Lesson #4 ~ To Flash or Not to Flash?

More Las Vegas vacation photos have been uploaded, and it gave me the chance to observe something and report what I've learned to other beginner, amateur, or self-taught photographers out there. To flash, or not to flash?

Monte Carlo Goddess (with Flash)

Flash is an invaluable tool that brightens a dark space. At night, flash can make all the difference between seeing your intended focal point and a dark frame full of unrecognizable features. Like any other light would, a flash can help illuminate what's in front of the camera.

Monte Carlo Goddess

Flash can also obscure what's in front of the camera. Notice that you can see a lot more of the details of this goddess outside the Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. That's because basic flashes are mounted on the camera and pointed straight at the subject, reducing the occurrence of shadows that would normally add depth and detail. Additionally, the intense brightness of the light washes out the whiteness of the marble on this statue.

Photography is one of the few practices where less light can actually reveal more.

Las Vegas Vacation Photo Album
Las Vegas Vacation, Part I
Las Vegas Vacation, Part II

Observant and Detail Oriented

As I've become more involved in photography over the last two years and really plunging in over the last few months with the new camera, I also have become more observant. I've always been detail oriented and often notice things other people don't. Now that I'm running around with a camera looking for interesting things to shoot, it's amplified. Looking up at the moon, stars, and clouds, gazing down at the ground, or examining common things to find what makes it different, I really feel like I'm taking a slower, closer look at life these days. I feel like photography is partially responsible for that.

Snow Arc

I was trudging around in the snow trying to take footprint pictures for my 365 project last week when I came across this. The wind whipped the weed back and forth so much that it brushed an arc into the snow. Something I would have missed entirely were I not more inclined to slow down and observe what's around me.

Seasons Change ~ Subjects Change

I was going through some of my recent uploads to find photos I'd like to highlight for a blog post. It dawned on me that I really like taking pictures of moss. Tiny green forests with their own creatures, that grow in places they shouldn't really be growing. On the sides of trees. On rocks. On the roofs of buildings. Made me think I'm going to miss it while it is gone over the winter. It is a fun photography topic.

It takes a keen eye and a little imagination to find a moss formation to be interesting. But add another subject as fleeting as moss, say something like cobwebs or even light, and it becomes even more its own miniature environment at the whim of the elements. Is something hiding in the dark recesses of the stone?

The contrast of granite's solidity adds yet another angle. By now, the moss has died, its green faded. The cobwebs have frozen and dissolved. This stone wall is still there, will still be there in the future.

The snow will pile up, ice will form, and the wind will bluster. And there will be new interesting ice-bound formations to photograph and share. The white is a stark contrast to the colors and green of summer and warm hues of autumn. But I'm up for the challenge that a snow-covered world poses an aspiring photographer.

Fire and Ice: A Study in Contrasts

Contrasts are some of the most interesting subjects when it comes to photography. Contrasting colors, ideas, subjects, whatever, a photos attention-grabbing, conflicting or contradictory nature can mean the difference between just a picture and a masterpiece.

Winter is Here

I'm not saying this photo is a masterpiece, but I think the contrasts of the summery, sunny sunflower and the cold, white snow of winter is appealing. The composition as a whole reflects conflicting moods, vibrant colors against a plain white background, summer subjects with in a winter scene, warmth amidst the cold. A sad looking sunflower in the middle of a winterscape. It is images with that kind of dichotomy capture our attention.

Snow-Capped Sunflower

Contrast also has some more specific meanings in photography, and these are referred to as "tonal contrast" and "color contrast." One gets a photo with color contrast when the subjects include "complimentary colors". Even if we haven't thought about it in years, most of us were introduced to complimentary colors when we learned about the color wheel in grade school. Red and green, yellow and violent, blue and orange, colors that are "opposite" each other on the wheel are complimentary.

Tonal contrast, on the other hand, usually applies to black and white photography. High-tonal contrast photos have black and white tones with very little or no use of greys. Medium-tonal contrast photos have a blend of darks, lights and greys. Low-tonal contrast photos have similar shades, with very little difference between the darkest parts of the photo to the lightest. Though this picture may not have been a study in complimentary colors, but it made a perfect medium-tonal contrast example.

Snow-Capped Sunflower ~ Black & White

Sara Duane-Gladden is a freelance writer and photographer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota. 

Moments in Time

A photograph is the captured image of a moment in time. When you snap a picture, from life changing events to even of the most mundane of topics, you're creating a record of time and place, subject and space. No matter how you might try to recreate it, what is recorded on film will never happen the same way again.

Honey Bee Has a Bite

Subsequently, photography is more than just taking pictures. Truly impactful images don't just happen, they require an investment in being at the right place at the right time. Some of the best shots require extreme patience while waiting to capture a perfect moment that lasts as long as your shutter speed. In an instant, the deed is done.

Eat and Run