Fun in Venice
Okay so these aren’t my standard shots but what the heck- when in Venice by whacky! I processed these by what I call my Slider Slapping technique- In Lightroom slapping the vibrance and saturation slider as far to the right as they could go. No thought, just fun. The more color in your picture the better. I’ll post more normal pics soon. And no I wasn’t drinking, but I’m about to! Soave anyone? [nggallery id=28]
Gesture
Many times it is the little things that make a big difference in your photography. And lots of times we don’t even notice these little things despite their importance. When photographing people or animal portraits gesture is a very compositional element of your image. Gesture is the position of your subjects arms or legs, the tilt of the head, the twist of the body. And the slightest difference can make a big impact on the overall impression of the image. The catch is that gesture is almost so subtle that it goes unnoticed. We spend so much time looking at the subject expression or the background or just trying to get the auto focus bracket where you want it we pay scant attention to the legs, arms, or hands. Here are two pictures taken moments apart. Whenever I am doing any portraits I shoot in a burst of 6 to 8 images. This assures that I will capture the smallest differences in the gesture. I found this accordion player on the banks of the Seine in Paris. He was surrounded by a crowd of people and having a good time playing for the people. I went up and put some money into his case and asked quickly if I could take some pictures. He smiled and nodded yes so I knelt down to get to his eye level and took about 45 shot. I kept three. One of all the player, one close up and one teaching close up. The reason I threw out the other 42 was either because his expression wasn’t the best or his hand gesture wasn’t the best. I got about 8 I liked and kept the best 2 (plus the teaching image). So while you are taking a picture of someone or some animal after you get the background and exposure and perspective all figured out then concentrate on your subjects expression and gesture. It will make all the difference.
Stained Glass
As I was wandering around Notre Dame I became captivated by the beautiful stained glass windows. Here are a few that I took. don’t look at the photography, look at the stained glass! Look at the intricacy and the colorfulness and think of the time it took to create these master pieces. It would be fun to photograph these windows more seriously and then create a composite stained glass poster of the stained glass windows, perhaps in the form of a stained glass window! [nggallery id=27]
Notre Dame Cathedral
Went to see Notre Dame this morning and spent a hour wandering around inside awe struck by its immensity and beauty as well as the hard work over many generations it took to build it. My pictures aren’t ground breaking but they are new for me so that is good enough. All hand held, high ISO, wide open f-stop, aperture priority, -.3 auto compensation, matrix (evaluative) metering, auto focus.
Live From Paris!
The Withering Look Chronicles (or how my days are going in Paris) Instance 1. On the predawn trip in from De Gaulle airport amid a lovesick chorus of “Look France!” and “Ah, Paris” of francophillia I ask the driver “Where’s this tower thing I’ve heard so much about?” Instance 2. In a cheese shop picking up a bottle of wine I ask “Is this good wine?” and get the response “But of course, it is French!” to which I respond “Yes, but so is your army.” Instance 3. I make the insightful comment “If they don’t want me to pronounce the last letter why do they stick it on the end of the word?” Instance 4. I ask for French toast for breakfast. I get a piece of bread toasted. To be Continued
Two Pictures
Two handheld pictures from Acadia National Park last week. Snap shots really, taken to help my workshop participants with a few compositions, but nice. Here is how I did it. Bass Harbor in the fog ISO 2000 (on my Nikon D4 I can shoot publishable shots up to ISO 6400 ) to get a high enough shutter speed. F8 because I didn’t need a lot of depth of field with the fog in the background (can’t focus fog). About 100mm on my Nikon 24-12omm lens. Shot a burst of 6 shots and picked the best one. Used aperture priority and matrix (evaluative) metering.Automatic white balance. No auto compensation. Focused on the dory in front to make sure it was in focus. Zoomed in to cut out the blank white sky above and the dull gray water in front. Top of Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park ISO 2500 because it was very windy and I needed a shutter speed of at least 250th of a second. F11 for depth of field. I didn’t need f16 or f22 because the closest part of my composition was 20 feet away (the closer the foreground in your composition the smaller the f-stop you need for adequate depth of field). About 35mm to capture the big scene from foreground out to the Cranberry Isles. shot a burst of 10 shots (because of the buffeting wind). Used aperture priority and matrix (evaluative) metering.Automatic white balance. Auto compensation at -.7 to control the bright sky (at 0 auto compensation the sky blew out). Focused in the middle of the red plant in front to make sure I got the most in focus (From you point of focus there is always a little depth of field coming toward you and a lot of depth of field extending away from you- so focus close). Tilted the camera down to cut out most of the blank white sky above and zoomed in a bit to cut out the dull gray rock in front.
Things Learned
Three consecutive workshops forces lots of insight into my small but perfectly formed brain. Lots. Let me share… Histograms are not inconvenient, they are necessary. A histogram will tell you exactly what your exposure is going to be, exactly what it is. No interpretation, no guessing, just the facts. Take your picture, check the histogram, see if there are any blown out highlights (the data bumps up against the right part of the histogram), adjust as necessary, take your next shot. If you don’t check your histogram you might as well be shooting film. It is not HDR (high dynamic range) if you are just bracketing your shot and then merging them together in your computer no matter the light. If it is very contrasty light (re: ugly light) and you just have to have the shot then mindfully blending multiple images to capture a better rendition of the ugly light than a single image could do- that is HDR. Taking three or five lighter and darker shots in low contrasty light (light rain or mist) is ZDR (zero dynamic range) and will render the pretty light ugly. HDR is not a cure-all. It is a tool to be used selectively. Most people’s tripods are inadequate in one way or another- too short, too unstable, to inflexible, too clever, too complicated. Don’t compromise- get a good tripod and use it faithfully. Your photography will improve dramatically. Flash is never a good idea when natural light will do. Nothing is prettier than natural light. Period. Processing is like talking- yes, you can shout and you will be heard but if you whisper you will be remembered. So don’t over saturate, in fact, don’t even touch the saturation slider. Tweak locally, don’t glop things up globally. Tweaking is a little lick of improvement, global adjustments are a slobbering mess. How do you tell if you are a licker or a slobberer? If the first thing someone notices about your image is the processing you are a digital slobberer. Back off and try a touch of subtlety. There is never just one shot. There are always many shots. Don’t leave until you find them. The dials, wheels, buttons and toggles on your camera are there for a reason and you paid for each and every one of them. Learn what they do, they are there to help you. And finally, put Photoshop aside for awhile and learn Lightroom. You’ll be very happy that you did.
I’m Back!!!
Yes it has been a long time since my last post but I haven’t been idle. I just completed three workshops with 40 total participants over the last 3 weeks- two in Vermont and one in Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine. Now I’m back and ready to deluge you continued sense and nonsense. Stayed tuned and I will begin posting again. Here is a picture taken on my one afternoon off between my two Vermont workshops. More soon!
On the Light Table
Share!!!
Okay, so lets get right down the nitty-gritty- Why? Why show your creative efforts? Why share what you make or write or photograph or weave or cook or digitally cobble together? What’s the point? Can’t you be a photographer or a writer or a web designer or a weaver or a painter or a code writer or teacher without sharing your talents with others? Nope, sorry, you can’t. Without sharing you are just a shlub in the dark, a lowly, squirmy, four-toed, slightly moist shlub in the dark. And no one wants to be a shlub in the dark, trust me. Anyone with a talent has to share that talent because of what I call the “Burden of Talent.” I am sure others have referred to this concept with more elegance than I but I will do it with my characteristic bluntness; if you have a gift, a talent, a skill, no matter how small you think it is, it is necessary that you share it with others. This is why: Talent is a gift- a magical blending of genetic code or a whisper from the gods on high, it doesn’t matter how you consider it- it is a blessing in every sense. When the gift is received (and when is it ever refused?) so is the responsibility to share this rare and wonderful part of you. This is how your world, this is how our world becomes a better place, one blessing at a time. How your talent is received by others, I cannot say, but that is not the point. The power is in the sharing, the goodness is in the blessing. I have a great friend who puts words to paper with such emotion and truth that I envy her words whenever I read them. The words are from her heart and a wonderful heart it is but she shares her heart with a very, very few. She writes about both the profane and the profound and does so with such passion and with such openness that it seems she is speaking directly to your own heart. What comments she has received on her writing have all been supportive, even pleading for more and yet she feels that most her thoughts are not worthy, that her words not polished enough. It is a shame because her words could do such good if more could read them. Our world will be a darker place if she does not add her light to our path ahead. Her words will shine one day, shine brighter than most, they are beginning to now but it has been a long time coming. It is time she share her talent. It is time she become a writer. So how? So where? Anyhow. Anywhere. Put your work up in your office, bathroom, cellar, it doesn’t matter. Write on a wall, in a blog, in a community newsletter, in a tweet, anywhere will do. Cook for friends, sing to your children, sew for the poor, dance in the park. Anyhow. Anywhere. People will see, read, taste, feel, experience you, your talent and they will benefit. Give someone the courage to do what you are doing, the courage to share. Tell them that failure means nothing, it is the sharing that counts and then go prove it to yourself. Just get outside yourself. I have talents that I have tried to develop and share. None are profound and none will change the world. My talents are more workmanlike than wondrous. I can play the guitar and the autoharp and I can just barely sing on tune and yet I have stood on stage in front of 300 people and entertained them as best I could for an evening of song and music. I can write and have written with modest success producing books and papers that make me content but my words rarely soar and my images rarely sing like many others who I read and see regularly. I can’t draw or cook, can’t paint or weave, can’t really sing or certainly dance but I’ve gotten by and made a good life doing the best I can with what talents I’ve got. You are no different. You have talents, perhaps the same, perhaps different than mine, likely better than mine, but talents none-the-less. What are you doing with yours? If they are in a dark place deep inside you it is time you let in the light and share them with your world. If they are out but unsteady it is time you shore them up and brace them for the accolades ahead. And if they are out and glowing it is time you shared your sharing skills and helped others shine. I’ve been called a writer and I’ve been called a photographer and I couldn’t be prouder but it is only because I’ve shared. I’m not that special. I share the simple, I share the everyday, I share the ordinary, I share the mundane. It is not what you share so much as it is the act of sharing that makes you a writer, a photographer, a cook, a preacher, a mother, a brother, a friend, a better person. It is your talent that in part defines you as a person. It is the sharing of your talents that enrich you as a human. Don’t hide your talents. They are worthy. Share! Become!