Somewhere else...

I went to France, Italy and Greece in 2005 and I finally just uploaded some of the pictures to my MySpace and some of them are ok, so I figured I'd post a few on here still trying to keep the spirits up on the edge of winter. I'll post just a few from Greece and parts of Italy in this one.

Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii

Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii again

Pompeii

Assisi, Italy... I'm more of a water lover but inland Italy is still gorgeous, I recommend everyone go there before they die.

Assisi again

Athens from the Acropolis. Greece is also very wonderful, I recommend it as well.

And that's one of the reasons I think Greece is amazing: the bright blue Mediterranean Sea.

And the white sand...

I'll post more about Greece, Italy and France (I suppose) in my next one.

Rule of Thirds, Lines, S-Curves

I figured I'd go over a few of the basic rules of photography. In this post I'll go over the Rule of Thirds, Lines and S-Curves as well as I can.

Rule of Thirds:

That's the rule of thirds. It's pretty simple but can make a big change in your pictures. All you have to do is place the subject you want to be the focus of your picture and place it in any of the circled intersections, or as close as you can get it. Using the rule of thirds can make your pictures much more interesting.
For example:


and


I admit, this doesn't really follow the rule, but the subject(the head of the arm on the record player) still isn't in the middle AND I've used the reflection off the vinyl. I had to use a mirror to light this one properly.

Lines
Lines are pretty self explanatory. You use the lines in the picture to lead the viewers eye to what you want them to see. Lines also help with depth of field, giving the pictures a look that's a bit more than 2D.
Examples:



NOTE: This picture was taken by Ansel Adams, not me. I thought it was an excellent example of the line rule.

S-Curves
S-Curves make pictures seem more elegant and soft and of course, more interesting.


NOTE: This one is also taken by Ansel Adams.


NOTE: Also not taken by me. Credit given to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8689869@N02/549353744/

The curves in this picture make it much more interesting than if it had been shot straight on.


That's it for now.

Boy, you sure do smell like flowers.

So, on this, Superbowl Sunday, I will not be posting about the game(hurray for the Steelers!) but I will be posting one of my favorite subjects: flowers! Yeah, I know, a bit girly and not that interesting to most, but it's winter and colorful flowers help to remind me that it WILL end at some point and it will be warm and snow-less once more.






This is one of my favorites, a great use of perspective, something I'm not great at but I actually somewhat accomplished it in this shot. (For some clarification perspective is normal, wide angle and telephoto. All three can be accomplished with a single lens if it's an 18-300mm or anywhere close to it.)


Like I've said before, lighting can make your pictures much more interesting.


This one would've been nicer if there had been some light available.


Same with this one, the water drops are a nice touch though.












That's it for now.