City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter - Sept 2013

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

September, 2013

 

 

 

A Hail of a Good Time

 

Our last show of the season in Sunriver, Oregon, was full of good music, close friends, fun conversations – and hail.  Lots of hail.  In August.  Hailstones the size of marbles blasted the festival on Friday, shutting down the entire festival for about an hour.  Fortunately we came through the storm with minimal damage and a fantastic conversation starter for the rest of the weekend.  This bit of excitement added to a great experience, and we look forward to showing in Sunriver again next year (though hopefully minus the hail).  Thanks to all who came to see us – or to spend the weekend with us!

 

 

 

Staying Healthy While Traveling

 

While it is never fun to get sick, becoming ill on a trip is especially unpleasant.  An illness while traveling can cause you to miss the very opportunities that made you want to travel in the first place.  In extreme cases, it can also be quite dangerous to fall ill while traveling.  Modern medicines may not be available, you may be far from help, or you may be in a situation of decreased natural immunity due to physically demanding activity.  Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to minimize your risk of getting sick while traveling.

 

As in your day-to-day life, one of the most important steps to staying healthy while traveling is good hygiene.  Hand washing with soap and water is not always an option, however, and even when it is, the water may not be safe – and don’t for a minute think that you don’t accidentally touch your eyes, mouth, and nose at some point after washing.  Hand sanitizer can play a crucial role in fighting off the bugs that like to live in non-potable water, so wash, dry (but don’t use a communal towel; if that is your only option, just let your hands air dry), and douse your hands with hand sanitizer.  You don’t have to be in some exotic locale for this to be a necessity; even large cruise ships are notorious for getting people sick from contaminated water.  Consider hand sanitizer to be as important as toothpaste on your travels.

 

So much of staying healthy revolves around water.  Unsafe drinking water is one of the major causes of illness for travelers, from hikers to beach-dwellers on the world’s coastlines.  Most of us are familiar with the concept of Montezuma’s Revenge, and those of us who have experienced it will never forget it.  In extreme cases, the dehydration and diarrhea that comes with water-borne illnesses can be life-threatening.  Clean drinking water is an absolute must.  Hikers have long carried water purification tablets with them, and these work very well, though they can sometimes leave the water with an unpleasant taste.  In recent years water purifiers that use ultraviolet light to kill the nasties have become popular, and they don’t change the taste of the water.  Be sure to follow the directions for both the tablets and the UV purifiers carefully; improper use will render them ineffective.  Boiling water is still a tried and true method, but travelers at elevation must be careful – water boils at a lower temperature at higher elevations, and it must be boiled longer to kill the bugs.  Be certain to have the water at a full, rolling boil for at least a minute at sea level, and add another minute for every 1000’ above sea level.  Drinking bottled water is another common way to ensure clean water, but depending upon where you are traveling, you should be careful with it, too.  In some places, water bottles that have simply been refilled with the local water are common.  Be certain that any bottled water you drink is properly sealed before you imbibe.

 

If you are in a place where the water is unsafe, do not eat any vegetables or fruits that you do not peel yourself.  Use treated water not only for cooking and drinking, but for brushing your teeth, making ice cubes, and anything else that may put the water in contact with your mouth.  Make a point to keep your mouth closed in the shower, and don’t swim in contaminated rivers or lakes.  If you do get sick, try using Pepto Bismal or a similar over the counter medication to treat the symptoms, and, ironically enough, try not to let yourself get dehydrated.  If these measures are not sufficient, a prescription strength antibiotic may be required – visit your doctor or your local travel clinic and fill the prescription before you leave, so you have the medicine available when you need it.  Be sure to complete the entire course of medication – you don’t want the strongest bugs surviving in your gut to make you ill again. 

 

If you are traveling internationally, visiting a travel clinic before you leave is always a good idea.  Not only can they provide you with a prescription for the appropriate antibiotic, they can also provide most other immunizations you may need.  Some vaccines are simply suggested (sometimes very strongly suggested), while others may be required.  For example, yellow fever vaccinations are usually required to travel from one country to another in Africa, while antimalarials are not (they fall into the strongly suggested category).  Travel clinics can also give you up to date, location-specific information about any current health risks that may exist at your destination.  It is a good idea to check with the clinic at least six months prior to your departure.  Some of the common vaccinations are in a series that take up to six months to complete, and your immunity will be strongest once the full series has been concluded.

 

Of course, ensure that you carry with you whatever medications you need for any specific health conditions you may have.  If you are flying, keep these in your carry-on bag rather than in your checked luggage, just in case your checked luggage decides to visit a different destination than originally planned.  Keeping your medications in their original packaging and carrying a copy of the prescription with you will help to minimize any difficulties you may encounter while crossing borders.

 

Finally, having a basic first aid kit with you can keep many small issues from becoming large ones.  Cleaning cuts and scrapes with an alcohol wipe, then covering them with an antibiotic ointment and a bandage will keep them clean and help to keep them from getting infected.  Moleskin can help prevent blisters.  Basic medicines such as aspirin and anti-itch creams (and / or Benadryl if you have any allergies) can soothe otherwise day-ruining aches and irritations.  These kits are readily found at a wide variety of stores, or you can easily make your own.  We have used ours many times – as often to help others as for ourselves.

 

We wish you many happy – and healthy! – travels.

 

 

September Specials

 

Get 10% off of unframed, 8x12 prints of “Masquerade – Sea Lion” and / or unframed, 8x12 prints of “Peaceful Motion” when you order from our specials page. As with all of our unframed prints, these prints are eligible for our No Hassle Returns. 

 

 

Fun Facts

 

The fourth Saturday of September marks International Rabbit Day.  How much do you know about these adorable critters?

 

·         Female rabbits are called does; males, bucks, and babies, kits or kittens.

·         There are approximately 30 species of rabbits.

·         A jackrabbit fleeing from a predator can reach an impressive 45 mph.

·         Rabbits have a remarkable range of vision that encompasses almost 360°, having only a single blind spot – right in front of their noses.

·         Coney Island is named after the rabbits, called coneys in Middle English, that were once quite numerous in the area.

 

 

 

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

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CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

774-277-9682

City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter - Aug, 2013

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

August, 2013

 

 

 

Last Chance to See Us at a Show This Summer

 

Our show season is winding down, with only one show left this summer.  The Sunriver Art Faire, held August 9-11 just 15 miles south of Bend, Oregon in the planned community of Sunriver, is your last opportunity to see us at a show until we return to Pasco in November.  Come by and say hi, and bring all your friends and neighbors.  With a Saturday street dance, Sunday breakfast, and all kinds of activities for kids in addition to fantastic artists and professional entertainment, it should be a great time!

 

Hours:

Friday, August 9 -- 9:30am to 7:00pm

Saturday, August 10 -- 9:30am to 7:00pm

Sunday, August 11 -- 9:30am to 4:00pm

 

Plus we would like to give a huge thanks for all who came to see us in Aspen on such short notice.  (Hi Crystal and the Dans!)  We had a fabulous weekend, despite the rain, and look forward to doing the Aspen show again next year.

 

 

Our Favorite Hiking Accessories

 

Getting the kinds of images that we like to capture often requires a wilderness hike (oh darn!).  In addition to good hiking boots, sunscreen, and bug repellant, there are some hiking accessories that can make the journey a bit more pleasant.  Here are some of our favorites:

 

Walking sticks.  An often under-appreciated piece of gear, walking sticks serve a myriad of purposes.  They allow you to use your upper body to assist in uphill jaunts and help protect your knees while going downhill.  They can be used to move slightly-out-of-reach plants to one side for a clear photograph.  If necessary, they can be used to splint a leg or form the basis of a shelter.  And they make great – if somewhat challenging – clubs for a rousing game of acorn golf.  Just be careful not to lean on them overly much; they can and will break, and that can send you tumbling if they were supporting too much of your weight.  They are meant to be an assist, not a primary weight bearer.

 

Refillable water bottles.  Regardless of what terrain you hike in, adequate water is a must, especially in the summer (though dehydration occurs just as easily in the winter).  Since we both carry packs on our hikes, Camelbacks and other water bladders are not necessarily a good option for us, though they might work very well for you and are worth looking into.  Our favorites are simple, refillable water bottles with some sort of loop through which a carabineer will fit.  We attach them to the outside of our backpacks and, if the hike is long enough, stash a few more inside the packs.  Terence likes the aluminum ones because they can take a bit of a beating, while I prefer those with attached straws so that I can quickly and easily take a sip without having to unscrew the lid or remove the bottle from my pack.  After the hike they are easy to clean and refill for the next hike, and good ones will last for years.

 

Gaiters.  For those who may not know, gaiters are pieces of fabric that wrap around your shoes or hiking boots and go part of the way up your leg, effectively sealing off the spaces between laces, boots and pants.  Gaiters are a fabulous invention.  Not only do they help to keep pebbles, sticker burrs, ants, and mud out of your shoes, they also help to protect your pant leg from things that would rip and tear them open.  And when they are in dire need of a good cleaning, you can usually just toss them in the wash (though putting them in a mesh delicates bag first is always a good idea in order to keep their hooks from catching on other garments).

 

Carabineers.  One of the classic all-purpose hiking tools, carabineers come in handy in all kinds of ways you cannot imagine until you need them.

 

Bear spray holsters / tear away strips on hiking shirts.  Our hikes often occur in bear country, which means we are usually carrying bear spray.  One of the fundamentals of bear spray is that to be effective, it must first be accessible: no burying it in a backpack or tucking it away in a hard-to-reach pocket.  On the rare occasion that you might need to use bear spray, you must be able to reach it, remove it from its carrying spot, and get it aimed quickly, usually under circumstances that have your adrenaline going and your hands less than steady.  (This is one situation in which carabineers are not ideal.)  Holsters attach to your belt and keep the can easily accessible at your waist.  Tear away strips on hiking shirts are simply little strips of fabric that are sewn onto the shirt at one end and attach with Velcro at the other end.  By threading the strip through the handle of the can of bear spray, you can keep it at its most accessible: even in a panic you can rip the can away from your shirt for immediate availability.  None of this is meant to frighten anyone who would like to go hiking in bear country.  Bear spray is very similar to fire insurance: you will likely never need it, but when you do, you are sure glad you have it.

 

Don’t forget your small first aid kit to care for the blisters, bumps, and bites that are common accompaniments to treks through the wilderness.  Make sure you know where you are, and have a plan for how to find your way again should you get lost (GPS, map and compass, etc.).  Most of all, find what works for you, and get out there and hike!

 

 

August Specials

 

Get 10% off of unframed, 8x10 prints of “A Quiet Lunch” and / or unframed, 8x12 prints of “Early Evening on the Amnicon River” when you order from our specials page. As with all of our unframed prints, these prints are eligible for our No Hassle Returns. 

 

 

Fun Facts

 

August 24^th marks Vesuvius Day, of the infamous Mount Vesuvius that buried Pompeii on August 24^th, 79 A.D.  A few things you may not know about that legendary volcano:

 

·         Pompeii was only one of three towns destroyed by the massive eruption.  The towns of Herculaneum and Stabiae were also buried.  Pompeii was buried 10 feet deep, while Herculaneum found itself under a staggering 75 feet of ash.  

·         The 79 A.D. eruption is among the most powerful volcanic eruptions ever recorded.

·         Vesuvius had another major eruption in 1631.  Over a century later, during ongoing reconstruction, the ruins of Pompeii were discovered in March of 1748, rocketing the dead but perfectly preserved town to stardom.

·         Though the Italian peninsula boasts several active volcanoes in seas and on islands, Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the mainland in all of Europe.

·         The last eruption of Vesuvius was in 1944, toward the end of World War II, when it created havoc for the Allies by destroying some of their planes and forcing airbase evacuations.

·         Today an estimated 3 million people, including all of the citizens of Naples, live within Vesuvius’ reach.

 

 

 

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

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CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

774-277-9682

City Escapes Nature Photography Newsletter - July 2013

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

July, 2013

 

 

 

Protecting Your Gear in Hot Weather

 

We are only in early July, yet temperatures are already soaring well above 90°F in much of the country, with more than a few locales topping 100°F.  And it’s only going to get hotter.  Assuming you are one of those intrepid souls who does not let this kind of heat keep you locked behind air-conditioned doors, how should you protect your camera gear?  The rules are fairly straightforward: try to keep it cool, and don’t shock it.

There are various tricks to keeping your gear as cool as possible that don’t involve keeping it in an ice chest (a bad idea by the way, just in case you were wondering – see the next section).  The first should come as no surprise given all of the warnings we hear every summer about how hot the insides of cars get: don’t keep your gear in a closed vehicle in the sun.  I used to go to work in the mornings with an apple on my dashboard, only to have a beautifully baked apple waiting for me when I left at five o’clock.  Imagine what that kind of heat could do to the sensitive electronics in your camera.  It is literally like putting your camera in the oven, something we would never even consider doing.  Above and beyond frying the electronics, the extreme heat can also cause the various seals to dry out and crack, necessitating another expensive visit to the repair shop.

 

The golden hours of dawn and dusk become especially appealing in hot weather, not just for their magical light, but also because they are among the coolest parts of the day.  (Yet another reason to get up early and / or stay out late.)  Try to avoid mid-day sun, the hottest part of the day.  And when the temperatures are high, try to keep your gear in the shade.  Trees, buildings, even cars or people can provide adequate shade, as can canopies fashioned from any number of nearby objects.  If you must shoot in direct sunlight, cover your camera with a light-colored towel or shirt to minimize heat absorption.  Additionally, minimize the amount of heat generated by the camera itself.  This means limiting the amount of time you use the “live view” function in your digital SLR, and either limiting or altering your use of video recording.  If possible, use an AC adaptor to eliminate heat generated by batteries, and use a separate monitor to decrease the heat created by the view screen.  If your camera’s overheating-warning light comes on, always and immediately turn the camera off and allow it to cool down before continuing.

 

Not shocking your camera means not taking it from one temperature to a significantly different temperature quickly, especially if there is high humidity involved.  In other words, don’t take your gear that has been in a 70°F house out into 100°F weather – or vice versa – without properly protecting it first.  Ideally, your gear should be able to transition slowly from one temperature to the next over the course of 30-60 minutes.  In the real world, however, that rarely has a chance to happen, so you need to protect your gear from the condensation that often accompanies drastic temperature changes.  The easiest way to do this is by sealing your gear (body AND lenses) in a resealable plastic bag, with as much of the air compressed out of it as possible, before changing temperatures.  This will allow the condensation to form on the outside of the bag rather than on – and more importantly, in – your gear.  This prevents not only fogging and spots, but also rust, mold and mildew from forming on the internal components of the camera and lenses, potentially saving your gear from complete destruction.  Once the condensation has evaporated, the gear can be safely removed from the bag.

 

A final note about condensation: “weather sealing” does not stop it from forming, and should not be counted upon to protect your gear. 

 

Happy shooting, drink lots of water, and keep cool!

 

 

Thanks to All Who Came to See Us in Spokane and Blaine

 

Each time we go to a show, we meet new people and make new friends.  Our two shows in June were no exception, and the people we were lucky enough to meet were wonderful.  I love hearing all of the great stories that our visitors share with us when they see our images, from the truly funny to the sentimental to the downright odd.  This time around we heard gut-busting stories of a very clever moose, learned that the national bird of Botswana is the lilac-breasted roller (featured in one of our favorite images, “Neighbors – Lilac-breasted Roller & Elephant”), and saw a gentleman grin broadly as he announced that he proposed to his wife under one of the waterfalls we featured.  Memories of trips taken and dreams of trips not yet experienced were shared with us in abundance, and I loved it all.  I love transporting people to another place through our images, and inspiring in them not just a passion for photography, but for travel and experiencing the world.  Thanks to everyone who came to share a bit of their time with me; I hope to see you all again soon.  I would like to give a special shout-out to Lily, a very engaging and delightful young lady in Spokane who made my weekend a little brighter.  The world is waiting for you, Lily.  Go get it.

 

 

July Specials

 

Get 10% off of unframed, 8x12 prints of “Beguiling Beauty” and / or 8x9 prints of “Late Afternoon Blues” when you order from our specials page. As with all of our unframed prints, these prints are eligible for our No Hassle Returns. 

 

 

Fun Facts

 

July 2^nd is World UFO Day, commemorating the discovery on July 2, 1947, of strange wreckage on the ranch of Mac Brazel near Roswell, New Mexico.  A call to all of you talented photographers out there: get us some better photographs, please! 

 

 

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

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CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

774-277-9682

City Escapes Nature Phototgraphy Newsletter - June 2013

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

June, 2013

 

 

 

Two Shows to Choose From in June

We’re back to Spokane this weekend for Artfest Spokane 2013.  Come see us and swap a few stories about great places and fun critters. There will be lots to see and do in this outdoor art and music festival about a mile west of Spokane’s city center.  Come to Coeur d’Alene Park (don’t let the name fool you – it’s in Spokane), in Browne’s Addition.  We’ll be there all weekend, May 31 through June 2.  We hope to see you there!

Hours:

Friday, May 31: 1pm – 8pm

Saturday, June 1: 10am – 8pm

Sunday, June 2: 10am – 5pm

 

Or come visit us in Blaine, WA, later in the month.  We’ll be there for the International Art Festival at Peace Arch Park on June 22 & 23.  The festival opens with a Tai Chi demonstration – you can’t get much more welcoming and relaxed than that.  We’ll be in booth #48, but you don’t really need to know that – just come look around, take in all of the cool artists, music, food and performances, and find us in your meanderings.  Don’t forget to practice your “Eh?”s; you’re bound to run into a plethora of Canucks here!

 

Hours:

Saturday, June 22: 10am – 7pm

Sunday, June 23: 11am – 5pm

 

 

Using Flash Outdoors

 

As summer nears, plans for family bbqs, camping trips, and outdoor sports kick into high gear.  How often have we excitedly taken photos at such outings, only to discover that the sky is bright and beautiful, but the faces of our subjects are much too dark?  One solution to this is quite simple, though perhaps a bit counter-intuitive: use your flash.  “Use a flash in bright sunlight?” you might ask.  “Are you crazy?”  Believe it or not, no.  To understand why, you need to know a bit about how your camera works.

 

Unless you are shooting in the manual mode, where you control absolutely all of the settings, your camera will evaluate a scene to determine the proper exposure.  Most cameras will evaluate ALL of the scene and create an exposure that results in the median values (or sometimes, the brightest part) of the image properly exposed.  Also, a camera can only “see” a limited range of tonal values, much fewer than the human eye can.  This means that while we can see both the beautiful blue sky and the pitcher’s shaded face under his baseball cap, the camera can see only one or the other: to see one extreme, it loses the ability to see the other well.  When you combine these two aspects, you end up with an image that has the bright sky properly exposed, but no detail in the faces.  The answer: either darken the sky, or brighten the faces.  (To read a discussion on the sky-darkening options, see our March 2013 newsletter.)

 

There are several techniques to add light to faces or other dark areas of your scene, but this month we will only discuss the simplest: popping that flash up.  Most cameras, now even some smart-phone versions, have some sort of built-in flash.  Turn it on, and fire away.  That’s it.  The added light hitting the foreground elements of your image will bring the tonal values between the foreground and the bright sky closer together, allowing your camera to see and capture them more accurately.  If you have the ability to control the output of your flash, i.e., the amount of light it produces in a single flash, experiment with turning it down from full power.  Lower flash outputs often end up providing a more natural look to the image while still contributing sufficient light to do the trick.  You might only have the option to switch between full-powered flash and what is known as fill flash (not counting the red-eye reduction setting).  You’re in luck; this entire process of adding light, via a flash, to the shadowy areas of an otherwise bright image is called using fill flash.  So set your flash on fill flash and voila!  You’re set.

 

There is an entire art (and a bit of physics) to properly placing flashes for the most effective results, and it almost always involves using off-camera flashes rather than the built-in versions.  But for now, to dramatically improve your summertime shots, put this simple tip into practice.  You will find that your family portraits with that gorgeous sunset in the background will be much closer to what you wanted to capture in the first place.

 

 

 

June Specials

 

Visit us at one of our shows, mention that you subscribe to our newsletter, and receive a free 5x7 greeting card of your choice!

 

 

Fun Facts

 

June 5^th, 2013, is the 41^st anniversary of World Environment Day.  First created by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972, a different theme is chosen for WED each year, with the goal to not only raise awareness of environmental issues, but also to educate people about actions that they can take locally to support a healthy environment and alleviate environmental problems.

 

The theme for 2013: Think.Eat.Save.  According to the United Nations’ website, “every year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted.  This is equivalent to the same amount produced in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.”  It is estimated that worldwide, a third of all food is wasted, while in the U.S. that percentage rises to 40%.  40%!  Even if you don’t care about the environment, think of how much more money you would have in your pocket if 40% of your food bill vanished.

 

 

If you have any questions, or suggestions for future newsletters, please email us at: relationships@cityescapesphotography.com

 

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CITY ESCAPES Nature Photography, LLC

www.cityescapesphotography.com

774-277-9682

City Escapes Photography Newsletter - May 2013

CITY ESCAPES

Nature Photography, LLC

 

 

Newsletter

May, 2013

 

 

 

 

 

The Flowers are Blooming!

Following up on last month’s article on how to photograph butterflies, this month we focus on another of spring’s glorious welcoming signs: flowers.  We’re not talking about staged shots of flowers in vases or other controlled environments, gorgeous though such images may be.  Instead, this month is all about capturing the beauty of the explosion of colors that come with the warming of the earth and the air, without pulling a single stem from the ground.  Get ready to get low!

The first thing to concentrate on is composition.  Very few images shot from above, framed dead center, and with busy backgrounds show off a flower to the height of its beauty and interest.  Look for unusual angles and vantage points, ways of looking at the flower that are not part of our normal, everyday experience.  Try framing the flower off-center to add visual interest.  Don’t feel like you need to include the entire flower in the image; experiment with cropping out parts or entire petals, or even most of the actual flower in order to focus on a small portion.  Pay attention to the background.  Is there something lurking back there that will detract from the image? If you can’t move it out of the way, move yourself to a new angle.

Flower photography is often about getting tightly cropped images of a single or only a few flowers, frequently with a very shallow depth of field.  The shallower the depth of field, the more critical it is to have your focus spot on.  Pay careful attention to precisely what is in the focal plane: very slight adjustments can make a huge difference.  If you are including an insect on the flower, the same rules apply as to other critter photography: unless the major focus is something like the colorful wings of a butterfly, ensure that the insect’s eyes are in sharp focus.

Wind and breezes can be a problem when trying to capture striking images of flowers not in a controlled studio environment.  Sometimes the motion of the flowers can be incorporated into the image to give a sense of motion or to lend an abstact feel.  At other times, even slight movement will drive you batty while you try to capture a sharp image.  There are three major options to deal with wind if you want to leave the flower in place.  The first is, of course, to shoot only on still days.  Because that may be an overly restrictive constraint in some locations, having other tricks up your sleeve is always a good idea.  Building some sort of wind break is often very effective.  This can be as simple as draping a jacket over some brush next to the flower.  (Be careful that whatever you use to deflect the wind does not adversely affect the light falling on your subject.)  Use your imagination.  Cardboard, gray cards, even your camera’s owner’s manual may serve as great wind breaks.  The third option is to actually hold the flower still.  Keep in mind that humans have a tendency to shake ever-so-slightly, so hand-holding the flower stem is not likely to give you the most rock-solid steadiness.  Depending on your shutter speed, this may not be an issue.  There are also various contraptions that are made to hold flower stems still for you, removing the unsteadiness of the human hand.  Basically, they are small clips attached to either end of a thick, stiff coil of wire.  One clip attaches to something that doesn’t move, such as your tripod, and the other is clipped onto the flower’s stem.  I have never personally used one these clips, but I have heard good things about them.  I imagine that a homemade version would not be difficult to construct, and would be just as effective.  Be careful that the clip does not crush the stem, which will kill the flower.  And of course, make sure that your composition does not show the clip or the wire coil.

Lighting is another important consideration when photographing flowers.  Backlighting can be gorgeous on flowers, and sidelighting can bring out a stunning dimension to the petals. When getting in close, take care to not get in your own light; it is easy to cast a shadow over your subject.  If fill light is needed and you decide to use a flash, try diffusing or bouncing the light rather than using it straight on.  This will give you a more natural result, without the harsh effects of direct flash.  You can also use a reflector to direct more light onto your subject.  Reflectors can be anything from fancy, purpose-made professional rounds to a sheet of paper –- anything that will reflect light.  They don’t have to be white, either.  Given the enormous range of hues that Mother Nature dyes her flowers, colored reflectors will often provide a much more intriguing feel to the image.  Got a red jacket?  Try it.  A baby blue T-shirt?  It might be just the color needed to give that extra zip to your image.

No matter how you photograph flowers, don’t forget to enjoy the process.  Flowers are little bursts of petaled fireworks, whose immense variety of colors is rivaled only by their fineness and delicacy.  It would be a shame to capture the image without truly appreciating the physical thing.

 

 

Come See Us In Spokane

 

We’re back to Spokane this month for Artfest Spokane 2013.  Come see us and swap a few stories about great places and fun critters. There will be lots to see and do in this outdoor art and music festival about a mile west of Spokane’s city center.  Come to Coeur d’Alene Park (don’t let the name fool you – it’s in Spokane), in Browne’s Addition.  We’ll be there all weekend, May 31 through June 2.  We hope to see you there!

 

Hours:

Friday, May 31: 1pm – 8pm

Saturday, June 1: 10am – 8pm

Sunday, June 2: 10am – 5pm

 

 

May Specials

 

Get 10% off of unframed, 8x10 prints of “Ahoy, Blue Bill!” and / or 10x15 prints of “Yellow Lilies” when you order from our specials page. As with all of our unframed prints, these prints are eligible for our No Hassle Returns. 

 

 

Fun Facts

 

May 18^th is the anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980.  Do you remember where you were when you heard about it?

 

·         Two months of earthquakes emanating from the volcano, including a magnitude 5.1 quake, preceded its massive May 18^th eruption.

·         In the week prior to the eruption, eight earthquakes of magnitude 4 or above were recorded daily.

·         Ash clouds rolling down the mountainside prior to the eruption created static electricity, which in turn created lightning bolts -- some of which reached two miles in length.

·         Another magnitude 5.1 earthquake triggered the eruption, causing a landslide at a magma bulge that had formed on the north face of the volcano.

·         The release of pressure over the bulge caused the eruption, which had an energy equivalency of 24 megatons of TNT.

·         Flying rock from the blast reached 670 mph.

·         The ash column reached 12 miles in altitude in less than ten minutes. 

·         230 square miles of forest were flattened.

·         Eleven states had significant ash fallout, with visibility in Spokane, Washington, over 350 miles from St. Helens, reduced to 10 feet within 3.5 hours.

 

 

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