Get low (Shoot From a Bug's Eye View Perspective)

Today I tried the challenge of "getting low" with photography...too bad it was such a gray sky day...or the photos of me and the tree might have been bood enough to not post process like I did. There's always another day though to re-try these experiments. :)

I sat on the ground with my back against a huge tree in our backyard. I looked upward with the camera and shot these photos below.



As I was trying to think of other ways to "go low" and I figured why not put the camera in a low position!! I placed the camera on it's back under the tree with the self timer on leaned in over the camera.

The shame of it was that the sky looked blue in person but when I viewed the photos on the computer the sky was completely blown out and the edges were jagged. Played with some actions and got this:





In Black & White with the Photoshop fiter "Poster Edges" lightly applied:



Dog's Eye view (of course Lucas had to help with the challenge):



And lastly...I never laid at the bottom of a fence before...but now I guess I can say that I have! LOL!



Check out the full set of tips (shared by Ptchfork..thanks!)

20 Professional Perspective Tips:

1) Make a statement (create a photo to express a personal view on your enviormental, political, or religious veiw point)

2) Create panorama

3) Find a New Angle (use different tilts, etc)

4) Go small (Shoot miniatures and present them as larger objects)

5) Juxtapose (inject quirkiness into your images)

6) Blur It (use various degrees of blur to add a sense of motion to your images.)

7) Bodyscapes (photograph the lines & contors of the human body at various zooms & poses)

8) Set a brief (create a small portfolio on a topic)

9) Mix It Up (break general photography rules)

10) Create a Photomasaic

11) Get Closer (Macro)

12) Seek Patterns

13) Splash Of Color (make the most of bold colors)

14) Distort it (deliberately distort colors for a graphic effect)

15) Simplify Your Kit (shoot with only one lens)

16) Reveal textures

17) Get High (get as high as you possibly can)

18) Chiaroscuro (use light as the subject of your photo)

19) Fun with food (experiment with food photography)

20) Get low (shoot from a bug's eye view perspective)

New Jersey's Pine Barrens

Today's photo journey brought my sister and I to an area know as the "pine barrens" of New Jersey.

The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is a heavily forested area covering 1.1 million acres of coastal plain across southern and central New Jersey. The name "pine barrens" refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil, which didn't take well to the crops originally imported by European settlers.

To read more click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine_Barrens_(New_Jersey)



We stopped at the Mullica River but the sun battled us most if the time today...made the sky look "white" or "blown out" in many photos. We also stopped at various bodies of water that we'd find on the side of the road.





I was on the look out for nature shots of all kinds...















My sister and I met this guy and his pup on the side of the road today where we were taking pictures. He stopped to see what we were photographing and thought maybe we spotted some eagles since they were known to be in the area we were photographing.

I loved the box had had attached to his motorcycle so that he could travel around with his dog...I just had to ask him if I could take their picture.

Funny thing was an hour or so later we stopped at a diner for dinner he was sitting and eating at the counter. We didn't recognize him but he turned around and said "hey! it's the photographer girls." It really is a small world to run into the same guy again...maybe he thought we were stalking him! LOL!

Still Searching For Signs of Fall

Left work as early as I could because it's getting darker and darker much earlier now (boooo).

I drove a different way home to try to see what I could find for fall colors. I had a hard time finding things to photograph. I decided to stop near this college campus that I spotted. I found a few interesing things to capture but almost all of the shots were completely ruined by the blown out sky.

The sky looked good to my eye but almost every shot I took it came out white. I tried various angles, settings, the polarizer and nothing worked. I couldn't win so I tried my best to shoot things without including the sky.

Here are a few I took avoiding the sky showing the autumn season:





A variety of foliage I spotted: