Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Sechelt Wharf Photography Experimentation on an overcast sky day

Life is a giant playground of experimentation, and photography offers a lot of whimsyroom. You don't have to share any of your creations. You're allowed to take the various levels of contrast and colour, midtone and tint, and spread them as far or near as you'd like. Desaturate! Oversaturate! Play around and have fun.


Today I went on a little photowander around Sechelt. I went to the store and picked up a new memory card and some new rechargeable batteries for my wee Canon point and shoot (the only camera I own and what I take the majority of my photos with) with the little bit of Christmas money I was given (Thanks Grandpa! :D ) Then I wandered, as is usual for me, towards the sea.



I took a number of photos but we're going to look at what I did with this one. Firstly I'd rather shoot the image a bit darker so that I have more to work with in editing. If I exposed the sky as too white then I'd not have any data to work with there... just a bunch of white. Heck.. I'll occasionally do that on purpose for funking around in other ways, but it's not what I was looking for with this shot ;)

Then I got creative and moved a bunch of levels, and drank more tea, and put on my wool slippers.


I got the balance to where I like it. Now it's time to investigate some more cropping options. Try changing things around and see what you like, see what you don't like, learn about your preferences and what appeals to you. This is the adult photographer equivalent of finger painting. ;)


I'm ok with the fact that I use a wee point and shoot, and that the quality gets a bit suspect. Would I love to have a better camera and lens options? Heck yes I would! But I don't have those. SO this is what I can, and do, do.

Oh and lets check out those seagulls a bit more.. ;)

Cue the Wayne's World "Extreme Close-up"


So there you go. Sure it may not be the sharpest image (Ok it definitely isn't!) but it is an exploring with composition and creativity, learning to look through the image more, and will help develop your eye for trying different things in the field.

When all is said and done, my personal favourite of the set is the first edited one without any cropping. But the others are interesting experiments too!

I hope you enjoyed playing around with me and coming along for a little walk and wonder, now may you funk around with your photos and create some wonderous whimsy of your own!

Until next time,
Keep wandering and wondering,
The Maplemusketeer

5 comments:

Wandering Educators said...

love these photos, and playing around with the perspective. bravo!

Anonymous said...

Jordan, what a great study in photography! LOVE this shot, and all the ways you've processed it. Each version could stand on it's own, to be honest. But the panorama one, second from last, is truly stunning.

Happy New Year my friend! Hope you had a great Christmas, and that 2012 is full of hope and promise for you! Sorry we missed you when you were on the island last month, it's been a bit on the busy side of things around these parts for us. We hope that at some point in 2012 we get a chance to meet.

Best wishes from The Toads to you!

Maplemusketeer said...

Thank you very much Jessie! I'm very glad you like them! Thank you for your support and encouragement :D

Thank you Toads! :D :D Isn't it awesome how ever trip out can give us a photo that we'll never forget? Even a photo that doesn't look like too much before we edit it ;) So amazing :D

I hope you have a wonderfilled 2012 as well and have no fear, I shall romping around the island again a few times next year so we'll have to arrange a photoadventure then :D

May you have a great and grand day!
The Maplemusketeer

Anonymous said...

Very cool photography lesson - I ran across it looking for a picture for Pebbles Restaurant showing a typical grey day. Can I post it on our FB page and link it over to here?

Maplemusketeer said...

Hi Anonymous :) You definitely can :D I have a fb page too www.facebook.com/maplemusketeer! I'm from Sechelt originally, my Mom was born in Garden Bay when the hospital was still there, and grew up in Egmont where my Grandpa was born. I lived in Sechelt again for the past two years, but started a cross-country phototrip in April. I'm aiming to hit the East Coast by the fall before returning back to the coast :)

Depending on what you're looking for image wise I may be able to help from my archives too :)

www.maplemusketeer.com is my new website and there is a contact form there if you'd like to get ahold of me via private message :)