The Power of Black&White

Though the art of photography has came so far over the decades and even the past couple of years, there is no denying that there is always something magical about a black and white photo. Not every subject is made for black and white photos. Images with a lot of depth are often great for B&W. As well as images with a lot of textures. Basically, if you take an image that may appear very complex in color, black and white just has a way of breaking it down into a pure, simple form. Every time I take an image into photoshop, I always put it in B&W mainly to see what it would like. A lot of the times I like it so much better too. Below are a few examples of my work in B&W.

These photos of my puppy were perfect candidates to be placed in B&W. Reason being, the background is one solid color and my puppy is already black and white lol. These photos are what I would considered artistic B&W.

This photo I did of the girl in the car is also a perfect candidate for B&W due to the busyness of the photograph itself. Where the textures in the background created a distracting mix in color, they blend perfect in B&W. Then, you have the foreground textures. They are actually brought forth because of B&W. All of the rain textures on the seats would have been blended due to the colors, as well as the smoke wouldn't stand out either. Which would suck.. because that's a key component to me.

This photo just looks so precious in B&W! It was shot in the nursery which, naturally is all pink. Also, on top of all of the pink, the lighting made this photo so warm, it was basically orange. So, in a way, I would say that B&W actually made this photo usable. Removing all of the color makes it not so obvious that this was not actually professionally lit. 

Well folks, there you have it.. A little bit about the good ole black and white. What was the only way to photograph, into a way to stand out in a way of color. Use it wisely, use it richly. Make sure your black and white photos don't look like a wet newspaper crumpled into a ball and flattened and cut into a square. Or.. actually, that sounds like a fun project! 

Catch you later (:

What Natural Light Can Do for You

Hello all!

I just loved this little group of photos I recently shot of my new little baby niece Fallon and wanted to share! I really like how natural they turned out. That is.. because they are natural! I arrived with intent to photograph my new little girl, but she was just not in the mood, unfortunately. I did these few little snapshots while mommy was calming her down before we tried the little set up. The set up went terrible.. so I may not be posting any of those.. ever lol. But I'm glad I did get these few and that they turned out so beautifully. Congrats to my brother and his amazing wife for such a wonderful new addition!! We are thrilled to have a baby in the family again!!

Photos were taken with total natural light.. just a large living room window. I used my favorite secret weapon! My 35mm 1.8 fixed focal length lens (: You can get great photos in low light situations without a tripod too! My shutter was at 1/60th and ISO was anywhere between 300-800.

Of course, I did my little tricks in photoshop as well (: I love inquiries so don't be afraid to ask!

Great Opportunity for a Free Camera!

Okay,

This is just a quickie, but I found this great blog post about winning a Nikon D600!! Simply by submitting your best photo from 2012.

Had to  share!

Weekly Photo Tips is the blog.

(view it here)

Adorama is the one hosting the contest!

(view it here)

Aperture and its Effects

So.. aperture is an amazing thing in photography. I mean.. amazing. Seriously. It can be the ultimate factor in a good photo and a bad one. Aperture is the factor in a lens that controls the depth of field of an image. In other words, how much of an image is in focus. A lower aperturer is an amazing choice for portraits and single subject photos. Where as a higher aperture is good for landscapes and other wide angle shots. When you start playing with aperture setting on your camera.. There are a few things that you're going to notice. Aperture is directly connected to your shutter speed or f/stop. This means if you change one, you will have to change the other to make up for that change. Lower apertures make the lens more sensitive to light. Since you are allowing more light to pass through the lens, a higher shutter speed is needed to have a properly exposed image. And, naturally, it is just the opposite for high aperture. High aperture settings allows less light through your lens and you need a lower shutter speed to allow your camera more time to capture the image. Just remember.. low aperture, high shutter... high aperture.. low shutter. Bam! You're now an expert. My favorite lens for low apertures is definitely my 35mm 1.8 lens. The "1.8" refers to the lowest aperture possible for that particular lens. I have added an example of two images. Both have the same subject.. but with one I knocked the aperture all the way down. And the other I bumped it up quite a bit. Both were taken at the same distance with the same lens. Same everything.. except the aperture and shutter speed. Because you can't change one without the other, remember. (:

This one has the high aperture. As you can see, it looks like an accidental shot or something.. Like "What were you going for dude?"

Then there's the low aperture. Looks a whole lot more like a purposeful photo. It makes the tripod the definite subject. "Clearly this person wanted us to look at his tripod.. hmm..."

And this is the magic of aperture explained in a very obvious way. More to come on this subject. Because I am very attracted to low aperture photographs. They just set such a wonderful mood for a subject. Let me know what you think about this blog post and I would love to see your examples of your aperture tests as well! More to come. 

This is the lens I used for this. Check it out!

Welcome to your new place for advice!

Hello!!!

My name is Cody and I am going to be your host for this new and exciting blog about Nikon cameras and photography in general! I have used both Nikon and Canon and for some reason.. There is just something that stands out in every nikon over Canon. They just seem to preform so much better to me. Before we begin, I have to say.. I will be doing a lot of posting of what I think you need to know.. But feel free to suggest a post on a particular subject. I also want to start a photo critique! Where you send in a photo and I will give advice on how to make it better!

I can't wait to build an audience and start this adventure! Tell your friends!

First advice post is on the way!