Peter R. Wood Photography

Lyttle Photos

Peter — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 02:59:01 +0000

I did a few small family photo shoots about a month ago, one of which was with some friends, the Lyttles. I had a lot of fun photographing their family, and I’d love to photograph your family, too! Head on over to the About page if you’d like more info.

Portfolio Updated

Peter — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:15:10 +0000

I’ve added some new “People” shots to my portfolio, thanks to the opportunity to do a model shoot at the recent New England Camera Club Council’s annual conference. Head over to People in the Portfolio and check out the three new photos at the top.

Downtown Peabody, MA

Peter — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:34:12 +0000

I work fairly close to downtown Peabody, MA, so I took a trip there over my lunch hour and walked around, snapping photos. Of particular interest are some of the structures surrounding the area’s old tanneries. Just goes to show, you can find interesting things to shoot wherever you are.

Midday Sun

Peter — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:54:32 +0000

You’re out on a sunny day. You’re having a picnic lunch at a park. The light is bright, the weather is warm, everyone is happy. Sounds like a great time to take some photos, right? Think again. Though it’s always good to have plenty of light, you also need to consider the type of light. When the sun is directly overhead, it’s at its brightest and produces very harsh light. This can make it very difficult to take photos of people, since the light will cast dark shadows on one hand, and cause your subjects to squint on the other hand.

Above is as photo of my daughter, Catherine, taken during midday sun. Of course, she’s cute, but let’s take a critical look. Note the shadows over her eyes, under her chin and neck. Also note the extremely bright patches on her cheeks. Some details could have been fixed in post-processing, but detail would have been lost. Another solution would be to force the flash on the camera to fire, filling in some of the shadows. But this can backfire if your flash is too bright or if you’re too close.

So, what are you to do if this is the only opportunity you have to shoot? Well, Digital Photography School has some great tips for how to deal with midday sun. Head over and check those out to see what you can do.

I’d also add that you could look for some opportunities to shoot things that do look good in midday light. For example, I’ve found that architecture shots are fairly impressive with this type of lighting, highlighting the geometry of their features and their bright colors. You can also get some interesting shots of people, if you’re going for a shadowy, dramatic look.

Let me know if you have any thoughts, suggestions, or questions about this difficult shooting situation!

What is this?

Peter — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:01:00 +0000

Welcome!

Peter — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:21:24 +0000

Thanks for being one of the first visitors to Peter R. Wood Photography! I’ve been working on this site for the past few months, and I’m happy to be able to open it to the public. There are three goals I’m trying to achieve with this site:

Showcase my best photographic work.
Share my photographic thoughts, tips, insights, and adventures.
Provide a convenient way to connect with people who are interested in having me help with their photographic needs.

I’d like to thank a number of people who’ve helped me get this site ready to launch, either directly or indirectly:

My wife, Rebecca, for supporting me and providing tons of feedback.
My friends Art and Will for providing critiques and advice at several points during the process.
My cousin Mark for several suggestions on the business aspects of the site.
Matt Mullenweg, for creating the awesome Wordpress software this site is built on.
John Resig, for creating the jQuery JavaScript library that lets me do some of the really cool stuff on this site.
Cody Lindley for creating the Thickbox widget for jQuery, which lets me do the nifty photo popups.
Nathan Smith, for creating the 960 grid system, which helped me to lay out this site.
Ken Rockwell, for his honesty, resourcefulness, and depth of technical knowledge, which are an inspiration to me.
Nikon, for making such an awesome camera that makes it so easy to take great photos.

I hope that you’ll enjoy my site and find it useful. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc, please feel free to comment on this post. If you’d like to discuss a possible photo shoot or training session, head over to the About page for more information. Be sure to bookmark the Journal or subscribe to it in your favorite news reader to stay up to date with the latest news!

Historic Churches of Boston

Peter — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:00:25 +0000

A few weeks ago, I went on a photo walk with the New England Photography Network to see historic churches in Boston. I had a great time getting to meet some other photographers, see inside a few churches I’ve never been in, and enjoy the nice weather. I’d highly recommend looking for a photo Meetup in your area - it’s always good to learn about how other people are doing photography, as well as to make some new friends.

Here are a few select shots from that trip.

St. Vasilios

Peter — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:07:19 +0000

Took these photos of St. Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church in Peabody. I had seen it in the distance when driving through, but never stopped to check it out.