After a week full of Black Friday and other holiday deals, we kicked off December with some great content to enhance your photography this winter!
Michele Grenier kicked it off, showing how to get perfect exposure with the Illuminati light and color meter, while Julie Powell walked us through capturing victorian silo art. Bob Coates continued the week with a piece on how to photograph strangers. Lauri Novak kicked off the holiday season with ideas for going beyond Santa photos, and finally, Michele Grenier told us about her experiences with Facebook deleting her business pages.
It was a great start to December here at Photofocus!
How to get photos with perfect exposure 100% of the time - Are you eyeballing your exposure? Do your photos tend to be underexposed or overexposed from time to time? Are you 100% sure of your settings? I might just have the solution you need. What is exposure? Let’s get back to basics real quick. Exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera sensor. It’s set with important three elements: Aperture, shutter speed and ISO. That’s what we call “the exposure triangle.” An inaccurate exposure can have two consequences on your photos. 1. Underexposed images When there’s not enough light recorded on the sensor. The photo will look darker than the real scene. Remember when you started taking pictures with Manual mode and all you got was all black images? That’s right, those were heavily underexposed photos. 2. Overexposed images On the opposite, an overexposed image if when too much light is recorded on the sensor. The photo will look brighter than reality. (We’ve all had those “white pictures moments” at some point.) If you’d like to learn more and understand better the aperture, shutter speed and ISO relation, head to this article. The solution to perfectly exposed pictures Sure, you can eyeball the scene and do the “trial and error” technique on a DSLR (consisting of taking a photo and then looking at the result on playback and adjusting accordingly). If you have a mirrorless, you can look at your live view and see how that looks instantly. Still, there’s room for mistake as your “eye” and interpretation of the scene might not actually be the most accurate lecture. That’s just not precise enough to get perfect exposure time after time. The solution relies on an extremely precise and accurate instrument: A light meter. As I shared in a previous article, I’ve never really been the kind of photographer to use a light meter. I was sent an Illuminati light meter to test and write a review on. Contrary to what I believed, I finally realized I had a tool in my hand that could really help me get the right exposure all the time. The Illuminati is a tiny and convenient (and cute!) device that wirelessly syncs to your smartphone/smartwatch/tablet (you name it). It measures ambient, continuous and strobe lighting. I like to think of it as the contemporary, faster, cooler, mega pimped version of the traditional and older light meter. Oh, and I haven’t told you everything yet … An enlightening surprise for last The Illuminati is more than a light meter. It is also a color meter! It reads precisely color temperature (in Kelvin). This allows us to nail the perfect color balance 100% of the time. Not too long ago, when a photographer needed to have a light meter and a color meter, he/she had to buy two different devices. An “all-in-one” solution didn’t exist (yet). Thanks to advanced technology — and to the guys behind Illuminati Instrument Corp — we can now benefit both advantages in a single tiny one. Even better, this two-in-one device is sold for less than half the price of one color or light meter. You can save 20% off the Illuminati IM-150 light meter through December 6, 2019! Just use the code PHOTOFOCUS during checkout.
Victorian silo art, part one - Australia’s farmers and rural areas have been doing it tough. Climate change is a real thing whether people wish to believe it or not. Many parts of southeast Australia (like in many other parts of the world) have been in an extensive and devastating drought, followed by ravaging bush fires and then in some areas floods. I tend to travel a lot around country Victoria and have seen first hand how arid and harsh our beautiful country can be. Living off the land and providing for the rest of the country, especially us city-folk is not an easy life. Some of the small towns are losing families to the ‘big smoke’ and small towns need people to keep going. Creating the Silo Art trail One area that can keep these small towns going is the tourism dollar. Australia has a large tourist industry, and there are so many different and distinct areas to be seen around Australia. This latest foray is both typically Aussie in ingenuity and quirkiness. Getting the top street and installation artists both Australian and I believe a few from overseas to paint huge big grain silos in regional areas with huge murals depicting the areas history, culture and people. I have spent the last two years visiting many of these artistic silos and there are still a few left to see. Western Silo Art Trail This is the original Silo Art trail in Victoria, starting from Rupinyup and finishing in Patchewallock, is about 200kms long and takes about 2 hours to drive from start to finish, but you need to allow time to explore each silo and each area. Some are in the middle of nowhere and some have small townships offering hospitality, food, drink and local culture. There are also various other art installations, museums, painted water tanks, murals and National Parks to explore as well. There are now seven main silos in this trek and each is as different from each other, as night is to day. Rupinyup Rupanyup’s silo art was painted by Russian mural artist, Julia Volchkova, who wanted to capture the town’s youth and sense of community, it features two local teenagers in sports attire. It took several weeks to paint and was unveiled in 2017. Sheep Hills The Sheep Hills silos were painted in 2016 by renowned Melbourne based Street and Installation artist Adnate. It depicts many local faces of the Aboriginal community. The night sky represents elements of local dreaming and the overall image signifies the important exchange of wisdom, knowledge and customs from Elders to the next generation of the indigenous people. Brim Guido van Helten’s iconic Brim mural was the first silo artwork to appear in Victoria and soon gave the town newfound energy and optimism. After gaining widespread local and international attention, Brim’s silo art success shone a spotlight on the Wimmera Mallee region and inspired the establishment of the Silo Art Trail. Completed in early 2016, with limited financial resources, van Helten’s mural depicts an anonymous, multigenerational quartet of female and male farmers. Rendered across these four 1939-built GrainCorp silos. Van Helten’s subjects bear expressions that exemplify the strength and resilience of the local farming community. Rosebery Completed in late 2017, Kaff-eine’s artwork depicts themes that she says embody the region’s past, present and future. Kaff-eine also helped Rone on his Lascelles project. The silo on the left depicts women in the country. Farmers facing hardships of drought and fire with a tenacity that is born of the Mallee area. The silo on the right depicts the connection between farmer and horse. Lascelles Renowned Melbourne Street artist Rone, took several weeks to get to know the locals and create this mural depicting a local farming couple. The husband is seen in the below image, the wife is on the other side. Completed in mid-2017, he used a muted palette to allow his mural to blend into the landscape and become one with the silo. Patchewallock Completed in late 2016 by Brisbane artist Fintan Magee, who had booked a room at the local pub to immerse himself in the community and get to know its people. Fintan decided that a local farmer, not only fit the look he was after, a rugged and no-nonsense man of the land, but was also tall and lean to fit the narrow silo. Nullawil Completed in 2018 by artist Smug (from Scotland), this has to be my favorite silo art. Depicting the Aussie kelpie, a farmer’s best friend. The farmer is only partially represented in the image, with the attention placed solely on the dog, named Jimmy. Sea Lake This is the latest installation, completed in October 2019. Painted by Drapl and The Zookeeper, depicting the silence and openness of the Mallee Region, a sense of freedom and ties for the indigenous people. We first visited the Mallee region in 2017. As new silos were painted, we undertook a second trip to the region in 2019. More and more painted silos have cropped up, we have seen them in South Australia and there are also some in New South Wales and Queensland. There is also the North East Victoria Silo trail which we also visited on our 2019 trek. I will feature these, as well as best practices in capturing silos, in part two.
Facebook just deleted my business account … for the second time! - Yep, you read it right folks: a couple weeks ago, Facebook decided to delete my freakin’ professional photography business page. ALL. OF. IT. For the SECOND time within a year. And the worst part is, I still don’t know why! Not the only victim I did some research through the internet and found out I was far from being the only one experiencing it. A lot of Facebook users have apparently faced the same extremely frustrating situation. No notice, no logic, no chance to explain yourself or to get explanations. You wake up one morning and your page has vanished. That’s just what it is. “We have deleted your account, now deal with it.” Great. I’ve tried to reach out to someone at Facebook. Anyone. I tried to send emails, I tried to find a phone number, I tried to fill the “online help” on their Facebook page. I either haven’t found how to reach them or if I did, I never got a reply from them. Never. When you try to get serious help, Facebook is a big black hole and all you are left with is confusion and frustration. Recidivism policy So my @MicheleGrenierPhoto page was “banned” a few months ago for some totally unknown, unfair and unexplainable reason. I’ve decided to start over again a brand new page (@MicheleGrenierPhoto2). Since then, I always walked on eggs because I never knew when whatever I was doing would be considered to be “unacceptable.” Slowly but surely I build up again my account, getting back some of my previous followers and gaining new ones. (God only knows how long getting new likes and followers on Facebook takes — it’s a tedious job). I put in quality content, shared my favorite images, answered questions and got a community back. And then … BOOM. Facebook found my new page, claimed it to be recidivism and just SHUT IT DOWN for a second time. They claim the page violates their Community Standards. They offer me to appeal to their decision if I thought they made a mistake. Yeah, that’s so kind of them. As I am writing this article, I have nothing left but my personal profile — the one meant for my friends and family. I, of course, appealed to their decision — just like I did the first time. The outcome will likely be the same, read dead silence. *Just to make it clear: I’m a sports photographer. I share my favorite portraits, articles and links to my upcoming conferences and workshops. I mean, there’s absolutely no content on my page that is even close to disrespecting Facebook’s community policies. My hypothesis These are just hypotheses because I frankly have no idea what the hell I did wrong. 1. My page was reported That’s what a lot of people told me. “Someone reported your page!” OK great … so that would mean anyone who would want someone else’s page to be shut down would simply have to “report” it and then Facebook would automatically delete it? That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me … 2. AI technology AI is everywhere and businesses as big as Facebook has obviously their own algorithms to help them catch undesirable content. A friend of mine suggested that Facebook’s AI would recognize skin in images and flag as inappropriate the ones who seem to have too much of it. As I am a sports photographer, I often take pictures of men in chest and women in sports top. At some point, Facebook AI might have thought “Oh, there’s a little too much skin for my algorithm, that should be nudity. Let’s ban this highly undesirable content.” If I might add, between you and I, the $h!t I can witness when scrolling down my feed that isn’t nudity but obviously and purposely flirting with that fine line makes this situation even more ridiculous. We’re far away from Skylum’s AI technology, I’m telling you guys. Moral of the story: Don’t build your house on the sand OK, I won’t complain without providing a solution. To me, that’s absolutely clear: I’ll put my time energy into my website. Why would I keep on spending energy building back something that can (and will likely be) taken away from me at any time? I’ve been wanting to do a newsletter and start my own blog for a very long time. Perhaps this is a very loud and clear message to stop thinking and start acting. Francis, a good friend of mine — and also a photographer — had his Facebook account deleted. For him, he was reaching out to his clients though several diverse platforms: Website, Twitter, LinkedIn, his blog, etc. Losing Facebook was indeed frustrating but not catastrophic. I strongly suggest — if you haven’t yet — not to rely solely on a Facebook page to grow your business and stay in touch with your clients. This situation might never happen to you … but you know the old saying: “Better safe than sorry!” I’m not the kind of person who likes to complain. I sometimes take make bad decisions, I assume it and pay the price. I try to learn, grow and become better. But what happened in this situation, I simply don’t understand it. If Facebook has also deleted your professional photographer’s account, have you been able to resolve the problem? If so, how have you done it? I’m welcoming any constructive suggestions. Perhaps your comment will help me also help a lot of other people as well. Thanks! Lead photo includes work by Sebastian Herrmann and Con Karampelas on Unsplash
Beyond the holiday Santa photo - They’re here whether you’re ready or not — it’s the holiday season and photos will be a big part of the next couple of months. We all love photos with Santa be it of you, your children or your pets, but let’s take a look at some other options for preserving your holiday memories. Food This is a good time to practice and work on your food photography. Whether you’re hosting a big feast at home or heading out to a local restaurant, take your camera with you. Hotels and restaurants will be decorated and you’ll be able to incorporate the lights and colors into your food photos making them more festive. Think fun bokeh and backgrounds. For those at home feasts and traditions, be sure to get shots of those long-time family favorites. How about making a project out of it to share with the family next year? Aunt Jane’s famous cookies? Mom’s special green bean casserole? Uncle Pete’s delicious roast? Cousin Mike’s holiday cocktail? Photograph them, get the recipes (if they’re not top-secret) and create a family cookbook. Decorations We all have them, those decorations we made as kids, or that our own kids made when they were five. What sort of shape are they in? Will they last another holiday season? Photograph them. Use those images to create next year’s holiday card. Add these images to the family cookbook you’re creating. It’s a great way to preserve memories and keepsakes that don’t always make it through all the years of wear and tear. Local events There are always so many holiday events going on, look for markets, tree lightings, decorated home tours, winter wonderlands, madrigal dinners, caroling, events at museums to spotlight the holidays around the world and the list goes on. Any of these can be fun to attend and make for some great photographic opportunities. Head out to a local ice rink and get photos of the skaters. The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, if you live in the Northern U.S. or Southern Canada, is a fantastic event to get out and shoot. Another event that seems to be all over is a Santa Run or Santa Hustle, 5k runs/walks with hundreds of people dressed up as Santa. People Of course, the people. Your friends and relatives. Get creative though, and do something different this year instead of everyone posing in front of the tree or with Santa. Head outside with lights, and use the lights as human decorations. If you have snow, get a snowball fight started, and take some fun action shots. If it’s possible, head to your town’s local holiday display, and take photos there. Don’t forget to get candid shots of the day’s events also. People opening gifts, laughing, sharing stories, Uncle George falling asleep in the recliner after dinner and all the other moments that tell the story of the day. Include yourself Don’t forget to be in the photos too. Because we are always the ones taking the pictures we tend to not be in the photos very often. Set up your tripod, use a remote and click away. Be sure to get in the group shots when you can. Hand the camera over to someone else for a while. Better yet, buy instant or throwaway cameras, let everyone record their own version of the holidays and set up an online gallery so everyone can share their images. Have fun Don’t forget the most important thing, relax and enjoy the holidays. These photos are memories, they don’t have to be perfect. You want to join in and participate in the holiday goings-on (or you could use the camera to hide behind if you’re a scrooge like me). Here are a couple of other ideas: Macro Holiday Photos and 5 Tips for Holiday Photos Happy Holidays!
Photographing strangers - There is a tendency in most of us to have a fear of the unknown. I have never had a negative experience in asking a stranger to make his or her image. Ever. And yet, I still have trepidation to ask, fearing to intrude or inconvenience someone. Most people are happy to oblige and enjoy the experience. I need to get over it because I have let some amazing subjects disappear. Meet Billy, the stranger Even though I felt uncomfortable asking this gentleman to make a photo, I asked. He agreed. The most wonderful part of the experience went way beyond his image. It was the conversation that ensued following the photo. The ice was broken and we talked of deep subjects for half an hour. I learned so much from Billy in that chat that would have passed by the wayside had I not made the first contact. A camera can be an outstanding icebreaker when approaching strangers. I shall be using it more often. The original capture Onward, to photographing the scene. Light in the bar was dismal. Not wanting to disturb the rest of the patrons I cranked up the ISO to 25,600 on the Lumix G9. Not a problem. Ever since Lumix removed the anti-alias filter from in front of the sensor the digital noise has been less of a factor in capturing photos. Noise is now more organic and film-like. I embrace it in more and more of my art photography. Post-processing Two of the five images were blended using a Mask in Adobe Photoshop. Two Curves layers along with a Soft Light layer and a texture were added to tame the contrast and bring detail and attention where I wanted. Silver Efex Pro 2 was used to convert and massage the final black and white image. Ask strangers for permission! I highly recommend having your camera with you on a regular basis. When you see an interesting subject, politely engage. You never know where it might lead. Yours in creative photography, Bob
