Levi+Playing+Outside

I was looking through my digital pictures and noticed that we haven't taken many of my son lately, even though he is my favorite subject to photograph. I thought this assignment would be a great opportunity to take advantage of the nice weather and take some recent pictures, so we headed outside and found a nice place in the grass.


 * The camera:** The camera I used for this assignment was an Olympus FE-230. It doesn't do a lot of fun artistic effects (like sepia), but it does take //really nice// photographs with very little effort.


 * Techniques:

AUTO** mode, which I used for many of most of my photographs, does a good job of deciding which lighting and focusing features needed to take a clear, crisp picture. These three photos, taken in **AUTO**, show different angles: Another great feature of this camera is **Shooting Guide**, which allows the photographer to choose various situations, such as "brightening subject," "shooting into backlight," or "adjusting area in focus." By selecting one of these options, the camera gives instructions on how to deal with the situation, then automatically changes the settings to the preferred mode. I wanted to take extreme close-up shots of some of my son's cutest features, so I selected "close up photo." The camera set itself to **Macro Mode**, which is intended for "close up photography." This worked nicely for a close-up of his ear and little blond curls. I also discovered **Super Macro Mode**, which adjusts the camera to shot subjects just centimeters (inches) away. I took some shots of my son's feet in the grass, and noted how clear the wrinkles in his skin and the blades of grass looked.
 * [[image:ground_level.jpg align="center" caption="A straight shot taken at his level."]] || [[image:from_above.jpg align="center" caption="From above."]] || [[image:from_below.jpg align="center" caption="From below. Ahh! Super baby!"]] ||
 * [[image:ear_macro.jpg align="center" caption="Close-up of ears and hair in Macro Mode."]] || [[image:little_piggies.jpg align="center" caption="Little piggies in Super Macro Mode."]] ||
 * Fun and Frustrations**

It was somewhat difficult to take shots of such an active subject! As anyone who has ever photographed toddlers knows, as soon as you're ready to take a great photo, they decide to do something else. This was mildly frustrating, but mostly fun, as it led to some great candid shots. Take, for example, the one below, where my son was trying to figure out just what this photo shoot was all about.



On to photo editing!