merritt design photo

Wedding Photography in Denver!

2012-02-03T16:43:00.001-07:00

Fine Art Wedding Photography

By jennifer koskinen in Wedding Photography

26 pages, published 23 JAN 2012

Merritt Design Photo offers Fine Art Wedding Photography, specializing in warm, candid and gorgeous professional coverage of weddings throughout Colorado and the Southwest. Download a free digital edition of this beautiful 26 page, full color Wedding Photography magazine and pricing guide for 2012, available now, through MagCloud.

Environmental Portraiture in Denver

2012-01-24T11:27:00.001-07:00

I absolutely LOVED every minute of this shoot last weekend...

How can you go wrong with such a beautiful girl (a dear friend's daughter) who, it turns out, is a natural in front of the camera and enjoyed modeling as much as I enjoy shooting; a great photo assistant (her awesome mom!); AND great light?

And who doesn't love wandering around Denver Botanic Gardens on a beautiful day in January?

Already excited for my next environmental portrait shoot!

Also, stay tuned... I'm chomping at the bit to share another project on which I've been hard at work for the past few weeks!

New Family Portraits: More in 2012 !

2012-01-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

I still consider myself an architectural photographer. The merging of great design detailing, material, texture and light are all deeply inspiring to me, and creating photographs of beautiful 3 dimensional spaces is a unique thrill. However, something has been crystalizing for me lately: what began as simply photographing family & friends for fun has slowly begun to teach me how much I LOVE working with people! It fills me with incomparable joy to capture a fleeting smile; to make someone feel their beauty -- and truly -- there is little on the planet more beautiful and precious to me than a pure smile which radiates from a person's eyes and outward onto his or her face. As I photograph, a smile grows on MY face as people relax into having fun, and again I'm sure people laugh at me as I edit and smile stupidly at my monitor. It is great fun!

Yes... I love it. More of this in 2012, please!

Instagram: Sharpening Capture Skills on the Fly

2012-01-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

The year 2011 introduced me to a powerful little app called Instagram. I first explored the genius of this simple app with the limitations of an iPod Touch camera, which, unbeknownst to me at the time, isn't even rated with pixels, but rather based on lesser graphics for video. Not the best for clean, crisp images, but it forced me to really think about the basics of composition in a tiny square, and I found I could still capture compelling images (half of the images above are from my iPod, half from the iPhone 4s).

If you are even mildly interested in bettering your photographic skills, I swear by this simple technology as a way to explore your eye and sharpen your skills at composition. I am constantly impressed at how this technology is inspiring me - and some 12 million others - to see the 3 dimensions of our every day world through new eyes; to see beauty, backlight, pattern and shadow as more than just passing parts of our periphery, but as subjects of composition and interest in their own right.

If you're in Denver, grab your iPhone or iPod and join us for our our first Instameet on Sunday, January 15th - base of the Clocktower on 16th Street at 2pm.

Follow @merrittphoto on Instagram for more details!

Holiday Portraits!

2011-12-01T13:06:00.001-07:00

It's not too late!!

A few sessions remain (including a few weekend spots) for a joyful holiday portrait photo shoot (in the Denver area).

Ask about our special holiday package!

Intimate Telluride Wedding

2011-11-16T11:02:00.001-07:00

Simple, lovely details and a backdrop of magical fall color and light made this lovely, intimate wedding in Telluride, Colorado a joy to photograph. I love my job!!

Scene on Site | Take 2

2011-11-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

On a recent, whirlwind trip through Telluride, I found a few moments between photographing weddings to capture some moments of the gorgeous autumn up there. I feel so lucky to have lived in such a spectacular place!

Enjoy!

Painting with Light

2011-10-11T13:56:00.000-06:00

Warning: These photographs aren't for everyone.
But if you're among the curious... I'd like to share! There's something I find enormously compelling and peaceful about leaving the exposure open just long enough to "paint" the sensor with a swath of light dotted foliage. Resulting streaks of color appear painterly, but are completely the result of photographic processes. I'm going to include a few sets here from my favorite experiments with this method. Enjoy!

Jewelry Photography | Lauren Harper Collection (new)

2011-09-27T10:15:00.003-06:00

Photographing precious gemstones and couture jewelry presents a unique set of challenges. This most recent shoot for the Lauren Harper Collection was highly satisfying; even more satisfying was hearing joy from an ecstatic client!

Capture Philosophy | Photo Tip 04: Finding Portrait Light on Location

2011-09-08T11:19:00.001-06:00

A week or so ago, I had the opportunity to work with talented Denver studio portrait photographer, Mark Pells, on an ambitious headshot project for the theatre department at my son's school.

As a completely self-taught photographer and a HUGE fan of natural light, it was fascinating to watch Mark create magic with his studio lights. I found it most interesting to learn that I am often drawn to or actively seeking out the very conditions in the field, which he sought to create in the studio.

Thought I'd share a few of my personal favorite conditions through examples, in case you're curious to experiment the next time you're out photographing your family and friends.

These are all photos I took on a single walk with my son on a bright, sunny afternoon in Denver (as you can see in the first photo below). These photos were all taken with a 100mm macro lens with a Canon 5D, set on aperture priority (all shots are between apertures of 2.8 and 4.5).

Often, it is instinct for us to want to place our subjects in the sun. But beware! Direct sunlight can be a great dramatic tool when used intentionally, or with reflectors, fill light, etc., but if you are out with your camera and don't have such accessories (which I did not use for the shot above), not only will your subject likely be squinting, direct sunlight will create harsh shadows that generally aren't as flattering for skin tones, facial features, etc. Thus, it is usually better to take the subject out of direct sunlight...

Once you take your subject out of the direct light, you'll have better luck getting even skin tones. In this photo, light bouncing around from north and east facing windows at a coffee shop provided gorgeous, flattering conditions in the afternoon. I simply exposed the shot to feature the correct amount of light in his eye and let the camera and natural light do the rest. You can actually see the north facing windows reflected in his eye.

In this shot, I asked my subject to stand in a spot of reflected light -- sunlight that was bouncing off the windows of a building across from us. Beams of reflected light are fun to experiment with, and are a bit easier on the subject's gaze. As you can see, while it still casts some dramatic shadows, it also can create fun magic in the eyes.

One of my favorite things to look for is nice, subtle bouncing light that is slightly weighted in its direction. By that I mean that the light is essentially coming more from one side than the other creating a nice broad highlight on one side of the face, in this case, the side towards camera. A darker background pops his face as the main focus of the composition.

These last two photos are shot on the same long wooden bench, but facing opposite directions. In this first one, there is only indirect light on my subject, but an open area of VERY bright light behind him. I exposed for his face (so essentially you'd need to OVERexpose if you were using a camera that meters for an overall scene), and I let the background go white.

For this photo, we switched positions so that the brighter area is now behind me (the camera), and it's a little easier to get a traditional photo with a nice tonal range, great skin tones and no hot spots.
And of course it never hurts to capture an impish grin :)
Happy shooting!!

Green Cube | Denver

2011-09-07T14:12:00.001-06:00

Denver's Highlands neighborhood has a fantastically diverse fabric of architectural styles, including many new, contemporary and sustainably built homes, such as UrbanGreen's latest, the LEED approved Green Cube home.

The home has strong architectural forms, a beautiful glass stair, and a wonderful Living Wall feature which purifies the air quality while simultaneously growing herbs and lettuces right around the corner from the kitchen... what could be better?

I was fortunate enough to photograph the project during its brief time as a model home for one of the talented designers, Heidi Mendoza of Re.Dzine.

See more photos from this shoot on my FB fan page.

Cheers!

Stir Cooking School

2011-08-18T10:09:00.000-06:00

Cleaning out some old files over the weekend I realized that I never posted these photos of the gorgeous, Naka Designs interiors of Stir Cooking School in Highlands (Denver) CO. Photographed in collaboration with architectural photographer Jason Jung, this was a great opportunity for us to compare styles and methods. The final results hopefully combine the best of both worlds!

Scene on Site

2011-06-27T21:29:00.002-06:00

Having a personal history with landscape photography, I love it when a commissioned shoot brings me a chance to also capture a great sky or a unique perspective on a familiar landscape. Here are a few such images I wanted to share from two recent photo shoots in the Telluride area.

Instagram | Portrait Fun

2011-06-08T21:26:00.001-06:00

Since my studio is in our home, I try to make time every day to connect with my boy OUTSIDE of the house (without the distraction of the computer, phone, etc.), and one of our favorite spots has become a coffee shop on the walk home from school.

It just so happens that the coffee shop has this great shade which in summertime produces a fantastic light pattern. While yes, this IS admittedly another distraction, it has a fun side-effect: cool photos! We took these of each other yesterday with the iPod Touch, and I edited them very minimally in Camera+ and shared through Instagram.

The photo on the right was chosen as "best of the day" by members of the IG community today, and has received over 650 "likes" and more comments from all around the world since I first posted it just over 24 hours ago! I'm clearly still bowled over by the power of this interactive tool to share creative inspiration.

Grand Entrances | Colorado Homes & Lifestyles

2011-05-19T15:27:00.000-06:00

Excited to have one of the amazing homes I photographed for One Architects in Telluride, CO featured as the first story in a special section dedicated to grand entrances in this month's issue of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles.

See more photos of this incredible home on the One Architects' website.

American Lamb Board | CU Campus

2011-05-16T14:45:00.000-06:00

The American Lamb Board recently commissioned Merritt Design Photo for some photos of the incredible new dining facility which features a Persian Station, at the CU Center for Community building on the Boulder, CO campus.

We were excited to learn that Food Management magazine wanted to run some of the photos, including this photo of lamb kabobs on the grill, which is on the cover of their April 2011 issue.

Jewelry Photography | Lauren Harper Collection

2011-05-12T12:26:00.001-06:00

Some of my favorites from a recent fun photography shoot of the Fall Collection for the absolutely gorgeous Lauren Harper Collection...

One Architects | Ad Campaign in Luxe magazine

2011-04-22T09:51:00.003-06:00

Excited to share this beautiful ad campaign I have been designing for One Architects to run in Luxe magazine:

Winter (l) and Spring (r) full page ads in Luxe

The conceptual goal was to use the full page in an eye-catching way that would drive curiosity to visit their website. We strived to achieve this by highlighting an unusual crop of an architectural detail in the keyhole of their logo, with a different seasonal background for each corresponding issue in Luxe magazine.

Winter and Spring (running in the current issue) are shown above, and we just finished up summer, which will be a double page spread:

Summer double page spread in Luxe

Springtime in the City

2011-04-17T11:05:00.000-06:00

Rushing water is the hallmark of springtime in the mountains. Rivers burst at the seams and ponds emerge in the valleys as snow melts and rages on its annual springtime descent.

After a dozen or so of these high alpine springs, I had completely forgotten how abundantly beautiful this season can be at a slightly lower elevation!

It is April and already neighborhoods in Denver are bursting with color and new life. And I, of course, as my eyes are on overdrive, I can't help myself but try to capture the new season in its birth.

I photograph because I have to. Just ask my son, it's a compulsion over which I have surprisingly little control. Compositions present themselves constantly, frozen moments of time, light and expression frame up in my view, even when I am not actively pressing a shutter.

As such, my camera often feels like an extension of my self; it is the tool through which, when I use it well, I am able to communicate my vision of the art and beauty that I see in my surroundings with the rest of the world. The creative process drives me to the art of capture; the ability to share my work and evoke emotion from others is the inspiration.

Capture Philosophy | PHOTO TIP 03: SHOOT, SHARE, STAY INSPIRED

2011-04-05T10:46:00.000-06:00

My newest creative addiction has a healthy side-effect: Pure, Raw, Synapse-Firing... INSPIRATION.

Instagram, if you aren't already familiar, is a free photo sharing app for the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad which has skyrocketed in popularity in just a few short months (Check out this article on the simple but powerful features they nailed in their launch). It took me less than an hour to figure out why it is so popular amongst photo enthusiasts, amateurs and professionals alike...

Photos taken with the iPod Touch and filtered with "Lomi-fi" filter in Instagram | ©merrittphoto

The basic tenet of "iPhoneography" is that the best camera is the one you have with you.

As any dSLR owner knows, it's not always convenient to carry tripod, camera body, kit of lenses, filters, batteries, cards, etc., and more often than not, there will inevitably be a great spot of light or moment of inspiration precisely when you decide not to tote along your gear. If you are lucky enough to have a camera in your phone, however, the opportunity for creativity and capture is hardly lost.

iPod snapshots of architecture around Denver, with various IG filters | ©merrittphoto

Dialoguing recently with a fellow Instagram'er, I realized how much inspiration I gather not only through this less formal method of shooting, but also through the daily feed of tiny square photographic compositions from all around the world. I am provoked to consider what moves me about these images -- in intimate scenes from Italy; in extraordinary aurora sky photos from Lapland; in edgy street scenes from New York City and dramatic ocean sunsets from the equator -- as they each enter my personal photo feed...

... Like miniature vacations in the palm of my hand.

iPod Touch photos of my favorite model, with Lomi, Apollo and Gotham IG filters (l-r) | ©merrittphoto

With visual media such as photography, we can learn so much from studying what we like (and dislike), and we can then attempt to reproduce our favorite elements -- pattern, simplicity of composition, use of light, etc. -- from the material in our own world. A tool like this with a constant stream of content for inspiration can thus become truly addictive.

It may be obvious that as a professional photographer, I find that my style while shooting with the iPod is FAR less inhibited than when I am shooting with my dSLR. Less obvious is how dearly I have come to love the results... as well as the new possibilities. Often (as with the "drive by" photos below) I just hold the phone up to a scene and press the "shutter" without looking (not exactly possible with pro-gear). It is delightful to look later and discover there are gems in the mix.

A new category of photos not possible with a dSLR (Please drive safely! Don't post and drive!!) | ©merrittphoto

The IG filters offer enough creativity to require no additional photo editing, but of course there are hundreds of amazing photo apps out there to process phone pix through as well, and I have found several that I enjoy, including Filterstorm, TiltShift Generator, FX Photo Studio, 100 Cameras in One, and Impression (if you want to add a copyright to your photos before posting).

Once you have even just a few followers on IG, the feedback is immeasurably enjoyable. Like any other social media, a great part of the allure is the community itself. So far my experience is that the IG community is like an incredibly supportive, creative, international family!

Where would iPhoneography be without coffeeshop photos? iPod Touch / IG filters | ©merrittphoto

My hope with this post is to encourage you, if you have the ability to shoot from your non-dSLR mobile device, to USE it, and use it every day. Take photos of your morning coffee, your pet and the walk around your neighborhood. The discipline to simply do something creative every day is a wonderful way to sharpen your skills and stay inspired. Regardless of your skill level, the tricks of composition, light and content choices which you learn quickly with this completely non-intimidating device will inform choices when using your "real" camera.

Just as important: SHARE your photos. Photo sharing communities such as Instagram offer each of us the ideal opportunity to share our vision with other people -- people who don't know each other but who truly desire to share creativity and inspiration through each other's photos and feedback.

And thus our world expands yet again... Brilliant use of the technology, in my opinion!

Happy Spring from my iPod to your eyes | ©merrittphoto

Until next time, Happy Spring to you! Shoot, SHARE and stay inspired!
... and as always, have fun!

--
A complete collection of the @merrittphoto feed on Instagram, can be seen here.
--
If you'd like to get started on IG, there are SO many incredible feeds out there, but here are a few recommendations for fun, interactive people to check out as you get started:
@joshjohnson @richnyc @iscooler @mouselink @brianng @electricdenim
and @steinvalente (thank you for this blog inspiration, Michel!)

Snow Falling on Spring Buds

2011-04-03T21:29:00.002-06:00

There's a saying in Colorado, "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."

Yesterday I wore flip flops and walked (in short sleeves) to the Denver Botanic Gardens in 80 degrees of warm sunshine... even took off my shoes to enjoy the feel of warm soil between my toes for the first time this season.

Today... I photographed snow from my living room window.

Now, I did LOVE the sunshine and warmth of yesterday, but I'm not going to complain. The smell of moisture in the air is a treasured gift in the wake of early season forest fires. And on a more, perhaps, frivolous note, I can't deny loving a whirling snowfall such as this, and the backdrop of spring buds made for some fun, almost painterly compositions.

Finger Painting | Wearable Art

2011-03-27T10:08:00.000-06:00

We had only a tiny window of opportunity in which to fit in a shoot with Nicole wearing her latest painted dresses (co-designed by Chemical by Sasha for the Telluride AIDS Benefit).

She was a trooper out there in the sudden (and intense) snow squall, and in the end, the whirling snow added quite nicely to the magical quality of the dresses.

See more of her work here.

Telluride AIDS Benefit | Behind the Models... The Series

2011-03-21T13:57:00.001-06:00

I'm still not exactly sure why I ever believed the local fashion show models of Telluride would actually agree to pose for these photos, but somehow they went for it, and here we are, four years strong!

There's something so powerful and pure about the grouped forms of bodies in graphic shapes like this, and the set altogether is quite fun.

Together 8 prints of these four photos have raised over $4K in the Telluride AIDS Benefit silent art auctions.

Top to bottom:
Array | 2009
Force + Grace | 2011
Hands of Hope | 2008
Outside the Box | 2010

Telluride AIDS Benefit | Model Photo 2011

2011-03-12T14:33:00.002-07:00

This year's theme, "Force + Grace," was another really fun concept to dream up, sketch out and photograph... A central spine of models choreographed to transfer forces top to bottom, complimented by the graceful poses of the dancers weaving on either side:

As always, the models were a dream to work with... Special thanks to this year's amazing Fashion Show choreographer/directors Katy Parnello and Amanda Carlson for their assistance in directing the shoot.

I feel so blessed for the opportunity to be involved in the promotion and fundraising for this unique and special event. Gratitude abounds for everything the board and community behind the Telluride AIDS Benefit does to make this event not only an impressive high quality and ridiculously fun experience, but also a huge success with its financial contribution -- funds which go directly to saving lives and helping improve the quality of life for children and people effected by AIDS from the Western Slope to Africa.

Watch here for photos from the always amazing TAB Gala Fashion Show!

Capture Philosophy | PHOTO TIP 02: Creative use of Foreground

2011-02-23T22:05:00.002-07:00

Dynamic photos draw us in and give our eye the space and reason to move around inside the frame. Layering a composition with simple foreground, middle and background elements can add a great deal of interest to an otherwise flat photo. As such, many photos can be dramatically improved through the implementation of some simple but creative compositional choices.

While this may sound like a simple concept, finding the right foreground element can have a profound impact on a finished photo - from grounding the image with a sense of scale to framing and/or highlighting a subject. In fact, often in the search for a great foreground element, you can discover a whole new subject for a photograph you hadn’t previously envisioned. It’s a great exercise to explore your surroundings and find new inspiration.

Here are a few examples using a variety of different subjects:

01 | Draw your viewer into the photo with a compelling foreground element which directly leads into the photo:

Great Sand Dunes National Monument + Denver Art Museum © Jennifer Koskinen

02 | Find foreground elements with which to frame your subject:

Bridal Veil Falls, Telluride, CO + Denver Art Museum © Jennifer Koskinen

03 | Ground the photo by highlighting a strong foreground element in a composition that might originally have been about the background (these "discovered" opportunities often make for more personal photos of iconic locations):

Bridge Railing to Town Park, Telluride CO + Maroon Bells Wilderness, Aspen CO © Jennifer Koskinen

04 | Relate the foreground to subject matter, highlighting, echoing or strengthening the subject itself:

Sculpture outside Denver Art Museum + Chalk Street Drawing at Telluride July 4th Celebration © Jennifer Koskinen

05 | Create symmetry, layering and balance:

Driftwood at Maroon Bells, Aspen CO + Private Residence, Telluride CO © Jennifer Koskinen

06 | "Work hard and you’ll get lucky"
Often great foreground material will present itself when you are open to seeing it; the audience member who pops up right in front of you with a perfect hat and hand gesture; a butterfly on a flower when you're already on your belly in the grass; a handful of autumn photographers so perfectly set they could have been staged; and lastly of course, drifting fog makes for a lovely and precious foreground that can only be discovered when in the right place at the right time:

Mountainfilm Symposium + Butterfly on Valley Floor
Photographers in the Sneffles Wilderness + Wilson Peak Above the clouds
Telluride CO © Jennifer Koskinen

SUGGESTION:

The next time you are out shooting, take some extra time and move around to find interesting foreground elements with which to frame or draw the attention towards your subject. Play with your aperture as well (last month’s tip), and see what kind of results are yielded when you focus selectively and/or blur your foreground or background elements... experiment with color and composition, and most of all, have fun!

Happy Shooting :)

Playing with Tilt Shift App

2011-02-13T13:19:00.002-07:00

Denver Art Museum

I discovered another fun little app for the iPod this weekend and I've been having a blast experimenting with different effects on a variety of photos. It it absolutely incredible to me what these simple little gadgets can do!

This one allows you to mimic the highly specific depth of field effect of a tilt shift lens, resulting in images that often look like tiny scale models, even though these are - I swear - full scale scenes.

If you have an iPod or iPhone, this particular app is called TiltShiftGen and so far, I love it!

Denver Capitol building from Art Museum window

16th Street Mall, Denver

Confluence Park, Denver

Mesa Verde National Park

Telluride Wedding

View from Tattered Cover Parking Garage, Denver, CO

Glenwood Canyon, CO

Telluride from the Gondola

Telluride, CO during Mountainfilm

Denver City and County Building, July 4th 2010

16th Street, Denver CO

16th Street, Denver, CO

Telluride from Town Park

Telluride, CO - July 4th

MDP Newsletter | Issue 03

2011-02-03T15:53:00.001-07:00

Please click to enjoy the latest edition of the Merritt Design Photo Newsletter!

Portrait Shoot in Denver, CO

2011-01-30T21:48:00.002-07:00

Feeling hugely grateful for the opportunity to photograph this lovely daughter of a dear friend for her upcoming yearbook photos. Once again I find myself humbled by the photographic medium and excited to be pushing myself into new areas of joyfully fulfilling work.
I look forward to many more photo sessions with great young people like this!

Merrittphoto on Instagram!

2011-01-27T14:47:00.003-07:00

We got a fancy little iGadget over the holidays, and I have become completely addicted to a new form of social media / photo sharing, in the form of a free app called Instagram.

Through the app, you can photograph and apply from a selection of nostalgic and artistic filters... but the power is really in the ability to view, share, comment, "like," follow and otherwise interact with photo-minded people from all over the world.

Ridiculously fun and inspiring!

Here are some selections from my first few days of posting. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, check out this free app and come say hello (@merrittphoto)!

Dreaming of the NEXT in a Series... 2011

2011-01-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

2010 Telluride AIDS Benefit Model photo, Outside the Box (framed as two separate prints, with the inner box set behind the outer):

Imagining for this year's photo has begun... Hint: this year's theme "Force and Grace"... stay tuned!

Capture Philosophy | PHOTO TIP 01: Aperture + Depth of Field

2011-01-17T21:01:00.002-07:00

I have been asked several times lately by new dSLR owners to share tips on simple ways to make the most of their camera and take better photographs. Every time I get into this conversation, I realize how much I love sharing my passion for all things photographic.

Wide Aperture (f2.8) chosen for creative composition and shallow depth of field

So I thought it could be fun to start a “Capture Philosophy / Tip of the Month” series on the blog. Some of the information I share will be basic, nuts and bolts tips for people just getting to know their dSLR cameras, while other posts may be more philosophical, reflective of how I personally approach photography.

Please feel free to comment and/or ask for more info!

I’d like to start with creative use of Aperture, since I believe it can be one of the simplest to learn and most powerful ways to make every day photos more creative. Learning how to use Aperture and controlling your depth of field (the area of the photograph which is in focus) can produce highly satisfying results, from the ability to isolate a subject in an otherwise busy setting, to maintaining crisp focus from front to back of a wider landscape shot.

Small Aperture (f16) used to achieve depth of field form foreground shadows to mountain peaks

Wide Aperture (f2.8) used to highlight only tiny area of focus and blur everything else

Wide Aperture (3.2) isolates model and permits handheld shot in low light

Smaller Apertures can be extremely useful in capturing serene landscapes, formal compositions, and often is the best choice in architectural work, where one wants to highlight relationships across a room or between adjacent spaces.

When combined with higher ISO (when necessary), larger apertures will allow you to shoot later into the evening in lower light conditions. This approach will often eliminate the necessity of a flash, allowing you to make the most of - and more importantly maintain the mood of - natural and available light.

THE BASICS

Aperture means literally, opening. The basic creative tools of your camera are 1) choosing the size of the opening (aperture), and 2) how long it stays open (shutter speed).

What you need to know regarding the aperture, is that the numbers, or F-stops, are representative of fractions, so the smaller numbers represent a larger opening of the shutter, (f1.4, f2.8, f3.5, f4, etc.), and larger numbers (f11, f16, etc.) represent a smaller opening of the shutter.

What makes this all so powerful is that with selective focus of a larger aperture, you can narrow in on a shallower depth of field and isolate your subject so that everything else in the photograph is out of focus.

Wide Aperture (f2.8) + faster shutter speed = shallower depth of field (isolated subject in focus)

Smaller Aperture (f16) + slower shutter speed = greater depth of field (more in focus)

SUGGESTION

Find the setting on your DSLR camera for "A" (aperture priority). Play with the extremes of this setting to see what they do when you are focused on something close to the camera (say, within a few feet). Don't delete the photos until you have had a chance to look at the differences on your computer screen with the same shot and extreme aperture differences.

Isolating Eyelashes with f2.8

As a point of reference, shooting with an aperture of F2.8 when your subject is within close range of the camera can allow you to focus on someone's eye, and the rest of their face will start to soften.

When used creatively and intentionally, makes for really professional looking people photos...

You will notice that the range of depth of field changes with the distance from the camera... (F2.8 won't have as dramatic of an effect if your subject is far away).

So, get out of your "Program Mode" ... Experiment, and HAPPY SHOOTING!

Play with focus in unexpected ways - EXPERIMENT!

Favorite Photos from 2010 | Part VI: Architecture

2011-01-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

(click and zoom in to see larger)

Favorite Photos from 2010 | Part V: Events

2011-01-03T22:19:00.002-07:00