Photo: Looking Up

Here's a nature photo taken in an unlikely place — a parking lot — with an unlikely camera — a point & shoot. It's all about perspectives. ;) One of the mantras in many photo books recommends: when the sky isn't particularly compelling (perhaps on solid gray days), then compose shots without the sky. ...So extending that theme: if you are in the middle of a parking lot, try leaving out out the concrete. ;p

Looking Up

Copyright Laura A Knauth, All rights reserved.

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These are springtime flowers on a sunny day from one of my favorite perspectives: the wide angle close up. Contrary to most flower shots, I didn't zoom in, but set the widest angle possible and moved the camera as close to the subject as it could stay in focus.

This was a spontaneous photo moment. I didn't have any fancy gear with me and just was heading back to my car when the lovely flowers in the median caught my eye. I remembered I had a little point & shoot camera with me, and it was nice to find a creative way to reflect on the moment. The camera is essentially touching the ground with the lens pointed back up at the flowers. Needless to say, I had to spam many many shots through trial and error since I couldn't look through the viewfinder, but it was a lot of fun!

Technical Info
Lumix ZS19, 4.3mm  with Macro mode enabled
f8, 1/800, ISO 100
Fill Flash

Fill Flash in Daylight
I wanted to highlight that I overrode the camera settings to force the flash to fire. This is a helpful technique for shooting subjects in the midday sun where the normal camera settings can have a tendency to expose for the background leaving the subject in the dark. The remedy is to force the flash to fire; it acts as fill flash, allowing the subject to shine. :)  It probably looked strange to passersby seeing me use the flash in the daytime, but this shot wouldn't have happened without it!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

-by Laura A Knauth