softening

I remember when soft-focus portraiture was all the rage. Believe me, I shot my share of them. Glad that trend passed. Alas, the softness of photographic images can be magic. It's just not usually done with a soft-focus lens anymore. Whew.

However it is achieved, softness can be timeless, dreamy, ethereal. It can be comforting, wistful, melancholic. Softness can evoke all kinds of emotion.

I have toyed with so many photographic styles and techniques over the years, some of which yield beautifully soft results. From shooting out of focus to dragging the shutter capturing a soft blur of motion to using lenses like aLensbaby to shooting through water (as I did in the featured shot) to the wonders of post-processing, softness can come any number of ways.

Today share your tips or tricks on how you soften up your subject. Show us your vision of soft.

center stage

  

There's a small corner of my house that acts as studio and stage for many of my photographic vingnettes. Sliding glass doors to the right give me my main light source. A smaller window on the left offers a burst of fill light, or rim light (pun intended for my mug collection). Dark brown dining room table anchors my frame. A lovely pale blue wall, a china cabinet and cream colored drapes all vie for the backdrop (which I use is dictated by the subject at hand). I use this little area at home almost every day, for morning coffee, as a desk, for family dinner and of course, my photography.

My most recent muse is a loaner-mug. I actually borrowed this sweet tea mug (a la Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf) from a friend so I could capture it in "the studio". It deserved a moment in the limelight. 

After capturing it in a number of different ways, it was this shot that felt just right. It's not often that I would choose a perfect centering of my subject. Centered is usually the last compositional technique I resort too. But, in this case, the light that illuminated the mug, the dark, dramatic background, the soft lines accentuated by a shallow depth of field all work together to bring the magic right to center stage.

Sometimes the only way to be is front and center.

Have you framed a shot lately that communicated the same thing? Something that left you no better choice than to reveal it as is, no apologies, smack dab in the middle of your shot? We'd love to see your center stage shots.

out of hibernation

A blizzard, then an ice storm. Then rain, then a cold snap, and everything freezes solid. Foliage is dead and buried, brittle or frozen. Everything hibernates.

Go ahead, says February. Find my beautiful. And I'm not talking about that salt-weathered barn in the middle of that field. No standing half a mile back. Get up close. Make something of nothing.

I've got a bit of a plan now. A wide-open aperture, a deliberate shoving through of foreground, a focusing on the middle. Lying in snow, stalks tangled up in my camera strap. It makes camera into brush, composition into canvas.

+++

It doesn't matter what you think you're shooting. What's in front of you is not your photographic subject. Your photographic subject is whatever that thing or person or scene evokes. Your subject is the feeling, the story, or the questions you raise by capturing that thing or person or scene one way versus another. Let's strip this down and test it. Here's a bunch of stuff.

I looked at the table in front of me. A coil of wire, some reflective paper, a pad of steel wool, some bolts, unraveled wool, crumpled paper and too much else to make sense of. I looked back up at the instructor.

Take whatever looks interesting, and photograph any of these subjects. She pushed a paper across the table to the group of us.

Loneliness
Love
Cold
Warm
Fear
Safety

It doesn't matter what materials you use. What matters is your creative intention in arranging and capturing them.

I choose 'cold' and photographed it. And I forgot it until now, or at least forgot the connection between that abstract photography course and what I'm looking for when I'm outdoors in February. I'm not looking for pretty subjects. I'm looking for shape and line, company and loneliness.

+++

The first time I did it, it was an experiment, an exercise in blurring eyes and looking to see what else I'd found other than a withered, mid-winter hosta. I've been on hiatus from Shutter Sisters for a while, and now I'm back at the very peak of my photographic dry season (which I write about every year without fail, each time with that whiny, northeastern lilt). And so I remembered the basics.

Have you ever abstracted subjects to their elements? Have you set out with the intention to construct a photograph of colour - just colour - or line, shape, texture, or space? I'd love to see. Either that, or just tell me how you're doing and what you're shooting. It's been too long.

Capturing the Warmth of a Moment in Sepia Tone

My daughter's been on an indefinite hiatus from piano lessons, yet just recently she expressed an interest in making music again to her teacher/grandmother. "I'm going to play in the recital!" she announced one morning after returning home from a sleepover at Mama Sue's house just a couple of weeks ago. And from that point forward (with no prompting from me), she practiced her "Christmas Waltz" each day to prepare for her moment in the spotlight.

It's a familiar cycle. The entrance, exit, and return of inspiration. The birth of a vision. And the decision to make it real. Acknowledging the need to practice and prepare for the moment when we're meant to stand in the spotlight. Assuming that courage will sustain us despite the presence of fear. I was so proud of her at this moment, I almost forgot to click.

Most of my favorite documentary moments are captured with my super wide 14-24mm lens because it gives me the ability to capture more than less of an experience. This image was shot at 14mm with an aperture setting of f/8 and ISO setting of 200. I used my Nikon Speedlight 900 and fired the flash to bounce off the wall behind me to balance the harsh light streaming in through the windows in the back of the room. Then, in Aperture, I applied a subtle amount of Sepia Tone (something I don't normally do) to soften the bright red Christmas dresses in the audience, and put more visual emphasis on the warmth and gestures of the moment.

Spread some warmth with your sepia tone experiments and discoveries in the comments.

The Daily Practice

I've had a lot of cameras in my life but most of them were point-and-shoot. Right before my son was born, I decided I wanted the new Canon digital SLR.  It was really expensive and I had no photography training at all. I loved taking photos but I didn't know anything about aperture, lenses, or even the settings on an SLR. After months of pondering, I decided I was going to get it. I couldn't stop thinking about it and I knew that was a sign.

Right before I bought the camera, my husband and I went to Venice Beach with his 35mm and he taught me the basics: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. I am a computer programmer, so understanding the technical bits wasn't too hard for me. What I needed to work on is what I call the magic of photography: seeing the light and developing my eye. Over the years, I realized that I was improving but I wasn't consistent and I couldn't tell if my better  photos were due to luck or because I was getting better at photography.

This is when I started the daily practice.

For the last three years, I've been taking photos every single day. Every day. Bar none. Some days it's photos of my children or backyard and other days it's more interesting things like views of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge or the redwood trees. I'll admit that most days it's flowers. I've taken hundreds of photos of flowers. And tens of thousands of photos of my kids. And while the subject matter might be boring to others (and sometimes even for me) it's done much to improve my photography.

The daily practice means that I can notice subtle changes in light better. I take many of my photos in the same area: my house and its vicinity. So, I am quite familiar with it and I can now notice the slight changes in light due to weather, time of day, or other factors. This has helped me figure out how to pay attention to the light. What different types of light does to the photo. It's also meant that I can experiment with different shots at the same light and see what happens.

The daily practice means I can focus on the photography more. I am not just grabbing my camera when I am trying to capture an important moment. When you're trying to "catch" a moment, you don't always have time to play with the settings in your camera. You are focusing on getting the picture, not optimizing the quality of the photo. Whereas, on many days, I am taking my photos during a perfectly ordinary moment. There's no butterfly that's about to fly away. I can slow down and adjust my settings. I can play with the aperture and see the effects of depth of field. I can focus on the photography and not on getting the shot.

The daily practice means I can develop my personal style. I take a lot of photos of my kids. Every night I download these photos and go through them. I notice which shots are technically better than others. But I also notice which shots are more interesting to me. What photo stirs emotions and why. For example, through taking these shots I've discovered that I favor closeups. I like photos where my kids are looking down and there's a hint of a smile or acknowledgment of the photographer but it's not posed.  I favor the right over the left.  Small, subtle differences that make my photos mine. Seeing the pictures night after night helps me notice patterns. Notice changes. Improvements.

I know that the idea of taking photos every day might seem overwhelming and too time-consuming but, like most things, the biggest part is showing up. Just getting up and doing it. Starting the habit of carrying your camera around with you. Choosing a special time in the day to snap the photo. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing. You can do more focused efforts like choosing a month to specifically address aperture and another month to do portraits only, etc. Or you can just snap something everyday and look and learn from what you get each night. The most important part is to just do it. Grab that camera and take photographs. Again and again and again.

Until it becomes a daily practice.

On a much more personal and practical note, the daily practice has also meant that I've captured thousands of our ordinary moments. What makes us who we are and the reality of our daily life. I know that regardless of how great I get at photography, I will cherish this more than all else.

Please share with us one of those ordinary day captures from your own life as we celebrate the daily practice. And if you have any tips, tricks, or insights on keeping up with your own photography practice, let's hear them!

Image and words courtesy of Guest Blogger / Honorary Sister Karen Grunberg of Karenika.