P is for PHOTOGRAPHY

Welcome to P Week at ABC Wednesday, created by the passionate and professional Mrs. Nesbitt. She and her pretty little package of personalities will pad over to pop a comment on your post. We always pant with anticipation to see what you posit each week and can hardly wait to poke our noses into your photographs of possessions, be they ping pong tables, pearls, phones, pots & pans, or the prodigious pendulum on your grandfather clock.

I've had palpitations this week wondering about my P post relating to "photography."  Should I write about its history?  Should I explain what pinhole cameras are?  Should I describe perspective distortion or post about portrait and/or panoramic photography?  Frankly, it's all just a bit too much for me today so I decided to simply do another slideshow with my own photos relating to the letter "P."  Forgive me, please, but it's almost the end of the school year, and I must admit to being overwhelmed with senior literature courses!  Right now I need to prepare these students for their finals that are coming up a short 6 weeks from now - right after their "prom" that precedes the angonizing two weeks of exams. Enjoy the show and have a perfectly peachy and productive week.

P PHOTOGRAPHS

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O is for OPTICAL ILLUSIONS

They say timing is everything, but some photographs become brilliant or hilarious because both the timing and the angle work out just right. Sometimes this means catching people or objects lined up perfectly at the ideal moment. Other times these are staged for maximum effect.  Check out this photo to the right that I found online - looks like a two-headed zebra, but in actual fact it's two zebras one behind the other. Gives you a start at first, doesn't it? This is an optical illusion.

Eyes function as cameras that send a picture to your brain through the optical nerve. Your brain "prints" the picture and allows you to envision the object your eyes observed. Optical illusions are achieved by messing up the signal between the eyes and the brain. An optical illusion is the difference between what you expect to see and what is actually there.

You can mimic optical illusions with your camera by taking photographs where the timing and angle works out just right OR you can create optical illusions by working with your photographs and layering them together to distort reality. With the help of natural elements, unique composition, color, light and even photo editing software, you can create works of art that confuse the mind and trick the eye.

I'm still working on how to do this with Photoshop Elements, but here are some photos I found online that illustrate optical illusions. (from here)

Did you notice with the last photo that you can "see" the man's face both full face forward or in profile?  If not, go back and look...it's kind of odd.

Hope you enjoyed this little introduction to optical illusions.  And I promise that as soon as I learn how to do it, I'll post some of my own.

Before I go, I must remember to give Oppulent thanks again to Mrs. Nesbitt for creating and persevering with the Official ABC Wednesday site.  She and her team of assistants are Open-minded (although some of us (me) may be a bit Odd) and will Organize their lives to Oversee your posts and Offer Original and Objective Observations.  To join in, click here.

N is for NAME

We’re going to take a break from the photography theme again this week because I can’t think of anything related beginning with the letter N. So, I thought I’d tell you a bit about my NAME – Leslie, spelled the masculine way. First of all, it’s a Scottish name and can be either a first name or a surname. There is a Scottish clan named Leslie and if you’re at all interested in reading up on it, simply click here.

There is a coat of arms and a crest for the Leslie family and the name dates back to a Scottish tribe called the Picts. The first family lived in the barony of Leslie in the county of Aberdeen, and the name is derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. My maternal grandfather was born in Ayre, just south of Glasgow and he was the son of a Scottish Lord. Unfortunately, he was born "on the wrong side of the blanket," if you catch my drift. But it's fun to tell people I'm the great granddaughter of a Scottish Lord.

These are the coat of arms and the crest (with motto) of the Leslie clan.

When I was growing up, I hated my name – I guess because it was...well, different. All the other girls were Linda, Carol, Cheryl, Sandy, or Susan. Now, however, I like it because it IS different. I pronounce is LESS-lee, not LEZ-lee, although I don’t mind the latter. Only one friend has ever shortened my name to Les and must say I don’t like it. Another good friend calls me Lester sometimes because when we go out together, we joke about who's going to be the “guy” that day or night. If it's her turn, she's Wendell.

You may have heard of some famous Leslies, both male and female: Leslie Caron (French actress), Leslie Nielson (Canadian actor), Leslie Moonves (president and ceo of CBS), and Leslie Hope (aka Bob Hope). In the 1956 movie Giant starring Elizabeth Taylor, her character's name was Leslie Lynnton, and in the 1965 movie The Great Race, the character played by Tony Curtis was called The Great Leslie.

I am pleased with the sound and meanings of my name. It means “holly garden” or "garden by the pool"so I think when I get a puppy, I might call her Holly...or Pippa. But then, I digress...

Nuts! Before we go, we better remember the most famous N Name of all - Nesbitt (aka Denise) the founder of ABC Wednesday. She and her notoriously noteworthy gang of assistants will visit and nurture your nice and neat but maybe nutty posts. As I nibble on a bowl of nachos, I'll take note of the nourishment I take from your noticeable notions. I look forward to seeing you all again next week when we delve into the letter O. In the meantime, here's a little slideshow of me through the years.

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M is for MACROS

Since learning so much more about photography, I have found that my favourite form is that of "macros." In short, macros are extremely close-up and detailed shots of usually small subjects, like flowers and insects to the point where the photo is larger than the real-life size of the subject. In other words, you are able to see tiny details of the subject. With plants, you can see the veins of leaves or the inside of a flower and with insects, you can see their antennae, the fuzz of their bodies, or the variations of colours in a butterfly's wings. To read more about photographing insects, check out this site. It's full of information about how to take macros of insects - the whys, the equipment, patience, timing, etc. To read more about how to take macros of flowers, check out this site.

For those who use DSLR cameras, there are special lenses that you attach to your camera. With my type of digital camera, there are special settings that I use for macro shots. For very close-up I use the macro setting and for extra close-up shots, I have a "super macro" setting. In my little slideshow below, I think you'll be able to tell which shots are regular macro and which are super macro. Check out your camera's abilities and if you haven't experimented with macros yet, give it a try. It's one of my favourite types of photography and I will continue to practise until I've mastered the form.

Before viewing the slideshow of my macro shots, remember to give massive thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, our hostess at ABC Wednesday. She and her mighty mountain of assistants mobilize each week to maintain this fun site. We massage your egos, move mountains to manufacture magical comments, and mesmerize you with our ministrations.

And now...on with the show! Don't forget to turn on your speakers to hear the music. To pause the slideshow, simply click the double vertical line at the bottom left of the screen.

L is for LENSES

A camera lens is, simply put, an optical lens or group of lenses used with a camera body and a mechanism to make images of objects either on film or on a memory card.

There is no major difference in principle between a lens used for a still camera, a video camera, a telescope, or a microscope, but the detailed design and construction are different. If you’d like to read up on the mathematical constructs of lenses, please check out these websites because frankly, it’s far too complicated for me to understand, let alone explain.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/telephoto-lenses.htm http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm

As I have mentioned before, I do not use a DSLR – a camera where the photographer is able to manually change the settings by using interchangeable lenses for distance, light, focus, etc. I can do quite a bit with my camera, but if a photographer wants special types of pictures and is extremely proficient, it’s best to have a DSLR.

My camera, a digital, has quite a few settings built into the camera and the lens changes according to my choices. It has an optical zoom lens capability of 30X wide along with settings for Scenes (landscapes, illuminated scenes, fast-moving action, indoor shooting, candlelight, self-portraits, reproducing vivid reds/yellows or greens/blues, fireworks, still life, documents, mountains and seascapes, birds in the wild, pets, and with a soft background effect), Magic (taking pictures with various effects like pop art, pin hole, fish eye, and drawing), Panorama, and Beauty (to create dynamic portrait pictures).

Here is a photo using the birds in the wild setting. Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge.

These eagles love to sit at the top of a gigantic cedar tree down the street from my house and one sunny day I managed to get quite a few images of them.

Here's a mountain scene using my telephoto setting. I took this one on February 6 of this year from the grassy area beside Boundary Bay Airport. Can you see the bird flying just in front of the center-right mountain peak?

Now for a few photos showing brilliant reds, oranges, yellows, purples, blues, greens.

One last thing I'd like to mention is the lens' capability to photograph things from up close. This is called a "macro" shot and I will focus on (pardon the pun) this next week for the letter "M." But here are a couple of my shots using the macro setting. First, a bumble bee and next are some hydrangea flower petals.


Finally, large thanks to the lovely Mrs. Nesbitt for her lavish and likeable ABC Wednesday! Her loyal, loveable, and lusty crew of assistants will visit your posts to liven you up with their sometimes lighthearted or loopy comments. It isn't laborious for us at all, and we feel extremely lucky to be part of such a lively team.

K is for KEEPERS

Kudos to Denise Nesbitt for continuing to maintain this remarKable ABC Wednesday site! Her keen, kind, and sometimes kooky group of assistants will keep on knocking at the virtual doors of your sites to let you know how much we liKe your contributions. Whether you share your knitting, your knife collection, your kidney transplant, or stories about kings, killer bees, kangaroos, or kites, we will be there to give you personal kudos and kisses for your cracKing efforts!

Okay, I have to veer slightly from my theme this week. For the life of me, I could not think of anything related to photography that began with the letter "K." I briefly considered doing a biography on a famous photographer, but I wasn't familiar with any I found whose name began with a "K." So, after conferring with someone who happened to be standing here, I (we) came up with doing a slide show of photos I consider to be "keepers" from over the past year. Be sure to turn up your speakers to enjoy the accompanying music.

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J is for JUXTAPOSITION

Juxtaposition is an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. By placing contrasting elements side by side, you add interest to your photographs. You can use small and large, light and shadow, happy and sad, smooth and rough, old and new, horizontal and vertical, dogs and cats, etc.

However, that’s not all you can do in photographs. By using opposing colours of the colour wheel (i.e. using warm and cool colours in contrast), you add a touch of tension to the photo. Also, by using slower shutter speeds along with still objects, you can show moving objects compared to stationary object.

You can also show contrast between sharp focus and out of focus elements by using a wider aperture to blur the background and foreground. All of these methods will add interest and help define the idea behind the photograph.

I went through my photos to see if I had included any juxtaposition in them, considering I had no idea what that was at the time. Remember, I’m still learning just like lots of you. With the following photos, see if you can figure out just how juxtaposition is incorporated.

In this shot, the iconic Vancouver Hotel (opened in 1939) is reflected in the ultra-modern high-rise.

Here we have water, city, and mountains

Here we have two elements: contrast of tall grasses compared to a tall man and the contrast of blue (cool colour) and orange (warm colour).

Here is a bright contrast between green and blue plus a diagonal line within a rectangular frame.

Finally, in this shot I focused on the center of the bud and let the background become blurred.

And in closing, I must thank the jaunty Mrs. Nesbitt for the creation of ABC Wednesday. She and her jolly jewel of a team jump over to everyone's site to, at times, joke around while giving jovial and jazzy comments. Some of us are joyful, others are jaunty or jubilant. But we are never never jealous or judgmental of anyone's post! Here we might jest, but we always encourage one and all to join in the fun.

I is for IMAGES

Immense thanks to Denise Nesbitt for creating this incredibly creative site! All contributors post such interesting, inspirational, and impressive photos and writings and those of us who visit are inspired by your informative and illustrious offerings.

There are 3 IMAGE formats relevant to digital photography. I will try to illuminate them for as clearly as possible.

JPEG stands for "Joint Photographic Expert Group" and has become the standard format for storing photographic images in digital cameras and for displaying them on internet web pages. They are smaller than TIFF formats and as a result they lose some image data. However, “JPEG files achieve a smaller file size by compressing the image in a way that retains detail which matters most, while discarding details deemed to be less visually impactful.” (from http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/imagetypes.htm)

TIFF stands for "Tagged Image File Format" and is used mostly in the printing and publishing industry. They are significantly larger than JPEG images and can be compressed or uncompressed making sure the image retains all of the image information. This type of file is excellent for intermediate files that you may want to edit later. Many digital cameras have the capability of saving images in either TIFF or in JPEG, but TIFF images take up excessive space. Therefore, it is recommended that one use RAW format because they are significantly smaller while still retaining more information about your image.

The RAW file format is digital photography’s equal to the negative in film photography. It contains untouched, "raw" pixel information from the digital camera’s sensor, containing one red, green, or blue value at each pixel spot. Digital cameras normally "develop" this RAW file by converting it into a full color JPEG or TIFF file, and then store this file in the memory card. Because digital cameras have to make many decisions when developing a RAW file, this format offers more control over how the final JPEG or TIFF image is produced. If you’re interested in the steps a RAW file takes to change an image into a TIFF or JPEG file, see http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/RAW-file-format.htm.

In conclusion, I thought I’d show you some of my favourite images from over the past little while, all using a JPEG file format. These photos gave me hope that Spring cannot be far away. Come with me for a little tour of my neighbourhood, culminating in an awesome shot of a reflection of the iconic Vancouver Hotel in a new skyscraper in downtown Vancouver. I'll be using that same photo next week for another reason, so keep it in mind. Be sure to turn up your sound to hear the accompanying music.

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