Photo Tips

Photographing the Little Things with Peggy in Mind!

Me Ra Koh

And when Peggy retires for the night, she climbs a steep ladder up to her bedroom loft. To climb down a ladder every morning and then back up every night is something I could journal for hours around. The symbolism makes my head spin, so I’ll leave you with this simple image.

Can you guess what the photo exercise is?

Photo Exercise in Symbols – Photographing the Little Things

Pick someone in your life that causes an emotion to rise up in you. Maybe you are intrigued by them, curious about their life. Maybe they are the opposite of you and confuse you to no end. Maybe it’s one of your children, a parent, or grandparent. Maybe an old friend or a new friend like Peggy.

Once you have your person, visit them and ask if you can spend twenty minutes photographing the little things by taking detail photos of their home or bedroom. This is a wonderful exercise to do with your kids. As I share on DVD 1, Refuse to Say Cheese , capturing the details in our kids lives can be so fun because in months they will have already changed on us. The details that define their present stage in life will be all new. So you don’t have to travel to Berkeley to do this exercise, a walk down the hallway will do just fine.

Use the lowest aperture/F stop you can because the story of your images are the details, we are photographing the little things. The blurred background will help give more attention to the details you are capturing. If you aren’t comfortable shooting in Manuel try AV or A mode. This means you get to set your aperture to its lowest point (2.8 or 3.5 or maybe 5.6–it all depends on the lens you are using. The lower you can go the more dramatic your blur is.), and the camera will figure out your shutter speed. If this makes you break a sweat, turn your camera to the Portrait Mode. There is usually an icon with a lady’s head to symbolize Portrait Mode. You can find this mode on a DSLR or simple Point and Shoot. This is basically taking photos at a low aperture and choosing the appropriate shutter speed. As you can see, there are many ways to do this one exercise. Modify it to whatever level is most comfortable for you.

Recipe for Peggy’s Details:

All the above images were shot with my Sony 350 and 35mm lens. The 350 is a great DSLR that is super easy to travel with and has fantastic color! I was at a 1.6 aperture for extreme blur in the background. My shutter speed was 1/500 or 500th of a second. When I was outside shooting the blue steps and molding, I could be at a 100 ISO. But when I came in the
house, I lost light and needed to bump up to a 400 ISO.

Enjoy photographing the little things! Tell us how it goes! If you want, you can even post some of your images to my Facebook page. I would love to see!

Me Ra Koh shares a photo exercise for photographing the little things

 

 

 

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  1. Lauren says:

    Me Ra,

    Those images are stunning, and what a fantastic way to remember and honor someone you admire so much. I think 99% of the population would say, “Take Peggy’s picture,” but a portrait of a woman may not tell us very much at all. But those gorgeous details of her life, the things she surrounds herself with every moment, the things she has made into her home and shelter and place of rest. That’s stunning to me. I’m going to do that more often.

    I also need to re-decorate my house, I’m thinking!

    What a great exercise. And maybe I can use it as an excuse to buy myself a prime lense with a deliciously low F-stop! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Me Ra: Can you take 20 minutes and take some detail pictures of YOUR home for us? I would LOVE to see the things that you find as representative of your heart. ♥

  2. Hayley says:

    what I’m interested in…how did you get this group of women together/started? sounds fascinating!

  3. Ashley says:

    As a new-ish photographer, I check countless photographer’s blogs every day. Your blog always leaves me with so much to think about. I am thrilled to see another woman photographer with an interest in feminine wisdom and the divine. How refreshing. If I could afford to make to it one of your events, I would be there. And I am intrigued by this higher octave group!

  4. jen s. says:

    hehehe
    just figures i’m actually going to be in new jersey documenting a house for my husband’s aunt…i will have to try some of this… ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Michelle says:

    Like Ashley said, your blog always leaves up with much to think about. I love reading it first thing in the morning and then sitting with it for the day in between being the “source”. At todays meet and greet at school some moms and I were talking about just that. We had a pile of forms to fill out and know that it will fall to us, not dad. I know that there are “roles” that we play in a marriage and as parents but sometimes it is overwhelming to be the keeper of all that information and stuff that only we can do. While we can step in for dad and take the garbage out, not so sure dad can step in to cut the toenails, fill out the paperwork and keep track of the schedules. So yes..it is hard to be the source and how nice it must be to receive.
    I love the details you shot and am going to make that my assignment for the week. To try and document those things about my kids that are currently a part of who they are.

  6. jennifer says:

    What a perfect post. You are right on in all you do Me Ra. So true – moms being the “source” and while it is wonderful and can be exhausting. I’m glad you have found the “octave” group where you can be fed and refreshed. Thank you for always sharing.

    I love the detail shots of the home and how you showed us Peggy through them. I will be working on the assignment ๐Ÿ™‚

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  8. Ritsumei says:

    These pictures are just cool. And the exercise was tons of fun! I posted some of my favorites on my blog if you care to come and see.

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