VPW #11A (Big and Small)

My purpose in having a camera is to snap photos while traveling so I can enjoy the trips again while sitting home. I have a Canon PowerShot SD1100 IS with a built-in flash and a wonderful setting of AUTO. Being digital means that I have alot of "not so good" photos on my computer and I purchased PSE 8 as something to occupy my inside time this winter. Now I sense I'm getting sucked into a time consuming venture by this dynamic "D" group and some have even suggested reading a camera manual!

There are no plans for me to be a "photographer" or to carry around anything larger than what fits so easily into my pocket. However, I am on track to learning how to use what I have thanks to you Ds. Really hung up on WB as we speak. (even learning the names of the various light bulbs) Val had some really good examples of the effects of lighting which stirred my interest.

From your earlier comments most of you don't really like using flash and now I understand some of your logic. None of these was shot with a flash and WB was automatic. While re-creating the setup I discovered how difficult it is to find natural light without creating strong shadows. These photos were made in the morning and the lighting is from sunshine light as the room has east facing windows. Another discovery from this exercise, "why am I taking this picture?". The background color has a significant effect on the two objects and depending on the purpose each color is appropriate (I think).

The above is auto and I thought everything was just fine until I took a look at the background on my computer. It came out f/2.8 and ISO 100 and shows good detail but it's now really the true white that was present.

Same photo with an adjustment layer (screen at 50%) and the brightness from the sunshine really comes through from the right side. Much like the real life view. A good example of what I failed to do with the camera can be corrected with Elements.

I think this is my favorite because of the details that can be found. This was a digital macro shot and came out f/2.8 with ISO 200. It is the same green background used in the prior post but this one has a levels adjustment of softlight at 50% which makes the green almost black and increases contrast of the other colors.

And a funny thing happened along the way. Most apparent in the green background photo, the larger pitcher has horizonal lines running across the flowers. So as I am wondering how this got screwed up, I discovered what a beautiful detailed shot I just created. I just took two pitchers out of a nicknack cabinet and set up this situation. The cabinet was from my grandmother and she started collecting pitchers from all over the world when she was young (early 1900's). She always liked the smallest ones and was so proud of her collection. As a child I would visit her and always got to clean out the cabinet, rearrange them and see what was new. Sometimes by size and other times by country. Many must be over 100 years old and I sure most are hand made. So the horizonal lines must be from the potters tools as the pitcher rotated on his stand. It really is a photo with great detail and would be sufficient for a "true" posting on E-Bay.

Another 'learned thing' from an experiment. Thank you Ds.