Learning the Light

Are my pictures getting better? I sure hope so. I've always, always been in love with photography. The way a photograph can capture the essence of just about anything - from a mountain view to dust mites - has always fascinated me. I know I'm a long way off from being a pro. Heaven knows my photos still aren't good enough for Foodgawker or Pinterest, but that really doesn't matter to me. Right now, I'm just working on learning the light.

For example, when I walked by, I thought these two cows standing in the shade looked really picturesque. Then the spotted cow started scratching her ear, which I found hilarious. But the light was all wrong.

Of course it's all wrong. It's all about angles - where the light is coming from, where the sun is in the sky, where you are in relationship to it all, where the subject is, and so on. So I moved on to some more cows. A little better, but now their shadows are so dark...

This is the best picture of the day (if you don't count the funny shot of cowhumping I got by accident). The shadows are muted enough not to be distracting, and it's the closest to what my eyes actually saw that day. There's still room for improvement, always, but for now I'm learning the light.