Shooting Through Natural Materials
Lesson 3 from: FAST CLASS: Creating Painterly PhotographsKathleen Clemons
Shooting Through Natural Materials
Lesson 3 from: FAST CLASS: Creating Painterly PhotographsKathleen Clemons
Lesson Info
3. Shooting Through Natural Materials
Lessons
Techniques to Create Painterly Photographs
11:09 2Selective Focus & Extension Tubes
14:12 3Shooting Through Natural Materials
07:12 4Shooting Through Non-Natural Materials
13:32 5Painterly Backgrounds
06:35 6In Camera Multiple & Double Exposure
07:08 7Exploring Creative Blur Through Subject Movement
06:30 8Vertical/Horizontal Panning in Photoshop
09:26Lesson Info
Shooting Through Natural Materials
going to talk about shooting through. And I mentioned this briefly when I talked about 380 millimeter lens. And the shooting through technique is one of my very favorite techniques. And, uh, it did shooting through here. And what shooting through is using Ah, long lens. I've had students. You do this with 100 millimeter lens. It's not as effective. You can do it, but it's you really need the compression of the long lens. So what you are doing is taking your camera and you are putting the front of the lens hood. I always use a lens hood right up against foreground foliage, and you're finding a space in that foliage for subject that's further away. So you're looking for an opening. So let's say that ive got all green leaves and I've got a beautiful red rose a couple of feet away. So I'm finding just the right angle t be able to get through those leaves and put that lens right up close to them and what that is going to dio. I'm also shooting at large apertures at 3. F four, so what that c...
reates is a veil of blur, there'll be no shaped blur. Or, as I've been calling it lately, blob blur. I don't like foreground blob. If there's a foreground element, I want a soft veil of color, and it's a really beautiful effect, and it can also simplify a subject. It can get rid of some of some messy background, and so you'll have a veil of color, hopefully surrounding your subject with your subject and focus on the way through. And I'd be using manual focus for this because you've got to be sure that you nail that focus. Um, it doesn't have to be leaves If you're shooting in a large group of flowers, put this right up against some of the flowers and, uh, try and focus on one a little bit further away. So then your veil of color will be the color and the flowers. If you're shooting in all yellow poppies, you'll have a veil of yellow with one poppy and focus. And that's what I did here. Show you some more examples. It's not just for flowers. I shot this at Acadia through ferns. I just put my lens hood right up against foreground ferns and and I did not put that leaf there, though I could have. It's okay. It's okay. I did not have to because that the leaf is what caught my eye, Um and then just angled my camera so that I could get just that leaf and focus. It's really fun for me, Thio. Just sit on the ground with, ah lot of tall foliage around and just kinda poke that lens through and see what I can see on. See what? Because you will be able to see that veil right in, uh, in your viewfinder and then finding a subject that's a little bit away that I could get all in focus. So from really fun technique And I did this with autumn leaves, I actually had a friend hold up a branch of autumn leaves. And I just put my lens hood right up against it and was able to simplify this quite a bit and add a little bit more autumn color that way to this leaf. This technique will also hide a busy background, as it has here and also a busy foreground, just purple flowers in in front of this amazing cosmos, and I could simplify them because if all of those flowers were showing and focus, you wouldn't know where I wanted to draw your eye to that main subject. And it's simpler. And my feeling about photography is that simpler photos air stronger. A simpler message, a clearer message is a stronger photo. I'm not crazy about really busy photos, and you can see here that I also was able thio lessen the amount of the foreground foliage with this technique. This is Lupin grows wild in Maine in June, and now this year is growing in my garden. It's really fussy, so I'm quite happy toe have it. But I was able to shoot through some of the other plants and get just the blossom that I wanted to draw your eye to in focus in both of those. So here's the whole flower patch of lavender and here's my shot so you can see that I went from Let's go back from a very busy scene. If I just shot one of those with that, you'd be like, which one did you shoot? But being getting in closer, putting my lens right up against the foreground. Foliage created that beautiful veil of blur So we tried this at done gardens, of course. And I'd like to show you how I do that. Now we're going to be talking about the shooting through technique. You want a long lens for this technique? You can try it with 100 millimeter lens, but you really need the compression that a long lens will bring to the scene. So I have my lens set on F 3.5. I do use F 3.5 or F four generally for this technique, and what you're looking for is the subject a bit away from your camera and some foreground foliage that you're going to put right up against your lens hood. It can even be touching the lens hood. That's fine. You won't get shape. You'll you'll get is a veil of color you never want. Um ah, foreground blob. You don't want your foreground blurred areas to have shaped to them. You just want a veil of color. So if I put this foliage right up against my lens and aim for this gorgeous, huge poppy that's a couple of feet away, I'll end up with just that poppy in focus with a veil of foreground color of green, which is should be a really beautiful effect, and it simplifies the scene. All of these small leaves would be really busy. But if I get up close to them, shoot wide open, I get a veil of color instead. I'm going to do that now, and what you're looking for is an opening to focus on, and I want manual focus here. I'm a little too close. I'm clipping off the edges of the pedals and I try and avoid that. You want a little bit of space? I'm gonna back out just a little bit. I'll still get the veil of color, though. It's a simple Is that so long? Lens subject. That's a good distance away and some foreground foliage. It could be flowers. It doesn't have to be foliage as well. If I wanted that veil of color to be white, I could have used this poppy. I prefer green. I'm not crazy about white veils. Uh, so I chose to shoot through the foliage instead. The technique does take some time. Be patient, she wide open and try it. It'll simplify your pictures and create a beautiful, painterly fail of color
Ratings and Reviews
Krystyna
I really liked it, it was inspiring and clear. I need more courses like this...
Phillip Ziegler
Wonderful teacher and a well presented course--both this short version and the long one