Attention to Detail

Connecticut Colors

Although I tend to love big sweeping landscapes, often, its the little details that make those scenes work.  Patterns, textures, colors, catching something at just the right moment…  They are just as important as a good sunset or a nice foreground.  Macros and details are an art form and skill set in their own right.

Peruvian Salt Harvest

A while back, I began putting together my “Free Banner Thank You’s”…just a little way to say I appreciate you guys.  My gift to you?  A spruced up FB page.  Now, when I go out on photo excursions, I try to keep a full eye our for nice landscape compositions, and half an eye out for “detail” shots.

Factory Folige Facebook Banner

I happened to be going through my “to-be-edited-still” photo folders, and it occurred to me that often, those very same “details taken with a purpose” shots are some of my favorite.  They’re not a big moody landscape or an emotional portrait…but they’re cozy, they’re interesting and they have a quiet confidence to them that I like.

West Coast Shamrock

For those of you who haven’t done so, check out my FB Page, like it, and then enjoy the banners folder.  For those of you who already have liked my page, you have my gratitude.  Word of mouth is my only form of marketing.  Your support is my inspiration…it helps me make time for just one more edit when I’m tired, and just one more photo-trip when I’m poor, and just one more sunrise when the warm bed is calling.  Your support helps me book weddings, and music promo gigs, and keep food on my table.  I couldn’t do this without you guys.  I’m so glad we’re taking this photo journey together. ❤

Sending gratitude your way.

XO

Shannon

Break Down

Did you hear the second guitar riff?  The one buried in the back of the song, beneath the drums, lead guitar, vocals, mandolin, lap steel, banjo, oboe and didgeridoo?  Yes, conversations like this really do happen in my life…the musicians in my life are very passionate about their craft.

Did you feel the horse shift his weight from his front end to the hind legs when you reset the head and sit deeper in the saddle?  Can you feel his muscles relax as you ride through the serpentine?  Did you push him into the circle with the inside leg, while holding with the outside leg and supporting with your seat?  Yes, I have conversations like this with my barn-friends too.

It seems that with most things we are truly passionate about, we become interested in the smallest details, appreciating the little things that others may miss.  In part, I think this is because mastering the details is a step on the road to mastering a craft.  Photography, of course, is no exception.

As we’ve already discussed, one of the things that separate the photographer from the hobbyist is the work a photographer will put into getting an image just right.  “Good enough” is never good enough.  One of the driving forces behind that, I think, is passion.

Often, I find myself appreciating the minute details of other photographer’s work – the decisions they made on depth of field, exposure, etc  are both interesting and educational to me.  I remember watching one of Trey Ratcliff’s videos in which he talked about editing an image down to, in essence, the pixel.  Such intricacy and detail was a striking example of the work a photographer puts into getting an image right.  I have since carried that lesson with me, determined to apply it to my own photos.

This week, I took a drive to Portland, ME and stopped (of course) at the iconic Portland Head Light.  It is a highly photographed lighthouse, with limited options for POV because of safety fences (which of course I respected!).  As I looked through the camera, I kept thinking, “This angle’s been done.”  So, I determined that if I couldn’t come at the lighthouse in a way that was fresh, I would at least make my version – which ended up being a composite of both two exposures and a pano series – accurate to my vision, down to the smallest detail.

Portland Head Light

Turns out, that meant three days of editing.  At times, that also meant editing to the pixel.  I must have re-blended the exposure layers 15 times until I have happy with the masking gradients.  In the end, however, I think it was worth it.  It may not be revolutionary, but dang it, it’s solid! =)

Item of the week (because it’s nice to think about being warm!):  http://www.zazzle.com/cozumel_postcard-239914153140274747