I take my camera almost everywhere, so of course I had it in my purse for our field trip yesterday. We went to the Utah State Capitol building with the Utah Virtual Academy. That's our homeschool program and sometimes there are field trips and gatherings where we can meet the teachers and the other students face to face. It was actually a very cool activity and we even got to participate in a mock legislative committee. I snapped a lot of photos when I could, but this time I tried to focus on some of the concepts I learned from these two books by Scott Kelby that I read recently.
Let me show you what I mean. Here's a picture of one of the beautiful marble staircases in the building.
Some of you might remember that I took pictures of this same staircase last year. It is a pretty picture and so majestic to see all this marble in person. But after reading Scott Kelby's books, I realized that I should try to illustrate the scale of this scene by using an object that would show the relative size. So I waited for a person to walk up the stairs.
Not only does the person add a little human interest to the shot, now you can see the grand size of the staircase. Simple tip, but it made a difference.
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Another pointer from Scott Kelby is to make sure your pictures are straight. Sounds almost too basic to be an actual tip, but it made me realize how often my pictures are just a bit crooked. He even suggests you add a bubble level to a DSLR camera if you really want to improve this. I was using my point and shoot camera (and I don't have a level yet) so I just tried harder to keep my camera straight and I edited my photos to straighten the ones that needed it.
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The best picture I got all day was one that ended up being a bit on the crooked side. Didn't matter though, it is a great shot because of what it represents. My son got to participate in the mock legislation committee and he sat right next to one of the actual Representatives. Representative Hutchings did a great job involving the kids in the democratic process. He even posed for a picture with Alex. Very cool.
It was one of those times where you have 2 seconds to get the shot so you just fire one off hoping that nobody's eyes are closed. I got a winner!
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I would love to go back to the Capitol some day and take some photos of my kids when they aren't worn out from a field trip and hungry for lunch. Just look at the beautiful natural light there.
Tummies were rumbling though so I settled for a few quick semi-enthused and posed shots.
As you can tell, it was a gray day in Salt Lake City yesterday. It usually is at this time of year. I sometimes forget that there is actually blue up there. It's still up there isn't it?
