Get The Latest Issue of Teen Photographer Magazine!

Hey, everybody! Just wanted to tell you that the latest issue of Teen Photographer is out! In this issue, you'll learn how to photograph fireworks (just in time for the 4th of July!), see the difference between a real photographer and a person who takes photos, find props to add to your stash, learn three simple photography tips to enhance your images, and more!

I hope you have a wonderful 4th! ♥

To get your FREE issue of Teen Photographer, click HERE.

Teen Photographer E-Magazine

Hey, y'all!  Today I'm posting to tell you about my brand new, FREE e-magazine on the Diverse Reflections store!

I've been a photographer since I was 9 years old, and last January I turned my hobby into a business at Diverse Reflections Photography.  Through the years, I've learned many things as a self-taught photographer.  Just recently, however, I got the idea from my Mom to start an e-magazine for young photographers like me.  So, for the past few months, I've been busily working on creating and launching Teen Photographer.

April Issue of Teen Photographer.

Teen Photographer is designed to teach and encourage beginning photographers and inspire photographers who are intermediate and beyond!  Inside, you'll find stories, tips and gear guides to help you on your photography journey.  I'm so excited to launch this new e-magazine, and I hope you'll check it out!

Issues of Teen Photographer are FREE, so check out the Diverse Reflections store for your free download.  Each issue will be free for a limited time though, so don't wait!

Have a lovely day, y'all!

Sunny Palomino

During our family trip to Colorado this Summer, we rented out a ranch cabin, and it was right next to the barn where they kept the horses.  In the afternoon, one of the owners left a pretty palomino in the barn, and (as usual) I got super excited and got my camera. 

He stood in the dark for a little while before walking out into the sun.  That amount of light added a new dimension to the shot, in addition to the darkness in the background.  Also, the horse's face is in direct line with the wooden beam, which isn't dead center in the photo.  It's a good rule of thirds, and the colors blend well.

Any ideas or opinions on this photo you would like to share?  Tell me in the comments below!  And don't forget to subscribe to the blog to receive post updates!

Textures

Don't you just love that word?  It brings up a bunch of other words, like rough, smooth, hard, soft...

For this series, I wanted to do something way out of the ordinary for myself.  I don't really take photos because of textures.  I photograph things because they look awesome, in my mind.

I went around my kitchen and living room, dodged Lego blocks on the carpet (no easy task when there are a lot of kids in the house), and got really close to the items that piqued my interest.  The ones that had a lot of texture to them.

This one had a lot of different feelings to it.  The flower bead was smooth with tiny indents; and the weaving was rough.  I liked all the colors being in the same group. 

So, that's this week's challenge, per se.  Take a bunch of photos of any textures you find, and tell me about them!

Two Rabbit Friends

 I was at my Grandma`s house this July, and her yard seems to always have at least one furry rabbit frolicking around in it.  In the neighbor`s yard, there were two of them, and I got out my telephoto lens so I wouldn`t scare them.  This little one above was nibbling on some grass, and he reminded me of Beatrix Potter`s Peter Rabbit.

I faded out most of the background, and kept only the rabbit and grass in color.

The other one looked like a jackrabbit, and just stood on the concrete, staring off into the street.  He had this sort of profile look, and only hopped a little ways every minute.  Very laid back!

My Grandma sometimes complains about how one baby rabbit likes to snuggle into one particular patch of grass in her yard, thus creating a bare piece of ground.  But she writes cute poems about her backyard rabbits for the grandchildren, and I know she likes them.  And so do I.

Happy October!

Country Road

My Dad and brother went deer hunting on a beautiful piece of property one day earlier this year.  As we waited for them in our van, I decided to get out and take some photos (it was completely safe, too).  It was 7PM, and the trees shaded the road from the evening sun.

I tried some angles, varying from way down low to holding the camera high above my head.  The tire tracks from our van and past vehicles made deep, swirly imprints on the sand, and this turned out to be my best low-angled shot of the evening.

I edited this photo using Lomo on Picmonkey.  I didn't want it to turn out too 'photoshopped', so I faded it out a bit.  The lighting was simply gorgeous, and I kind of hated to leave after the hunters arrived. :)

Little Boy Blue

My little brother loves to pose for my camera whenever I point it at him...which can be an adorable pain when I want a candid shot.  He also likes to pull chairs around with him wherever he goes, wanting to see what we older ones are doing. 

So, on a chillier day, we were outside, and he climbed into the patio chair.  He didn't see the camera, and was making a face that looked like he was sighing.  I thought it was so sweet (and a bit sad), and I like the way he just stares off into nothingness. 

Sepia Doorknob

We touch them at least once every day, and I usually think nothing of them.  But, on a hunt for photographing something a tad mundane, I decided to pay attention to doorknobs.

For this photo, I turned it to black and white, then added a sepia coloring to it.  The knob and door were slightly the same color brown, so I think it added more color in a way.  The light came from my window, as you can see from the reflection on the doorknob.

I know that a doorknob couldn't possibly be the most mundane thing in the world, so I'd like to hear about your most-boring-item-turned-interesting photo.  Tell me about it in the comments section!

Restaurant Mural

On our trips to Colorado throughout the years, our family has taken quite a few stops at quite a few gas stations.  But I don't think I've ever had a photo op quite like this one on any of those stops.

I walked out of the gas station with some of the younger siblings, and was fascinated by the beautiful mountains, clouds hanging over them.  I hooked up my telephoto lens, and shot a few frames behind the van.  But what really fascinated me was what I saw when I looked away from the mountains across the street.  An artist was busy painting up a mural on a Mexican restaurant (you can see the pink on the blue river painted on his right side), and was hunched over, inspecting every detail.

I cropped this photo to a letterbox shape to create a sort of panorama of the building.  I didn't notice that he was dipping his brush into the paint bucket until I viewed the photo on the computer.

I zoomed out for most of the shots, wanting to have empty space for cropping later.  The artist reminded me of something I had read in a  photography edition of a magazine: "If you start feeling like an artist, your photos will turn out much better."

I tested out some dodging and burning techniques I read about, and this one was taken when we pulled out of the parking lot, and (although it will never be good enough for Flickr) I think the blur that was caused by a slight bump in the road adds a little atmosphere. 

On our way home, I didn't get to see what the end product looked like, but I'm glad I siezed the moment when I could.  Sometimes, photographers (including me) forget to look up from the limiting viewfinder, and don't notice what else is around them.

In My Element (A Trip to a Camera Store)

I stepped out of my Dad's truck, camera bag in tow, and stood by the shop door as he opened it for me.  I walked inside, and saw hundreds of photography-related items for sale.  Oh my, I was thinking, this is awesome!

After taking a few minutes out to explore, I walked up to the counter where a  nice, older man was handling some lenses.  I introduced myself with a "hello" and opened up my bag, explaining my problem: my 15-55mm zoom lens was acting up, making a weird noise when focusing at certain zooms, and getting stuck between the 25-35mm mark.

He took a good, long look at it, then started to test the zoom.  After a few minutes, he told me that, honestly, it just wasn't worth the money to get it repaired, but to rather buy a 'new' one.  The man gave me a sideways glance that told me I was in for a real treat.  He took a few lenses from the counter's glass case, and chose one of them to place on my camera body (a Nikon D3200). 

Well, we "played around," as he called it, with a whole bunch of different lenses, including a heavy, $700 telephoto lens with a view that reached clear across the street and farther, and a funny little fisheye lens.  My little sister had accompanied me, and the man instructed me to point the fisheye directly at her nose.  Oh my.  Even just looking through the lens, I could tell it would turn out to be a very hilarious shot.  I took my eye away from the viewfinder, threw my head back, and let out a giggle.  I was definitely enjoying myself, to say the least.

The man was having a good time, too.  He enjoyed his work, giving me info, and liked toying around with my camera.  He told me quite a few things about it that I didn't know.  "I'm a Nikon man," he said.  He wasn't the kind of person who wanted to lure you in with the latest thing, and he didn't want me to just throw away my money.  In fact, nearly all the lenses he showed me were $99, used ones.

My Dad came over to the counter to hear about what was going on, and the man told him that he liked me, that I was a fun girl to be around, and that I knew what I was doing.  He said people like that make his job fun.  My Dad told him, "Well, that's what I think of her, too."  They were being a couple of sweet guys, and I felt all good inside...and the wheels in my mind were turning, trying to remember everything I had learned.

The photography world needs good men like that who enjoy their job, bringing that enthusiasm to younger people like me.  I didn't buy a lens that day, but somehow I knew I'd be back soon.

Why I'll (Probably) Never Shoot RAW Again

Recently, my family and I took a week-long trip to the awesome state of Colorado.  I charged my camera batteries, emptied my memory cards, packed my bag, and we were on the road (a few hours later, of course...with all the kids in tow, we don't get out the door as fast as some people!). 

We reached the mountains, and I started shooting with my camera set to different exposures, and fiddling with other settings.  I had 'puffed up' my knowledge of portrait photography with a lot of books from the library before we had left on our trip, but some of the ideas worked on landscape photos, too.

One subject I kept seeing was the ever-recommended "shoot in RAW, and don't look back."  Well, I thought, "Hey, why not try it out?"  My mistake.
I failed to read up on it, and switched my image setting from Fine to RAW.  I continued shooting like always.  Throughout the whole trip, actually.

A whole 32GB card filled with mountains, horses, plants, fish, and other things later...

I came home, and emptied my card.  Or, at least, I tried to.  Windows Media wouldn't let me see my photos.  Photoshop refused to open them for editing.  Picmonkey would only take JPEG.

I actually started crying (no kidding) because I thought I had lost all of the photos I had recorded.  The great ones and the blurry ones.  The family documentations and the just-for-fun shots.  Everything.  Period.

Google and my Mom came to the rescue.  After a while, we figured out that RAW is converted, and all that what-not.  But even the converter we downloaded didn't work.  So, I had to go through all. my. photos. manually.  I had to convert my photos, on-camera, from RAW back to Fine. 

But then, another roadblock occurred.  When I plugged in my camera to my laptop (my computer's card reader doesn't work), none of my manually converted photos showed up.  They had just disappeared! 

Well, I started crying again (hey, I thought I had just lost all my work!  How would you feel?).  Then,  my smart Mom told me something to the effect of "Quit being such a crybaby," and proceeded to experiment with the problem.

She booted up her Mac, and slipped the card into it.  And here comes the end of the climax. 

ALL my photos showed up!  I was SO excited. 

One problem, though.  ALL the photos I hadn't converted back to Fine were still in RAW.  And a 32GB card can store over 1,000 photos in my Nikon D3200.  And I had barely reached the 400 photo line.  And, yes, I'm still going through all my photos on my camera, converting them one.  by.  one.

But, the good thing is that my photos are okay.  Safe.  Secure.

And though all the photographers in all the portrait books I read shoot in RAW, I'm content right now to just stick with good ol' Fine.  And besides, when I had just got my DSLR, my photographer friend told me to set it on Fine.  So, that's where it stays for now.

And maybe, just maybe, I'll kick it back to RAW again someday.

Vibrant Lily

Nature photography is one of my absolute favorites.  The colors, shapes, lighting.  I especially like flowers, and lilies are fantastic subjects.  They are so beautiful.

I've been experimenting with Photoshop again (my usual editor is picmonkey), and this is one of the photos I edited using that software.  The colors came out brighter and beautiful.

B&W Blue Jay

My Grandma has a bird feeder in her front yard near the living room window.  There's a bar that holds it up.  A blue jay sat there, as if guarding the feeder from the pesky crows that bothered the sparrows drawing near.

I used a telephoto lens to get closer, then turned the color to black and white and added "spotlight" via PicMonkey.  The bird became softer without so much bright coloring, and I like it that way sometimes.  With less color,  more imagination comes from the picture one tries to paint.  More mystery.  More emotion.  It's just cool to use black and white anyway! :)

Muddy Feet

Little Brother walked outside in his pajamas during a slightly rainy day...without any shoes on.  I followed him around as he would stop and check something out, then continue on.  This is one of the shots I took.  Baby and toddler feet are adorable.  They're chubby, small and full of energy.  And they help the baby follow its best friends around everywhere.  Get to know your energetic kid.  They're the cutest models you can get!

Dripping Soap

My baby brother was hanging out with our Gram in the backyard while we flew kites nearby.  He had a huge jug filled with bubble soap, and was having the time of his life trying to blow with all his might.  It was so cute!  I took a break from flying my kite, and took some photos of him.  Bubbles and soap dripping from the little wands are fun to photograph.  I like how this photo turned out, especially since Baby was moving so fast.  A lot of the photos came out blurry!

Sunset Reflection

I'd just finished a late supper at a cafe with my family, and was just about to get back into the van headed for home.  My little brothers were throwing gravel into some huge puddles in the parking lot, causing rings to form where the rocks landed.  I got into the car, changed my standard lens to telephoto, then got back out and started shooting.

I found that if I got down on my knees, I could frame the sun in the water.  If I'd stood up, I wouldn't have been able to do that, thus creating an average photo that could have become very interesting with some experimenting.

With my telephoto, I had two advantages:  1) I could keep my distances from the boys splashing water, and 2)  sometimes my telephoto takes better photos than my standard lens, surprisingly.

Do you use reflections very often?  What do you use them for?

Cool-Blue Bench

A few days ago, I went to a friend's salon to get my hair done.  I wanted to have the same hairstyle as Jamie Grace on her new album.  :)

Well, my Mama and I got there a few minutes early, so we had to wait for the stylist to open up shop.  In front of her place, there was a bench with paint peeling off the seat.  I'd brought my camera (just in case), so I got out of the car and started taking photos from the side and front.  I only had a few minutes, like I said, so when the friend arrived, I put my camera back in its case in the car and went inside. 

It was a cloudy day with not much sun, so the photos had a gray tint to them.  I edited the lighting and contrast in PicMonkey, then cropped it a little tighter so it only showed the sidewalk, and not the grass near it.  Then I added some effects to add to the color.

And, yes, my haircut turned out fantastic. ;)

Grasshopper On Wood

Grasshoppers abound in our yard.  When I was a little kid, I would catch them in my hand (that required skill!) and dangle them by one leg.  Yes, I might have had PETA knocking on my door if they'd known, but they didn't... and I didn't know who they were back then (the good times, right?).  And besides, I was examining the grasshoppers.  Now, I photograph them.  And sometimes that requires skill.  Those little guys can jump off-screen in a split-second!  The one above did not.  It was about the slowest grasshopper I've ever seen.  Eventually, it did bound away.  But not before I snapped some photos really close-up.

It was about 2 or 3 in the afternoon when I took this photo.  Being able to see little hairs on the grasshopper is a little weird, yes, but kind of cool for a beginner-level DSLR like mine.

Tell me about the best macro insect photo you ever took!

Puzzle Pieces

I've got to admit, macro is my favorite setting!  I love getting up close to something (that means eyes, jewelry, keyboards, instruments, etc) and just shoot.

Setting up this photo was simple... the pieces were already scattered across the table.  After uploading this photo to PicMonkey, I cropped it to get closer to the pieces, brightened the lighting, and adjusted the colors.

Have you ever photographed glow-in-the-dark puzzles before?  Try it sometime!

Sun-Filled Petals

While going through my 2013 photo files, I came across an unnamed folder.  After scrolling through it for a bit, I saw this photo and decided to use it for the blog.  The photo was a bit too bright, so I darkened the shadows slightly.  Then I cropped it using the rule of thirds.  I like the blurred background, and lighting cast on the rose.
Please give me feedback.  What do you like/not like about this photo?  What could I have done better?