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CarolineJensen

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Posts posted by CarolineJensen

  1. Hi, everyone! I love to help people find their visual voice and style. It is hard to find yourself when we are bombarded with so much beauty everyday! It is easy to get lost in the shuffle of photography trends and fads too.

    One of my favorite tricks for digging down to find someone's visual voice is to determine the primary energy level of their work. Do they prefer high energy or calm? Most people prefer one or the other. Here are some cues:

    HIGH ENERGY

    bright lights, bright or saturated colors, clashing colors, busy scenes, crowds, quick movement, direct eye contact with camera,  light trails, motion blur, frozen motion, extreme emotions (from despair to bubbly joy), multiple subjects in the frame, multiple focal points that move the eye of the viewer around the frame, tight spaces, stormy weather, subjects very close to one another, etc. 

    LOW ENERGY

    negative space, single subjects, muted colors, still subjects, monochrome settings, harmonious or analogous colors, quiet moments, contemplative subjects, no direct eye contact, camera as observer, stepped back, quiet, calm weather, etc. 

    We can definitely do both as photographers, but which are you most drawn to?

    I am definitely a low energy shooter! It is hard for me to find high energy images anywhere in my portfolio. 😂 Here are a couple of examples from my own work:

    High energy: 

    418iE3D7E51C9CC455D5.thumb.jpg.c886ada4805144e1bc2139b7fa9e0ec2.jpg

     

    Low Energy: 

    419i1AD14A0031AFADD2.thumb.jpg.48d925bc8bc97ef71eac936da41d6d73.jpg

     

    Share a picture below so we can together analyze the energy level in your work! Feel free to share up to three images in one post. 🙂 

    NOTE: There are photographers who comfortably bridge both, but analyzing your work for your PRIMARY energy level can help so much! 

  2. Emotion is so important! It transcends time and even talent sometimes. There are many 'perfect' photos, technically speaking, but they don't draw people in emotionally. We want to connect to images. 

    There are two types of connection in photography....connection within the image and connection with the viewer. Even inanimate objects can have emotional impact! One of our biggest tasks as photographers is clarifying our message and conveying emotion. What feelings are you looking to share with the viewers of your images? That is a great place to start! My main objective with nearly all of my images is to convey peace. Once you know what goals you have, then you can work to integrate composition and style elements that buoy that objective. 

  3. Hi Caroline, I love your work!! 

    I was wondering what tips you had for photographing butterflies macro? I struggle to even get near them enough for macro work. I'd love any tips! And for fun, I've attached a few of my butterfly images 😊🦋

     

    398i74A37853306F5DAC.thumb.jpg.de847317869abb6e614abb5a7b98370f.jpg399i8932C8555B4259A7.thumb.jpg.26834393aee1b117259a4685568a50f9.jpg400i01DF91F752D52233.thumb.jpg.cabde34e034e88af8b1ddf9511a4cd21.jpg

    ...and these are wonderful, Brooke!  The second one is a great example of a 'table top' flower. I love those kinds of flowers because the butterfly sits in a predictable way! 

  4. Your work is amazing. So fantastic. Glad you are on this page. Are you doing those flowers with a studio backdrop or are you editing out the background in post-production.

    Very inspiring work!

     

    Hi! I have a small studio with a dark grey wall. I used Dutch Boy paint in the color Iron Chains to paint the way. It is dark, but not too dark. Black would be a black hole, but a deep gray lets me lighten it with my lights or darken it by keeping the light off of it. 

    • Like 1
  5. Hi Caroline, I love your work!! 

    I was wondering what tips you had for photographing butterflies macro? I struggle to even get near them enough for macro work. I'd love any tips! And for fun, I've attached a few of my butterfly images 😊🦋

     

    398i74A37853306F5DAC.thumb.jpg.7ed7a6af311571e6c8dab27228c0854b.jpg399i8932C8555B4259A7.thumb.jpg.c9dbd2d1aa4adf423fc564697e435a73.jpg400i01DF91F752D52233.thumb.jpg.d44bbe8dc8a76e081fb4b67a429952ee.jpg

    Butterflies are genuinely hard! The thing that helps me the most is the shooting early in the morning. They often have a bit of dew on their wings and it takes them a bit to get going. That helps make it much easier to capture them! 

    My second tip is to look for flowers that have either a flat top surface or are stick like---things like zinnias or liatris. The reason I like flat top flowers and spikey flowers is that they tend to sit on them in a way that makes them easier to capture. I have more trouble with flowers that fan out in all directions, which means I end up getting a wonky angle on the butterfly. 

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