Blur Techniques when Shooting Nature

When shooting black & white photography, “less is more”. I’m talking, of course, about sharpness of the photograph. In our high definition world where everything seems to be crisp, clear, vivid, and bright, it is not nearly as important in black white photography.

Blur techniques when shooting nature

Try using a soft focus or adding a slight blur during editing. This is also helpful to mask any slight imperfections in the shot. But remember, there is a difference between “soft focus” and “out of focus”! You will still need to have a clear shot in order for this to have the desired effect. This technique will work on any type of black & white photograph you take, from landscape to portrait.

The easiest way I have found to achieve this is through Photoshop. First, you simply apply a Gaussian Blur filter to the image. Then, under Edit, select “Fade Gaussian Blur”, and fade it down (under normal setting) until you reach your desired results. I have found that for portraits, 10%-12% is beautiful. This is a great trick that a lot of professional portrait studios use! A little more can be used for any other type of black & white photograph, depending on your style.

When working with a digital camera, one of the biggest downfalls is when you have pictures that look just like that were taken with a digital camera. Using a soft focus or adding a blur as I mentioned above will take some of that away.

I love shooting nature. Anything natural and outdoorsy is my photography subject of choice. I don’t typically care for shooting people. They make me nervous. Nature just sits there looking pretty. It doesn’t expect anything from you. silk screen printing on garments It doesn’t care if you screw up and didn’t expose the shot correctly. It doesn’t get impatient while you fiddle with your settings and take shot after shot just to make sure you got what you needed.

Finding the Right Place and the Right Time

It is what it is and I just have to be in the right place at the right time to get what I want. With people, I am not pushy enough to make them do what I want regardless of how they feel about it; they are potentially pickier, more judgmental, and by far more difficult to deal with. This is why I won’t shoot anyone I don’t know.

Wow. That sentence sounded really bad! I simply cannot deal with someone I don’t know being demanding or difficult. I am not confident enough in my camera or my ability to be able to feel that no matter what the situation, I’ll find away to get the shots that will make the customer happy. screen printed polos Plus with nature, I don’t have to deal with it being picky and/or indecisive about choosing which poses it wants me to print (like the friend I did a shoot for a month ago now).

They still have not chosen which prints they want. Although I am done with everything else for them and am not working on their shoot every day or anything, I would like to get their stuff completely done so I can take that off my plate. I have too much other stuff on my plate right now as it is. Plus I’d like to get paid. screen printed apparel I gotta be able to afford that Wii for the kids somehow, right?