This is a picture I took a few summers ago.  I took it when the sun was setting which created some interesting light on the pedals of the flower.  I like how the green grasshopper contrasts with the white flower and that it somewhat follows the rule of thirds.  I don't really like the dark green background of the leaves in the top of the image and the blurred light part of the background in the left corner.

I like the simplicity of this picture and the bright colors.  I also like the details in the leaf. I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture but I think it would look better if the picture was rotated.

 

My favorite part about this picture is the shadow of the wasp.  I also like how the sun lights up the veins in the leaves.  I think it would have looked better if there was only one or two leaves in the picture, it might be a little too busy with all the leaves in the background.

 

This photo is by James p. Blair a photographer for National Geographic.  I like how the focus for the picture is green with the green frog framed by the green lily pad and even the background is an off green color. When looking at this photo my eye follows the edge of the lily pad through the picture.  I also like how the main part is in focus and the rest is blurred.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/life-color-green/#/green-frog-blair_1421_600x450.jpg

This is a picture I took three summers ago at a campground outside of Rimineye Montana.  I really like taking pictures of things close up where the main subject is in focus and the background is blurred.  It took me a while to get a photo of the water crashing into the rock that I liked.   The pattern and timing of the water hitting the rock wasn't constant so I just took a lot of pictures at different times and got a few cool pictures where the water was in a cool shape. I could have made this picture better by dulling the hightlights/reflections of the sun on the rock and this would have made the colors on the rock come out more.

3 wildlife pictures

I took this picture at Spokane Bay outside of Helena this summer.  I hike to this spot a lot and I had seen these cool black birds and lots of pelicans there each time I had gone so I decided to bring my camera and try and get a picture.  If I would have done more research I could have gotten to the specific spot these birds went to and sat there and waited, however I was just getting to the bay and saw them on the dock so I didn't have the opportunity to get that close and I was a little higher up instead at eye level.  I waited until the birds did something interesting and when they both spread their wings together I was ready to take the picture.

This is a picture of two mosquito killer insects on the side of the gray panels of my house. I had seen these bugs around my house during the summer and one time I ran inside and grabbed my camera to take some pictures. I took this picture by getting really close to the subjects this made it so that they were the only things in focus and the soft background was blurred along with the ends of their legs.  The background is really boring and the arragement is also pretty plain but it does bring more attention to the bugs.  I like how much the blue eyes stand out but I could have done things to make it more interesting. 

This photo was taken by Brian Skerry.  He had to have known where these black tip sharks would be and at what time. He must have been in the water with them because it was taken at very shallow depths and the sunset looks to be close to eye level.  He is still above the subject, if he was eye level with it he would have been doing underwater photography.  He must have used some kind of flash because the foreground and the shark are light while the background is darker.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/most-popular-photo-gallery/#/blacktip-shark-fin_26490_600x450.jpg

This is a photo I took outside of Helena at a place called Spokane Bay this summer.  I like this picture because of the bright highlights of the sun on the water that is bubbling around the rock.  I also like how the reddish rock is covered with a vibrant green algae this is pleasing to the eye because they are complimentary colors.  I also think this picture is more interesting because the main focus of the picture is not centered in the picture plane and is a little off center to the left.  I like taking pictures of moving water because you never know what it is going to look like in the moment that you take the picture and its fun to see what exact moment you captured.



Rule of Thirds

When taking a picture there is usually a main focus the photographer wants the viewer to see.  This makes the composition/arrangement of subjects in the picture very important.  Naturally the viewer looks in the very center of the picture.  If the main focus is placed in then the viewer feels less obligated to scan the rest of the photo because they already found the most important part.  Pictures have more appeal if the viewer has to search for the main focus because then it makes it more rewarding once they have fount it.  It also creates a bit of a challenge for the viewer which also makes things more interesting.  The rule of thirds is a guide for placement of objects in a picture.  It says to put the area or subject of greatest interest 1/3 from the top, bottom, and either side.  Doing this allows the viewer to scan the picture and not just take one glance at it and move on.  You could have a decent picture of a bear and her cub but by changing the layout of the composition you can make it a much more interesting picure and turn it into a amazing photo just by changing the arragement of things.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/swimmers-lake-superior/


I found this picture on the National Geographic website.  It is a picture of kids swimming in Lake Superior in Minnesota. The photographer, Nick Otto, made this picture more interesting by arranging the subjects in the picture plane.  The main focus of the picture is off set to the left, and not centralized in the photo.  From looking at the main focus your viewing goes out and scans the rest of the picture.  My eyes traveled with the little boy jumping off into the water and then they followed the ripples in the water.  This allowed me to view the entire picture and not just focus on the main subject.

I found this picture on the National Geographic website and it is the picture of the day.  Taken by Amurag Kumar and it shows a Holi Celebration taking place in India. Holi is a religious celebration for those that follow the Hindu religion.  It takes place at the end of winter on the last full moon day. One of the activities that is performed is what is shown in the picutre.  They throw colored powder and water onto each other. This is how they celebrate the main day of the festival, this day is called Holi.  The things that stand out to me in this picture are the bright blue and red splashes of color from the powder being thrown in the streets.  When i first look at this picture my eye goes straight to the blue and then scans the rest of the picture.  Everyone seems to be very frantic and chaotic, the blue powder creates a good balance and creates some kind of order in the picture.  If it was just a picture of a chaotic crowd I wouldn't know what to look at and the way I would scan the picture would be frantic just like the crowded people. However the bright blue streak gives my eyes some sort of direction and gives the picture a focus which makes it easier to view.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holi