April/May Submissions

Is anyone else amazed that nearly a month has passed already?  We’re nearing the half way mark towards our June 30th deadline for our April & May tutorials and I have a few submissions to share!

Jennifer Lundsten, of SK, sent me this photo for the Depth Perception tutorial, with her adorable focal point.  She used the trees as background and the wagon in the near foreground to create depth.

Taken with Pentax K-R at f/5.6, 1/2500 sec., ISO 800

So cute!  Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

Agatha Wiebe, of ON, sent me this photo for the same tutorial:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/7.1, 1/320 sec., ISO 200

Notice the bush on the right side acts as the foreground element and the barn/garage is in background, while the play set is the focal point.  Great light patterns, Agatha!

Agatha also sent me a submission for the May tutorial on Balancing Elements.

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/5.6, 1/125 sec., ISO 400

While this photo of the flower would be gorgeous on its’ own, by adding the out-of-focus branch in the “white space” of the composition, it adds more visual interest.  Beautiful!!

Do  you have any submissions to share with us?  All you have to do is use our submission form and send us your image, along with camera info and settings used and you could win a 3 Bugs In a Rug or Bo Bunny prize pack!  More details in our April and May tutorials posts here and here.

Cheers,

May Tutorial: Balancing Elements

In our May tutorial, we are going to discuss using balancing elements in our composition.

In September, I wrote a tutorial about using the Rule of Thirds as a guideline for achieving pleasing composition within an image.  Somehow, though, using the Rule of Thirds can create an empty void in the scene.  To balance your image, try placing an object of lesser importance in the void to offset the weight of the focal point in your scene.

I stumbled across a good example of this online when logging into Flickr:

[source]

The couple dancing in the foreground is offset by the dancer sitting on the sidelines.

Another example:

Taken with Nikon D80 and 18-70mm lens at f/11, 1/500 sec., ISO 400

Here, the barn acts as the image’s focal point, yet is offset by the long grasses in the lower left corner of the scene.

So, are you ready to play?

May 2011 photography assignment:

Using the May tutorial as a guide, photograph an object or scene using the Rule of Thirds – and then offset it with a balancing object.  Try to look for scenarios that are naturally occuring – it’s sometimes difficult to spot!  As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me at sue {AT} canadianscrapbooker {DOT} ca.

Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, Jun 3oth, 2011

And now for the fun part – the prize!! This month’s randomly drawn winner will receive this yummy Bo Bunny prize pack:

May 2011 Bo Bunny Prize Pack

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1) Because the whole purpose of the tutorial is to get you to experiment with your camera, submitted photos must have been taken between May 1st and June 30th, 2011, inclusive. Photos that do not meet this criteria may be shared on the blog but will not be eligible for our contest.

2) Please send original-sized files – I will size them for our blog.

3) And PLEASE don’t forget to include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO settings for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form! Submissions that do not include this info may not be posted on the blog or included in the prize drawing.

Please submit your photo, using only our submission form (no emails, please!), for a chance to be entered into our draw to win an awesome prize. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.

Happy Clicking!

April Tutorial: Depth Perception

This month, I’m going to discuss another technique in composition and that is creating depth in a scene.

Photos display images as two-dimensional objects.  Because of this, it is important to try to create a feeling of depth within a photo, to allow the viewer to sense the depth in the scene.

To do so, it’s important to incorporate three areas – foreground, middle ground and background – that include an object of interest in each.  Take the following photo, as an example:

Taken with Nikon D60 and 18-70mm lens at f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 360

The barn itself is in the middle ground of the image.  However, it is the fence and farm equipment in the foreground and the shoreline in the background give the image its’ sense of depth.

Another way to create depth is similar to layering on our scrapbook pages.  When we use dimensional adhesives to layer items, we create a three-dimensional object.  And even though images are only 2D, by overlapping two objects in a scene, you can create layers that the human eye will recognize as different depths.

Ready to try creating depth in your images?

April 2011 photography assignment:

Using the April tutorial as a guide, photograph an object or scene and create depth within the image.  You can try layering objects in the scene, or use the suggestion of including objects of interest in each of the 3 areas (foreground, middle ground and background).  As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me at sue {AT} canadianscrapbooker {DOT} ca.

Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, Jun 3oth, 2011

And now for the fun part – the prize!! This month’s randomly drawn winner will receive this yummy  prize pack from 3 Bugs in a Rug:

2011 April 3 Bugs in a Rug Prize Pack

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING:

1) Because the whole purpose of the tutorial is to get you to experiment with your camera, submitted photos must have been taken between May 1st and June 30th, 2011, inclusive. Photos that do not meet this criteria may be shared on the blog but will not be eligible for our contest.

2) Please send original-sized files – I will size them for our blog.

3) And PLEASE don’t forget to include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO settings for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form! Submissions that do not include this info may not be posted on the blog or included in the prize drawing.

Please submit your photo, using only our submission form (no emails, please!), for a chance to be entered into our draw to win our awesome prize. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will not be posted on the blog, or entered into the draw. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.

Happy Clicking!