Anne McKinnell Photography

The Lilac is Alive with Bumble Bees

Anne McKinnell — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 13:17:14 +0000

In my RV park in Sidney, BC, right outside the window where I sit doing my writing is a large California Lilac.

It’s in full bloom right now and the bumble bees are loving it.

At certain times of the day the whole bush is alive with the buzzing of happy bees gathering their pollen.

I took the opportunity to get in close with my Canon 500D close-up filter which I put on the end of my 70-300mm lens. That lens has a minimum focussing distance of about 5 feet. With the close-up filter on it, I can focus on subjects that are about 1 foot away from the end of my lens.

This is the method I use for macro photography since I only have to carry the filter and not an additional lens in order to make macro images.

Please click the images to view larger versions.

This is another way that I keep my camera gear down to only what I am capable of carrying: my tripod, my camera, three lenses, and an assortment of filters.

Sometimes I will rent a lens for a special occasion, but otherwise I make due with what I have.

Anne McKinnell Photography

Best of the Week: Reflections

Anne McKinnell — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:26:20 +0000

During the fourth week of The Compelling Photograph eCourse students made some outstanding images of reflections in water.

We discussed how to scout a location and plan a sunrise reflection shot, photographing city lights at night with reflections in water, and creating abstract images of reflections.

These are the best photos of the week by the students in the course.

You can hover over an image to view the name of the photographer or click an image to view and scroll through larger versions. The image order is random so if you reload this page they will come up in a different order.

Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments below!

Anne McKinnell Photography

Orca and Mount Baker

Anne McKinnell — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:43:58 +0000

The thing I like best about Vancouver Island in the summertime is being out on my boat.

I have a few spots I return to again and again because I have seen whales, dall’s porpoises, pacific white sided dolphins, sea lions, or eagles.

One of my favourite spots is Boundary Pass where the border separates the Gulf Islands in Canada from the San Juan Islands in the USA. Here I frequently see Orcas and I have been waiting for years for that perfect moment when an Orca will pop up with Mount Baker, Washington, in the background. Preferably on a calm day when there are snow capped peaks.

Last week it finally happened and years of lugging my pelican case full of camera gear on and off the boat payed off when I captured an image I have dreamed of making.

Please click the image to view a larger version.

Not only did I get my shot, but I was the only one there. No whale watching boats, no other boats at all. It was sunny, I could feel the heat on my back, and I could hear nothing but the whale’s blow.

It was a special moment.

Anne McKinnell Photography

Best of the Week: Colour

Anne McKinnell — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 13:55:42 +0000

The third lesson in The Compelling Photograph eCourse was all about colour theory, a topic that doesn’t come up very often in photography.

Colours determine the viewer’s emotional response to an image. They set the mood and determine what part of an image gets the most attention.

In this lesson we explored monochromatic and complementary colour schemes and how to make effective use of colour in our compositions.

These are the best photos of the week by the students in the course.

Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments below!

Anne McKinnell Photography

Spring Flowers from Pinnacles National Park

Anne McKinnell — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:09:30 +0000

Ahhhh, spring!

Time is going by so fast now that we’re back home in British Columbia, so before spring is over I want to share with you a few photos of wildflowers I made back in April in Pinnacles National Park in California.

Please click the images to view larger versions. Enjoy!

Bush Lupin

California Poppy

I’m not sure what kind of flower this is. Does anyone know?

Anne McKinnell Photography

Learn Photography by Example with Fotozaar

Anne McKinnell — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 17:09:31 +0000

One of the best ways to learn about photography is to spend lots of time looking at images, finding the ones that really speak to you, and trying to figure out how they were made.

But sometimes that “trying to figure out” part can be really difficult! Not to mention the time it takes to wade through all the mediocre photographs on the internet.

Today I’m really happy announce my participation in a new eBook series that is going to help you with that.

Fotozaar is packed with 20 stunning photographs and all the details about what went into making the images including:

the story behind the scenes,
how the photographer chose the composition,
the lighting conditions,
the equipment was used,
all the camera settings,
post-processing details,
and more!

I’m proud that I was asked to have one of my images in the inaugural issue. You will learn everything it took for me to make one of my favourite images from my year long trip around North America.

Driftwood Beach, Jekyll Island, Georgia

The eBook is being sold for an incredible price of only $5!! There is even a substantial sized sample that includes five of the twenty chapters so you can check it out before you buy.

You can learn by example from many talented photographers and some of my images will be in future issues too! Each issue contains a carefully curated selection of images with a wide range of subjects including portraits, landscape, macro, nature, abstract, street, and architecture.

Now you can stop guessing and learn exactly what it takes to make an image with impact.

Find out more about Fotozaar and pick up your copy here.

Anne McKinnell Photography

Best of the Week: Lines

Anne McKinnell — Thu, 30 May 2013 13:23:10 +0000

Lesson #2 in my eCourse, The Compelling Photograph, was all about lines, one of the fundamental building blocks of composition. We looked at horizonal lines, vertical lines, and diagonal lines and how each kind of line can be used in compositions to have maximum effect on the viewer.

I think my students did a really good job! Check out the creative images they came up with below.

Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments below!

Anne McKinnell Photography

Twilight at Mesquite Sand Dunes

Anne McKinnell — Tue, 28 May 2013 13:11:07 +0000

After the series of images I showed you in my last post from Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park, the sun dipped behind the nearby mountains and the colour of the dunes totally changed.

The golden glow disappeared as the sky turned pale pink and blue and the dunes began to reflect the soft pastel shades.

Please click the images to view larger versions.

I like to play with dramatic over-the-top post-processing sometimes for fun! This is a version of an image that is very similar to the one above, except processed with Topaz B&W Effects. This is one of the more stylized presets called Chamoisee Cyan Dynamic.

Best viewed large!

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your social networks. Thanks!

Anne McKinnell Photography

Best of the Week: Textures

Anne McKinnell — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:29:47 +0000

My new eCourse, The Compelling Photograph, is running along smoothly and I am having a blast seeing everyone’s images and chatting about photography techniques.

But, since this is an email course, the students had no way of seeing each other’s photos.

Until now.

Welcome to the “Best of the Week” series where I will be posting the best images from the class on each of the weekly lessons. Now students can be inspired by each other’s images and you can too!

These photos are from the first lesson on textures. You can hover over an image to view the name of the photographer or click an image to view and scroll through larger versions.

By the way, the image order is random, so if you reload this page they will come up in a different order.

Enjoy! And feel free to leave your comments below.

Anne McKinnell Photography

Topaz Clarity Adds the Right Amount of Punch

Anne McKinnell — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:32:53 +0000

When your images come out of your camera in RAW format, they tend to be a bit dull and grey. That’s because they haven’t been processed yet.

The image is waiting for you, the artist, to define how much colour and contrast you want among many other things.

One of the adjustments you can make in RAW is “clarity” which defines the edges of things and adds some punch to your photo. Adding a little clarity can bring definition into the clouds and provide some separation between the highlights and shadows.

But it can be so easy to overdo it! Before you know it you have halos and artifacts and an un-natural looking image.

Now there is a solution from Topaz Labs, the makers of some of my favourite photoshop plugins such as Topaz Adjust and Topaz B&W Effects.

Last week I was given a copy of their new product Topaz Clarity to try out. Here’s how my trial went.

I decided to work with this image I made of some ruins in a ghost town in Texas. I chose it because there are details in the mid-tone range that need to be brought out as well as some clouds that could use definition. This is how the image looks in Lightroom with only a white balance adjustment and slight sharpening in the building.

You are probably wondering what this would this look like if I just added some clarity using the slider in Lightroom. Here is the answer.

In my opinion, this has too much of an effect on the building and not enough in the sky. I could use the adjustment brush and make multiple adjustments to different parts of the image in Lightroom, but that’s a bit finicky and I still didn’t get results I liked.

Here is the result I got using Topaz Clarity.

All I had to do was simply choose one of their 100 presets and click “OK.” It’s as simple as that.

I really like how natural the image looks. The one I processed a year ago is way over the top compared to this one! There are no halos, no black clouds, and it doesn’t have that gritty look you can sometimes get by adding clarity.

Here is a look at the interface, which will look very familiar to you if you have used any of the other Topaz Labs plugins.

You have the presets panel on the left which is divided into collections. Choose a collection and then choose on of the presets below.

On the right is the preview window and the settings panel which allows you to fine-tune any of the clarity adjustments. You can see that instead of one clarity slider like you get in Lightroom, there are four clarity sliders which means you can target the contrast adjustment for particular tonal ranges in the image.

In the settings panel you can also apply a mask to define areas of the image that you do not want to be affected at all, and you can adjust the hue, saturation and luminosity of various colours.

Pros:

The plugin is very easy to use with a friendly user interface.
The result is natural looking with no halos or artifacts.
There are 100 different presets to choose from and you can make manual adjustments.
It can be used as a stand alone package or as a plugin with Photoshop. I use mine as a plugin with Photoshop Elements.

Cons:

The only con I can think of is that if you don’t already use Topaz products, it might be hard to choose which one to go with. I love Topaz Adjust, it is a fantastic plugin with tons of presets, some of which affect clarity and some do a wide variety of other things. It is fun to use, I use it frequently, and the result is very dramatic. Topaz Clarity adds definition and punch to an image while still keeping it natural looking. So it all depends on what you are after.

Topaz Clarity retails for $49.99, but it is now available at a special reduced price of $29.99 through May 31st using the promo code “claritynew“. You can also download a free trial and try it out for yourself first.

Find out more about Topaz Clarity and pick up your copy here.

Anne McKinnell Photography