Internet Doesn’t Do Justice: Print your work to really enjoy it.
Hello everyone,
Many of my articles are about learning how to photograph Macro and Close-up Photography. I try to discuss all aspects of this style of photography but I noticed that the Internet doesn’t really show you the detail of focus that I always strive for in my artwork.
If you have read my bio you know that I absolutely love Impressionism with a slight twist of having an area in the work dead sharp in focus. So today I thought I would show you the original photographs and a cropped version so you can see what I’m talking about. When I print my work I like them to be 24 x 36 or larger, this way the person viewing the piece(s) see what I’ve created with the tools of photography.
Click on the photograph…to get back to the blog use your back arrow key on the server.
close up
close up
another one
upclose
soap
closeup
As you work on Macro photography have fun looking at your subjects up close; I use my Canon Angle Finder to help me focus on the area of the subject I want you all to see clearly. If you want more of the photograph areas in focus use an Aperture of F22 and adjust your Shutter Speed for the perfect Exposure. Again, the Internet doesn’t do justice to the photographs…the prints are beautiful, trust me… you will have fun viewing your subject up close and print them large so you can enjoy the work you created 
All shots were on a tripod shot with ISO 100; I used my cable release and also used the mirror lock-up, noise control for long exposures within my camera. To print your photograph, here is some basic info for you:
http://blog.sullivanjphotography.com/category/printing-information/
Cheers,
Janice
Photograph Something Common and See a New World: Macro Style
Hello everyone,
I was working with a client on some white daisies and thought to myself… “Post some Daisies on your blog so you all can see how beautiful daisies are up close.” We see these flowers all the time but when you view them as a Macro you can really appreciate the beauty and graceful quality of the flower. Take a look at these photographs:
baby white daisy
back side of a pink gerber daisy
backlighting on a young daisy
manipulated gerber daisy
yellow top daisy
For those of you that want to see more of my daisy shots you can click on the image below:
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Photographs – Daisies – Images by Janice Sullivan
So have some fun and take a variety of close up photographs of daisies or any common subject… if you’re interested in the technical info of the flower, you can click on Common Daisy and Asteraceae (daisy family). Be creative and take out your tripod, grab a macro lens or set your point & shoot on macro mode and enjoy the beauty of a common flower!
These photographs were all shot with my 100mm macro lens, tripod, cable release, with mirror lock-up, noise control for long exposures and various lighting techniques.
Cheers,
Janice
My Favorite Photographs on SJP’s Blog
Hello everyone,
I am in the middle of a mini vacation so my time is limited. I thought it would be nice to post my favorite photographs that have been discussed in SJP’s “Sullivan J Photography” Blog.
Hope you enjoy them….
Close up of the stem and backside of a daisy.
Photograph on Feedbag (Blog on Farmboy Fine Arts)
Happy Holidays to you all!
Take care everyone!
Cheers,
Janice
Photographing Reflective Objects Macro Style
Hello everyone,
Today I would like to show you some examples of how to photograph reflective objects and of course I will discuss the info based on macro photography.
Unwanted reflection can be distracting especially when your subject is in your face like a Macro photo. Of course it’s always fun when you’re artistically photographing reflection but that’s for a later article.
With many glass objects, like light bulbs, we can reflect light on the glass to create a black or white rim to show the viewer the depth of the object, but with this bulb I need to show the painted artwork. So we must defuse the light.
When we photograph macro most of the subject is in the shot, which can be difficult when working with reflective objects. As you can see from figure 1 the light bulb is very reflective; you can see me in the bulb. If you want to view the figures up close click on them and to get back to the blog use your back arrow key on your browser.
Figure 1
In Figure 2 I put a tent around the bulb but as you can see that the refection of the camera lens is in the shot. Not Good.
Figure 2
Figure 3 is and example of the tent I used.
Figure 3
In order to minimize the reflection of light hitting your macro shot, start with the example in Figure 4. Set two lights on each side of the subject and cross the light source beams. You will actually see the reflection diminish, but if you’re still having problems use a polarizing filter; that’s what I had to do for this shot.
Figure 4
Provided by, “The Practical Handbook for the Emerging Artist’ by Margaret R. Lazzari
I purchased my polarizer from B & H – my favorite place to shop.
Figure 5
I knew that a black background wouldn’t work with this bulb so the white tent was perfect. In Figure 6 you can see how I set up the object. In Photoshop I removed the wire and cleaned up the bulb figure 7.
Figure 6
Figure 7
Of course I love to see everything up close so I gave my clients some fun shots of the inside of the bulb and the actual painting on the bulb (my favorite shot).
Figure 8
Figure 9
My next example is my fingernail. If you have read my blog before you know that I love the creativity of my Manicurist Jennifer. This time she put sparkles on my nail and I loved them so much that I had to photograph it. As you can see from Figure 10 the flare is distracting and takes away from my sparkles so I photograph my nail with black velvet (velvet is excellent to use – it absorbs light so it won’t bounce on your subject) as my background. I diffused the light source hitting my nail with my translucent reflector.
Figure 10
Figure 11 is an example of my Translucent Reflector.
Figure 11
Now we can see my sparkles in figure 12, which puts a smile on my face
Figure 12
So remember…
- Diffuse your light. You can use a tent, white silk, white tissue paper, translucent reflector…
- Use a polarizer filter on your lens
- Cross your lighting – see Figure 4
Yes, it takes time to work on reflective objects and when you Macro you really see the imperfections but it’s worth it in the end. You will have an awesome photograph to show your clients or just for your own self-gratification a picture that our eyes would not see if it wasn’t for your time and creativity.
Have fun!
Cheers,
Janice
Color: What mood are you feeling…show it via Macro Photography.
Hello everyone,
Today I would like to share with you some information on color and show you two photograph examples that will hopefully inspire you to play with color. Remember this…when you have the subject in your face via a Macro photograph think about it’s color; it will influence your observers.
Now, if I have a customer that is requesting the original color of the subject; I’ll white balance my camera with the lighting conditions at the time of the shoot (read your camera manual on how to do this). Also calibrate your monitor; check out calibration & Spyder software for more information.
For the fine art side of me… I like to play with colors. Take some time to read about color! The links below discuss how color impacts our senses, design, and info on the Color Wheel. (If you don’t have time for the top two – take time to read the Color Wheel link.)
I Photographed in RAW and developed them in Photoshop. Start by playing with the white balance, once you see what you like begin your custom tweaks.
Look to the right of these examples, you will see the white balance. If you want to view the images closer click on them, to get back to the blog use your back arrow key on your browser. As you view each example pay attention to how you feel while viewing them…let your senses take over.
First set….
As shot
Cloudy
Tungsten
Fluorescent
Grayscale
I liked the feel of the Fluorescent and played with that:
My custom:
After I came back to the photograph I had a change in plan, I decided to go for a texture feel; this is my ending result:
Final Image
Second example:
As shot
Auto
Daylight – cloudy – shade and flash were all similar (warm).
Tungsten
Fluorescent
Grayscale
This is my ending result:
I really enjoy working with color it’s fun to see the various colors merge together. This is why most of my work has a soft focus to them. I provided some examples on how to start your creative juices flowing. Like I always say…have fun and play with your photograph to achieve a beautiful, creative, colorful image!
Cheers,
Janice :0)
Adobe Lightroom 3: Favorite Features for Macro & Close-up Photography & Flickr
Hello everyone,
Today I wanted to talk about some nice features that Adobe Lightroom 3 has to help you with your Macro & Close-up photography. You can also read up on the new features that Lightroom 3 has to offer here; but let’s get started with the features that help us Macro photographers.
One of the best features Adobe added is the improvement to the noise reduction option. Because we get up close and personal we need more light into the camera for a correct exposure, which can lead to an under exposed photograph. So if you have a underexposed photograph, don’t toss that file, fix it in Lightroom 3.
Another nice feature that I like is the tether shooting (connecting your camera to your monitor/computer) option. While photographing up close you really need to see what your subject looks like, otherwise you lose the wow factor. I like being able to make my adjustments right on the spot – which is usually for me the f-stop. Most of my work is done in my studio so this is perfect for me.
Now, I’m sure many of you photograph while visiting family or while family is visiting you. Sometimes it can be difficult to achieve that awesome shot you want when your family is with you. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, I love my family but the photographer in me can get a tad frustrated when I want to take the extra time to make that perfect shot. So what I do, is try make sure my exposure is correct and then snap away. I still like the close up feel to my work so I hold my elbows in and stop breathing while I snap the shutter. What’s nice about Lightroom 3 is that it has a lens & perspective correction feature and some other goodies to help you in post-production. So don’t stress out…all will be good later
We now have the ability in Lightroom 3 to upload photographs to Flickr and Yahoo. This is what I did for my Aunt:
In Figure 1 we shot some fun photographs with her horse Fluer.
Figure 1
I wanted to play with the post crop vignetting feature to focus on the experience they (Aunt Kay & the horse) were having. I also enjoyed playing with the Presence area…had to throw that in too. See Figure 2 & 3.
Figure 2
Figure 3
With Figure 4 you can see that I decide to play with the vignetting.
Figure 4
Figure 5 shows you the before and after pictures of my Aunt and horse. Make sure you don’t blow your whites out (see the red on the left photo) Not good!
Figure 5
To make it easier for me to send to Flickr so my Aunt could see the pictures, I added the photographs that I wanted in the quick collection.
Figure 6
Once I had all of the pictures for Flickr, I made a file… see Figure 7.
Figure 7
I had my file opened and then I dragged and drop the photogs into the photostream. Once you’re ready… click on “publish” and the pics are sent to your photostream in Flickr.
Figure 8
This is the completed photograph for my Aunt. I didn’t do much to it, just a bit of tweeking in Lightroom. I do want to add that these are fun photographs for the family. Lightroom is a great tool but Photoshop is the last step I use for my professional work.
Figure 9
I also added some fun close-ups of some desert flowers when my brother-in-law came out to visit when we hiked Joshua Tree National Park. If you’re ever in Southern California I highly recommend this park in the Spring.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Before I finish, just a couple of other features that I really liked…one, I’m so happy that Lightroom 3 is faster to work in, very, very nice. I also like the ease of adding my watermark, even though I didn’t add them to this post, lol! :)
So get close to your subject, hold your elbows in, hold your breath while you push the shutter to achieve a sharp handheld focus, play with your photograph in Lightroom 3 and send them out to Flickr and/or Yahoo for you, your family and friends to enjoy!
Cheers, Janice
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