Yes, it’s another photography challenge. It’s week 5 of the Click Color Capture photography challenge and this week, the color is blue. I was really hoping for a gorgeous day so I could photograph the blue sky but of course it has been overcast and snowing all day. I shot a pretty picture of the stream hoping it would come out blue but it didn’t. As I was picking up my daughter from college, I spied a bright blue sign at the gas station and decided that would make a great photograph even though it’s a rather depressing number.
Photography Challenge – Blue
This week’s tips come from Jen Villa, photographer, collage artist and owner of The Little Beach Gallery in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She is a trained photographer and alumni of world-renowed photography school, Brooks Institute of Photography. She has been studying art for over fifteen years and worked as a food and editorial photographer for award winning publication, The Santa Barbara Independent. Her photography and artwork have a very unique style and combine her love for the ocean and passion for travel.
Tip #1
Light is EVERYTHING!
Lighting really makes or breaks a photograph. A lack of light will leave the subject looking flat and produce a usually boring image.
I love using natural light whenever possible. It’s best if you can set your scene or subject (not always easy!) near a window and use warm light coming in from outside if you’re shooting inside. The highlights and details reflected are usually wonderful!
The best time of day to shoot is early morning and late afternoon. High noon sun is very harsh and creates shadows that usually create difficulties, especially when human subjects are involved. This isn’t always an option so if your shooting your subject outside at the peak of sunlight try and get them in “open shade” and you will have a more neutrally lit image.
Tip #2
Learn to operate your camera.
If you’re new to manual options on a digital camera, memorize your manual and EXPERIMENT!
Try out all the menu options.
Always remember to concentrate on getting the main subject matter in FOCUS. Without a sharp focus, you don’t have a good image.
Want to participate in our challenge? It’s super easy! Here’s how It Works:
- Take a picture the represents the color of the week.
- Write a blog post that features your picture and link it up.
- Visit other people’s posts and hopefully find some inspiration!
- You can put the button and link code on your blog if you wish but it’s not a requirement.
Our color for next week is PURPLE!
About Ellen Christian
My name is Ellen Christian and I'm a busy mom of two teenagers who manages two blogs: 
Ahhh the ever rising gas prices! I had to do a double take when I saw the price but then remembered that US uses gallons. We use litres here and I think gas was $1.37 the last time I checked at our local station. We have Irving here too
Yes, we use gallons. Looks like 1 gallon is equal to about 3.78 litres. My uncaffeinated brain cannot figure out what your price would be for our gallons but hopefully your gas prices are better than ours!
I was just driving home and it’s over $4 a gallon here!
So depressing…
Wow I guess I should be happy with my number if yours is over $4!
What a great subject for the blue challenge! I love the deep blue on the sign and the frost clinging to it. Pretty! Man, I wish we could freeze the actual gas prices the way that sign is frozen!
Love the idea of freezing as prices!
Ugh! $3.79 a gallon!? It makes me wish we had a public transportation system or at least a pedestrian friendly city.