Try This Fun Camera Zoom Trick to Make Instant “Paintings”

Silky black… ruffled pink… cheerful, buttery yellow…
Bonnie, here, exploring the Dutch countryside with professional photographer Efraín Padró and nine of your fellow readers, looking for shots we can sell to magazines when we get home.
Today we strolled through the famous Keukenhof Gardens, filled with tulips, tulips, and more tulips… climbing up hills, stretching across fields, and lining lakes and streams in every imaginable color.
On our way to the gardens, Efraín told us that magazines like a variety of different shots to go with a single article, and that we should try to tell a visual story in at least three shots:
** The far-away, “establishing” shot:

Jerry Mink

Barbara Harvey
** The closer, mid-range shot:

Maggie Martin

Daphne Wright

Jerry Newsome
** And the way close-up detail shot:

Connie Owens

Sue Stevenson
Once we’d shot as many flowers as possible from near and far, above and below, Efrain showed us a really fun camera trick that makes instant art out of your flower shots (especially great for flowers that are past their prime).
Imagine these shots, printed large on canvas:


These are super-easy to make, as long as you have a lens that zooms.
Here’s how to do it:
STEP 1: Put your camera into Aperture Priority mode (Av or A), and set your aperture between f-8 and f-22. If it’s not very bright out, f-8 should do it. If you’re somewhere with a lot of sunlight, try something higher like f-11 or f-22. This is so that your shutter speed will be slow.
STEP 2: Set your ISO as low as it can go (100 or 200).
STEP 3: Zoom in on something bright and colorful.
STEP 4: Now simultaneously zoom out quickly and press the shutter.
Voilà — instant art! Take a lot of variations to get the hang of it, with some closer, some farther away, and with different subjects.
Tomorrow we’re headed to old Haarlem, where we’ll wind through the narrow streets, looking for windmills reflected in canals (and, in my case, looking for another tempting waffle cart).
I’ll let you in on a few more tips then.
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]