EricaDavisPhotography

I Do Amore

Going to the Courthouse to take a picture of the beautiful architecture and I happened upon a wedding. How sacred it was and honored I felt to capture this sho...
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Going to the Courthouse to take a picture of the beautiful architecture and I happened upon a wedding. How sacred it was and honored I felt to capture this shot.
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NIKON D3200

settings

Aperture f/4.2 ISO 560 Shutter 1/60 Focal Length 170/10

upload_date

Jan, 2016

Views

1088

Likes

+195

Awards

Action Award

Top Shot Award 21

Legendary Award

Member Selection Award

Featured

Spring Selection Award

Contest Finalist in Something Wedding Photo Contest

Peer Award

+60

Superb Composition

+37

Absolute Masterpiece

+26

Top Choice

+18

Outstanding Creativity

Magnificent Capture

Superior Skill

All Star

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

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Top 30 rank week 2

Top 30 rank week 1

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Top 10 rank week 1

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Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

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Top 20 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

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Top 30 rank

Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in San Francisco, CA. I'm a self taught photographer and was headed to good ol' San Francisco to take pictures of the many landmarks so that I could create an updated portfolio. I heard about in a local blog about the architecture in the courthouse and decided that I would start there. Little did I know that I would come across a wedding getting ready to take place.

Time

I took this photo around 2pm. This is one of my favorite images. Every time I look at it still I have an emotional reaction. I remember being a little nervous about coming over to San Francisco from Berkeley, CA. Though it was just a 20 min drive, Berkeley seems so much calmer and the city a bit out of my control. But if I wanted to get better shots, part of it, sometimes, was shooting better things. So San Francisco her I come. I decided to come around 2pm to beat the traffic.

Lighting

This was all natural lighting coming directly from the courthouse. It's kind of amazing because I saw all sorts of other photographers there with their expensive lighting gear and I felt so inadequate and somewhat out of place with my meager Nikon D3200 and no flash. But that didn't keep me from shooting. I was so happy to be in such a beautiful place. It's so funny that this building had been there my whole life. I'd even probably had been in it maybe once or twice. But not until I become a lover of photography did I ever truly look up and see how beautiful it could be to shot. And finally it was here that I learned, that even the beauty that I think I'm looking at naturally, the camera somehow, sometimes multiplies it and shoots something even more beautiful then you ever thought you saw.

Equipment

This was shot on a Nikon D3200 10-24 lens. No tripod or flash was used.

Inspiration

I remember the day I was headed into the courthouse to take a picture of its beautiful architecture when I came across this wedding. I gasped at the beauty of the opportunity to shoot what I saw and fumbled around a bit in nervousness hoping I wouldn't miss it, while trying to position my camera before it was all over. It was one of those pictures where you don't know what you really have until you get home and pop the disk into your computer. And there it was in all it's glory! I also was a new member to Viewbug and wanted to get the courage to enter some of the contest since I never had entered a contest ever before. Viewbug was having a Black and White contest so I decided to tackle the job of learning more about Black and White Photography. I googled around a bit and looked at a few you tube videos and got the courage to try. This was my first Black and White picture I tried. After tinkering around a bit, I thought why this is more beautiful in Black in White. How could that be possible? It truly came alive.

Editing

Usually indoor lighting needs to run through the old Photoshop to correct lighting issues, but this lighting was perfect. I did however take out a few people that were in the photo that I thought distracted from the wedding. I'm not that adept with Photoshop Post processing but I used the old cloning button to take the other people out.

In my camera bag

The things that are always in my bag is my Nikon D3200, my wide angle Nikon 10-24 lens, my Nikon 18-270 zoom lens. I also have to have a good lens cleaner, and cleaning cloth. I recently started using a Lens Pen that cleans the lens on a deeper level but I still keep the liquid and lens cloth for back up. I keep a good lens blower and lens brush after I had something dense on my lens and scratched it because I used the liquid and cloth instead of blowing and then brushing it off first, then using the liquid and cloth or lens pen. I keep extra memory cards in my bag, preferably 12 gigs or higher or else you better have a computer to download the images to because you'll run out of space quickly if your at a location that you love to shoot at. I also learned the very hard way, that when going to long landscape shoots, where you will be walking a ways from your car, bring a back up battery. I now have an AC/DC converter box hooked up to my cigarette lighter, so I can charge two batteries at the same time. When I start of my photo safari for the day, I put one battery in the camera and keep one battery in my bag, for when the first battery goes dead. Ohhh.. this has not only saved me immeasurable time, but also untold frustration that comes from getting ready to take the perfect shot and the battery dies . And lastly a good set of gloves with thin tips for the cold environments where everything is warm on your body but your hands.

Feedback

In environments where there are a number of people you really do have to be patient. But also look for opportunities for people that are there, to actually make the shot better. I came to the courthouse to shoot the architecture, but the people made the shot better. Sometimes it may kids, or if outside a dog. Could be a couple or an older lady relaxing. Look for the new meaning that people, objects, weather, etc give to the shot. And by all means shoot with whatever you have. I used to sometimes be a little embarrassed because I only had a Nikon 3200 and it seemed everyone else was shooting with the latest Nikon or Canon. It took me a while to learn, its so much, what you shoot with, but what and how you shoot it. I would like to give Viewbug some credit here for teaching me unknowingly perhaps, that through all their different contests, that there is always an opportunity to shoot something great, open my view of the world, and become a better photographer. Their contest not only helped to break me out of my perfectionist shell, but also it helped me to stop dreaming and just get on the court and have the courage to just enter the best photo I had at the time.. I was so excited when I finally uploaded a picture that people liked my photos and gave me awards. It silently gave me boost to get out and shoot more and become better because now I had some people to get some feedback from even if it was just a like. Viewbug truly opened my mind to how many things, places or people are right at my fingertips to shoot. I didn't need to go to Italy, or Rome, that beauty is always somewhere around me, if I only "really" looked. By scanning through all the contests, and then back through my footage, I would get so excited and say "Oh I got a shot I can enter here". Word of caution though; Don't get to frustrated if you don't win right away. Just 2 weeks before winning my first award, and after entering a few contests, I got frustrated because I didn't win anything. But it came to me if I entered the contest not to win, but to become better; to expand what at look at to shoot for the contest, what I look for and how I look at it. If I use the winners photographs as an opportunity to study how they shot it, the angle, the clarity, the time of day. If I read up on how to get a sharper image etc., before long maybe I'll be amongst winners. If not, at least the become a better photographer. Thank you Viewbug for opening my eyes, to perspective, and making me a much, much better Photographer, and finally a contest finalist winner.

See more amazing photos, follow EricaDavisPhotography

EricaDavisPhotography

EricaDavisPhotography

I Do Amore

Going to the Courthouse to take a picture of the beautiful architecture and I happened upon a wedding. How sacred it was and honored I felt to capture this sho... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow EricaDavisPhotography

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Going to the Courthouse to take a picture of the beautiful architecture and I happened upon a wedding. How sacred it was and honored I felt to capture this sho...
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.