[slideshow] Last week I took lots of photos around the yard. Got out the tripod, put the top shelf macro on, grabbed the 5-in-1 reflector....but left the flashes in the house. Learned a ton from the shoot. Here is a one of the highlights of my learning:

Backlight of a flower or plant can be quite fun. Dark parts get lighter in color, translucent areas show up with unusual details revealed while the thinnest areas have highlights getting clipped. In addition the bokeh around the plant blurs out of existance with fewer round circles.

Using the pop up flash and reflector was hard. I dialed the pop up all the way down, and lowered the ISO as well. The resulting shots showed great detail around the focus point, the dark areas showed great contrast, and then the image gets dark fast as it moves away from the focus point.

It is a great example of why the use of flash is so important, but also the power of selective lighting techniques. It shows the power one can have over their images when they match the effects they want, with the knowledge of techniques and tools required to get the shot.

Ok so that means it is back to the books memorization room for me!

ehw