Eterno Dia PhotographySlowing down in Mexico
Posted on March 17, 2012
Hello again! You probably noticed I had a slight absence from my website. I went on a Mexican vacation in early February, and have spent much of my time since I’ve been back editing photos and playing with Photoshop.
This was my second time in Mexico. I truly love the country. The pace is slower, nothing is a rush. The people are amazing – very friendly and welcoming. The food is outstanding, and you can’t beat the beaches. I crave the beach being stuck in Alberta for most of the year. I heard an expression recently – “born with sand between her toes.” That is me in a nutshell.
My first time in Mexico was two years ago in Manzanillo, on the west coast. It was more of a desert with mountainous terrain. This trip was to the east coast, to Playa del Carmen on the Mayan Peninsula. I hadn’t done much research before the trip and was fairly shocked to step off the plane into jungle. In some ways it was a totally different Mexico, yet also the same. Playa is more tourist-oriented than Manzanillo, and much more expensive. In a few instances, we paid more for a bottle of beer than we do at home. All the same, Playa and the Mayan Peninsula is a beautiful and historic place that I would encourage everyone to visit.
I have difficulty finding balance on vacations. I love to be pampered and waited on at resorts, but I have a need to see the locals, learn the history and see how people in a different place live. So I hauled along all my heavy photo gear and climbed pyramids, swam with dolphins, sea turtles and stingrays, visited Mayan villages and shopped the local markets. Check out the slide show below for a sample of the photos I took during my adventures.
Stay tuned for my “Mexican Dog” series among other updates I’ll have posted soon.
Please contact me if you are interested in any of my prints for purchase, if you’d like to book a session, or if you have any questions or comments.
Thanks for stopping by!
Leslie Pallier Winter
The Long Awaited Arrival
Posted on January 30, 2012
I am so pleased to finally announce the arrival of Logan Brady Gray. Logan arrived on New Year’s Eve and had a rough delivery and first few days. Happily, he is in excellent health and is keeping his parents very busy. I am also thrilled to announce that his parents graciously asked me to be “Auntie Leslie.” My first nephew!
I did my photo shoot with Logan about two weeks after he was born, and it was not without its challenges for me. Logan was my first baby shoot, and he was excellent. I really wanted to do everything that day; I think I had too many ideas in my head and poor Logan couldn’t keep up with me. That said, I’m very pleased with the photos I got, and I‘ve learned a thing or two about setting limits for myself as well as my clients.
Please have a look through his photos,
and feel free to ask a questions or comment. If you’re interested in a session, please give me a call.
Waiting for Baby Gray
Posted on November 30, 2011
For those of you paying attention, I had the honour of shooting Lisa and Scott’s Vegas wedding last September. Well, these kids didn’t wait long to get me another job as they are expecting Baby Gray near Christmas.
I spent an afternoon with the proud parents to be and I certainly put them through their paces. Being that it was my first shot at maternity, I was pretty nervous, but it was certainly nice to work with people I’ve known for so long. I think it helped make me more comfortable, but more importantly, helped Lisa feel comfortable too. Scott and Lisa were perfect – very patient as I asked them to do practically everything but stand on their heads.
Stay tuned for an update, as in about a month, I should have some newborn photos to post of the new Baby Gray! See you all soon!
My first photography trade show and seminar – Part 3
Posted on November 25, 2011
If you’ve been keeping up with my blogging, I’ve been updating you on workshops that I took at the Edmonton Photographic Trade Show back in October. Here is my summary on the final workshop I took that day.
“Color VS Black and White” by Robert Goerzen was a short but very helpful seminar. The lessons I came out with is that there simply is no right or wrong. It will always be a personal choice to put a photo in black and white or color. Robert still had some good guidelines:
- B & W generally portrays mood and timelessness, color portrays boldness and usually draws attention to some detail
- Nature tends to show better in color and usually becomes muddled in B & W
- When shown the same nature photo in color and B & W, 80% of people choose color
- Fall scenes are more appealing in color
- Never set your camera to the monochrome setting
- To make an image B & W, use a photo editing program
- Avoid overexposure (if you are planning a photo to be B & W), better to have it underexposed for B & W processing
- Sometimes colors can steal a scene
- If a color is drawing focus from your intent, try it in B & W
- Stark color of high contrast can really pop in B & W
- Texture
- If your subject has a lot of texture, B & W will enhance texture
- Landscapes
- This depends on the time of year
- Summer/spring try color, winter – try B & W for mood
- People
- Look great in color and B & W
- This is a personal choice, but think about the mood you want to convey
- Elderly people often look good in B & W, as this is a mental construct from “olden days” before the days of color
- Buildings and Architecture
- Older usually look better in B & W
- Newer architecture generally people like color better
One thing that almost all of the facilitators mentioned was to learn the “rules” but also to break the rules. Some of the best and most famous photos are ones that break the rules. Also, there was a general consensus to shoot in RAW format. I have not done a lot in RAW yet, but something for me to think about. All in all, an exhausting day with the amount of seminars I took in, but well worth it for the $15 ticket to get in the door. I went home full of information. Some was information I already knew, but ended up being a good reminder, and some was news to me. I didn’t break the bank. I did purchase a soft box for my external flash, as well as a new camera bag, which should allow for more easy access of my camera and lenses. McBain Camera did a great job hosting the event, with lots of staff around to answer questions. This event was truly a great experience.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or requests, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for reading!!
My first photography trade show and seminar – Part 2
Posted on November 24, 2011
On Sunday October 30th, I attended the Edmonton Photographic Trade Show hosted by McBain Camera. I took in a number of workshops that day, and here are summaries of two more.
“Conveying Meaning through Portraiture” was taught by Angie Sobota. Angie was great. She talked about how to tell a better story in our picture-taking. Some of the basic things to keep in mind are:
- Depth of field – shallower will blur your background out and focus attention on your subject
- Focal length
- Color temperature – warmer or cooler, depending on how you want people viewing the pictures to feel
- Composition
- includes your rule of thirds (placing subjects on an imaginary grid on intersecting thirds of the composition space, rather than centering them)
- Perspective – different angles (shooting from above or below your subject) and different lenses (wide vs. narrow) can change the meaning of the photo drastically. Wide angles can distort your portrait subject, but if your want a playful, goofy photo that might be a good thing
- Background – it’s more effective to have a contextual background e.g. brushing your teeth in front of a backdrop versus brushing your teeth in a bathroom
- Angle of light
- coming from the top is very natural and instinctual to humans (the sun has shone down on us for eons), while light from the side, bottom or backlight can create very moody and exaggerated emotions
- Diffusion of light
- A cloudy day is like a giant soft box in the sky and is great for portraiture
- Diffuse light is easy on shadows and is soft
- Direct light makes hard shadows and can convey toughness or scariness
- Color of light – similar to color temperature, you can add light by adding colored paper or gels to your flash. Angie gave us an example of a photo of a man in a parka looking miserable – taken with a yellow filter and a blue filter. The blue of course was much more effective in making the man look cold and miserable
Keeping these basic techniques in mind should really take your photography up a notch.
“Speedlight University” was taught by the very eccentric Larry Frank. I won’t get into too many details here either, as it was a fairly technical workshop (a lot of it went over my head). Larry encouraged using an off camera (speedlight type) flash. With off camera you have more control of the direction of your light and more control over red-eye. Interesting note – blondes are more prone to red-eye than brunettes or red heads. Larry showed us how to sync up 3 or more external flashes with a very cool (but hideously expensive) pocket wizard TTI, to essentially have your own lighting studio without all of the lighting equipment. His results were really amazing. He showed us an incredible photo: he set up an external flash behind (and blocked by) his subject – a leaf. He cranked his shutter speed up to 1/8000 to create a tiny amount of light coming into the camera. The result was unreal – a completely black photo (due to the shutter speed) with a glowing neon leaf in the centre. It looked Photoshopped, but was achieved simply with a backlit subject. The audience let out quite the “Wow” when he revealed the dramatic photo. If I could only win the lottery and buy two or three more external flashes and $300 worth of the pocket wizard gear…. Oh the photos I could take.
Check back soon, I still have one other workshop to let you know about. I’ll give you a hint. B & W. If you have any questions, comments or requests, please drop me a line. TTFN.
Eterno Dia Photography 