Submission from Down Under

What a happy surprise to see this submission in my inbox!  It’s nice to see our little blog crossing the oceans to meet fellow photographers from abroad! 

Today, I’m sharing this photo that Sarah Lou, of NSW Australia, took on a scrapbooking retreat:

Taken with Olympus E450 at f/5.1, 1/160 sec., ISO 100

 Not only is the backlighting through the trees wonderful, but I love how the sunlight is reflecting off the top of the wheat grass in the background!  Thanks for sharing, Sarah!

So, how about it?  Anyone else want to try their hand at using backlighting in their photos?  Just send me your submission form by May 31st, 2010 to be eligible to win a Nikki Sivils prize pack!

Cheers!

Another Submission To Share!

Erin Aumack, of AB, sent me this photo for our backlighting assignment:

Taken with Canon Rebel Ti at f/14, 1/800 sec., ISO 100

I love how the clouds diffused the sunlight to a hazy glow – thanks for sharing, Erin!

Only a few more days left – don’t forget to send me YOUR photos!

Cheers,

More May Submissions

Tara Vosbourgh, of MB, sent me this stunner a few days ago:

Taken with Nikon 40D at f/5.6, 1/640, ISO 400

I love the rays of sunshine streaming down, and the way it backlights your subject’s hair!  Wonderful!  Thanks for sharing!

I also received this lovely shot from Patricia Delorme, of ON:

Taken with Canon Rebel XS at f/5.6, 1/250, ISO 800

See how the backlighting causes the flowers to look slightly transparent?  Thanks for sharing, Patricia! (P.S. I’m glad you are motivated by this blog to take more photos – that’s what we were hoping!)

And I have one more to share today – Lisanne Côté, of QC, sent me this cool shot of her son:

Taken with Canon Rebel XT at f/36, 1/250, ISO 200

Great effect, Lisanne!  Thanks for sharing!

There’s still a few days left so get me your submissions!  Take advantage of our sunny days…  I’ll be sharing the rest of our submissions between now and Monday (May 31st) and then our winner will be picked early next week!

Cheers,

Another May submission

Here’s another reader submission for our May assignment on backlighting!

Gail Bidgood, of NL, sent me this photo of what looks like a pomes on a Pyracantha tree (according to my ever-faithful Google search!)   Please correct me if I’m wrong!

ETA:  Gail just left me a comment – these are dogberries on a dogberry tree (also known as rowans)!

Taken with Nikon D200 at f/7.1, 1/80 sec., ISO 200

Look at the frost!  Hopefully the sunny weather has headed your way, Gail!

If you haven’t played around with backlighting, check out our tutorial and assignment here and get out and start snapping!  You may win the prize package this month from Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker!

Just send me your submissions before May 31st, 2010 to be eligible for our random draw!

Cheers,

Submissions: Round II

Today, I’m happy to share this beautiful photo, taken by one of our youngest submitters to date!

Marla McNutt, 13 year old daughter of a former assignment winner, Teresa McNutt, of NS, took this photo as part of her 4H photography project:

Taken with Fuji Finepix S800fd at f/3.5, 1/170 sec.

I love the lens flares and the wonderful bokeh in behind – Thanks for your submission, Marla!

Stay tuned for another submission tomorrow!

Cheers,

Submissions: Round I

I’m so excited – we already have our first May submission – and I JUST posted the May tutorial!!

Cythnia Hordy, of ON, sent me this beautiful first-time submission:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/11, 1/250 sec., ISO 200

Notice how, by placing the sun behind the flowers, Cynthia captures the translucency and delicacy of what seem to be dogwood flowers, if I can rely on my sketchy green thumb!  I love this photo – thanks for sharing, Cynthia!

So grab your camera and start playing around with backlighting – you won’t regret it!

Cheers,

May tutorial – Back Lighting

In the Mar/Apr tutorial, we talked alot about front and side lighting.  This month, we’re going to try our hand at backlighting.

Backlighting, as I mentioned in the Canadian Scrapbooker Spring 2010 article, can be a difficult task to master, so it is not widely used.  However when used correctly, it can produce dramatic results.

Backlighting results from placing your light source directly behind your subject.  This eliminates any undesireable facial expressions such as squinting and blinking, but your camera may be fooled by the background light and your subject will appear underexposed. 

There are several methods of handling exposure for backlighting, depending on your desired end results.

Silhouettes are always dramatic – and they are easier to create than you would think.  Simply place your subject directly in front of your light source and expose your image for the background light.  Most cameras’ sensors will choose settings based on the brightest light available, which in this case is usually the surrounding background light.  If in Auto mode (*gasp*), this means that your subject will be underexposed, creating a silhouette.  Even if shooting in Manual mode, your camera’s built-in exposure meter will show the same settings.  To expose for the subject, you will need to increase the amount of light to your subject by opening up your aperture, slowing your shutter speed or increasing your ISO sensitivity (see prior tutorials and articles, if you’d like a refresher):

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 200

As discussed in my article, backlighting may cause lens flares.  Given the right subject and the correct angle, they can provide drama and interest to an image.  However, it can ruin some photos as well, so it’s important to know how to create, and prevent, them from occurring. 

Lens flares are caused by the sun hitting your lens directly, so to achieve this technique, you have to position yourself so that you are shooting directly into the sun.  That means that at certain times, you may need to get right down onto the ground and shoot up at your subject!

Photo Source: www.digital-photography-school.com

In the above photo, the photographer has used the sun to create lens flares for dramatic impact.  You can see that because the photographer exposed for the subjects on the steps, the background becomes overexposed, or “blown out”.

As I said earlier, lens flare is not always desireable. 

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/5, 1/320 sec.

 In this photo, the lens flares cross right in front of the image and mar the subject’s image.  As well, you can see the dust mote in the flares that detract from the image.  To prevent lens flare, you can purchase a lens hood to use, or create your own!  If you are stuck without one, your hand can work in a pinch – just be sure not to obstruct your own view!

Backlighting can also be used for a technique called the hair light, or “the kicker”.  It’s often used by photographers when photographing dark-haired people against a dark background, but it can also be used to highlight wispy hair, or whiskers as shown in this photo  that I found by serni:

Photo by serni (http://www.flickr.com/photos/serni/)

Lastly, backlighting can be used to illustrate tranparency of objects, such as leaves or flowers.  The following photo was taken by naughton321 - gooseberries were laid on a standard light box!

Photo by naughton321 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/naughton321/)

 Your May assignment: 

Using the May tutorial as a guide, photograph a subject with BACKLIGHTING.  Get creative and try to catch some lens flares in an artistic manner.  Silhouette your subject, or expose for your subject and see the effects on the background.  Try to photograph translucent items.  Go out and PLAY!!  As always, if you have any questions, please leave me a comment on this post, or email me. 

Deadline:  11:59 pm EST, May 31th, 2010 

Please submit your photo, using our submission form only, 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 click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw BEFORE submitting.  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 remember that your photos should be sized to 72dpi, and 500 pixels wide.  Don’t forget to  include your camera settings, including camera used, f/stop, aperture and ISO for your image in the Comments section of the submisson form!

This month’s sponsor is Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker – Look at all that yummy goodness!

Thanks for playing along this month – happy clicking!

Happy Mother’s Day

Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Moms out there – wishing you a happy and peaceful day!

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone who submitted their photos for this special two-month assignment – we had a lot of fabulous entries:

1 – 4  Melanie Smith
5 – 6  Lee-Anne Thorton
7 – 8  Lesley Langdon
9 -10  Melanie Smith
11 – 16  Lisanne Côté
17 – 20  Bethany Hoskins
21 – 22  Sonia Rodriguez
23 – 28  Melanie Smith
29 – 32  Michelle Kuijer

For this assignment, we have TWO winners!  Using www.randomizer.org, we randomly chose 2 numbers, to correspond with the above list.  Our first winner is…

Congratulations to you, Lisanne!

Our second winner is…

Congratulations, Melanie!

Ladies, your prizes will be sent out shortly to the address on your submission form.  Please contact me asap if you’d like to have it shipped elsewhere.

Thanks to everyone again for playing along with this assignment – I hope you learned more about the subtleties of lighting!  Be sure to watch for May’s assignment to be posted this week – we’ll be working with Back Lighting this month!

Cheers!

Submissions – Round VIII

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I was so lucky to enjoy a scrapbooking getaway weekend with some of my very talented friends, but it meant that I didn’t get around to posting our last submission before I left.  I’m going to share it with you today and then will announce a winner tomorrow!!

Our last submission comes from Michelle Kuijer, of ON.  Michelle took these photos of her oldest son – they even used a couple of them for his application to audition for a role!

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XS at f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 400 (Front Lighting)

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XS at f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 400 (Side Lighting)

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XS at f/8, 1/160 sec., ISO 400 (Front Lighting)

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XS at f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 400 (Front Lighting)

Thanks for sharing, Michelle – and good luck to your son!

I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of our entries and our winner!

Cheers!