Photographer's blog: 12.3.09
Spring is on the way.
Before you know it the bluebells will be out and I'll be thinking about going up to Ashridge to take some photos.
In the meantime I thought I'd show you some photos of a couple of my grandchildren taken up there last year.
The best time of day to take photos is either at dawn or around sunset.
The light is much warmer and lovely. Spring and autumn are good times too as the days are shorter so you have a better chance of being about at either of these times.
I prefer sunset so the first photograph is one taken at about 4 in the afternoon last October (2008).
I like natural photographs of the children so I just let them run and jump about.
While Dylan was crawling on the log I called him and got this photo.
It works because there is great eye contact. You can almost hear him talking to you can't you?
It has a shallow depth of field (the background is nicely blurred because I was fairly close to him and I used a wide aperture).
Also when you're taking photos of children (or pets) the shutter speed needs to be fairly fast and I like to set mine to around 1 hundredth of a second to avoid blur (unless I want a special effect).
I use a digital SLR but if you use a compact check whether it has any scene settings and look for kids/pets and the camera will set it correctly for you.
This second photograph was taken up in Ashridge at the end of April when the bluebells are out.
This time it's Keira but you just can't take photos of her without her posing!
You'll notice that she's not slap bang in the middle. Photographs look better if you put the main subject off centre. Try placing the eyes on the thirds. (Imagine a noughts and crosses board. The thirds are where the lines cross).
The last photograph doesn't have any people but it has the path offset and leading the eye into the picture.
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Weather for Tring
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -3 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -0 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 6 mph
Wind direction: South west
