fstop and iso used and etc... so obviously the benefit is that you don’t have to open up your image application (for me that is aperture) and depending on your workflow process - if you are like me - then you load images into aperture after they are on your mac .. and so i would have to take all of these steps if i just want to view an image quickly. sneak-peek allows a nice quick view at your image and its very cool! love it. check them out here: SneakPeek Photo

art festivals ...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-08-05T12:35:35-06:00

i know, i know, you are wandering why i have not posted any blogs in the past few weeks. so i had to prepare for my first art festival and things got a bit hectic - to say the least! actually, it was more of a ‘music festival’ than an art festival, but nonetheless a great experience for me and a great new opportunity for me to market my work. one of the nice things about doing festivals i have discovered is having the opportunity to see on a first hand level what kind of ‘gut’ reaction people have to your work. its hard for many photographers to have the objective view of one’s own work and so if you have an opportunity to see how people react to your work on a larger scale (say the kind of scale that a festival provides) ... well you will hopefully gain a greater understanding of what your work can mean to people. i know i did - and that my friend was priceless! and if any of you happen to be interested in some of the work you see displayed below - lets talk! :) K

no one bought my favorite piece ... so its still for sale if you are interested please give me a shout!

go for a different angle...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-07-13T21:43:02-06:00

for those of you who are not “studio” photographers [and i am guessing that not that many of you shoot in a studio] you have all probably experienced the dreaded change in the weather issue! for example, say you are all excited to go out and shoot an event up in the mountains and you are thinking oh this will be great with the event starting at about 7pm the dusky sun will be beaming a golden light on my subjects and maybe i can get the mountain sunset as a backdrop and doesn’t it all just sound like a picture perfect opportunity! but as you are driving out to your location it starts .. the rain i mean. uh oooh, not good!

well it actually may not be bad either. as a photographer - and most certainly as an “outdoor” photographer you have got to learn how to exploit any element that you can in an effort to create a successful image from a not so great surrounding. because trust me, when you shoot events, it’s going to happen! that is bad weather i mean. so don’t get discouraged if you show up and the blue sky disappears. use that to your advantage to take shots in any kind of conditions. it will force you to get out of your comfort zone (and if you read my june 26th post...i know that i encourage you to get into the comfort zone ..but come on ..you can’t stay there forever!) and to get creative.

so next time it rains on your parade get ready to exploit some of the other elements that can make up a great image. if you wanted to capture that beautiful mountain range and blue sky in your image to provide that wonderful backdrop, but it is about to rain and the sky looks flat and dead and the mountains are all blending together in the flat light ... then forget that angle go for a different one. perhaps you could switch out your lens and go close up. or perhaps you can you can move your self to a different shooting spot and capture some other interesting background as a backdrop for you subject.

whatever you can do to change your preconceived notion about how that image should look, do it and play around with some different angles; because you might just end of with some great shots!

to crop ...or not to crop ...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-07-02T07:36:43-06:00

the beauty of digital imaging is that there is so much that you can do to improve your photos while in the post production process; in a relatively short time without messing with nasty chemicals. now i recall quite a few years back when digital cameras were becoming more widely used and many pro photographers were transitioning from the traditional film format to the use of DSLR cameras. along with that trend came two things. first came the commercial use of digital image manipulation software (i say the commercial use because the professional print industry had used adobe photoshop for years to make photos more sellable in magazines and elsewhere in the market). and secondly, the pro photography industry splintered into two sects ... the film purist (who argue that digital image manipulation in post production is cheating); and then the new digital frontier’s (who argue that it’s not cheating ...it’s about leveraging all of the tools that you have at your disposal to make great images!)

well anyway that was somewhat unnecessary to go into all of that detail but i want you to think about many of my topics in relation to your own thoughts about digital photography; and to go beyond the shooting of images.

on to cropping ... so you have an image that you think is good ...then what? well you download it and open that image up in a photo editing program (photoshop or whatnot - personally i use a mac program called aperture) and you look at every pixel of that image and analyze the color, the composition, the highlights, the shadows, and so on. most of the time you will find that cropping your image will greatly enhance the overall composition of your photo. its one of the quickest and easiest things that you can do if you are just learning to use photo editing software. so try to get a little closer to pull the viewer right into your subject, or offset your subject a little bit off center to create a specific artistic type of image. or there may be a light post of mailbox peeking up in the corner of your photo that you did not see when you were shooting ... simply get rid of it - unless its part of your scene.

there are so many reasons to crop an image. it can be a great tool to help you to clean up your images and get focused in on the really important part of your photo ... the subject. and overall its just a great way to really enhance your image after the shutter has been released!

so yes .. i say crop away!!!

shooting in the comfort zone...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-06-26T09:27:45-06:00

many people who are self described photography hobbyists ... don’t have the technical training or background that many photographers do but they do share a similar passion. it is with this in mind that i write this blog today. its funny because i frequently get asked about my equipment but i rarely get asked about some of my methods. by this i mean what type of shooter am i?? and trust me, all pro photographers develop crutches and habits that put them into their own "comfort zone”.

i was trained on a method referred to as “the zone system”. i won’t go into that system now but it’s a great system that one of my early inspirations, Ansel Adams, developed. however, one of the presumptions that i find challenging when trying to implement my technical training with my everyday shooting is that i should have time to set up my shots using something like the zone system! when you tend to shoot action and animals - time is usually not on your side! and conditions are always changing. so back to what i am going to call shooting with the “comfort zone”!

if you are a hobbyist or just starting out with digital photography and you are self teaching; then i urge you to think about developing a “comfort zone”. this will help you to study, experiment, analyze, and learn from your shots while hopefully producing some great images. first you need to consider what type of images you mostly shoot. are you an action shooter, do you like shooting architecture, or animals, or whatever it is determine your predominant subject interest. start there and find a comfort zone to settle into and experiment with. (i feel the need to post a disclaimer: “i am not saying that you should always shoot here. i am saying this is a good learning exercise”)

so let me give you an example. i shoot events and horses. horses are not inanimate objects, they are always moving. the events that i shoot involve action and motion. so herein lies my big challenge ... obtaining crisp sharp images of subjects that are always in motion. if i can’t get a crisp and sharp image then i got nothin! so because clarity is a huge issue for my moving subjects i choose to make all of my decisions revolving around a very high shutter speed. and so there begins my “comfort zone”. I won’t even consider shooting a horse event at with a shutter speed lower than about 600 to 800. if the light conditions pose a challenge for pushing my shutter speed at this range, well then i will compromise something else within my image and hope that its something that i can address in the post production process - like film speed (ISO in digital world).

along with a high shutter speed i also find it critical that i shoot with a ‘continuous high’ setting. my camera rips off 5 frames per second. i use all 5 of those frames that i can when i need to shoot a horse and rider going over a jump. why? because, i not only have to catch my jumper in a crisp sharp image, but i am also looking at a few other critical elements that i want in my image. for instance, is my rider’s head up, can i see the horse’s eyes? and i want the horse’s chest up heading for the sky, i want to see his feet rolled under him as he peaks that jump, and so on. so with all of these things going on in my head, can you see why i suggest you find a “comfort zone” to shoot in? when i shoot this way it allows me the freedom to focus on the composition more freely. which is something that is very important to me. i am a perfectionist when it comes to composition and i have my own style that sets me apart from other photographers.

so there are two things that i have just outlined as my priorities for shooting in the comfort zone. i start with those 2 settings and from there everything else flows.

in short - here is a brief look at shooting in the “comfort zone”

* find a predominant subject matter that you like to shoot - and shoot a lot of that type of image
* find what settings typically work for shooting that image
* once you have chosen some settings that make you feel comfortable - put these into a priority list
* always start at the top of the priority list with your shooting decisions (as an example: 1. shutter speed, 2. iso, 3. exposure metering ... and so on
* then adjust shooting decisions from there - every other setting should be much easier to identify once you have chosen your critical settings (those one or two that are at the top of your priority list) for a given type of shot

I do hope that you will consider experimenting with this type of shooting method. its not scientific, nor is it a method that is taught to us in photography school, it is merely something that i personally came up with once i switched to digital and realized that i didn’t have the “zone system” to utilize (i have since learned that there are theories published on how to implement the zone system in digital photography, but i haven’t yet experimented with that concept).

so good luck with that and i will hope to write more on this topic as i give it more thought!

back on the blog...

kristinoc@mac.com — 2009-06-17T10:05:42-06:00

♞ its been a little while since i blogged on my site. but since i decided to redesign my website the other day - i figured this is as good a time as any to start blogging again. i will likely be rethinking my strategy for the topics and whatnot that i will focus on and i do hope that you will find interest in my blog and the topics that i discuss. since my two passions in life are horses and photography, i will mostly discuss any topic that is relative to those two topics. i will look forward to hearing from all of you and hope that you enjoy reading my blog and viewing some of my work!