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7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

29 Jan

The post 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

Wildlife photography can be a great way to secure yourself a series of images of animals that you are proud of. However, it can be extremely challenging to capture good wildlife images because photographers often make errors resulting in missed opportunities.

1 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

When you have been waiting for a while and are suddenly faced with photographing a wildlife encounter of a rare species, it is easy to get carried away with the excitement. You may forget the essentials and make mistakes, consequently missing out on the perfect shot.

To help you improve your chances of capturing a great wildlife image, avoid making these common mistakes:

1. Not doing your research

Knowing a bit about your subject, such as where and when you can see them, is an essential part of capturing a memorable wildlife shot. Turning up to a place and hoping for the best will likely result in disappointment. Your best bet is to do your homework and be as prepared as you can.

2. Motion blur

2 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Leopard, Wilpattu national park, Sri Lanka © Jeremy Flint

Generally, animals move quickly, and if you aren’t careful when taking your pictures, they can often result in motion blur. Sometimes adding intentional motion to your wildlife pictures can be effective and is a great way to add dynamism to your images through techniques such as panning. However, if you want to achieve sharper and more static images, which I would recommend for the majority of wildlife photographs, you need to take care that your shutter speed is not too slow.

3. Using too low an ISO

3 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Murlough Bay, Antrim Coast, Northern Ireland © Jeremy Flint

One way to ensure a faster shutter speed is to increase the ISO. Many photographers make the mistake of keeping the ISO low when photographing wildlife. This is usually to maintain maximum image quality. However, with a higher ISO, sharper shots will be achievable as the shutter speed increases.

4. Not being prepared

4 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Deer, Rondon Ridge Hotel, Mount Hagen, Papa New Guinea © Jeremy Flint

One of the biggest mistakes photographers tend to make when photographing wildlife is not being prepared. If you are not ready for the shot before it happens, you will miss it. Being unprepared could be something as simple as your battery going flat when you are taking photos or running out of space on your memory card.

Having prepared my camera the night before by charging my batteries and making sure my memory card had sufficient room to accommodate several images, I was able to take this shot of a deer as it appeared between the trees.

5. Out-of-focus pictures

5 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Green bea eater, Udawalawe national park, Sri Lanka © Jeremy Flint

Have you ever returned home from photographing wildlife images only to discover that your images are not sharp? This is one of the biggest pitfalls of recording good wildlife photos. It is likely that it may have been a case of not focusing on the subject properly. Therefore, be sure to aim and focus the camera on the part of the image you want sharp.

6. Your subject is too small in the frame

6 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Wild animals are easily spooked when approached by humans which means getting close to them is usually a challenging undertaking. As a result, you may find that your wildlife shots tend to have more of the surroundings in your shot, with your subject looking insignificant and lost in the background. Sometimes shooting an environment portrait of an animal can work well, but most of the time you will want to fill the frame with your animal shots. So if you aim to try and capture more of your subject, zoom in a bit closer.

7. The composition isn’t great

7 - 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife

Hornbill in flight, Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka © Jeremy Flint

Taking pictures of fast moving animals can often result in poor compositional shots. For example, a fleeting moment of a bird in flight or landing happens so fast that just getting a shot usually occurs to the sacrifice of the composition. Pictures can be spoilt by flapping wings, clipped parts of the body (such as the wings or tail), and not giving your subject enough space.

Conclusion

Common mistakes that you are likely to make when photographing wildlife include not being prepared or doing your research, motion blur, using too low an ISO, out-of-focus pictures, poor composition and including too small a main subject in the frame.

Now that you are aware of what not to do when photographing wildlife, turn these mistakes around to enhance your chances of capturing an image you can be proud of.

Now it’s your turn to venture out with your camera to photograph wildlife and share your images with us in the comments below.

The post 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Photographing Wildlife appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.

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3 Top Cell Phone Photography Apps (Android or iOS)

28 Jan

The post 3 Top Cell Phone Photography Apps (Android or iOS) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

One of the nice things about photography is that you don’t need an expensive camera or exotic lenses to produce good photos. Although such gear ensures the best image quality, to some degree that need has been nullified by the way today’s photos are shared. When viewed on a high-res smartphone or tablet, the technical imperfections of a phone image all but vanish. Cell phone photography is as legitimate as any other form of photography. Or is it?

In recent years, as the Internet has grown in power and influence, cell phone photography has become widely accepted by picture libraries and agencies. A huge market exists for web pictures, and it doesn’t always take DSLRs or even compact cameras to supply it. After inheriting an iPhone a few months back, and acquainting myself with various apps, I began sending phone photos to picture libraries.

When it comes to cellphone photos, libraries are surprisingly open-minded about the use of filters and effects. A conservative approach to editing is not necessary and may even be unhelpful. This article looks at three of the apps I use most for preparing images: MIX, PS Express, and Snapseed. Any of these three allows basic manual adjustments of color and tone. So instead of attempting repetitive in-depth reviews of all three, I aim to show you some of their individual features.

The opening screens of MIX by Camera360, Adobe PS Express and Snapseed by Google. All three are available for iOS or Android phones.

MIX by Camera360

MIX is filter-oriented with 100+ free filters and some in-app purchases. Of course, it also lets you make straight edits to your pictures (e.g. brightness, saturation, contrast, sharpness, spot removal). I’ve always liked presets and filters. If other photographers know exactly what they’re going to do with every photo, I’m not one of them. Sometimes it’s fun to try out different stuff and hit a few buttons.

Cine Filters

When you want to apply a color cast to an image, the Cine filters in MIX work well. They have various effects, including warm-up, cooling, and a classic orange & teal combo for movie-style color contrast (try Googling “orange and teal photography” to discover more). Using these filters is a bit like tuning the temp and tint sliders in Lightroom. They affect the white balance of the image.

Three top cell phone photography apps - teal and orange Cine filter from MIX

This orange (warm-up) and teal look is similar to an effect used in modern movies and comes from one of several Cine filters in MIX.

Slide Film Filters

As my photography predates the digital age, filters that imitate last-generation slide films appeal to me. I can’t testify as to their accuracy, but if I want a deep blue sky or just a bit more punch in color and contrast, MIX gives me an easy solution.

These deep-blue skies were achieved with the Fuji Velvia Slide Film filters in MIX and are true to the effect often seen in Velvia transparencies.

Holiday Sky Filters

Being an old-school slide shooter (or old at any rate), I struggle with the idea of grafting new skies onto photos, but then photography rarely tells the whole truth. MIX offers a range of Holiday Sky filters that might just rescue disappointing photos. To make artificial skies seem realistic, you must take notice of how the light falls in your photo and make sure it doesn’t blatantly conflict with the new background. There’s also a MIX “Magic Sky” filter series for more dramatic effects.

Sky grafting might be anathema for some, but Holiday Sky filters in MIX make it easy to replace a dull sky.

Adobe PS Express

As a long-time user of Photoshop, I tried PS Express hoping for a level of familiarity. I wasn’t disappointed. You can adjust photos using the same editing sliders found in other Adobe products: much of the toolbox seems intact.

Transform

If you shoot architectural photos, one of the best things about PS Express is its ability to easily correct the verticals and/or horizontals of a building. This avoids the “falling over” effect you get when pointing a camera at architecture. It helps if you leave space around the building when photographing it, otherwise, the transform tool will slice the edges off it.

The verticals in this photo of Florence were corrected with the Transform tool in PS Express.

Filters

PS Express has a decent selection of filters. I’m fond of the ones that apply a vignette, such as Basic/Autumn or B&W/pinhole. These give photos a sense of drama, and like all vignettes focus attention on the middle of the photo. You can give your photos a lot of mood with these filters.

Three top cell phone photography apps - PS Express pinhole filter

The PS Express B&W Pinhole filter focuses attention on the face of this effigy in Rouen Cathedral.

Text

Adding text to photos can seem a complicated process in some apps and programs, but PS Express makes it easy. You can easily create website graphics, greetings cards or memes and have plenty of control over fonts and opacity. As well, you can send your creations as layered PSD files to Photoshop CC on a computer.

Adding text with different fonts, opacity and colors is easy in PS Express.

Snapseed by Google

Developed by Google, Snapseed is an intuitive app that offers single-click “Looks” (filters by another name) and “Tools” for adjustable edits. It’s capable of great results with as little or as much input as you want. Among the tools, you’ll find anything from regular brightness, contrast or saturation sliders to more adventurous edits like “Double Exposure” or “Grunge”.

Looks: Fine Art

For black and white conversions, I find the “Fine Art” filter in Snapseed particularly pleasing. There is always a full range of tones to pack plenty of punch without much loss of shadow or highlight detail. The pictures are also very clean—no mid-tone noise in skies like there is with some B&W edits.

Three top cell phone photography apps - Snapseed fine art filter

The Snapseed Fine Art filter gives a well-balanced B&W conversion with a pleasing range of tones. I use it as my B&W cell phone default.

Tools: Drama

The Drama tool can easily produce overcooked results if you’re not careful, but it’s useful for bringing out the detail in clouds and/or lifting an otherwise dull photo taken on an overcast day. You can adjust the filter’s contrast effect as well as saturation to fine-tune the result.

Three top cell phone photography apps - drama tool

The Drama tool emphasizes mid-tone contrast and bleaches saturation on its default setting, often resulting in more dramatic skies.

Tools: Lens Blur

Snapseed’s Lens Blur tool lets you emphasize a particular area of a photo by controlling background blur and vignetting. The “Transition” slider lets you control the feathering area between the main subject and background, enabling natural-looking results.

Three top cell phone photography apps - Snapseed lens blur tool

The Snapseed Lens Blur tool emphasizes the face of this wooden sculpture of Christ in Venice.

Summary

The apps in this article will not be new to seasoned smartphone photographers, but I hope I’ve inspired others to use their cell phone cameras creatively. Phones have their limitations for some genres of photography, but that’s true of any camera and lens combo. They offer unrivaled portability. And while cell phones aren’t often seen in pro photography, they don’t rule out the chance of publication. Smartphones and their apps let you express yourself in countless ways.

The post 3 Top Cell Phone Photography Apps (Android or iOS) appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Glenn Harper.

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7 Pros and 5 Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

28 Jan

The post 7 Pros and 5 Cons of Volunteering Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

Some experiences are worth more than money. Volunteering your skills as a photographer may be worth more to you than some of your highest paying jobs.

You want to do good and help others. Offering your photography as a gift is a wonderful way to do this. But you need to volunteer properly, otherwise, it’s a meaningless transaction.

Let’s work through the pros and cons of volunteering your photography so that you can volunteer in a way that builds up you and the person you’re volunteering for.

1 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

A big rig delivering an excavator to a Habitat for Humanity build site.

Pros of volunteering your photography

There are good reasons to volunteer your photography beyond just saying yes because you feel guilty.

1. Your photography is a gift

Volunteering shouldn’t just be about working for free. Think of yourself as giving a gift rather than merely volunteering or working for free.

When you consider your photography a gift you won’t feel as though anybody owes you anything and your motives will be pure.

2. Grow as a person

You might consider sharing your gift of photography in order to grow as a person, especially if you don’t consider yourself to be compassionate.

Practicing acts of compassion through your photography is a perfect way to become more compassionate.

2 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

3. Develop empathy

Empathy is related to compassion. If you live an easy life, you might not notice how much suffering there is around you. Photographing people living through cancer, poverty, or natural disasters can help you become more empathetic.

My wife is called out during all hours of the day or night to photograph families who have had a miscarriage or infant death. We were a year into this volunteer work when we too experienced a miscarriage.

4. When it’s something you just can’t resist

You should jump at opportunities to volunteer when it involves something you just can’t resist. If you love cute animals then volunteer at an animal shelter. Gifting my photography to Habitat for Humanity allowed me to get up close to heavy machinery. Photographing things that excite you is good for your soul – and even better when it’s a gift.

3 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

I allowed for a hint of motion blur to capture the movement of the spinning drum on the cement truck.

5. Explore something new

Some volunteer opportunities will allow you to explore something new. Take it a step further by documenting your journey with a photo blog.

Explore an aspect of life that you know nothing about and see what you can learn as you volunteer your photography skills.

6. Make it a project

Volunteering your photography may be a good way to work on a project. For longer-term projects, you could explore a theme over the course of a month or even a year. Or maybe you bring only one camera and one lens to see what you can accomplish with a constraint.

7. Do it as an artist

Giving your photography as a gift allows you to think beyond merely working for free. So does thinking like an artist. Whatever the volunteer opportunity is, do it as an artist. Make a beautiful set of photos as if it’s an art project.

4 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

Volunteer your photography skills alongside other people gifting their skills too.

Reasons NOT To volunteer your photography

Don’t volunteer if your work is going to be shallow or self-serving.

1. For exposure

New photographers often fall for the lure of exposure. You’ll often be approached with volunteer opportunities that promise amazing exposure for you. And you’ll almost always be let down.

On what grounds will it be good exposure? Is the event filled with your ideal client? Will you be promoted in a meaningful way (social media mentions often don’t lead to real exposure)?

Offering to volunteer your photography in order to gain experience rather than exposure is a great idea. Experience builds and lasts, but exposure fades quickly.

2. For your portfolio

You might be told that the volunteer opportunity will be good for your portfolio. But is this the sort of subject that you would like in your portfolio?

It’s easy for enthusiastic people looking for a volunteer photographer to promise exposure and rare portfolio opportunities, but you need to be the judge of that. They likely know nothing about what is good for you and your portfolio.

Rather than hoping to build your portfolio, you should take it as an opportunity to explore. Be grateful if you happen to create an image that you will use in your portfolio.

5 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

I gave up on trying to produce portfolio images based on my home build photos. But surprisingly, those gritty construction photos have led to headshot work. They enjoyed the wide variety of photos I take and trusted that I would be a good creative photographer for them.

3. It might lead to paid work

Your volunteer work will probably lead to something paid, but maybe not anytime soon and maybe not the work you’re really after.

There are better ways to pursue paid work:

Improve your website
Make cold calls
Promote yourself publicly in creative ways

If you’re really after paid work, maybe you would be better off making cold calls for 10 hours. 10 hours of sales pitches is almost guaranteed to get you paid jobs. But 10 hours of volunteer work might not lead to anything paid.

Volunteer as a gift and that will be payoff enough.

6 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

4. Just because you can’t say no

You always say yes to everything because you don’t have the assertiveness to say no. When you volunteer just because you can’t say no, you’re letting somebody take advantage of your weakness. They might actually be disappointed to find out you said yes but meant no.

5. When there is too much risk

It’s wonderful to experience a new type of photography through volunteer work. It can even help you improve your craft.

But you shouldn’t volunteer for important photography jobs that you are not confident doing.

For example, if you’re strictly a landscape photographer who is uncomfortable photographing people then you should not photograph a person’s wedding for free. You will likely mess up their once in a lifetime photos.

7 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

When the home is finally completed the work becomes a gift from a whole community to the new family.

6. If you’re being run down instead of lifting each other up

Your volunteer work shouldn’t be burning you out. You and the person you’re volunteering for should both be built up in the process. This might be a sign that you’re saying yes when you mean no, or you are being taken advantage of. The point of charity and volunteer work is to build something good, not burn out those who want to be compassionate.

Volunteer for yourself too

If you’re a working photographer it can be easy to neglect your own photography projects. Those projects might not bring you any money, but you should pursue them for the same reasons you would volunteer your time for somebody else. You need to volunteer your time to yourself just as much to other people!

8 - Pros and Cons of Volunteering Your Photography

The pile of shoes is a sign of family and friendship gathered in the new home.

Motivation and side benefits

You could volunteer merely for the sake of exposure, portfolio building, or the hope of paid work. Or simply because you just can’t say no. But these are not good reasons to volunteer. They are risky and might lead quickly to burn out.

But when you think of volunteering as a gift, then you and your community will experience growth in empathy and compassion. Your gift becomes an opportunity for exploration and may grow into a beautiful art project.

Exposure, portfolio building, and paid work become a side benefit rather than a primary motivation.

I’d love to hear about your volunteer experiences down in the comments!

The post 7 Pros and 5 Cons of Volunteering Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Mat Coker.

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The Importance of Connecting With Your Photography Subject

28 Jan

The post The Importance of Connecting With Your Photography Subject appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

Photography is more about connecting with your subject than the connection you have with your camera. If you love photography, hopefully, you will love your camera. Connecting with it will not be a problem for you.

Paying more attention to your camera than to your subject is a mistake I see so many photographers make.

Pretty Smile The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Technical settings are important. But making well-focused and exposed photos is just the first step.

Making photos which communicate more than what something looks like takes practice. Express your experience. Your relationship with and connection to your subject.

Your connection with the world is unique

Nobody else sees the world in exactly the same way you see it. This is what can make your photography special.

Communicating not only what you see, but how you feel about your subject produces more interesting photographs. Anybody can pick up a camera and take technically correct photos. Do they always have appeal? No. Do they always communicate meaning in a manner that’s attractive? No.

Telling the story of how you see the world must be an intentional pursuit. Be mindful of your message before you pick your camera up. Without doing this you will only be taking photos that anyone else with a camera can make.

Bubble Fun The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

What are you connecting with?

Are you connecting with a person, a landscape, your dog, or a concept? Whatever you choose as your subject, the more fascinated with it you are, the more this will be expressed in the photographs you make of it.

Photograph what you love, what you enjoy. Show your experience of your subject in your photos. To successfully communicate this you must connect outside yourself for others to really be able to appreciate your photos.

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”

This is a famous quote from Robert Capa. He’s best known as a war photographer, but I think this advice has a far greater reach than with just conflict photography. I think it also has a deeper meaning than just physical closeness.

Getting closer to your subject in relational ways will make your pictures better.

Monk in a Saamlor The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Study your subject. Get to know it, or them. The better understanding you have of something the more dynamic your photographs of it will be.

Getting close takes time and commitment. Sometimes you’ll have years to build a relationship with your subject. Other subjects you may just have a few moments to make a connection. Getting close must be intentional.

We often visit the same locations in the photography workshops we teach. Over the years we have come to know the feel and flow of life in these locations. We have built a relationship with a lot of the people. Sometimes this can lead to tardiness in the way you approach photography.

Keeping a freshness of mind, thinking relationally, not just visually, keeps you motivated. Doing this, you’ll be able to continue making creative photos in places you visit often. By proxy, the people who join our workshops also reap some benefits from the relationships we have worked hard to build.

How do you get close enough?

Attach a wider angle lens to your camera. Standing back with a long lens will mean you are physically and relationally more removed from what you are photographing.

Fresh Market Butcher The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Be bold and step closer. Being in close proximity to your subject will make connecting more intimate. This requires you to present yourself well to your subject, especially when you are photographing people.

Be open and friendly. Approach a stranger with a smile and a warm greeting in their own language. Most people will reflect your warmth back to you. Making eye contact with people in most cultures will deepen your relationship instantly. Don’t be overbearing or too demonstrative, as this may put people off.

Take a little time to observe a situation and consider how you can best make a connection. This takes practice.

In big cities, this can be more challenging as people are typically more personally guarded. In smaller towns and rural locations, people can be more comfortable with being photographed.

Give something back

When you’re photographing people, show them the photos you’ve made. I love this about digital photography, that it’s so easy to share.

Be ready to take some more photos to capture their response. This is one reason I love making portraits with a 35mm lens. I can show my subject the pictures and be close enough to turn the camera back around and quickly take a few more of their reaction. With telephoto lenses, this is not possible because you have to be further away.

Portrait Print The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Ask for their email address or Facebook profile. Tell them you’ll send them a few pictures. If you photograph close to where you live, get prints made and take them back. People love this as it’s so rare these days to see a printed photograph of yourself.

Connecting with places and things

Photographing your favorite beach or city street can become more personal with mindfulness. Concentrate on why you like being there. Think about how you feel when you go to these places. Try to convey this in your pictures.

If you love photographing your car or pet, bring your experience into your expression. You’ve probably photographed these things many times already, so fresh concepts can be hard to come up with. Instead of looking for a new visual angle, seek one that reveals more about how you feel.

Thailand Mountain Sunset The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Time of day, quality of light, colors and other factors will influence feeling in your photos. Consider how the visual elements you include in your compositions reflect the way you feel about your subjects.

Conclusion

Practice your camera technique. Know your settings well. Give your brain more room to concentrate on what you want to convey about your subject.

Think what your photographs are about, not just what they are of.

Contemplation The Importance of Connecting With Your Subject

Some of these ideas may be challenging or seem rather abstract. Build a habit of connecting with your subjects. Over time you will see your photographic style develop. You will become more creative and your photographs become more appealing.

The post The Importance of Connecting With Your Photography Subject appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Kevin Landwer-Johan.

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SLC-1L-07: Small, Fast and Powerful

28 Jan

Much like a welterweight fighter, a leaf-shuttered camera and a speedlight in a mini softbox throws a punch that is much harder than you'd expect. Even outdoors, in midday light.

Case in point, these portraits of Cuban boxer Osmany Barcelay. Read more »
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7 Lessons You Can Learn about Photography from Legendary Photographer, Diane Arbus

27 Jan

The post 7 Lessons You Can Learn about Photography from Legendary Photographer, Diane Arbus appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

I discovered the extraordinary photography of Diane Arbus early on in my career and was blown away by the candid portraits she created. They seemed to have a strong feeling of intimacy coming from the subject (apparent in photos like “Family on their lawn one Sunday.”)

Arbus (1923 – 1971), was an American photographer whose most famous subjects were often outsiders in society.

Journalist Arthur Lubow said of her work: “She was fascinated by people who were visibly creating their own identities—cross-dressers, nudists, sideshow performers, tattooed men, the nouveau riche, the movie-star fans—and by those who were trapped in a uniform that no longer provided any security or comfort.”

I was impressed with her photos. To capture the feelings and reveal aspects of the lives and personalities of her subjects is both challenging to do as a photographer, and rare.

So many photographers are concerned with the ‘surface’ of their subject’s appearance. However, to spend time delving into our subject’s persona gives us an incredible insight into the multiple human experiences of that person’s life.

In this article, I take an in-depth look at Arbus’s photographic approach and draw out simple but powerful lessons to help you develop your photography.

What I most admire about Arbus’s approach is that she spent a lot of time connecting with her subjects. They felt comfortable with her and were able to relax and reveal aspects of themselves and their lives.

I think this connection is what leads to such a feeling of intimacy within her photos. It’s almost as if you are right there with her, and with that person (her photo of the boy with the toy hand grenade is brilliantly evocative of kids.)

Arbus died in the 1970s, but her photographic legacy is still profound. After her death, her daughter collaborated with the artist Marvin Israel to produce a short documentary about her work, Masters of Photography: Diane Arbus, in which her words get spoken over her images.

It’s a fascinating view of her approach, and many of the quotes I’ve used in this article come from that film. I encourage you to look up her work and see for yourself.

From my observations of her work and reading about her life, here are some of the lessons I’ve drawn from her photography. Included are my own photos.

1. We shoot what we are

“What moves me about…what’s called technique…is that it comes from some mysterious deep place. I mean it can have something to do with the paper and the developer and all that stuff, but it comes mostly from some very deep choices somebody has made that take a long time and keep haunting them.” Diane Arbus

I love the photographic kit, and I love cameras, and I am a bit of a tech nerd. Never met a camera manual I didn’t enjoy reading!

Moreover, I am an advocate of learning to use your camera, learning to shoot on manual and having an excellent understanding of all your kit. That way, you are so familiar with it that you can completely forget about it and concentrate entirely on getting into a deep creative flow state.

I will say, creating interesting, compelling and unique images has very little to do with your camera, and everything to do with who you are as a human being.

I have seen too many technically perfect, but entirely boring photos, to know how true this is.

We are all different as human beings, and so our photographs must reflect who we are. Reflect what we’ve experienced in life, what we love and dislike, what excites us and ignites our imagination, and what totally and completely fascinates us.

When we take photos, we are drawing from this massive well of life experience and our unique personalities. That is why I love the quote (above) from Arbus. It shows that there is so much more to photography other than the camera you have and how well you can use it. It is meaningful, but still a small part of the photographic process.

When people look at my photographs, they often say – “oh, you like to photograph cities or people or pretty nature?”

I say, “no – I only have one subject, and that is light.”

My photographic obsession is intriguing and beautiful light. Almost everything I choose to photograph has somehow been transformed by light, and it bewitches me.

I have distinct memories, of being a small child laying under a tree in a Greek garden, seeing and feeling the dappled light falling over my face. Moreover, many of my memories of growing up in California are also of light. Of being out in nature all day, and climbing trees in the hot, yellow sunshine.

I love the way that everything is affected by light. How the same thing – a tree, for example – looks and feels one way when the light is flat and grey, and entirely another way when it’s bathed in the light yellow sunshine of a spring morning.

Light is something that moves me on a subliminal, subconscious level. I didn’t even realize that light was my obsession for many years. That’s because, as Arbus says, “our photographs are a reflection of our deeper selves.”

When you examine your photos what do you see about yourself? What do you notice about the innate aspects of your personality? Does it tell you about what you love and what captures your attention?

Where can these deep passions take you in your photography?

2. Find the perfect angle

“I work from awkwardness. By that I mean I don’t like to arrange things. If I stand in front of something, instead of arranging it, I arrange myself.” Diane Arbus

I often see people’s photos of fascinating subjects, but the photos themselves are boring. They missed the chance to create a dynamic photo, often because of where they positioned themselves.

It may sound obvious, but your job as a photographer is not to wait for the subject to come to you, nor is it to wait for the subject to become perfectly aligned with your camera.

Your job is to find the very best angle. The very best place to stand and arrange yourself so that you place your subject at its very best situation in your frame.

There is always one angle that is the best for your subject. You have to find that. It may sound obvious but it’s not something I see a lot of amateur photographers do.

Ask yourself: if the subject and my composition isn’t perfect, where can I move to try different angles and compositions? Can I move up, down, or around?

Am I able to climb on a chair or walk up that hill? Do I need to lie on the ground or reposition myself so that the light falls on their face? Can I catch a reflection in the glass?

You should always be thinking to yourself: What happens to the subject when I go over here…?

Once you’ve got that great shot, explore further and search for other good angles. See if you can go one better.

3. Photography is your license to be curious (even when it scares you)

“If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, ‘want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life.’ I mean people are going to say, ‘You’re crazy.’ Plus they’re going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license. For a lot of people, they want to be paid that much attention and that’s a reasonable kind of attention to be paid.” Diane Arbus

Many photographers are scared to shoot strangers but would love to do it anyway. However, shooting people you don’t know can be a very confronting experience.

Often there is a big fear about what the person might do when they see a camera focused upon them, or when you pluck up the courage to ask their permission to shoot.

The most important thing to know here, and this comes from my own experience as well as from other photographers like Arbus, is that most people enjoy some attention.

Most people are happy to have you shoot them – or they don’t mind. Photographing someone is saying to them – I find you very interesting – and most people see that as a compliment.

Now we are in a different age to Arbus. When she was taking photographs, very few people had cameras. Whereas, now with our smartphones, cameras are everywhere.

What I love about Arbus is that she holds strong reverence for her subjects. The process of connecting and working with them was all about them and not about her feelings.

She talked at length about the fear and anxiety she felt about approaching subjects or going to their houses to photograph them.

It is inspiring to hear that she was always pushing herself to do more and not allowing her fear to hold her back. Although, on occasion, it did hold her back. However, she’d start over the following day or at the next opportunity.

We all experience fear, and it’s okay. Go with it and don’t let it stop you.

There’s another piece of advice I’d like to offer when photographing strangers, and this is what Diane Arbus also did, and excelled.

It all comes down to your attitude. Your potential subjects pick up on a sense of your energy when you point a camera at them.

Think about whether you are friendly and considerate. Do you smile and relax? Are you trying to connect with the person? Alternatively, are you shoving a camera in their face and being aggressive or are you only looking for a quick shot?

The biggest asset I have when photographing people all over the world, and where I don’t speak the language, is my smile. I often smile and lift my camera as if to say, “may I?”

People sometimes nod, or don’t respond but just stand still. If they say no or walk away, then I’ve got my answer.

If I am photographing people without them knowing and they see me, usually they walk away. However, if they want to connect, then I’ll show them the photo, smile and have a chat.

I work on projecting confidence in myself, and friendliness to my subject. The very worst that can happen is that someone wants me to delete the photo. How easy is this nowadays with digital cameras?

In fact, this has probably only happened once in the thirty years I’ve been taking photos. What typically happens is that they ask for a copy of the picture, which I gladly email.

Photography is also a license to connect with people. I have had so many interesting conversations, been taken to lunch and shown around new cities when people see that I am a photographer.

I tell people about my work, my books, and my projects, and people are curious. For them, it’s often an excellent opportunity to get to talk to someone new.

When my wife was pregnant and after our kids were born, she said the whole process changed her experience of London. Suddenly, instead of being ignored, she was stopped in the street, talked to in cafes and chatted to all over the city.

4. How to get to the reality of people

“There is a point where there is what you want people to know about you and what you can’t help people knowing about you.” Diane Arbus

Everyone has a mask that they show to the world. It’s so embedded in us that we don’t realize we are projecting it.

To show our true selves often makes us feel vulnerable. We don’t want to expose our worries, or what we believe to be our character flaws.

So we show the world an edited version of ourselves and an identity that we are happy to project (or not. Some people project anxiety or melancholy.)

We can always photograph a person on a surface level, posed in the way they’d prefer. But the fascination is to dive beneath the surface and find the place that tells us more truthfully about that person, and who they are.

As photographers, we want to get a sense of what it is like to be our subject and how they feel in that space and time. This is where I think Diane Arbus excelled – like in her photo “A young man with curlers at home on West 20th Street, N.Y.C.”

She had such a strong awareness of what people wanted to show, versus what their life really was, that she was able to get people to show their true selves.

So as photographers, it is awesome that we get the opportunities to explore and probe the masks that people put on. When we are patient enough, the mask drops and we can see the true human experience.

Getting your subject to show behind their mask can be simple. When shooting a portrait, have your subject hold the same pose for an extended period. After a while, they become bored of the pose or forget about it because they start thinking about something else, Suddenly, a real emotion or feeling comes pouring through.

It’s harder to do with some people than others. Some people used to being photographed, or who have a stronger attachment to their mask or ‘identity,’ try not to allow their true thoughts and feelings to come out.

This is where your patience comes into play.

Keep going. Stay with your subject and talk to them. Ask questions, move them around a bit, and see what develops.

Arbus had a fascination with her subjects and their ‘beingness.’ She didn’t try to manipulate them or change them but gave them space to be themselves.

She talked about how nice she was to people. She was warm and ingratiating, and that led to people relaxing and being themselves. Consequently, Arbus captured the clear, unvarnished experience of life.

Another big key for me, when shooting strangers, is to be respectful. It is their lives, their selves, that we are revealing to the world.

When Arbus said, “You see someone on the street and what you notice about them is the flaw,” it is about what is speaking to you about this person’s true humanity. Because humanity can be messy and difficult. We are complex beings. Discovering what makes each person who they are is a wonderful journey to take as a photographer.

Revealing the flaws, characters, and difficulties are often what connects us to each other in the first place. We all connect to the challenges of the human experience – and working to capture this in your photography is a very enriching process.

5. Don’t worry about your camera

“I get a great sense that they are different from me. I don’t feel that total identity with the machine. I mean, I can work it fine, although I’m not so great actually. Sometimes when I am winding it, it’ll get stuck, or something will go wrong and I just start clicking everything and then suddenly everything is alright again. That’s my feeling about machines, if you sort of look the other way they’ll get fixed. Except for certain ones.” Diane Arbus

As I mentioned above, I love my kit, and I love working out new cameras. However, I also recognize a camera is just a tool that enables me to capture my vision.

I have a pretty good smartphone and I take some brilliant photos with that. There are a lot of photographers, like Diane Arbus, who have focused on the subject over technical skill, and they have done just fine!

If learning technique to a very deep level isn’t your thing, don’t worry. Learn what you need to learn and just keep pushing yourself creatively.

6. Allow your fascination for your subject to blossom

“I would never choose a subject for what it means to me. I choose a subject and then what I feel about it, what it means, begins to unfold.” Diane Arbus

This quote is such an unusual piece of advice for me because it’s the exact opposite of how I photograph. Regardless, it’s also brilliant for me because I don’t believe just one photographer or teacher can teach you everything you need to know about your personal journey as a photographer.

My advice is to find the subjects that fascinate you the most. Find the places, people and things that you are in total awe of, and then use those feelings to create emotive, captivating images.

Still, I can see Arbus’s point about finding a subject and allowing your ideas and interest in the subject to unfold from there. Anything can be your subject given the right circumstances, and for me, you guessed it, that involves interesting light!

Perhaps you should take this lesson as more of a way to train yourself into finding something of fascination in whatever subject you come across.

It can also be a truly revolutionary approach to your photography if you have become entirely immune to a scene or find it difficult to see exciting things to photograph in your day-to-day life.

If you find yourself numb to the world around you, concentrating on a subject and working to open your awareness to finding a compelling aspect to your subject, will do wonders for your ability to see incredible images wherever you go.
Diane Arbus said, “The Chinese have a theory that you pass through boredom into fascination and I think it’s true.”

So there you go! Don’t worry about getting bored because it can lead to fascination, given enough time and perseverance.

7. Photography should make you an adventurer

“Once you become an adventurer, you’re geared to adventure, you seek out further adventures.” Marvin Israel

This is not a quote by Arbus, but the artist Marvin Israel who was very significant in Arbus’s life. He talked about how “Each photograph for Diane was an event.”

Israel talks about how moved she was by the experiences she had taking the photographs. That it wasn’t about the end photo at all, but everything that led up to taking the photo.

Arbus commented, “For me, the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. I do have a feeling for the print, but I don’t have a holy feeling.”

For her, it was just being with her subjects, talking and connecting, the dialogue, the waiting, and the anticipation.

This is what is so tremendously exciting about the medium of photography. You are not alone in a room with your thoughts, creating. It’s not a passive experience. You are engaging with the world, you are creating connections, and you are diving into life.

This isn’t about traveling to far-flung places. It’s not even about doing big, crazy things. It’s about enjoying all aspects of taking the photo. It is an adventure in itself.

Moreover, it’s about taking yourself on an incredible learning journey and seeing where your passions take you.

I would love to know what you think of these ideas. Do any of these connect with you and get you thinking in new ways about your photography?

The post 7 Lessons You Can Learn about Photography from Legendary Photographer, Diane Arbus appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Anthony Epes.

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How to Take Floating Photos – Levitation Photography [video]

26 Jan

The post How to Take Floating Photos – Levitation Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this great video from, Dunna Did It, you will learn how to create Levitation photography. That’s right, you’ll learn how to take floating photos!

What you need:

Camera to shoot with
Tripod
Photo Editing software

How to create levitation photography:

Set up your object that you are photographing.
Put your camera’s settings to the required settings based on your lighting and room.
The trick is to take one photo holding it with your left hand, and then one holding it with your right hand.
Be sure to turn on you turn Grids ON in your camera.
Line up your camera in the same spot for each shot using your grid.
Use manual focus for each shot because you want the focus to be exactly the same for each photo.
Hold your camera with one hand and line it up to your grid, focus and take the photo.
While still holding it, reach with your other hand and grab the opposite side (keeping the camera in the same position). Let go with the other hand, and take the 2nd photo. Try this as many times as you need to.
Choose and edit your best photos in Lightroom (or the editing program of your choice).
Once you have the two you want to combine, jump to Photoshop (press cmd+E mac, ctrl+E win) and choose Edit in Photoshop.
Go to the image held with the left hand and double-click the layer in the Layer Palette to make it an editable layer.
Then choose Cmd+A to select all, then Cmd+C to copy.
Jump to the other image, double click the layer in the Layers Palette to make the layer editable.
Then choose Cmd+V to paste the other image you copied into the new image.
Lower the opacity of the top layer to about 36% so you can see how well you can line them up.
Move the top layer until it is lined up.
Next, we want to take the top layer and delete to parts we don’t want.
Put a layer mask onto the top layer and select your Brush Tool (use a soft brush by turning down the hardness).
Change your foreground color in your toolbar to black to paint out areas of the layer mask.
Paint out the areas you don’t want. To fine-tune, make your brush smaller and continue to paint out areas you don’t need.
Check all your lines around your image to ensure they line up.
Do any further edits you want and you are done!

You may also find the following articles helpful:

How to do Digital Blending in Photoshop to Create a Composite Photo

How to Create A Simple Composite: Photoshop Creative

How to Make a Composite Wine Bottle Image using Photoshop Layers

Preparing your Model and Background for a Successful Composite

How to Shoot and Create a Composite Image for a Product Advertisement

A Guide to Create Eye-Catching Composite Images

The post How to Take Floating Photos – Levitation Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather [video]

25 Jan

The post Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

In this video by Julia Trotti, you’ll learn tips for portrait photography in overcast weather that can give you more even, soft light on your models.

Overcast weather can be a great time to do portrait photography because the light is soft and doesn’t create as many of the harsh shadows that bright midday sunlight creates.

If you are doing a shoot with a model and the weather is overcast, keep in mind the following tips:

1. Make the most of it by using locations you normally wouldn’t

Keep in mind, depending on the type of overcast weather it is, you may still get some shadows if it is a bright overcast day.

If you find there is not quite enough light getting to your model’s eyes, ask them to bring their chin up a little to capture the light on their eyes.

Bear in mind that the direction your model is facing also has an effect on the light and contrast to the background.

Shoot in a few directions at the start as test shots to decide which is the best angle for light.

When photographing on overcast days, you may want to find a location that has a pop of color so that your images are not flat. Green locations such as gardens and forests work well. If in a location that is not as vibrant in color, consider dressing your model in colorful clothes.

2. Be mindful of including the sky in your photos

When the sky is dark and overcast, it can add great drama. However, if it is a bright overcast day, the sky can look blown out. In this case, use varied composition and camera angles to eliminate distracting over-blown white sky (unless your purpose is to have high contrast between your model and background).

3. Keep an eye on your camera settings

When overcast, your scene may be quite a bit darker, and your camera settings need to reflect that. Also, depending on your location, you may need to tweak your camera settings too.

If you want to capture sharp hair in windy conditions, use a faster shutter speed to avoid motion blur on your models’ hair. If you want to show the effect of some slight motion, use a slower shutter speed.

You may also find the following articles helpful:

6 Portrait Lighting Patterns Every Photographer Should Know

13 Tips for Improving Outdoor Portraits

10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits

How to Create Awesome Portrait Lighting with a Paper Bag an Elastic Band and a Chocolate Donut

How to Pose and Angle the Body for Better Portraits

The post Tips for Portrait Photography in Overcast Weather appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.

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Writing Exercises to Improve Your Photography

25 Jan

The post Writing Exercises to Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

You might think that an image is worth a thousand words. Perhaps you may consider yourself more visual than eloquent? Moreover, you may merely think that writing and photography have nothing to do with each other? However, they are more related than you think. Whether it is to unblock your creativity or to propel your career, writing exercises can improve your photography.

Some writing exercises that can help improve your photography

1. Unblock your creativity

Are you feeling out of ideas for your photographic projects or stuck on the same photo-cliches? This is very common amongst photographers both amateur and professional. Often everyday life clutters our brain, leaving little room for creative thoughts.

Something you can do to open the way to more productive and original thinking is to write first thing in the morning. Write as much as you can without thinking about it. I don’t want to set a limit because we all have different needs, problems and time constraints. What I do advise is that you start writing whatever comes into your head. Don’t filter it. Keep going until it feels difficult because that’s when the clutter ends and the creativity begins.

2. Define your style

Let’s face it, being a photographer is appealing and so people want to know more. Often when you introduce yourself as a photographer, you get asked what type of photography do you do. The question I ask you is: do you know how to reply? Any great photographer has a clear trajectory and a recognizable style. Therefore you need to define yours to become ‘great.’

Defining your style is easier to do it if you have been doing photography for a while. However, you can also do it as an aspirational exercise. Go through your images and find the best ones. Also, find the ones that you enjoyed making the most and see what connects them.

Now try writing an Artist Statement. Even if you don’t do art photography write a piece of text that explains who you are. Put your vision and what separates you from any other photographer into words. This text can be a concept, your approach to a particular topic or an aesthetic style. Having it written down in a concise paragraph helps you understand who you are and you build up from there.

3. When, where and why

If you’ve been in the photography business for a while, you might have noticed that the traditional CV is challenging to apply to your trajectory. This doesn’t mean that you can’t or don’t need to put your work experience down in writing. One way of doing this is to write a biographic text that both helps you find jobs within your field, and understand your strengths.

You can try starting with a regular CV, which will most likely be kilometers long! As photographers, we have many different clients. Sometimes you do different types of photography according to the jobs you can get rather than your specialty. You may have dipped into survival jobs that are only vaguely related to photography but write them all down. Now start putting them into groups. For example, if you were hired to do your cousin’s wedding and the birthday party of your neighbor’s kid put them under Event Photography. If you photograph events of the bar next door for their Facebook page, put them under Social Networks Content, and so on.

From bullet points, turn this into a more in-depth text. Once you have that, it gets easier to tell a story – your story. Like any narrative, it has to be coherent, so make sure everything you put in there has a reason to be there. Leave out any day jobs you did to pay the bills that don’t fit into this career path. Finally, try to show evolution. How you’ve grown professionally and what you’ve learned from it.

Last thoughts

I hope you find these exercises as useful as I have. It’s not easy to evaluate yourself, and your work. Feel free to ask for someone else’s opinion regarding what you think is your style, as they might have seen something in your work that you missed. On the other hand, I recommend you don’t show the morning writings to anybody. If you know people will see them, you will start to curate and maybe even censor them. So, for that one just let go and enjoy!

The post Writing Exercises to Improve Your Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ana Mireles.

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Photo Editing: When Does it Get to be too Much?

24 Jan

The post Photo Editing: When Does it Get to be too Much? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.

Editing photographs in itself is an art. It is what has made so many great photographers legendary. The ability to take the limits of a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world, exact it onto a type of film or digital sensor, then, and only then, to craft the image into one’s liking.

Indeed, it is an art, which raises the question – where is the line drawn for too much editing?

Like art and how to define it, that answer is not straightforward. We each have our interpretation, but let’s take a look at some parameters. There are three questions you may want to ask yourself the next time you dive in to edit your images.

What is my intent?

In the days of film, you had to have intent. Even if your intention was “to mess around and learn some things,” you realized there was a direct cost to that learning. That cost was film, paper, chemical solutions and time — moreover, money.

Now, experimenting is so dang easy, any kid with an iPhone can do it. I think that’s a good thing. Experimenting is a vital part of artistic expression and is especially true with photo editing.

Having intent is important when coupled with experimenting if you hope to learn, grow and progress.

Intent lets you know when your experimentation goes too far, and your edits are too much. The intent is a wonderful guide, with plenty of latitude if you bestow it.

My suggestion here is to have intent with your editing experimentation. Know what you hope to gain from experimenting and have a general direction.

Have I stayed true to my vision?

Vision is where your intent takes you. Having artistic vision helps place boundaries on your work that is often needed, lest everything turns to chaos.

Maybe a portrait photographer’s vision is to portray each subject in a subdued manner with soft lighting and harsh details. They want to show that side of each subject, and that leads to their intent, over and over again. It is repeatable.

This is one edit the author now admits was too much editing, even if it was fun at the time.

Alternatively, perhaps you’re a landscape photographer who envisions your work being a truthful depiction of what you experienced, not some fanciful ‘perfect world.’ You put effort into recreating the scene when back at your computer and employ tools to your end vision.

Without having a vision of what you want to produce, it’s easy to be swayed by the siren song of really cool editing tools that pull you toward the rocks of editing ruin.

Is this sustainable?

I don’t mean to say all art, all forms of editing you choose, need to last forever. We all go through phases. This struck me most profoundly on a trip to Barcelona recently and a review of Goya’s work through the decades he painted.

Firstly, there were Goya’s early career phases where he exacted reproduction in a French and Italian style. These were the most important. Beautiful portraits!

Then, later, he had a more simplistic style. Filled with easy colors and a looser interpretation of the world around him with all its players.

In one of the last room were exhibits of Goya’s “Black period.” Charcoal and dark tones, and dire scenes of hardship. Nothing like what he had been producing before.

Most of us move through periods. That does not instantly disqualify any one of them as art (in an editing sense), but it does give us a good mirror.

We are our own harshest critic, and we alone can look back at work we did one, five, or twenty years ago and deem it art or not. If we see a style, a thread that runs through all our works, it’s easy to say we have crafted art. However, if we find through the benefit of time and distance, that something we thought was the bee’s knees is now, to our more experienced eyes, rubbish, we can cast it aside.

The HDR craze as an example

Some years ago, as digital photography was catching on with the masses, came the HDR craze. It was a time when anyone could use a particular technique to achieve what is known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) images.

For some, it was a fun departure from their normal routine. Others saw it as a chance to show everything in a scene; maybe not the same as their eyes saw, but better than the alternative.

Some of us had our stomachs turn every time we saw one of those photos.

It was new, and it was novel. Moreover, it didn’t fit into many photographers’ visions. Today, it’s hard to find any examples of those early attempts still being reproduced. It wasn’t sustainable.

Although, it was fun for a while. Particularly for those who enjoyed the departure from reality.

I would profess that it was a case of too much editing and that it met its likely demise because of it.

Conclusion

While deciding what dictates too much editing is subjective to the viewer and their experience, I hope the questions I posed above help guide you in future endeavors.

I’m not here to judge your work or to say you might be wrong. That voice, and what your art means to you, needs to come from inside you.

Develop your vision. Stay true to it. Focus your intent toward it. Then you will scarcely have to worry if you’ve gone too far in your editing work.

The post Photo Editing: When Does it Get to be too Much? appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Peter West Carey.

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