The Recipe for Getting This Type of Shot


SCOTT KELBY

Characteristics of this type of shot: still water; close-up shot of the flower, but obviously not a macro shot; fairly soft light, but well-defined shadows.

  1. This type of shot is taken in open shade (by that, I mean the water was in the shadows, under some sort of cover). That's why the shadows are pretty well definedenough light was getting under the shade that the shadows were maintained. Look for open shade (or cloudy days where white puffy clouds act as your softbox, diffusing the light) to get shots like this, where the colors are vibrant and the light is still soft.

  2. Use as long a zoom lens as you have to get the flowers to fill the frame as much as possible. In this case, I used a 300mm zoom, but this was a rare instance when I didn't have a tripod with me, and you generally can't hand-hold a 300mm lens steady enough to get a sharp photo, so I improvised. I shot this from a bridge overlooking a small pond, so I rested the lens on the handrail of the bridge to steady the camera and lens and it worked perfectly. In a pinch, rest your camera (or lens) on anything stable.

  3. Everything in the shot is at the same depth (there is really no foreground or backgroundit's all at the same distance from the camera), so an f-stop like f/11 works well for shots like this when you want everything at the same distance in focus.



The Digital Photography Book
The Digital Photography Book
ISBN: 032147404X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 226
Authors: Scott Kelby

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net