Photos of Rachel's beautiful dress, the flower detail was also in her hair and on the cake.Rachel's shoes on the giant outdoor chess board in the garden at The Essex.Notice the flower in the hair and the flower on the dress.

Love Bug party favors.Adam getting readyFormals in the garden at The Essex

Rachel & Adam together...it's about all those little details.Adam & Rachel Smith, Married at The Essex, September 3rd, 2011

Coloring words of encouragement on the last pitch before the finish line.

Ladies are off!

Bike Racer of the Green Mountain stage race rides past the US flag drapped from a barn in Richmond.

Todays Green Mountain Stage Race winner of the Mens Pro/1 race. Not only did he win the stage but he took over the Yellow Jersey.

Crossing the finish line of the time trial for the GMSR 2011

First day of the GMSR 2011. He was quickly up and over the first climb of the time trail.

Womans Time Trial racer at the first day of the GMSR in Vermont.

She is pushing hard with only 500M to go for the first event of the GMSR 2011.

Local triathlete on the last leg of the race, still looking very strong.

Local star, Danika Frisbie looking strong at the start of the run.  Danika is also on the US National Biathlon team, an amazing runner and skier.

 Crushing the last hill and leaving people in the dust! 

Vermont's famous Angie Defilippi, our local Ironman Athlete killing it at Nationals this year.  She makes it look easy!

One of the official photographers of the even having a little fun with the event.  He shot photos and cheered the athletes up the toughest part of the course...a big nasty climb right after the bike transition.  Athletes must have felt some jello legs up this climb.

Racing for Green Mountain Rehab, another local Vermonter flying up the hill!

Photographer, John Sappo posted up on the course to snap the runners, many smiled and gave him a thumbs up!

And these days are the tough ones, the ones we dread as athletes.  The days where it just won't click, but I guess you win some and you lose some, if we never had a bad day we would never be able to appreciate the good ones.  You look young girl, you have a long road of success ahead of you!

Go out there and pick something near you that you can and want to photograph on a regular basis.  It could be: your pets, your kids, your significant other, any items in the house or outside around Burlington.

One thing I want everyone to take away from this class is that you are limitless with your camera, however sometimes it might take a few shots and some experimenting to get the shot that you want.  On that note, sometimes experimenting will get you a shot that is very cool and unique.  The more you shoot the better you will get.  Photography is an amazing hobby because you can capture a moment in time that will never happen again.



You can get these creative images using the shutter on the camera.  High shutter speeds, such as 1/500^th, 1/1000^th, 1/200^th or higher create stopped motion.  See below for example:

Stage 1 of the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont

Slow Shutter speeds, such as 1/15^th, ¼ or even for a whole second will create a sense of motion through blurring of some part of the picture:  see below for example: 

Stage 1 of the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont. Flying through the epic vermont landscapes.

One issue with slowing the shutter speed to slow is a blurry image from motion blur, which can take away from the image.   Suggestion, use a tripod with only one leg dropped.

Try this with cars, or get a friend to run or bike back and forth for you.

Part one: White on White

For lesson three we will be going over a style of photography that conveys a feeling of lightness and clarity.  White on white.  Typically what happens is the camera wants to make the white of the photo dark to balance the exposure, this can make your photo too dark and your whites become gray.  When you photos are dark you want to boost your exposure, however this than washes out your whites.

With a camera meter, you can measure the light hitting a white are and open up the aperture from F11 to F5.6.

In the class we will put a large piece of white paper on a table, placing a white object in the middle. 

First, take the shot with the exposure the camera meter suggests.

Second, take another shot opening up the two stops, as described at the top of this page (With a camera meter, you can measure the light hitting a white are and open up the aperture from F11 to F5.6.)

Third, compare images.

This is a great skill to understand as a Vermonter with all the snow and overcast days we have in the winter.

Part two:  Black on Black

Shooting dark on dark can be hard because the cameral will try to lighten the image, making the image look washed out.

For this exercise you will need a dark cloth or paper and a dark object. 

First do the same that you did for the white on white, shoot the image with the exposure the camera suggests.

Second, take another image changing your aperture settings.

Compare images.



Exposure consists of four factors:

1. How much light is in front of you – which can be changed by adding lights or flash
2. How sensitive the camera to the light – called ISO
   
3. The amount of light going through a lens – called the aperture (play with the aperture to let light rays in the photo)
   
4. How long the film is exposed – called the shutter speed.

 If you have no exposure settings here are a few things to think about when shooting this week:

Move in closer – Each time you spot a subject, take the shot and than move in closer for a better shot.  This will allow your subject to fill the frame and help your viewer understand and appreciate your photo.

Be quick - If it is at all possible that your subject may move, bolt, fly away, stop smiling, or just get tired of waiting for you to take the picture, shoot once right away. Do not worry about taking too many pictures and do not wait until you're absolutely certain all the knobs and buttons are in their correct position.

Compose with care - make every effort to keep it balanced and beautiful. On one level or another, everyone responds better to a picture that has all elements in balance.

Strive to lead the eye along an interesting path through the photo, with the use of strong lines or patterns.

• Keep the horizon level;
• Crop out extra elements that you are not interested in (more on this is the next tip);
• Consciously place your subject where you think it most belongs rather than just accepting it wherever it happens to land in the photo;
• Play with perspective so that all lines show a pattern or lead the eye to your main subject;
• Work with the Rule of Thirds

Be selective – Discern what you are really interested in and center your efforts on getting the best photo of this subject, whether it a still life, your funny cat, your dog, a friend, a family matter, a mood, a place of culture.

Keep anything that would distract out of the picture.

Focus on your subject – Practice shooting with different apertures and monitor the results.  After learn how depth-of-field affects your photo.  You will find that a smaller depth of field (smaller f-stop #) focuses all the attention on your subject, great for taking pictures of pets, and people (use this when you want a blurry background.

Experiment in time – You have the power to slow time down with photography…how cool is that!!!!!????  Use a slow shutter speed and a tripod to make a pretty picture of any creek or stream, or use a fast shutter speed to capture anything in motion.

Look at the light – think about how the light is affecting your subject, look at the shadows and think about how you want to use the light to get what you want out of your photo.

Watch the weather -  If it is overcast, best to keep the sky out of your picture, best to avoid muted tones and washed out skies in your background.

Keep it simple – just work on the basics right now, no need to get fancy with equipment and tools.

Be Bold – Don’t be worried about using the wrong settings, you might get a really cool picture with the wrong settings.  Experiment!