Dance of the Drunk Tui
From 2pm in the afternoon on Friday we went to the Tree Trust for our second two hour lesson.
Our timing was perfect. It was in between rain showers when the sun came out and the Tui were drunk with delight over Cherry Blossom, nectar.
The cherry trees are at their peak now and look great if you put your camera onto AV, your F stop down to 4.0 and your Iso to 100 or 200.
You can get a blossom hazy bokeh effect in the background.
We didn't have large zoom lenses.
I have a Canon 24 to 105 so it's impossible to get a close up shot to the Tui who are high up overhead, flitting quickly from tree to tree.
The best I can hope for, without spending thousands on a huge lens is to take a lot of shots and then import them into photoshop and crop them as close to the Tui as I can; taking into account the rule of thirds.
This is not ideal as you can't get the eye sharp but it is such a glorious site at this time of the year that you are best to see what nature will give you.
With photography unless you have the gear you can't always get exactly what you want, but it's nice to explore and surprise yourself with what you can get.
More close up blossoms.
Manipulated in Photoshop with Nik software.
You can always change the direction of your Tui in Photoshop.
I took my fish eye lens along and did some twirling of the camera to get a circle effect with the ground curving.
I placed photos on top of each other in Photoshop and it made the scene look like a fairyland.
Imagine being a drunk Tui in a tree would you be feeling a bit woozy?
Maybe your world would start spinning around.
As an artist I really like to view the world from an imaginary perspective and I love seeing how surreal I can make things look.
Do you want to take photos that are unusual because you love being different?
Do you want to work from your intuitive right hand side of your brain without being too concerned with technical perfection?
You could learn to take arty photos and print them out on a canvas, spray a special varnish over them and they would look pretty much like an abstract painting.
You could cut up some small blocks of wood.
Print out some photos and attach them to the wood and give them away as presents or have a mini exhibition.
With photography and the benefit of my really reasonably priced "one on one" photography lessons you will be flying with creativity and enthusiasm quickly.
Artists are welcome to contact me to commission a special photo or pay me to teach them how to take an arty photo.
All photos are copyright.
This photo wold never win any awards and I admit is rather ugly; but I liked the tail.
It reminded me of a whales tail.
Sometimes ugly photos are interesting.
Why does everything have to look pretty and perfect?
Lovely bokeh blossoms again. These are some of my favourite type of shots of cherry blossoms.
Cropped close up of Tui, taking into account the rule of thirds.
Fish Eye Lens distortion
Note the catch light in the eye.
Many bird photographers try to achieve this and sometimes artificially put it in if they haven't got it.
More spinning, are you dizzy yet?
Close up silhouette of a Tui
Playing around with Photoshop and fish eye lens and layering.
I think this is an improvement on the original whale tail Tui shot.
Is less more; more less; more more or less less?
With my lessons, you can decide
I'm a busy, extroverted person.
I like my photos to be busy with lots going on.
I am a writer and I often like my photos to tell a story or I like to string them together to tell a story.
Do you love animals and birds?
I love making up stories about them and their relationships with my photos.
You could do this too and you could write and print
your own children's photographic word book.
Just be warned; if you want to win lots of Camera Club Honours awards quickly; many of the judges like to see minimalism.
They like to see subjects with plain backgrounds, leading lines, well cropped and sharp focus.
Sometimes I practise this, but most of the photos I have won awards with, (I am now in Advanced Grade at Rotorua Camera Club), have been quite busy.
Most of the people who have given me honours have been women who are arty photographers.
So there is a place for us.
Nature is so powerful. Capturing its essence is not easy - your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place in yourself.
Annie Leibovitz
Individual Photography Tuition for Women Beginner Photographers.
Specialising in Canon DSLR's.
Get your camera off automatic and into the world of creativity and fun.
$35.00 per hour in city limits, (minimum of two hours, maximum four hours), plus travel if out of Rotorua city boundary.
Group tuition of maximum 4 beginners available on request.
Prices on application
Enquiries welcome for Wednesday, Thursday or Friday mornings.
Sunset and Night Tuition Wednesday, Thursday or Friday at dusk.
Phone Janet Keen 07 346 3435
027 351 3887
Email janet@jkeen.net
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