IN-CAMERA MULTIPLE EXPOSURES

The term is multiple exposures, but after years of experimenting with this technique, I landed on simply double exposures--just two images on one "frame." The reason for this decision is that I found that the images get too "muddy" and too "busy" when I create three or more exposures. I'm not trying to discourage you from doing so.It just doesn't work well for my taste.

Before I get to the 'how,' let's talk about the 'why.' As I say in my popular book, Right Brain Photography, I think like an artist first; photographer second. My three years as an art major were the foundation for my artistic bent with photography. Double exposures feed my love for artistic creativity. They are part of my creative aesthetics repertoire. 

Ever since I first picked up a camera and joined a camera club in Fort Worth, Texas, photography has carried the torch of extreme detail, extreme sharpness, and shadowless exposures. There is nothing wrong with that. I have lots of images, especially those I sell commercially, that fit that description. However, to add diversity to my portfolio, I like to mix it up a bit. That includes creating Surrealism through photography, photographing a variety of subjects, shooting intentionally under-exposed images, creative camera body techniques, Impressionism through photography, and, yes, double exposures.

Now, let me move on to the 'how.' 

These are the steps I take when I want my double exposures to have that impressionistic feel.
1) My camera is on a tripod and set for manual focus. I normally set my f/stop to f/5.6. I take the scene slightly out of focus (thus the need for 5.6). I take a test shot to make sure I like it. It should not be too much out of focus or too bright. If necessary, I make proper adjustments and re-shoot it. If I like the way the first of my two images looks, I am now ready for my double exposure.
2) I engage my double exposure feature for two shots. The options are up to 10 shots! 
3) I re-take the test shot, since I know how it's going to look. That will be the first of two exposures. 
4) I then set my f/stop to f/16 and refocus manually to get a sharp image. In addition, I also underexpose the second planned shot, usually by – 2/3. Click. I’ve got my double exposure. This is more art than science.

Now, when I don't want an impressionistic-like image, the only procedure I do differently is to keep the same f/stop throughout the process--usually f/11-f/16. I want both images to look sharp. In step 1, I don't want the first shot to be under or overexposed. I then continue to step 2 and so on.  

Okay, now you know what I do and how I do it. Actually, the most difficult part to all this is not the steps; the process, but to allow the imagination to go wild and imagine how subjects may blend together well. By well I don't mean perfect, but, rather, will a certain combination give me a cool, creative, mysterious, or a Salvador Dalí-ish look to it? Think creative aesthetics. We're not trying to document a subject; we're trying to create art.

With that long introduction, here are some of my examples of double exposures.

I saw this street performer standing still on a New Orleans, Louisiana corner--in the French Quarter. I liked what I saw, but at the same time, I felt like I had not quite captured the essence of the French Quarter--Nawlins. I turned my glance away from him to an artist behind me. I loved that she was painting on pieces of shale. I walked closer to her and started chatting. Her theme was blacks picking cotton in the old South. My right brain took over. It occurred to me that I could superimpose one of her art pieces over the pantomime across the street. She let me get some shots of her pieces, which hung on a fence-like structure--the kind you see at outdoor art festivals. 

I took a photo of her art, horizontally. Then I walked back to the street performer and got a vertical shot of him, superimposed against the artist's art. Voila! Now, I had captured the essence of Nawlins. 

Below is that same photo turned sideways, so you can more clearly see the artist's art on shale.

I saw these twigs and leaves on a pebble walkway at the Denver Botanic Gardens. I thought they might look good together as a double exposure. 

I saw yet another street performer, but he was in downtown Boulder, Colorado. As I looked up, I saw an interesting balcony with closed shutters keeping the inside from view. So, I decided to "put" him in front of the window shutters. Click. 

Now, back to flowers--tulips, to be exact. 

I thought I'd have fun one Halloween season. I bought a small scary skull. When I got it home, a crazy idea hit me. How would it look if four "people" were talking to each other? I titled it, "Heady Debate." Now, for this particular set-up, creating 4 images worked well. I had to be careful as to where I placed the skull in-between shoots. I used a piece of scotch tape to mark where I had to place the skull all four times.  

It was in the middle of my birthday hike. I like taking hikes on my birthday. I guess it's my way of convincing myself that I'm not aging. You can laugh at that. 

It was during the hike that I came across this old road surrounded by trees. It just felt like a double exposure.

I was playing with the idea of an image titled "Self-talk." I guess I was working backward. I had the idea, now I just needed someone to talk to himself. So, I asked a friend of mine if he'd mind modeling for me for this crazy Idea I had. When he arrived, I orchestrated the shot. I told him to sit on one side of this coffee shop booth and pretend that he was listening to someone telling him something. Click. Then I asked him to sit on the other side and pretend he was trying to make a point, to himself! In both instances I told him what to do with his head, hands, glasses, etc. 

It looks like a ghost talking to himself. This is about throwing away the rules, the expectations, and perfection. It's about just having fun with the medium of photography, fed by the imagination. I don't see with my eyes. I see with my imagination.  

 

This last example was the very first double exposure I ever tried. We're talking circa 1986! Think about it. In 1986, I didn't have an LCD display screen to see what I got. No previews.  

What you're looking at is The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas superimposed over the Heroes of The Alamo that were carved into this huge obelisk near The Alamo. 

So, I highly encourage you to let your hair down, think "no right angles," think outside the box, and just have fun with it! Enjoy your new self, and send me some of the fun shots you take. E-mail me at vegaphotoart@gmail.com.

Take care! 

 SHOOTING IN THE SNOW

So, I'll cut to the chase. The built-in light meter was designed to give us the "correct" exposure. Just ask any photo enthusiasts who love reading the camera's histogram to make sure they "got it correct."

And therein lies the problem when it comes to shooting in the snow. The built-in light meter, which drives the histogram, is designed to get us back to gray, or neutral. If I'm shooting snow in color, the meter will choose, or recommend that I choose, certain settings in order to give me gray, not white, snow. Without getting technical about it (you can articles on that), that is what it is designed to do.

The settings I am referring to depend on whether you're shooting aperture priority, shutter priority, or manual exposure. And they can be any combination of f/stops, shutter speeds, or ISO. 

So, therein lies the problem. Here is how I handle the problem of the built-in light meter trying to give me gray snow. Roughly 95% of the time, I prefer shooting in Aperture Priority. I will use that exposure setting to explain what I do. If you shoot shutter priority, you will need to focus your attention on your f/stop to get it right (I don't recommend that mode when photographing snow because, in a high percentage of cases, subject movement will be zero to almost none). If you are shooting in manual mode, obviously you will need to change any combination of f/stop, shutter speed, and ISO to get it right. 

Now, to my solution while shooting aperture priority. When the built-in meter gives me gray, it does so because it doesn't want me to "overexpose" the scene, which is white. But, it doesn't know that snow is supposed to look white. It is designed to "think" that I need gray snow. And there is the kicker. It will, technically, underexpose the beautiful white snow. For example, if gives me, say a shutter speed of 1/250, I know it's going to look gray. So, I will need to change my shutter speed to anywhere between 1/125 or maybe 1/60 (or anything in-between), depending on the scenario, in order to get white snow. In other words, I'll slow down the shutter to allow more light to hit the sensor, which will in turn lighten/whiten the snow. The common term for doing that is a misnomer--we usually say explain those steps by saying something like, "I had to overexpose the scene by a +1 stop." In actuality, we aren't overexposing the scene (the white snow). What we are doing is overexposing the exposure the light meter gave us. I talk back to me built-in light meter by saying, "No.No. I know what you're trying to do. I don't want white snow. At that point, I, not the meter, am in control of how I want my snow photos to look. 

Following are some examples, and what I did. Keep my explanation above in mind when you read about what adjustments I made (+1, +2, etc.).

For this image, I only made a +2/3 stop adjustment. In other words, I gave it 66% more light than the meter thought I needed. It's not about how much light I need, but how much I want. There's a big difference between the two. If, as in this scene, there are a lot of areas in the scene that are darker than the snow in the scene, as in the leaves and plants in this scene, the adjustment can be minimal, like a +2/3 stop. In other situations, as I'll show later, the adjustments needed are greater.

This retro bicycle half-buried in snow got my attention. I had to increase the exposure to 1 1/3 for this scene. As you can see, snow covered most of the scene. The lighting also plays a part. A bright sunny day might require more of an increase in exposure than an overcast sky. 

This was during one of my winter workshops in Rocky Mountain National Park. I loved the cute family scene of a mom and daughter snowshoeing in the park. This took a +1 overexposure.

Here is an extreme case where there was a lot of snow in the scene. I had to go to a + 1 2/3 to get what I wanted! That's 166% more light than the meter thought I needed for the "correct" exposure.

By comparison, I only needed to go +1 stop for this mission in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I included this last one to show that, yes, sometimes I don't have to make any adjustments at all if the lighting throughout the scene doesn't require any adjustments to the exposure. This image was shot at -0-.

There are no formulas to memorize when shooting in the snow. But, it's not as scary or intimidating as this might sound. Just remember that art is subjective; photography is art. Additionally, photographer preference, also subjective, will determine how much of an adjustment to make. And, let me throw in another factor. Not all cameras are calibrated the same. I know this after years of offering field workshops and 1-on-1 lessons. A +1 adjustment to my camera might look similar to your same image shot at +1 1/3 with your camera. 

What I do is estimate how much adjustment I think I'll need and take my shot. I then display the image on my back screen and decide if that's what I want. Let's say I shot it at +1. If it looks a bit too bright, I reshoot the scene at +2/3. If it looks a little too grayish, I may reshoot it at +1 1/3 and see how that looks. It's subjective, and that is perfectly okay. There is no such thing as the "correct" exposure. The right exposure is what we should be shooting for, pun intended.

Have fun out there!! 

DEFYING REASON

Defying reason is associated with the art movement, surrealism. It is more common to art on canvas than it is to the art of photography. Nonetheless, I sometimes like to introduce it in my photography. It's the perfect medium to present something either out of context or in a way that takes a while for viewers to realize exactly what it is they're seeing. I like to play with, mess with common visual expectations.

The beauty of art is that we don't have to always document what we see, or expect to see. To think outside the box is to see outside our selves (sic), our known associations, our expected associations. For example, we don't think of tulips and ice together. The notion is surreal, defying reason. 

This month, I want to take you into the world of the unexpected. Why does this sound like Rod Serling introducing The Twilight Zone? 😊

We've heard of ghosts, right? But, we don't really expect to see one when we see a photograph. Or do we? Do you see a ghost, a faint ghostly figure of a woman, toward the lower center part of this image?

I asked a friend of mine to serve as my "ghost" for several images, both inside and outside this beautiful 1887 hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I asked her to wear a white dress, a white dress, and white shoes. For this one, I asked her to start moving slowly in place when I gave her the signal. What I captured was her subtle movements, for about ten seconds, while keeping everything sharp at f/11. 

Part of the mystery and mystique of surrealism is the "bending of the mind," or catching the viewer off-guard, if only for a few seconds. Some images make you pause for a second until the brain puts all the pieces together. Such was the case when I saw this scene. I knew what I was looking at because I was there, and I had seen this scene before in broad daylight, but.....

There were walls around downtown that were in such bad shape that they were deteriorating. Some had been exposed to the elements for decades. There were large gaping geometric holes, where there were once windows. It was through one of those holes that I saw lights from a boutique shining through the windows.

This next scene, even to me, looks like I was on a different planet. 

This is actually a city park, yes, a city park, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It's called Garden of The Gods. Most photographs of it are during the day, but over several years I had fun going there after the sun went down just to see what I could create when people were, for the most part, no longer there. It was shot with my lens set at 32 mm, aperture at f/4.5, and with the shutter at 30 seconds, and ISO 400. I liked the dark formations against the late sunset colors and the sparkling stars in the sky.

I am always on the lookout for the unexpected; for the juxtaposition of elements we don't expect to see together, at the same place, at the same time.

There is an eatery in Longmont, Colorado called CHeBA Hut. In front of their business is an interesting string of great old VW buses. It just so happened that the building next to theirs had a wall-to-wall mural painted on the said. Click!!! Without an explanation, this scene defies reason. 

Sometimes a humorous combination of elements makes for great surrealism. 

Another mural. I found this one inside a bicycle shop in Boulder, Colorado. I loved the staggered bikes against the backdrop of a rider in the mountains--the mural. By the way, my personality is such that I don't hesitate to ask for permission when I find something worth shooting. As I learned years ago, if you ask, you might get it. If you don't, you won't.

When a friend saw this next image, he said, "It looks like there's a dragon inside shooting fire from inside the tunnel." 

For these kinds of shots, timing, and patience are critically important. It was late evening. The surrounding mountains hid the late-setting sun. With my camera on my tripod, set for a 20-second exposure and f/16, I waited for several minutes until that special moment when vehicles were going toward the tunnel while others were coming out of the tunnel. I knew that by waiting for that strategic moment I would get a lot of red and yellow light streaks coming across my view. The high red streaks were from a bus entering the tunnel. 

By the way, when it's dark like it was that evening, fast-moving vehicles do not register (record) on film and sensors. They're moving too fast. The only thing that registers are the continuously moving lights, which appear as colored streaks. 

Speaking of light streaks, this last example also had light streaks. However, they were motorcycle light streaks, not cars and trucks. 

Yes, through photography, we can create images that, unless you peak "behind the curtain," defy reason. It's surrealism. This was a 12-second exposure at f/14. ISO was 100. I love the red sweeping S-shape created by the beautifully crafted motorcycles as they whizzed by. 

So, go and either find those perplexing, mind-bending scenes or create them yourself. Sometimes, you will need to think outside the box that's outside the box. I don't see with my eyes. I see with my imagination.  

Contact me if you ever want an in-person or virtual one-on-one to learn more about this genre of photography.    

UNDER & OVEREXPOSURE 
(Is there really a "correct" exposure?)

I don't believe in a "correct" exposure; the kind where the histogram tells us we are very close to a bell curve in terms of darks and lights and mid-tones. I prefer to get the right exposure--that exposure that best translates the message, mood, feelings, or thoughts I want to convey.

This is why I don't hesitate to under or overexpose a scene. If you look at the histogram on some of my images, the histogram is screaming, "Dude, you are way off!"  The reason it says that is because it is trying to help me get the "correct" exposure, whereas I wanted to get the right exposure--that right exposure that would give me the visual look I was going for.

Speaking of visual looks, let's look at some examples from my collection.

I saw this beauty clinging to the netting as I aimed my camera toward the large sky window of a butterfly pavilion. I overexposed the scene by +1 stop in order to give it an airy feel to the image.

I placed a white diffuser behind these pre-budding flowers to give them that "in the studio" kind of look. I loved the oval shapes and curved lines in the scene. It looked like a piece of art on canvas. I overexposed this scene by +1 1/3 to keep the background as light as possible and to add color to the stems and bulbs. 

This next example is one of the most extreme. I really liked the shapes and colors of the lilies and lily pads. However, they blended in too much with the gray sky in the reflection. I decided to underexpose this scene by a severe -2 1/3! I wanted to darken the water, which reflected the gray sky. I figured that by doing that, it would make the lilies and lily pads "pop," that is, really stand out.

The histogram for this image was far to the left, telling me, "Dude, it's way too dark! You didn't get the correct exposure." I didn't want the "correct" exposure; I wanted the right exposure--the one that was right for me; the one that translated my thoughts.

The lighting on this next scene was similar to the image above ("Radiance"). Again, I wanted the floating autumn leaves to "pop." This time I went to a -2 2/3 stops underexposure!! In everyday jargon, that means I gave the scene two hundred sixty-six percent less light than the built-in exposure light meter thought I needed for the "correct" exposure. Now you know why I talked back to the light meter: "I know where you're trying to take me. I don't wanna go there." The result was a very artistic rendering of simple leaves. 

So, do I ever go the opposite direction, toward the plus side of exposure, or overexposure? Yes! However, it is important to understand what I mean when I make a statement like, "I overexposed this scene by +2 2/3 stops overexposure," I mean that I overexposed the scene from the point that my built-in exposure light meter thought I needed. For example, if A is underexposed, B is the "correct" exposure (based on the light meter), C is 1-stop over from B, and D is 2-stops over from B, I went D + 2/3. That is exactly what I did for this next shot: + 2 2/3 because the backside of the sunflower was in the shade and I had to override, or "overexpose" the meter reading on the bright sky. I know, it sounds counterintuitive. 

Here's one more try to explain this. When I look at the very bright sky in this photo of a sunflower, I know, not guess, but know that the built-in exposure light meter is going to underexpose the bright sky light, which will also underexpose the dark side of the sunflower. By setting my exposure to a +2 2/3 I am overriding what I know the light meter is trying to do. Voila!! 

Okay, one more. Here we have a couple of flamingos. I really wanted them to "pop," so I underexposed this one by -1 2/3. 

The on-camera tool I use to over or underexpose my images is called the exposure compensation dial. If you don't know where it is, refer to your camera manual. You will see a scale that looks something like this when you activate it.

-3 .  .   -2 . .  -1 .   .-0- . .  +1 . . +2 . . +3

So, now that you know, go out there and talk back to your built-in exposure light meter and get what you want. Enjoy. Have fun. 

  

 CLOUDS

Have you ever really looked at clouds? They come in so many different sizes, shapes, textures, and colors. Sure, most of the ones we normally see are just a few in the sky and when they are floating in the sky, many are simply nondescript. But, given the right weather conditions and the right lighting, they give us nature's art in the sky.

This month, I want to share several clouds that have caught my attention--clouds worth the time to quickly grab my camera and start shooting. Sometimes I just happen to have my camera with me when they present themselves to me. Some were amazingly surreal, some were alarming, some were ethereal, and others were simply artistic. Below are just a few examples. 

When photographing clouds, I always know that I will have to make exposure adjustments, due to their highly reflective compositions and because I am aiming my camera at the sky. if I don't make adjustments, the built-in light meter will under-expose my images. At other times, depending on the lighting, it will over-expose my images. It also requires quick adjustments--the formations often last just seconds! 

I was inside my home and could feel the weather changing. The late afternoon sky was getting darker. After a few minutes, I opened the front door and saw this! 

I loved the ominous yet artistic sense of giant golden swirls as the clouds expanded in the sky. The play of darks against brights created tension. It was terrifying art.

I was driving home from work when I saw these beautiful Monet-ish layers in the sky. I sped up to quickly get home to grab my camera. Luckily, the layered curtain of nature's best was still there. I included just a hint of treetops at the bottom of the image. The layers don't look real, huh?

I was on a long photo shoot trip when I saw what looked like a message from above! It seemed to be lighting my path. You can read a lot into this, but the sun rays shooting through the dark clouds above gave me goosebumps.  

Unusual, UFO-like lenticular clouds are common in mountainous areas, such as in Colorado where I saw these beauties above Dillon Lake in Frisco. They looked like soft ribbons floating in the sky. They also seemed to mimic the shape of the mountains below them. The size of those clouds!! 

I was approaching home when I looked up and saw what looked like a giant Sandhill Crane flying above me! In my classes and book, Right Brain Photography, I talk about impermanence. In the case of photography, if you see something, don't waste time--get it, now! 

 

As I walked to my car after having Sunday breakfast at one of my favorite diners, I looked up and saw clouds with a hint of pink. Pink? I included a hint of the sun to complete my composition. I underexposed the scene a -2 2/3 stops for dramatic effect. The black silhouette at the bottom is the tip of a nearby mountain. 

Here is another UFO in the sky. There are acres and acres of wavy farmland a few miles east of Boulder, Colorado. I couldn't resist the combination of waves on land with the extraterrestrial shape hovering above them. 

I titled this piece, "Clouds on Fire" because that's what they looked like. With the late afternoon sun touching the horizon, the clouds were set on fire! It was an absolutely unbelievable sight. Impermanence. 

This last example was a fun hurry-up-and-get-it kind of shot. It was early evening. The sun had set. I served myself a glass of wine and stepped out onto the patio to relax. As I sipped some Cabernet and looked up, I saw what I call "Zorro Moon." It looked like Zorro had taken his sword and painted his legendary Z in the sky. Less than a minute later, the Z was gone.

I hope my tip of the month will inspire you to keep looking up at the sky, I've seen UFOs, birds, layers, fire, messages from the sky, and even a Z. What will you see? 

Feel free to contact me with any comments or questions. Have fun!! 

 STREET PHOTOGRAPHY

My definition of street photography is any scene we see while walking in and around cities and towns. I enjoy this genre because it gives me slices of life; fast-disappearing slices of life that are gone in an instant. 

Photography is the only medium that freezes a second in time; often a split second in time, never to be duplicated, even by its creator. 

My first example is the one photograph on which I get the most commentary. I titled it "Urban Sole."

I patiently waited until she sat down on the bench and all the other commuters got on a train and vanished. For just a few minutes, she was the only human at this train station. Then, she too was gone; gone into the mysterious night, leaving me with questions: who is she? Where is she coming from and where is she going? Isn't she afraid of being there all by herself? Why is she dressed like that? 

What questions does this image stir in you?

This is downtown San Antonio, Texas, called The Riverwalk. On any given Saturday, this area is wall-to-wall people enjoying the history, old architecture, the numerous choices of restaurants, and just being in a "happening" place. 

You might wonder, why doesn't this image reflect that? Well, I decided to be at this location at around 7:00 am, on a Saturday, hoping the partiers would not be up that early on Saturday morning. I was right. The result was a very surreal image--lots to do, but not a single soul in sight. The only person I saw was an early-morning breakfast cook who took a quick cigarette break, then disappeared back into the restaurant. 

I saw this middle-aged man, a contortionist street performer, in Boulder, Colorado's downtown Pearl Street (open) Mall. He told me that scientists at the University of Texas once studied him to find out how he was able to do what he does with his body. I never found out what the results of the study were, but he told me it comes naturally. He's even smiling while he has one leg behind his back and over his shoulder while he juggles three balls!!! 

Let's stay with Boulder for a while. There is this vehicular bridge that spans over Boulder Creek downtown. I walked under that bridge and, to my pleasant surprise, saw this really cool mural on one of the bridge's support beams. Right next to it, and in-between the two support beams, runs Boulder Creek and a walking/running trail. I was on that trail when I saw the wolf mural. 

It had rained the day before, so there were several puddles under the bridge, beside the trail. As I stared at the mural and looked back at one of the puddes, I imagined that if I jumped over that puddle and got low to the ground with my tripod, I might be able to get a reflection of the wolf in the puddle. I titled it, "City Dweller."   

Street performers are everywhere, in cities big and small. Mike was in Chicago, across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago.I took several full-body photos of Mike, but I really like this tight close-up that reflects his character; his persona, without even seeing his face. 

As I walked around downtown Crested Butte, Colorado, I was in the mood for java; a little cup of coffee. As I sipped my coffee in the quaint courtyard sprinkled with umbrella-covered tables, I saw tons of license plates decorating the exterior walls. Texas, Tennessee, Colorado, and other states were represented, randomly nailed to the walls. When I finished my coffee, I walked around to the other side of the building and found this! No-brainer. Get it. Now! I traveled several states without moving. Composition, as always, was the key to this image--the bike, the pot, the light, the windows, and, yes, the license plates.

You can't see them from this low-resolution image, but there are plates from Colorado, Texas, Missouri, Iowa, Tennessee, Arizona, Washington, and California. 

Since we are in Crested Butte, how's this for street photography? I couldn't resist. It was like a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting. The locals ride all over town on bicycles locally known as "Townies." The storefront doors and signs, the bench with a newspaper on it, the old Western architecture, and, of course, the "Townie," really completed my image, titled "The Slow Life." 

I saw these homeless young folks in downtown Boulder. I wanted to give them some money and I also had a choreographed idea, so I decided to do both. I politely approached them, gave them some money, and asked if they would oblige me with an idea I had. They didn't hesitate. 

I love the dogs, their non-judgmental companions. One of them even has his own backpack. I also like the contrast between the two young men and the woman and the beautiful silver sculptures in the background. Note the guy on the right. He has his old weathered boot patched up with red tape. The homeless. We have stereotypes about them. I wonder what stereotypes they have about us? 

I spent a couple of hours with my camera in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I came across this cute boy playing a tuba that seemed twice his size! Note the duct tape he used to make sure he continued entertaining folks and making money. 

 

This is my last example, also from downtown Boulder. Yes, throughout my career, Boulder, Colorado was a great canvas for my photography. 

This husband and wife were unique street performers--they took their baby to the streets to join them. Over a period of two years or so, I took several photos of this couple and their baby, but this remains one of my favorites. It focuses on the beautiful uniqueness, avant-garde, and bohemian style of the young mother. Note her tattoos, ear lobe, attire, and artistic fedora. I wondered how she could carry and play that huge accordion. It must have been heavy. Oh, and their baby, on her husband's back, is staring at Mommy as she performs. Cute. 

She also has a Mona Lisa-like smile. You don't know if it's a smile of approval. Is she used to people taking her picture, or tired of it? In either case, it's one of my favorite street photography images. 

So, head downtown, or any part of any city or small town, and see what you can find. Go with an open mind. Don't overanalyze--just have fun with it!! 

 TREES

Trees. How many ways can you photograph trees? Trees? Are they even viable subjects to consider when looking for interesting subjects to photograph? If we take a right-brain approach to life, the answer is a resounding, "Yes." We can make the common uncommon. 

These trees, early in the morning, gave me a sense of awe, especially the way the early sun rays exposed themselves in between the trees. In order to translate the scene to what I felt, as opposed to what I saw, I switched my White Balance to fluorescent, which gave me a look that best matched my feelings that morning.

Here is another similar example where I applied the same technique. However, for this example, let me show you the Before and After. Below is the scene before I switched my White Balance to fluorescent. This scene too gave me a sense of awe; a feeling of tranquility.

Here is that same scene after switching to fluorescent. Big difference! 

For these trees, I placed my camera against the aspen on the left and pointed it straight up. Knowing that the bright sky would result in my built-in exposure light meter giving me an underexposed image, I increased my exposure setting by a +2 2/3, before I placed the camera against the tree. Perspective. Alter your perspectives from time to time to add variety to the look of your images. 

Try creating double exposures, again, to make the common uncommon. It can give your images an art-on-canvas look to them. Please search previous posts where I walk you through the steps I take to create my double exposures. If you can't find it, please e-mail me, and I'll add you to my monthly newsletter list and share with you the steps I take. 

How about photographing mostly the leaves on trees, and not the trees per se? I positioned myself to where I got the leaves backlit. 

Tree reflections always add an extra bonus to any image. If you can find colorful trees and their reflections, consider yourself lucky.

And, finally, find art in nature, as I describe it. This is a close-up of an old giant stump I found in Rocky Mountain National Park. I saw a face. Again, detach yourself from the labels--in this case,
a "tree." 

If you don't look at trees as "trees," you will be amazed at what else you will see. Explore, see beyond the obvious, and have fun with your new creations!! Enjoy.