This week we’re getting to know community member, Jacqueline Lant.
Jacqueline lives in a beautiful part of the world and has easy access to stunning mountain scenes which she loves to share. Her main subjects are wildlife and birds. She also likes to do a little bit of portrait photography from time to time and composition work. Jacqueline also runs a photography club in France and that has around 20 members. The photo above is from France, using the river as a leading line and the people walking around to add scale to the photo. Taken from the car as they were driving along. She has done a slight crop and tidied up with levels, curves and sharpening.
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How did you get started in photography?
I started photography when I was in my thirties. My brother gave me a Minolta camera with two lenses and I found my passion. I took photos of my children and one photo, in particular, of my oldest daughter lying in the grass with some wild clover around her. When I had the film developed I realized then that I needed to recreate the same with my younger daughter to frame and put on the wall. Those images are still hanging in my home.
What was your first camera?
My first camera was a Minolta X700 with a 50mm f/1.7 and a 70-210mm f/1.4–5.6. My first digital camera was a Canon 400D.
Taken on a beautiful but cold day in Spain. We stopped up above the town of Formigal in order to capture a panorama of the Spanish Pyrenees mountains. It is 4 photos stitched in lightroom and worked on in photoshop. A little tidy up of the sky with a small crop and Levels, curves and sharpening.
This again was in Spain and I liked the way I could use the fence as a leading line to the mountain. A little tidy up with the clone tool in photoshop and levels, curves and sharpening.
In France on the way to Spain. This has been taken from the car window. The tones of the snow and the sky said a black and white image to me. I like the curves of the mountains and the shadows. I used the filter in Adobe Camera Raw and levels, curves and black and white filter in Photoshop with a high contrast blue filter from the drop-down menu. I sharpened with smart sharpening.
This is France but the same region. The clouds came in so the light dropped and darkened the photo. I like the use of the river leading again to the mountain and the little bridge just to balance it up. It is in color but with no blue sky, it looks a lot like a black and white photo. Photoshop [helped] tidy up with the clone tool and levels, curves and sharpening.
Who is one photographer that inspires you and why?
I don’t have one person who inspires me, but I admire anyone who takes the time to help others with their photography. In my opinion, we all start somewhere and with that little bit of help, it can make a big difference.
What’s the first thing you look for in composing your image?
The first thing I look for is light because that can affect your photo immensely. With all of the wildlife photography I do, I need speed which can mean high ISO which as we all know means grain. When I do landscape photography most of the time it is handheld as it is normally a trip to the mountains with my husband. He will wait in the car or beside me so I feel I don’t have a lot of time to set up my tripod etc. Bad practice, I know.
Join Jacqueline and others in the Photofocus Community!
If you’d like the opportunity to be featured like Jacqueline, join the community here. More than that though it’s a great place to meet other photographers, share images and talk all things photography.
