I like the new site design! Here’s a post idea: how do you take up close pictures of flowers and bugs and all of that without it being really blurry? I am not a good photographer but I try.
Good question.
Most digital cameras can do what it used to take a regular film camera and a selection of lenses to do 20 years ago. I know; my studio major was Photography in art school. The problem is, most digital camera users don’t know half of what their cameras can do or how to use them.
When taking up close pictures of bugs and flowers and things of that sort, the macro and super-macro settings on your camera are your best friend. Most of the time, you’ll find this setting marked with a flower icon. Hit it twice on my camera, and you get super macro. Most digital cameras have this feature, although some do not. A macro lens allows you to get up close with a subject, and still focus in, but there is usually some distortion around the edges. With the macro setting on a digital camera, the distortion isn’t as bad (the camera corrects it), and not really noticeable on my camera.
I spent the last few days finalizing my new Art lesson on DVD, which will be a sketch of a Sugarbush (maple syrup farm). I think I found myself sketching the Sugarbush in anticipation of my visit there in the next month or so, to watch them produce maple syrup, smell it cooking down, and enjoying another gallon of home-grown, authentic Michigan Maple syrup. If you haven’t already, try to find a maple syrup farm in your area (a “sugarbush”), and let the kids see how it’s done. It’s fascinating!
Here’s the trip to the Sugar Bush we made last year…and look for my new Sugarbush drawing dvd, The February Sugarbush.
Now that my new dvd, The January Snowman, is done, I thought I’d put up a short sample from that DVD. The actual DVD is just under 2 hours long, and of much better quality than this file below, able to be played in your home DVD player or on a computer with a DVD drive. As you can see from this sample, I try to explain all steps thoroughly throughout all four lessons.
The first lesson introduces the student to simple sketching and shading techniques with pencils. Next, there’s a lesson on drawing the January Snowman, with a small Eastern Cottontail rabbit looking up at you. Then, the third lesson is an introduction to watercolor sketching techniques, and finally we paint our January Snowman just in watercolors, using simple techniques and easy to follow instructions.
