This is the first in a series I am writing about what makes a good photograph. The answer to the question is complicated - it is nothing - everything - who knows? Good is in the eye of the beholder. Since I am writing this post, Ill mention something that in my mind helps create good a photograph. I think this is a wonderful exercise for every serious photographer. Ask yourself what you like about an image - any image and start keeping track of what resonates. Heres how I approached this task. I started looking at some of my own images … [Read more...] about What Makes A Good Photograph? Series
Shooting
Photography Activities for Kids — Composition 101
EDITOR'S NOTE: We would like to welcome Scott Lawrence to our team of talented writers. I have vivid memories of my dad sharing his love of photography with me. The weight of this strange object in my hand the first time he brought out his old SLR is something I’ll never forget. It’s impossible to shake the smell of the chemicals when we set up a darkroom in a guest bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom was sorely lacking in ventilation. All great memories, if not flawless plans. Photography is amazingly complex. You can spend a lifetime … [Read more...] about Photography Activities for Kids — Composition 101
Shooting Food with Natural Lighting
One of my favorite photography categories is food and drink. A few years ago, I ran a beer blog and highlighted a “beer of the day,” meaning I had to drink and photograph a beer everyday. It was a bit excessive, but with no speedlight at the time, I learned to use natural light to photograph as best as possible. Sit By a Window and Choose an Interesting Table I was lucky enough to recently visit a local brewery during a photowalk. Knowing we were coming, they sat us right by a huge garage door — entirely plexiglass. It was sunny, but not … [Read more...] about Shooting Food with Natural Lighting
How Back Button Focusing Changed my Photography
EDITOR'S NOTE: We'd like to welcome Bryan Esler to our team at Photofocus. This is his first post. It’s not everyday you come across a feature that’s built into your camera that can significantly change the way you capture photographs. I’ve had my Nikon D800 for a few years now and until recently, I held the shutter button down halfway to focus, and recomposed before I took my shot. It wasn’t ideal, and it meant a few missed or soft-focus shots that I didn’t deliver on. Back button focusing changes all that. By using the AF-ON button … [Read more...] about How Back Button Focusing Changed my Photography
HDR: Is a Three Step Process
The biggest mistake HDR shooters make is trying to rush the process. Some think its as simple as shooting the photos and running them through a merging application. Others try to save even more time and use in-camera HDR solutions. While both of these options can make a better photo than just a traditional exposure, they don’t really embrace the full capabilities of HDR imaging. For that, you need to truly take a three-step process. Shoot Using the bracketing option on your camera (or manually adjusting exposure), you’ll successfully … [Read more...] about HDR: Is a Three Step Process
Photographing New England Patriots Gronk
I caught up with my Photojournalist friend, Rick Friedman, at the New England Camera Council Conference. Rick showed me images he took of Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots for Sports Illustrated. Rick is best known for photographing Presidential races—he started in the 70’s photographing Jimmy Carter and Ronald Regan—but he’s also a talented portrait photographer and lighting expert. I asked him how he lit the shot. Intrigued with his story, I asked if I could share it with our Photofocus readers. There are lots of great tips and … [Read more...] about Photographing New England Patriots Gronk
Setting a Self Timer for Bracketing HDR Images on Sony Cameras
Sometimes I forget to pack a remote shutter release when I stumble upon an HDR scene. Luckily I can set up a Sony A7 series camera to shoot a bracketed series of images with a self-timer. Press the Menu button on the upper-left backside of the camera. Navigate to the page 2 of the Image menu and scroll down to Bracket Settings. Press Ok. Inside Bracket Settings, click on Self Timer. I like to assign a 2-second self timer. Scroll down to BRK 2 and click Ok. To shoot with the self-timer, all you need to do is enable the Continuous … [Read more...] about Setting a Self Timer for Bracketing HDR Images on Sony Cameras
Setting up Bracketing on Sony Cameras
Nikon and Canon cameras have a button on the camera body to enable a bracketing mode. Sony cameras don’t…I’d buried under the shooting mode menu. Once you know what you’re looking for and configure your settings, it’s very easy to switch in and out of bracketing mode. Let’s go through the settings and get set up. To enable bracketing, we need to change the Drive Mode of the camera. You can do this one of two ways: Press the left side of the circular wheel on the back of the camera Go into the Menu, navigate to page 2 of the Image … [Read more...] about Setting up Bracketing on Sony Cameras
5 Ways to Challenge Yourself as a Photographer
As a photographer, do you ever start feeling like you’re in a bit of a rut? Or perhaps you feel the need to challenge yourself to improve your skills. Maybe you’re just looking for some ideas on stretching your creativity. Here are five simple ideas to challenge yourself as a photographer, both to improve your skills and also challenge yourself creatively. 1. Turn off the display Go into your camera settings and turn off the LCD display on the back of your camera. If you can’t figure out where that setting is, tape a piece of cardboard over … [Read more...] about 5 Ways to Challenge Yourself as a Photographer
More to a Silhouette than Exposure
There are a few key elements that create a successful silhouette. I'll say it loud and proud. It is MORE than exposure. Yes, you meter for the sky, yes, that brings the blacks black, but there is so much more to it than that. I used to say, angle, separation, and exposure. But it is even more than that. You can nail the angle, shooting from down low, you can nail the exposure, and you can even get the separation, but if you aren't telling a story, or conveying an emotion, you're not getting it. There needs to be a story. There needs to … [Read more...] about More to a Silhouette than Exposure
A Complete Guide to Photographing Fireworks
Here is a complete guide to making great fireworks photos. I hope you can use this advice to make some great memories over the holiday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFW4TLDDgMc The folks at Macphun also have a great sale on their software, a how-to video, and a bunch more cool stuff. I made an in-depth tutorial on postproduction and several presets. … [Read more...] about A Complete Guide to Photographing Fireworks
3 Quick Ways to Spice Up Your Portraits With Angles
When you are taking a client or friend's portrait, your job is to make them look as good as possible. It’s also your job to infuse their portrait with a certain feeling that is appropriate to the person and the moment. Varying your angle is one way to quickly and easily transform a moderately interesting photo into an impactful shot. Let’s go over three quick ways to liven up your portraits with various angles. How to Liven Up Your Portraits With Angles 1. Standing above your subject is often flattering to their face. This … [Read more...] about 3 Quick Ways to Spice Up Your Portraits With Angles
Photography Projects – Expectation vs Reality
As anyone who's been to WPPI can tell you, it's pretty insane. Between the Classes, Expo Booths, Parties, Socials, After Parties, Dinners, and well...everything else that Las Vegas can throw at you, seeing everyone / everything you want too is next to impossible, let alone keeping your professional schedule in check! 2016 was no different, however this time, I was on a mission. I decided to start a new photo project digging back into an old one for inspiration...one of my favorites of all time, Film Noir. As I began casting for this project, a … [Read more...] about Photography Projects – Expectation vs Reality
Using 2 Cameras? Make It Easy: Sync the Time
It is a tragedy to not make a picture because you don't want to deal with post production. Yet, many photographers have exactly this feeling--that photography has become a burden. Here's an idea to help make using two or more cameras less burdensome. Why Two Cameras? Just the other day I had a shoot that would take a full 9 hours, but I wasn’t sure that was enough time, so I was seeking ways to save time and maximize my efficiency. One thing I know about myself is that if I have to change a lens to make a wide angle picture or a telephoto, … [Read more...] about Using 2 Cameras? Make It Easy: Sync the Time
Exploring Travel Photography: Photographing Hummingbirds (CR07)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBt0hoPZpJs&feature=youtu.be One of the most challenging things to shoot is a hummingbird. Hummingbirds move really, really fast. Typically, a hummingbird … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Photographing Hummingbirds (CR07)
Basic Camera Controls – The Shutter
You may wonder why a post dedicated to controlling the shutter. It’s pretty basic right? You press the shutter, you make the photo. But believe it or not we get questions from amateurs just starting out about things like this, and since there are always brand new people coming to photography every day, we like to cover the basics. So let’s get into it… On older cameras, the shutter speed dial is engraved with numbers. You’d turn the dial and line up a number with a mark on the camera body. Because everything old is new again, there may be … [Read more...] about Basic Camera Controls – The Shutter
Exploring Travel Photography: Shooting in a Cloud Forest (CR06)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://youtu.be/o5oEzg6aYFI The region of Monteverde is right along the continental divide for Costa Rica. It's also tremendously high elevation, about 4,600 feet. If you're not used to … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Shooting in a Cloud Forest (CR06)
Manually Set Your White Balance For Accurate Color
Photography Basics - Learn How To Set Your WB All photographers need to know at least something about white balance. You can set it in the camera or you can fix it in post. If you want to fix it in post, I generally recommend that photographers shoot in RAW mode, which means that you can easily reset your white balance in post as if you had done it in the field. But that does mean that you spend (waste) time in post when you could have easily done the right thing in camera. I have come to a point in my life where I realize that I … [Read more...] about Manually Set Your White Balance For Accurate Color
Exploring Travel Photography: Packing for a Mountain Trip (CR05)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://youtu.be/gezYQCIbsZI Monteverde is one of the most remote regions of Costa Rica, but it's incredible. It's this great little mountain town that's actually founded by (laughs) some … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Packing for a Mountain Trip (CR05)
Seven Tips For Better Photographic Backgrounds
It’s easily the most important lesson I learned in photography - how to make better photos by controlling the background. I am a background fanatic. Some photographers talk non-stop about low-light performance, or color saturation or sharpness…for me it’s all about that background. I have walked away from some pretty nice photographic subjects because I didn’t like the background. It always bugs me to the point of exasperation if I can’t find a decent background for my subjects. I think I’ve written four or five posts on this subject … [Read more...] about Seven Tips For Better Photographic Backgrounds
Exploring Travel Photography: Health& Safety (CR04)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOBSVitX6L0&feature=youtu.be A lot of photographers I know get nervous about traveling, particularly if they're traveling with their family. My family … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Health& Safety (CR04)
Start documenting daily life as inspiration
I know many photographers (pros and amateurs alike) who need a special occasion like a vacation, a wedding or a sports event to take their camera out in their free time. When I ask them "why only for big occasions?", I often get the reply that every day life is not interesting enough… This is where photography meets psychology. It is in our nature to not be aware of our daily routine as it appears that it’ll always be there and that it is not important enough for us. The funny thing is that i.e. in 10 or 20 years time those few ordinary … [Read more...] about Start documenting daily life as inspiration
Do you love photography more than good food?
This morning I woke up and had to share this with you right away. If you love photography more than you love good food then you're going to love this. There's a FREE 3-part photography training series that starts today, May24th, 2016 and ends the day after Labor Day. It's not every day we get to learn something valuable and free without putting in a lot of time and effort. I've personally been to five different seminars and workshops this year already and for each one, I had to fly, stay in a hotel, and eat out for every meal. The FREE … [Read more...] about Do you love photography more than good food?
Exploring Travel Photography: Mixing Photographic Styles (CR03)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://youtu.be/bHQWXe-7BOA Because you're going to be traveling from very low points, all the way down to ocean level. To very high points where you're up in the mountains. This is … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Mixing Photographic Styles (CR03)
Blurred Las Vegas Cityscape – Slight HDR Effect with Photomatix Pro
This past March, I found myself in Las Vegas for WPPI. On Monday night, the Photofocus crew led a photo walk. It was a perfect opportunity to practice blurring the vehicle lights as they drove past us. Setting Up the Shot When I spot a vantage point that interests me, I tend to have trouble staying with the group. Such was the case that evening when I crossed an overpass bridge, and found a lovely location that allowed me a clear view of the traffic flowing along the street below me, surrounded by lit buildings. The angle and height seemed … [Read more...] about Blurred Las Vegas Cityscape – Slight HDR Effect with Photomatix Pro
Exploring Travel Photography: Essential Items to Pack for Costa Rica (CR02)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://youtu.be/tl-U-vdxpbU We've established that Costa Rica is a tropical and a sub-tropical environment. This means you need to be prepared for a lot of different types of … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Essential Items to Pack for Costa Rica (CR02)
With Portraits, It’s Not About You
I consider portraits my main photography genre. One thing I’ve come to notice is that no matter how great a photo I technically produce, the client will only be pleased if I’m able to authentically create their image in a way that is personally pleasing to them. It’s the human condition: most of us are dealing with decades of complex, personal “issues”. I believe it’s our job to take that into account when we are creating portraits for our clients. This can be as simple as a gentleman not liking the wrinkles around his eyes, or as complex as … [Read more...] about With Portraits, It’s Not About You
Exploring Travel Photography: Planning for a Photo Trip in Costa Rica (CR01)
Would you like to take a trip? In our new series on travel photography we'll explore the beautiful country of Costa Rica. We'll use this scenic Central American country to illustrate many types of photography as well as share lessons learned. This full course is also available on lynda.com and you can subscribe to watch the entire thing on their site. https://youtu.be/gLKfm3rzB88 We're gonna take a photographic safari and explore the country, but it's not just about seeing the country, it's gonna be a chance to learn tons of techniques … [Read more...] about Exploring Travel Photography: Planning for a Photo Trip in Costa Rica (CR01)
Instant Replay: Creating Awesome Panoramic Photography (with Rich Harrington)
In this free webinar, you'll learn the essential skills to create awesome looking panoramic photos. Join Photofocus editor Rich Harrington as he shows you how to shoot Panoramic images the right way. Rich demonstrates how to shoot panos without a tripod, how to use a tripod for panos, and what tools you might want to invest in. Rich will also demonstrate the most streamlined post production. You'll learn how to assemble panoramic photos with either Lightroom or Photoshop. We'll cover how to straighten your horizon and clone out gaps and … [Read more...] about Instant Replay: Creating Awesome Panoramic Photography (with Rich Harrington)
Changing Your POV/Position Makes Photos More Interesting
SUBTITLE - The 15 Minute Rule This is a short post aimed at getting you to consider something few photographers do these days - changing up your shooting position when you’re in the field, and doing it on a regular basis. Changing your position gives you different compositions to choose from when you are selecting your favorites. While I developed this policy while photographing birds, it may apply to all sorts of photographic genres so give it a look and see if it makes sense for the kind of photography you do. When I am out … [Read more...] about Changing Your POV/Position Makes Photos More Interesting
