These two photos were taken at about the same time of day. Although they are two different flowers, they are near each other. Neither has been manipulated after taking except for cropping. Compare the effect of the two backgrounds.
Move around your subject, if you can. Be mindful of the background. Point and shoot cameras have such a deep depth of field that you may not be able to blur the background to minimize it. Depth of field refers to the area in focus in front of and behind the subject. Shallow depth of field blurs foreground and background to emphasize the subject and minimize distractions. (Although some people find the blur distracting. You can’t please everyone.) With deep depth of field, everything is in focus. However, try moving away and using zoom, and moving in close and using macro – both of these change the depth of field and the area of the background.
A skilled photo editor can do a lot in post production. I prefer to focus on taking photos. Look. See. Move. Take lots of pictures. Show only your best.
In particular, this photo caught the eye of my old friend and Droog, John Merck, originator of the eponymous Merck shot, an extreme close-up that extends beyond the frame of the photo. I consider John the first skilled photographer I knew personally. I learned a lot from him and his photos, including the rule “Take lots of photos but show only your best.” I’m still learning the second half of that rule.
This was taken near one of the Tingley Ponds in Albuquerque. I used a zoom lens. I also cropped it tight even for me (nah, this is typical for me, especially on the Web. I don’t usually crop square but it suited this subject. (No, it is not a “box” turtle. It’s a red-eared slider, I believe.) Check out those nails.
I uploaded my first photo to flickr on October 16, 2004. The photo was of an unusual cosmos flower in our back yard.
Since then, I’ve uploaded nearly 1500 photos (out of 30 times that many in my collection). Collectively, my photos have been viewed over 20,000 (although nearly a quarter of those views have been of one brown spider, not even my best spider photo).
Flickr calculates “interestingness” in a way unknown to me. These are my most interesting photos on and according to Flickr.
[AFG_gallery id=’7′]
The photo to receive the most comments is the little merlin (#7 above), one of my favorites. The one most frequently marked as a favorite by others viewers is of the bicyclists at Balloon Fiesta photo (#1 above).
Someday, people will stare in amazement at a photo like the following. “How could they live like that? What are those things?” In the meantime, for someone’s profit, we accept a needle thrust in our eyes time and time again.
Now, isn’t that better? Why do we have to work our way around the ugliness? Beauty makes life better. What does ugly do?
Albuquerque’s bosque is a true gem, an authentic treasure to be worshipped and cared for. One can walk in the bosque and scarcely believe that over 600,000 people occupy the surrounding county. Most recently, a pair of mute swans drew us to Alameda, one of our favorite hiking destinations close to home. Some of these photos are also from the area near the Rio Grande Nature Center.
