Fast Photo

Posted byGary FultzPosted inaccomplishment, adventure, Gary Fultz, Gary Fultz Blog, goals, Nature, nature pictures, outdoor scenery, perspective, PhotographyTags:, , , ,

In the wee hours of the mornings first light, when the world around is still, I sit on the back deck reading, journaling thoughts and insights. Taking pictures and making plans here often start my day. I thought I would share a couple of amateur tips on taking pictures for your own blog and share a couple of the mornings shots.

Bloggers: Use pictures, most of us are visual and like pictures

An easy shot. Focus and shoot.

Hummingbird shots are a challenge compared to taking a picture of a beautiful flower. Hummingbirds do not pose for long, the camera must be on and ready. My readiness included the fastest focus and shooting speed for the light available. In my case, I sometimes have the camera on a tripod with the focus already set on a certain spot where the hummingbirds often land or fly in place. My finger rests on the button and I have the camera on continuous shooting so my T3i canon with a 300mm lens can take bursts of pictures. This morning I hand held, focused and shot bursts.

Picture #2 in the burst of shots. The hummingbird is backing off.

Starting with the pictures above, my first burst ended up being my only one this morning. I felt it good enough to share both the shots and how they came about. You can take away insights for yourself, your camera(s) and lens options. One concern about fast shooting is a pinpoint focus is essential as depth of field is very minimal. Slower shooting will allow much more depth of field but your hummingbird will be all blur. save your slower depth of field shots for landscape and moon pictures.

The best shot of the burst

Shot #3 was the best of the bunch for one main reason, the eye is in focus. Always show the eye(s) on a bird or animal if possible if they are the subject of the shot.

An ok shot
another ok shot.

These are the 5 shots my camera took in one burst at 1600 speed. I then recommend a program that can tweak the lighting, color, resize and crop pictures for your blog. I purposefully over tweaked the last shot on lighting to show how much composition you lose. Don’t over tweak. make your shot look as you saw it in real life. Personally I use photoshop for my lighting and cropping. I usually use “paint” for resizing.

If you take a good picture, test it by blowing it up to 100%. From there you will find out if you can crop or blow up a picture for other uses. I obviously used slices of shots for this blog.

Early morning and evening lighting is the clearest and color is pronounced for the best photography. Patience is your friend. Leave the dog in the house for your bird and animal shots. I have never taken a good picture holding a camera and a leash at the same time.

So, plan your shot and shoot your plan. Plus, always have your camera ready. I hope this was helpful and encouraging.

Gary

Published by Gary Fultz

Outdoors Man, Hunter, Fisherman, Guide, Writer / Author, Photographer, Public Speaker, Musician, Song Writer, Story Teller, Follower Of Jesus. Love God and family and total strangers

64 thoughts on “Fast Photo”

  1. Beautiful shots! Yes I have a canon rebel but need a class in figuring out how to do all that neat stuff. Most of the time it sits in the bag while I use my iphone to snap pictures. Thanks for sharing. They are so amazing.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks Pete.
      I read, experiment, read, shoot some more and then figure out how to use the different settings and combinations of settings. In the end it’s worth it

      Like

      Reply

  4. Hi Gary. My main camera these days is an iPhone. I’m thankful for your reminder not to over process photos. “Make it look like what you saw,” is excellent advice.

    Someone should invent a tripod with a retractable dog leash attached. Just be sure to snap the photo before Fido gets to the end of the reel. Blessings!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. My little dog wants to eat every subject. He tried to go after the bear, several deer and the mornings hummingbirds.
      You must have a steady hand for your phone shots David. I know what you mean by the tripod. it would have to be as sturdy as a tank though

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thanks Jennifer. I was pleased so many things, including my settings, turned out well. I’m still learning as I go but trying new things keeps my learning curve going the right direction.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. So true! If I can focus fast enough when they are sitting on a branch or at the feeder and fire a 5 shot burst at a time until they fly, I have a chance at a useable picture. I had wanted the ruby throat and at least one eye to show well. It’s a good thing I don’t use film anymore.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  14. Very helpful! Thanks for the tips and the beautiful shots.
    I use my own photos for pretty much all of my posts. (Well, I can’t find a correlating subject for EVERYTHING I post!) I enjoy photography, but will never reach the level of professionalism and beauty of yours because I don’t have the inclination. But I sure enjoy looking at them!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. “Inclination” LOL, now that is an ingredient for getting better and better. However, if you keep shooting shots you learn more than you think and get better in spite of your intentions.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. Wonderful shots, Gary. I’m partial to hummingbirds; never tire of watching them at our feeder. But with only my iphone, my photos can’t begin to compare to yours!! No doubt your tips will be very helpful to those with some actual photographic equipment!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thanks Nancy. An iPhone would be very hard to get good shots of hummingbirds in flight. It can probably be done but I’m not an expert as I have an old phone that doesn’t do well on anything except dialing the wrong number.
      I started with a good camera and 4 lens off ebay for $150 used (yes, a really good deal). I’m still reading the thick manual and finding out how to maximize what I have.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  17. Gary,
    Sometimes I feel like I’m totally eavesdropping but I often enjoy your comments as much as the post itself! You are a delight and so very generous. I have often thought I’d enjoy a camera. I love the pictures the world creates in just a glance. You capture it so beautifully in both your words and photos!
    Deb

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Ha, no you are not eavesdropping, I guess I see the post as a jumping off point for more conversations. It’s kind of like an ice breaker to get a group of people thinking and talking. All that’s missing is the cookies and bars. So glad you are a part of the fray.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Gary, blogging is an art and you are a master. When I started, I didn’t have a clue. I still wander around wondering about it all and then meet someone like you that makes it all worth it. Maybe finally I’m part of a fray…thank you.

        Liked by 2 people

  18. You are too kind and you undersell yourself. You write well Deb. The hardest part is to figure out where the blogging ship should be headed for each individual and stay the course as well as how to navigate with all the the other ships going everywhere and no where. I’m still adventuring I think. I am headed the direction of a book similar to a blog for small group discussion as well as individual devotional.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I just wrote your words down in my journal, as the direction of my blog and site have been the source of much prayer lately (and frustration). It’s like a relationship that I’m not sure I want to move forward with. But our God is the God of the Impossible. I will move ahead by putting it all in His hands. Like my life! Whatever His direction may be—
      Thanks so much, Gary. You are an encouragement,
      Deb

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Thanks Deb. nothing seems to have fruit without the Lords hand in it so you have the right approach. A successful blog is usually not the end goal, Somehow reaching or ministering to people always comes to the fore for me. Even when I go fishing. I hope you ding the world.

        Like

  20. Dude, I absolutely love these! Fabuliciousness… Yes, I made up that word!;-)))

    Different topic… I was cleaning a mess of bluegill and bass yesterday, and the largest bass had a full stomach. Since I always open a fish’s stomach to see what they are feeding on I did so with this one. Man, was I surprised when I found a snake! Email me and I will send you the picture if you want.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. love that word Kevin. I think. Maybe. Looking forward to that picture.
      I had some nice, very nice crappies in the live well, but I looked at them and being it was independence day, set them free.
      Confession: Actually I didn’t want to clean fish.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  23. Pingback: Life is like that… – Gods Ways are…Different

  24. What a fun post this was, brother Gary. I, too, have a Canon T3i, but haven’t used it much in recent years since having gotten into the camera on my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge phone. I say it’s a camera with a phone built in.

    I’ve not been on WordPress much in recent months. In fact, I can’t remember when I last blogged. I will have to poke around and find out. I’m so out of the habit, I can’t remember how to do much of anything in here.

    May the peace and comfort of our Lord Jesus Christ prevail in your life.

    Maranatha!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. Steeny, so good to hear from you. you have a good camera too. I’m still learning which settings will take the best shots with my available light and so on.
    The Lord has been close and using us here. We moved back to Minnesota and I have retired…kind of.
    I hope you find your way back to writing what God is doing in your life.
    I just posted a talk I gave to our church, you might find something useful

    Life is like that…


    Take care and God bless you in the northland with his closeness.

    Like

    Reply

    2. Jim, I’m attempting to share practical helpful things on my regular blog usually touching the spiritual aspect.. my “God’s ways are different” is my spititual blog touching everyday practical living. Key word, “attempting “.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  30. Thank you for the tips and the encouragement. Photography is something I’ve always been keen on, but in a very amateur sort of way. In saying that, I do love including a photo of my own cover photo for any blog post rather than a picture or photo I have found from somewhere else (though of course there’s nothing wrong with this too if you give credit to the right person and incorporate the image well.)

    Fly well into this week and keep shooting and sharing those wonderful photos. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks Hamish. Taking our own pictures adds that personal touch
      It’s very hard to write in such a way that others who read our blogs begin to feel like they know us. An important t element. You have some good elements in your blog…

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: