Archive | January 2017

How Composition will improve your picture taking skills

There’s always places to take some beautiful scenery pictures in Bucks County, PA and surrounding areas no matter what time of year it is!

snow and ice on property

You’ll find lots of windy roads throughout beautiful Bucks County, Pa.  Start learning to really see as an artist when you look thru your camera and compose an image. Composition is all about keeping your viewer of your photograph engaged enough to stay a while and enjoy the image you produced.

peddlers-village-katydid-0124

One great rule of composition is LINES. Lines lead your viewer into your photograph. Lines can be straight and dynamic or soft and curvy. Use lines such as roads, paths, streams to lead you to the main subject toward the end of the line. Your main subject could even be your family posing for a holiday card.

There are many covered bridges, barns, historic building, etc. in Bucks County. Why not try out the popular “Rule of Thirds” when taking landscape photos? Here’s how it works…picture a tic, tac, toe grid with 4 intersecting points where the lines meet. When shooting landscapes, place your horizon line on the top or bottom 1/3 grid line (by using your camera in LiveView mode you will usually have the grid show up to help you out). If you were to place the horizon line in the center when using this rule, it would make your photo become boring as if it was cut in half. When you place your main subject in one of the 4 intersecting points in this rule, you have now utilized the rule of thirds to its fullest.

ice-katydid-0976Do you like taking close-ups of flowers, leaves or bugs? Try out the “Rule of Simplicity”. Make an impact by getting in close and fill the frame with your subject. This rule is pretty simple!

villonova-katydid-0770

This time of year, the” Rule of Framing” can work very well. Set up your photo by placing your subjects in the background only. Your frame work is in the foreground. However, make sure to have your frame on at least 2 edges of your photograph. It may be a tree and branches hanging over the top and side of your frame. It could also be an archway that you are using as your frame and a building is in the background that you want to show off.

winter-katydid_3876Balance is also a rule of composition. Mainly remember with this rule to make your viewer feel at ease when looking at your image. If you’ve shot your photo on an angle and your viewer has to turn their head to look at, that it means it is not well balanced. If you can split an image into two images, then it will take away from being well balanced also.

Mergers are also an important part of composition rules. Watch for trees and telephone poles growing out of heads and other distracting elements that you may not have noticed right away.

Keep up the good work by practicing and trying out these rules of composition. You can check out Katydid Photography’s blog posts and photos at http://www.KatydidPhotography.com.

by Kathy Peoples

 

 

 

 

Building on the Fundamentals of Your Camera, PART 2

If you’ve been thru Katydid’s Beginning Camera Course then this is YOUR next step!
Extend your camera knowledge…Learn
• Manual setting on your camera and how to zero out your meter •
• External Flash, On and Off camera
• Mixing flash with natural light exposures •
• Neon lights at night and time exposures on a tripod
• Macro and close up photography
• HDR and when and how to use it

Prerequisite: Beginners Digital Camera Course

Dates: Wed. Jan. 11, 18, 25. Last class Tues. Jan 31st (if you can’t make that date, let me know and we will arrange a good date for you).

Time: 6:30-8:30 PM

Cost: $199.00

Duration: 4 week session

Take one week of this course for only $49.99

Location: 363 W Bristol Road, Warminster, PA 18974