colmike wrote:
A tutorial from Bruce would be nice he seems to speak grunt language and post’s great photo’s and video’s.
Mike –
I had to go back and look at the pics in question, and I’m afraid that your better half is absolutely right (as usual 8) ).
I don’t want to write a novel here, but this is my basic recipe for a half-way decent photo:
Pour yourself a pint of good beer. And I mean good beer, not some syrupy yellow swill. I don’t even care if you like good beer or not, this is work and it’s not supposed to be fun. Now drink.
I’m assuming you don’t want to drink that pint first thing in the morning, so wait until you have good evening light. Don’t take pics in the middle of the day – the light will either be harsh, or flat. Bottom line – you can’t take a good pic without good light.
Once you have good light, find a good background. A mesh patio table is not a good background. 🙄 Find something that contrasts nicely with the subject of your photo, and that isn’t busy. Once you have these two key factors in place, take another sip or two and savor the fact that you are outside and that life is good.
Now think about angle and composition. How can you emphasize what you are shooting in an interesting way?
Once you have truly considered all these things, and you have good light, a fitting background and a good composition, it’s time to take another sip.
And now for the really hard part – give the camera to Lin and ask here to take some pictures, upload them for you, optimize them using some sort of photo software and crop/resize them appropriately….while you cook her dinner.
Behind all good photographers there is usually an even more talented assistant. 