Sharing (and flexing) what I learned from my most recent camping trip/photoshoot.
Over July 4th weekend I went camping with a few friends of mine, and I decided to bring my camera with me. Thank God I did that because I found out the hard way just how boring camping can get, especially when you run out of booze. As a result, what was meant to be a weekend chillfest with the boys turned into a 4 day photoshoot.
While everyone got busy setting up camp I quickly made sure become a nuisance by setting up my camera, messing with all the settings, and scouting out the best angles to shoot from so that I could “document” the trip properly. My friends were, understandably, less than thrilled to have their own paparazzo hanging around, but they eventually warmed up to the camera and helped me out by being the subjects of some of my best shots yet.
All in all, I shot about 250 photographs over the course of the trip: some of them worthy of a blog post, others not so much. After sifting through the garbage heap and pulling out what I thought to be the best gems, I spent what seemed like an eternity in Adobe Lightroom applying the finishing touches. The results are what I believe to be a pretty decent gallery of nature-and-camping-themed pictures.
Here are the 10 best photographs that I took (including the one above) from my time out in the wilderness with my friends. I hope you enjoy what I find to be my best work yet since starting this new hobby of mine.
Shot this one with a pretty high shutter speed in order to get the flames to freeze in place. I also took some neat looking long exposure shots, but none of them hold a flame (sorry) to the short exposures.
This one might not be my magnum opus, but I’ll never forget burning my mouth off with this delicious campfire chili.
Took a day trip to this nearby lake to get away from camp for a bit. I asked Cameron and Henry for their most photogenic pose and this is what I got. I love how the hacky sack creates a sort of bullseye of color in the middle of an otherwise drab scene.
Collin was there too!
Tried to get at least one shot of the creepy vibes the woods kept giving me. I think this one sums it up pretty well…
The shots started getting a bit better once everyone got used to the camera. Getting shots of people in their natural state makes the photos seem much more personal.
Found a grassy field that provided a solid green background which really helped in making the subjects of the photos stand out (as you’ll see in the next one). This one’s my new desktop background.
Capping it off with this one. I wanted to create more of a “fuzz” effect with the grass in Lightroom, but I couldn’t figure out a way to do it without making the whole photo blurry. I’m still trying to get the hang of this whole photography thing, so if any of you out there have any tips please let me know!