I'm back! Well I've finished my exam but I won't get the result till later this month. So finger's crossed!! It takes so much energy to try and overcome something that you have failed in the past but I'm proud of myself for going back the second time :-) even if I'm not successful. I did my best, I studied hard and whatever happens , happens.

So thankyou to everyone that wished me luck and gave me support. It meant alot :-)

But boy I've been lacking in my blog! :(

It's been basically a whole month! SOOOORRRRY . I still haven't talked about the photo's I took on our 3rd photowalk with the gang (we have already completed our 4th!) It was lots of fun and our group has grown heaps :-) We went out to the Auckland Botanic gardens. It was lovely, there were so many different kinds of plants to try and shoot it was great!

So some of my favourite photo's are below :-) I accidentally had my ISO on a bit too high than normal but its sometimes necessary when the light is getting low to maintain a fast enough shutter speed to reduce blur. But actually I think I did ok! But let me know what you think in the comments. But of course its a good reminder not to over do the ISO.

Because my fellow members were slightly late this time (they had to come from the shore all they way to south Auckland!) I was able to take a few photo's before they arrived (haha cheating LOL hey its not a competition lol.) I took this. I love the green colour but also the way the grass reminds me of bamboo...

Below is one of our new memeber's doing his thang. hehe. I allowed the flax to be included in the foreground here to give that paparazzi feel. :-)

I got alot of positive feedback about the picture below :-) I thought it was good but didn't expect it to draw so much attention due to the fact it is so simple :-) But often simple works extremely well in photography! I also submitted this to my little online photography course that I'm doing (which I need to pick up again btw), and I got 100% as my mark. booyah LOL.

As the afternoon sun started to set, it provided some really nice warm even light to shoot with. I love this pic , simple for the light and the way it shows up the veins in the leaves.

There's a huge variety of cacti at the botanic gardens in Auckland and this was one of them. You all know how I love my clouds, so I incorporated them into this shot doing my very ametueristic method of HDR. haha. By using layers in photoshop elements I was able to merge 2 different photos to achieve a lighter exposure for the bottom half, and a darker exposure for the sky to enable me to show detail in the clouds. I should really have spent long on blending the two pictures but I was lazy lol but I still like this photo. This is something for me to work on! If you are wanting to know how I did that , post a message below or you can always do what I do and search youtube for tutorials haha.

The funny thing about the next photo is I thought it was ruined :( (due to my high ISO, there was visable noise when I was viewing on my computer). But a little bit of manipulation it actually turned out to be my favourite of the bunch. (Probably because its pink and green!! haha my favourite colours).

My tip of the week (month lol) is something very simple but very cool that I learned while out on our 4th photowalk (thanks to Steph lol). If you have a lens hood., you can almost always, turn them the other way around when you are wanting to store them (the whole time I have just been leaving them as they are - LOL NOOB). I was so excited when I found out you can remove it and put it on the opposite way so that its not sticking out so much and can fit in your camera back much more neatly!

April update

Well as you all now I've been extremely busy this month., unfortunately not with my photography :/ Audit has been on and my professional exam is only next week!! Its going to be tough but all I can do is do my best right?!

Anyway I thought I would make a quick update and just post up this link to the NZ online photography magazine. Its pretty cool and its free! They have lots of tips and tricks and educational articles for budding little photographers like us its quite neat! Have a look here if your interested.

For your info the website is: http://www.nzphotographer.co.nz/ and I believe they send out mags roughly every month. But have a look at back issues you might find something to your taste.

Anyway I hope you are all well and that you are making the most of the beautiful weather we have been having (beautiful and more to my liking dry!). Autumn is here and the leaves are starting to fall. Could make for some beautiful shots! I have my monthly photo walk next week. I'm so excited! And our group has grown so much too. It literally has grown out of nothing and its so cool. Steph is doing a great job of organising everything :-)

So that is my little update post. If your interested follow me on twitter! Its my new love :-)

Tip of the week: Don't forget to look up when your shooting. You might see an interesting cloud formation like this - I saw this on the way out one day. I thought it was kewl. And it again reiterates the point to always have a camera of some sort with you! I just love the reflection of the light off the apartment windows onto that wall. Its reminiscent of clothes on a washing line don't you think?

Apologies

Sorry peeps. March and April are going to be quiet months here on my little blog. But I promise to be back to normal after my exam on the 21st April :-) Stay cool, stay happy and hope you are all improving your photography - capturing those memories!

I really haven't had enough time to get out as much as I would like this month as its all about the study these days. BOOO I know but it must be done! Today was sooo cold! I can't believe it but such clear blue skies - beautiful! Hopefully this weekend I will get a chance to get out there and shoot even if its just for a little while.

Untill I can really get back into the swing of things you can follow me on twitter :-) If you're interested haha. I will be posting random favourite shots and flashbacks. Let me know if you're on twitter and we can join forces. Its my new obsession :D

And the photos of the blog are below haha. It was Doug's birthday last week so I took him out to dinner at Vertigo. It was on a top 10 list for Valentines Day so I thought it might be somewhere nice and romantic to take him. He of course LOVED it :-) The food was pretty awesome too.

Duck breast - YUM. Love the way they drizzle that sause around not only is it yum, its artistic hehe.

Doug had the Salmon - also very delicious :-)

Tip of the week: If you are wanting to use your flash on your compact but don't like the effect of a strong flash, highlight blowouts or shiny foreheads. Try putting a tissue in front of the flash while you take the shot. It will diffuse the light slightly, making it a much softer burst of flash. Sometimes you can even save those photos with too much flash by post processing them in sepia or black and white. Black and white photos love big contrast.

Shoot early, shoot late, shoot often

Hey guys. This month I'm going to be sooo busy. I have my (accounting) professional exams coming up in a month (just received the material) and so I really have to study hard. This means either shorter blog posts or less frequent blog posts - so I hope that ya'll forgive me :-) Sorry been watching too much American YouTube videos and I am now adopting the slang haha.

This weeks blog is titled shoot early, shoot late, shoot often. Some simple, but wise words. I borrowed this from one of the blogs that I follow - Thephotoargus. On this blog they share a cheat sheet of tips for photographers which I will also share at the end.

Shooting early and/or late in the day gives you a much more even amount of light and can really make your photos that much more dramatic. Try it! You can see a huge difference from photos that are taken when the sun is high in the sky to when its very early in the morning or when the sun is setting. The colour in the sky can often add that something special.

Compare this to when you take photos during the middle of the day, shadows are much harsher which can sometimes ruin your shot. In this case most photographers look for some shade to filter out the sun's harsh light. Or if you are clever, you can use your camera's flash to balance out the sun's light - but getting a natural result is often quite difficult. Don't be afraid to use some fill light though during the day though, it can often improve your photos if you use it sparingly. But even if you're an amateur like me, you don't have to take a technically perfect shot for it to be appealing. Don't be shy to try things even if its a bit out there. In this digital age we can afford to take those millions of photos. WOOP. WOOP. LOL. You might surprise yourself.

And again, you don't have to have the most expensive camera in the world to take the best shots. I've seen people take better shots with a point and shoot who know what they are doing than with people who have a fancy SLR but don't really know how to use it. So use what you have to its full potential!

Last Saturday I went out to Pt Chev with Doug & Dryke. The sun was just setting and so as per usual I grab out my trusty P&S and shoot away. Excitement plus! I love point and shoot cameras sometimes, sure the picture quality isn't always up there compared to my SLR, but I just love how convenient it is. I have posted a few of my favs below:

I like to use sepia now and then, I think it adds a bit of interest and I like the effect when you have the warm sunshine as well. The sepia enhances the sun's glow in my opinion. Oh and my glow hahaha whatever. LOL@ Doug's expression.

Doug working the foliage hahaha

I love deep blue skies. If you're camera has a vibrant colour setting try using this to bring out the colours. My canon also has vibrant green and blue which I'm yet to experiment with.


OOOOOO sun flare...wooooo

Silhouettes are pretty! A side note - try using a wide angle setting on your camera (if you have it) for landscapes. If you dont' have one, try cropping to postcard like dimensions. I like the dimensions of this shot below. Try 4x6 or even 3x6 to mix it up! I use iPhoto to crop my photos to how I want them to look. If you don't have photo software, have a look online or maybe have a look into picasa and see if it works for you.



And finally last tip from the header - shoot often. Practise makes perfect, and its no different with photography so I've heard! I'm still learning and still trying to "perfect my passion".


Tip for the week: This week's tip is a link of all sorts of tips. I sourced this from a blog that I follow. Take what you will from it. Author: Jason Anderson. Click here to download the sheet. There's some good stuff there even if it serves only as a reminder.

Photowalk : North Head Tunnels

Hello my fellow blogger's and blog readers. I can't believe its March already!! I work in finance, so March for us here in NZ means financial year end; which means ALOT of work! But I think its ok because I have been through it once before, second time round I should be much better equipped!

Summer is sadly coming to an end. I can feel the nights getting shorter. NOOO. But I still try to get out and about to make the most of the sunlight.

February was a great month. I got alot of feedback on the photos I took while touring round the Whakatane region. Doug also mentioned to me that my photos are starting to get quite good. Now I suppose he has to say that being my partner haha., but I thought, gosh, its probably time I get onto improving my work flow and get a watermark.

Youtube really is a great source for learning all things photoshop. I have learnt so much from watching Youtube tutorials. I found a tutorial that shows you how to add a simple watermark to a batch of photos. Exactly what I was looking for! Now at least if people decide to save my photos for "whatever" I can have my name on them at least. So from now on, the photos I will be posting on Facebook and on this blog, will have my name: Kirsten Andersen Photography. Awwww what. lol. Its simple text but I actually like it. It does the job.

I got together again with my little photography club a couple of weeks ago. HAHA - still cracks me up so cute :-). The three of us. We had a great time at North head. It was my turn to choose the location and fortunately for us the weather was perfect. Not a cloud in the sky. Steph was so kind again to let us use some of her gear. I got my frills because she let us use her speedlites. I will definitely be getting one of those in the near future. The speedlites with the heads that swivel (like Steph's) allow you to point the light in almost any direction you desire. This is fantastic! This means that you can bounce the light off walls, basically anything! I was like a little kid with a new toy! Using these in the tunnels on North Head was so much fun. I got to see what it actually looks like under there. The speedlites reach much further than the on-camera flash.

Anyway here are some of the shots I took. You may now notice my watermark in the bottom left corner. I like this font, very casual yet elegant - just like me I suppose. HAHA.

The following photo (and also the photos above except for the first one I think) is using Steph's wide angle lens. I must say, I LOVE THIS lens. When I become rich (haha) I probably would love to buy one of these! But they aren't cheap that's why I say.."when" I'm rich.

And these two photos below were taken using Steph's macro rings. You can buy a set of these for around $100-$200 I've been told, which is extremely affordable! Once I get myself a 50mm prime I can get some macro rings and get some more practise at macro photography. I think macro shots are so so pretty. You have a ginormous depth of field - which confused me at first because I was like, why isn't it getting in focus haha (noob). If you see the photo below it is actually incredibly sharp its just focussing on such a tiny object that the rest of it will be blurred out. These remind me of the default desktop wallpapers you get.

Ok, I just looooove green.

I have a few photo's of the plants below now. Not sure what they are but the pattern they have is so cool.

And then the sunset came. We had met up around 5pm at North Head and because its summer here in NZ, we still had quite a few hours to kill. Which isn't hard, just give Kirsten a speedlite and she'll be entertained for hours HAHA. Eventually the sunset did come and it was beautiful. The photo's I think speak pretty good volumes. Imagine the real thing!

Tip of the week: This week's tip is a bit of a general tip about composition. Now composition I believe is and can be very subjective. One person may like one way of framing a shot and another person may not! But a problem I see alot of people making, is that they don't frame their shots very well. They tend to leave alot of empty space in a picture. Now sometimes photographer's do this intentionally but generally I think that cropping your pictures to better frame your subject really makes your shot that much better. Especially with portraits, its better to frame the picture with peoples faces in the upper third of the photo, not smack bang in the middle with alot of space above their heads. Also generally having people stand to the side when taking pictures with backgrounds is better than framing the shot with people directly in the middle. You might think this is common sense but I notice alot of people do not pay attention to this stuff! Try it out and see if you like the results. And if you don't always get the perfect composition first time, you can of course crop it once you are back at your computer.

But as they always say, rules are made to be broken, continue to experiment!

Till next post guys - have a fantastic week!

Photography, Rain, Camping & Small Towns

Boy do I love a good roady! Doug & I took a couple of days off work to go camping down the east coast of NZ over the Valentines Weekend. If you haven't been down there, you really should go its beautiful! As is all of NZ like hello LOL. We just took it pretty slow and stopped often. If you know what its like to travel with me, you have to stop alot because whenever I see something cool I want to get out of the car and take photo's. ha ha ha.

I just can't let a beautiful scene pass me by. One photo is never enough.

Which brings me to another point. I might start adding weekly tips on this blog for beginners (like me!) Personally, I follow alot of other blogs and websites to learn new things, to help me improve. So if I find something worth while sharing I will try to add it here :-) It might be a new technique I have learned, or a fancy new accessory that I'm eying up.

But first, a few of my favourite shots and the little stories behind them :-)

Below is a multiple shot picture that I joined in photoshop elements. Thats all I have at the moment, but I am intending to buy a more complete version. This was kindly donated to me by a friend :-) Thanks Tim! This is pretty easy to do, you just have to create a canvas that is as wide as the number of photos you want to go on it. E.g, if your photo is 3168pixels across, you just times that by 5 to get the total width you need for your canvas. If you need more specific details, I tend to refer to the very pretigious youtube for step by step tutorials. Its great try it! But one tip is, you need to make sure the lighting on each photo is tweaked so that it looks like one seamless photo. You do this by adjusting the levels.

Below is another pic of Doug. I just like this one, because you can see the slight rim light on his hair which separates him from the background :-)


Dryke is growing up fast. If you have seen my earlier blog posts, he was so so small when we first got him! Check it out here . He's so cute even though he's gotten bigger. I love how he's so loyal. In the pic below, Doug and I took a picture of our footprints side by side, and Dryke decided to add his. HOW CUTE IS THAT?! I also like the fact that it was taken at the wide angle end of my lens. You can get a sense of perspective drawing your eye from Dryke out to the open ocean. It does distort the horizon slightly but I still like it. I don't know am I talking a whole lot of crap here? LOL. Just listen to me ok. HAHA.

I wish I was really smart and could tell you of the name of the plant below but I can't. Sorry LOL. I just thought the shape of it was really cool! I like how the sunlight is shining on the leaf in contrast with the shadows. And I like the other leaf in the corner how it gives some comparison.

Below is a shot of Hawai beach, on the east coast past Opotiki (click here for a map). The beaches around here have a very secluded feeling. You feel like you're on an episode of LOST or something haha. But its beautiful. And even though it was drizzly on this day I found it to be very pretty. The landscape is so majestic, and cloud cover always acts as an excellent diffuser of harsh sunlight. I like how you can see the mist coming up from the whitewash.

So it had been raining for a while and then it stopped. I told Doug : "Stop the car!" LOL. I had read in a few photography articles how its sometimes very beautiful to shoot plants just after it has rained. I think it worked :-). Raindrops are like nature's diamonds.

Valentines Evening was amazing. Sunset GORGEOUS : 14th February 2010. The clouds formed these unusual disk formations.

Oops sorry for the longest post haha. This is but a fraction of the shots I took. If you know me, you will know how I get a bit trigger happy on holiday. Can you say TOURIST!? LOL. Nah homie I'm a local LOL. This is probably my fav of the bunch. I love the beach and I love clean waves! I increased the saturation just slightly in iphoto and I just love how it turned out.

Tip for the week: If you're camera has an apeture priority setting (usually Av), you can use this setting to blur your background by using the smallest number setting possible. This means you are allowing more light into your camera which also creates a shallower depth of field. This means that the things closest will be in focus, and the background will be out of focus. If you only have a point & shoot you can also experiment getting a similar effect using your portrait mode. Most camera's will have these. Practise practise practise, have fun and get creative!

Assignment - Ghetto Touch Final 10 Feb 2010

"No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up". I remember this saying from one of those forward emails. I've always kept that in the back of my mind to remind me not to miss out on life's opportunities because you never know how its going to go. You will never know if you don't turn up! This little shoot was one of those opportunites. It was raining on this day and I was extremely nervous given the conditions, but I decided to go anyway. Can't let my friend down :-)! Luckily the weather dried up just in time for the games.

I was so priviledged to be asked to photograph my friends Touch team 'Ghetto' for their final mens and mixed games. I was like cool man, for sure I will do that for you. It was a great opportunity to put into practise all the things I've been learning and reading about; about thinking on your feet. And boy did I just have to hit the ground running - literally. For both of these teams to make it to the finals is awesome and it was no wonder. These guys are FAST. haha . And I had to do my best to keep up with the play which was quite a challenge! But I very much enjoyed the experience. Alot of people came to me from the other team going: can you take my picture.. lol. I was like aaaa (like an egg I didn't know what to say hahaha).

Another challenge was that they swapped sides after every try , so like a true hardcore photographer (lol) I had to run down to each end of the field after every try. So the team wasn't the only one getting some exercise. But it was definately a good experience. I learned to just get in there and do it even though I wasn't totally sure of my settings etc etc and my lack of a fast zoom lens. I took alot of shots in the effort to get the shot that I wanted. And I did get a few that are quite cool (I think). Some of the facials are really quite comical! There are a few cool actions shots too including some of the tries. Again I have to give it up to the guys / gals for being very interesting subjects! When these guys go out to play, they really go out to win. Awesome.

Here are some of my favourites:

Sideline

This guy means business

So all in all I think it was a success. Jacob (my friend) seems happy with the pix which is good. The organiser of the competition also saw some of the shots on Facebook and they want some of them for their club website. Woo hoo. Ok so I better get onto creating some kind of watermark. Next thing on my to do list!