Ms. Gregori's Website
Valley View Sunset
Black Bear Eating Wild Strawberries at Dusk
Early Morning Meadow Snack
Buck and Meadow Flowers
Golden Hour Bucks
Wildflowers and Pollinators
Butterfly Fields
Thunder Clouds Over Mt. Hoffman
High Sierra Reflection
Do you want to take your landscape photos to the next level? The best way to shoot dramatic landscapes is to use HDR or High Dynamic Range imaging. What happens when I set my camera to HDR? I'm glad you asked. You see, when you shoot in HDR, your camera is really taking three photos at one time (one that is perfectly exposed, one that is under-exposed, and one that is overexposed) and then merging them together. The result is a photo that shows definition in both shadow and highly lit areas. (See the first Valley View Sunset photo at the top.) To get the best results, HDR photography should be shot at sunrise, or sunset or when taking photos from the shadows and shooting into light (for instance, taking a picture from under a tree on a bright hillside.) Your iPhone and android cameras already have an HDR option, so it's easy to experiment with this. Remember that your camera is actually taking and merging three photos at once, so it does eat up more of your battery power. To set your digital SLR camera to HDR, you can follow these steps:
- Set your camera mode to aperture priority (Av)
- Change the exposure compensation to Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB)
- Use your dial to change the bracketing to two stops up and down
- Set your camera quality to RAW
- Set the shooting mode to 2 seconds
- Change to ISO 100 to reduce the amount of noise
- Set the aperture to f/8
Once you take these photos on your DSLR, you will need to merge them in Photoshop. Here's how you can do that:
- In Photoshop: pull down “File” and go to “automate” then “Merge to HDR Pro.”
- Browse your files and select the overexposed, underexposed, and perfectly exposed photos. Hold the “shift” key to select more than one photo at a time.
- Select the box at the bottom that says “automatically align source images” and press “Okay”. Wait a moment while Photoshop merges and aligns your photo.
HDR can really enhance your landscapes. Experiment with it and have fun!
Janet Gregori was born and raised on the Peninsula of the San Francisco Bay Area. Being a native Californian, she grew up enjoying the splendors of our state. Her family introduced her to camping at an early age (5 months old) so camping, backpacking, and hiking have always been favorite past times of hers. She has always loved the ocean, so traveling to beaches has been a theme throughout her life. She has wiggled her toes into the sand of many a beach, from Hawaii, Cancun, and the Cayman Islands, to Italy, Australia, and India. Although she absolutely loves Hawaii and returns to Kauai whenever possible, her first love is the Half Moon Bay coastline were she practically grew up. Weekly treks to Maverick's or Poplar Beach in HMB with her border collie, Scout, are an important part of her routine. (Isn't Scout the cutest thing?!)
It is at the beach with Scout that Ms. Gregori gets lots of inspiration for her photography. She enjoys taking mostly scenes from nature and photos of people from her travels throughout the globe. While she has taught 35mm black and white photography with darkroom work, she prefers to work in color with her digital SLR camera. That's why she was so excited to add the digital photography class to her 7th and 8th grade electives. Other creative hobbies for Ms. Gregori include painting (both with watercolors and oils,) writing (and hopefully someday publishing) children's books and novels, and restoring and repurposing old furniture.
Ms. Gregori has traveled throughout the world, and has the goal of stepping onto each of the continents in her lifetime. Several years ago she was able to visit her childhood friend in Australia. This was the first time Ms. Gregori traveled to the Southern Hemisphere. It was also where she learned how to scuba dive (at the Great Barrier Reef, no less!) Other traveling dreams include wiggling her toes in the sands of Bali and the Maldive Islands, boating the Islands of Greece, bicycling through the Loire Valley in France, visiting Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera by foot, and going on a photo safari in Africa (she has already done a photo safari in India.) She would also love to visit Japan again, as Tokyo is one fun city!
As for her career, Ms. Gregori has been teaching for 32 years. Her first 5 years were spent teaching students in the Millbrae School District. She has taught all ages from kindergarten through 8th graders, but is happiest when working at La Entrada Middle School with her 6th through 8th grade superstars. She has a multiple subject teaching credential as well as a supplementary credential in art. Ms. Gregori also received her National Board Certification in secondary art. She has been awarded several teaching awards, including the Charles and Helen Schwab Distinguished Teacher Award, the John Hopkins University Teacher Recognition Award, the California Purdential Realtor's Distinguished Teacher Award, and the PTA Honorary Service Award. In addition, Ms. Gregori was a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar, and got to travel to Japan to exchange teaching practices and learn about the schools in Japan.
A favorite art quote of Ms. Gregori's is by Pablo Picasso which states, "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."
A favorite life quote of Ms. Gregori's is by Gandhi which states, "Be the change you want to see in the world."
