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Capture a Successful Collection of Photographs with these 3 Tips

15 Oct

In a previous article, I discussed some helpful tips for preparing for a photo shoot. It’s important to be ready, but let’s be clear – you have to be able to perform on the day. So let’s talk about some helpful tips you can use to capture a successful collection of photographs on the big day.

I shot photographs for a band. The goal of the shoot was to create a collection of images they could use on social media. This one is pretty dark but it was processed this way on purpose. The band was playing a very moody venue and they liked the idea of a darker photograph.

Regardless of whether you’re shooting professionally or taking some photos for friends, these tips can help you to ensure you get the best pics. You may be taking photos of your child’s soccer game. Whatever the occasion there are some things you can do to get great photos.

1) Taking care of the people you photograph

This is the single most important thing you can do is take care of your clients. It sounds silly, but your job is to build their confidence, to direct them, to inspire and help them to pose for photos. Anyone with knowledge of camera settings and lighting can take an image that is sharp and well-lit. But to bring out the personality of those you photograph and to make meaningful images requires you to make a connection with the clients. They need to feel safe during the shoot. You’re the one who has to ensure each person involved feels secure. It’s important to watch your models carefully. Are they comfortable? Are they fidgety?

The leader singer was a little apprehensive about me taking photographs. She told me when she sings she always looked like she was in pain. I took the time to shoot a lot of images hopefully capturing something she would like.

Consider the type of atmosphere you create during the shoot. Are you relaxed? Do you exude confidence in your abilities or are you nervous? If you’re feeling nervous, then so will the people you are photographing. It might be worth thinking of yourself as the father or mother of the folks you are photographing. Be that voice of calm amidst the chaos. Let them know you have their back.

I tried to include some shots of the action in between songs.

2) Think about the types of images you’re shooting

Depending on the event you’re shooting you need to consider several factors. The last thing you want to do is shoot a whole bunch of images that look the same. So you need to consider several things.

If you’re shooting a portrait session, then you need to think about posing and grouping individuals. How can you make the images look different? Do you change the setting or do you have people arrange themselves differently? You could have them grouped closely together or create a composition in which individuals are more spread out. Perhaps you have a mix of individuals either standing or sitting. There are lots of ways to pose people. If you’re the type of person who needs to sketch out diagrams and have a plan, then go ahead and do that, but remember variety is the key.

It was important to try and isolate two members of the band. A photograph of the married couple on stage together is an important keepsake.

If you’re shooting a child’s sporting event, you will want to mix in images that show both the whole playing surface as well as images that capture individual players. Maybe you choose to focus on facial expressions for a while. You can also capture intricate details like a pair of feet dribbling a ball, or the hands of player just before she shoots a 3 pointer. Just try to consider lots of different ways to portray the action.

3) Think about purpose

It’s so important to consider the point of taking these photographs. What do you hope to accomplish with this collection of images? Are you capturing precious family memories? Perhaps you’re documenting the growth of your son’s abilities to play soccer? Maybe the goal is to capture images of a beloved family pet that hasn’t got a whole lot of time left with the family. Whatever the reason, this purpose will guide you to create photographs.

Communicating an idea will dictate how you ask your family to pose. A photograph in which a dog is running happily after a toy or playing with small children will communicate a sense of family, but consider how a shot of an older dog sleeping next to your teenager on the couch may show a different stage of the life cycle.

A close up of the musicians and their instruments adds a nice variety.

All too often we jump in with the camera and forget that purpose can be more important than having the perfect exposure. So slow down, think purposefully as you shoot, and remember your goal is to create cohesion. You want a set of photographs that have a variety of compositions but also fit nicely together. Create interest in both the composition and the story told by your images.

Writing out your purpose might be helpful. Create a type of mission statement that you keep in the back of your mind as you shoot. Do whatever you need to do keep the purpose of your photographs front and centre. Don’t hesitate to post the purpose on a piece of paper somewhere. It might even help for the individuals involved in the shoot to see the purpose. If they are aware they can help to maintain the central idea through how they pose for photographs.

Including images of all the band members was important too. The focus on this shot is the sharpest but there’s a lot of emotion and effort in his face. That was important to capture.

So, no matter the subject matter or your photographic expertise, keep in mind how important it is to shoot photographs with a consciousness that accounts for all the factors listed above. It will be hard at first to remember all these different elements but eventually, you will become comfortable, and it will be more second nature to you.

If you’ve got some helpful tips, please share them with us. We want to hear about all the different types of steps you take when shooting a group of photographs. Let’s help each other out.

It’s also important to consider changing lenses. I used a wide angle lens for this shot.

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These 3D-printed hotshoe covers remind you what speed film you have inside your camera

06 Oct

Before the days of LCD displays, the only way you could keep track of what speed film you had in your camera was to remember it, select a dial on the camera, or cut out a piece of the film box and place it in a designated area on the back of the camera.

However, not all cameras have ISO dials or places to put a note; and even if they do, some have a limited range of ISO labels to choose from. To remedy this problem, photographer Guy Sie customized a set of 3D-printed hotshoe covers with common ISO ratings on the top so you can easily check what speed film you have inside your camera.

“On my fully manual ’50s Leica M3 rangefinder camera, the ISO film speed indicator dial on the back only goes up to 200 – the fastest speed available at the time. With film speeds going up to ISO 3200 now the dial is basically useless so I don’t bother with it, but then I have to remember what film I loaded last time I used the camera – which might be weeks ago,” says Sie in the project summary. “After screwing this up a few times too many, I modified gcardinal’s hotshoe covers by adding ISO speed numbers to the top. Load your camera, swap out the cover for the right ISO, and never forget what film is loaded again!”

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The set consists of covers for ISO 100, 125, 160, 200, 320, 400, 800, 1600, and 3200 film stocks. As is, the numbers on the covers are raised, but if you really want to make them pop, you can give them a little coat of paint or black them out with a permanent marker, as Sie has done with the set he made for his Leica M3.

The files for Sie’s hotshoe covers are free to download through Thingaverse. You can print out at home if you have a 3D printer on hand or pay a few dollars to have some made through online print shops like Shapeways or Sculpteo.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

25 Jul

Post-processing is a particularly sensitive topic and there’s always a certain amount of processing versus non-processing discussions that take place after articles on the topic. It’s not hard to understand since how you choose to process your images is your artistic choice.

There’s not necessarily a right or wrong way to go about it but, that being said, there are certain “mistakes” that I notice quite regularly, especially amongst beginning photographers who aren’t quite able to achieve the looks they want.

Some of these mistakes are obvious while others, not so much. What they have in common, though, is that they are mistakes that most of us are guilty of making or have made at some point. Let’s dive in.

1. Not Considering Color

Let’s start with a mistake that the majority of us are or have been making, and one which isn’t necessarily that obvious to all of us: failing to understand color harmonies.

Color harmonies might be easier to control as portrait or studio photographers but as landscape photographers, we have to work with the conditions nature gives us. Sometimes, our job is to find order in the chaos and highlight the most interesting aspects of the landscape. Indeed, it’s not an easy task.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - person in red jacket on a hill

In this image, I desaturated the blues to keep the focus on the person walking down the hill.

The discussions can quickly become controversial as we start talking about working with colors in nature. I’m not here to say what you should or shouldn’t do but I’ll give you a couple of ideas on how you can work with color in post-processing:

Use the HSL sliders in Lightroom/Camera RAW to adjust the hues of certain colors to create a better color harmony in the image.
Rhe HSL sliders can also be used to desaturate colors that are too dominant and take unnecessary attention away from the main subject.
Use techniques such as Luminosity Masks or Saturation Masks in Photoshop to selectively work on the brightness, saturation and contrast of specific areas within an image.

The goal when working with colors should be to only highlight those that are in harmony with each other. I often bring out a color wheel to check that the colors in an image are in harmony and if I need to desaturate (or saturate) any of them.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - photo with alpenglow mountain scene

Notice how all the colder tones are slightly desaturated and darkened to enhance the focus on the glowing mountain.

2. Only Making Global Adjustments

This brings us to mistake number two: you only make global adjustments. In other words, each adjustment you make is applied to the entire image.

Let’s say that you want to increase the green grass in one of your summer images. The traditional way of boosting the color is by using the Saturation slider. However, that will increase the saturation of the entire image and will in most cases lead to an oversaturated image; which results in visual chaos rather than a pleasant experience when viewing it.

In mistake number one, I briefly mentioned using the HSL sliders for making adjustments. By using this panel you’re able to affect only one specific color rather than the entire image. By using the Green Saturation slider you can target only the green colors and make an adjustment to only those hues.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - lighthouse and green field or hill

It’s not only when adjusting the saturation that you should work selectively though. Personally, I make selective adjustments (often through Luminosity Masks in Photoshop) when working with color, contrast, brightness and pretty much any other adjustment you can think of.

3. Clarity at 100%

You might not want to hear this but increasing Lightroom’s Clarity slider to 100% is rarely a good idea, especially when it’s added globally. While I agree that adding clarity can often give an extra pop to the image as it brings out a lot of nice textures and details, it does more harm than good when it’s applied to the whole image. It also adds a significant amount of noise and lowers the overall quality of the file.

Let’s look at an example. In the image below I have increased the clarity to 100%. (Besides that, no other adjustments were made). I do like how it brought out a lot of texture in the mountain but the foreground now contains just as much texture and it’s competing with the mountain to grab your attention. In fact, the moss in the foreground is the natural place to look as it’s both bright and crisp.

mountain scene cloudy - Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

If instead, I only add clarity to the mountain by using a Gradient Filter you’ll see that it makes a big difference compared to the image above. There’s still nice texture in the mountain but the foreground is now less crisp and working as a natural leading line.

Note: I prefer to rather use a mask in Photoshop and add it to only the mountain, as a gradient filter adds it to more places than what I want. But you can now use the brush tools to edit your gradient filter in LR as well.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images - same scene different edit

Clarity only applied to the mountain.

Keep in mind that you want the most important areas of the image to be the sharpest. Naturally, the viewer’s eyes are guided to the sharpest parts of the image. Also, there’s no point in adding clarity to soft surfaces such as a blue sky or silky water. These are often better left alone.

4. Leaving Dust Spots

Unless you’ve got a brand new camera or you’re a superstar when it comes to having clean equipment, it’s likely that you’re going to have at least a few dust spots on your images. This is especially true if you regularly photograph in rough conditions including wind, snow, rain, and sand.

Removing dust spots is super easy and takes no more than a few minutes, so really there is no excuse not to do so. You have to admit, it looks quite unprofessional if a beautiful image has a bunch of dust spots in the sky. Would you hang that on your wall?

Keep in mind that if you enlarge and print your images, even the smallest dust spots become visible. Therefore, it’s a good practice to zoom in 100% on the image to look for any possible dust spots. When you find one, simply use Lightroom’s Spot Removal Tool and move on to the next.

It can be tedious work if you’ve got an extremely dirt lens but it’s something that needs to be done.

Avoid These 4 Post-Processing Mistakes That Can Ruin Your Images

Turn on “Visualize spots” to help you find dust.

Conclusion

To end this I want to say one final thing: the most important is that you’re happy with the images you capture and process. If you like highly saturated images, go for it. If you like tilted horizons, good for you.

Stay true to your style and vision and create the art you want – don’t let anyone decide what your images should look like.

Using selective adjustments I was able to darken only the brightest part of the image

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These are the winners of the 2018 iPhone Photography Awards

21 Jul

Jashim Salam, Bangladesh
Grand Prize Winner, Photographer of the Year

The iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS), was founded in 2007, making it the longest running iPhone photo competition in the world. Now in its 11th year, the winners of the IPPAWARDS have just been announced, and looking at the winning image it should be pretty clear that you don’t always need a DSLR and big lens to capture outstanding photographs.

The Grand Prize winning image is called “Displaced” and shows Rohingya children watching an awareness film about health and sanitation near Tangkhali refugee camp in Ukhiya, Bangladesh. It was captured by photographer Jashim Salam on an iPhone 7.

Swiss photographer Alexandre Weber’s contribution “Baiana in yellow and blue” was captured on an iPhone 6S in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil and was awarded 1st prize in the Photographer of the Year category.

Alexandre Weber, Switzerland
1st Place, Photographer of the Year

Huapeng Zhao from China won the 2nd prize for his image “Eye to eye” showing a boy at the seaside in YanTai ShanDong province, China. Zhao used an iPhone 6 to record his award-winning photograph.

Huapeng Zhao, China
2nd Place, Photographer of the Year

The winners were selected from thousands of entries captured by photographers from more than 140 countries.

IPPAWARDS founder Kenan Aktulun said “iPhone users have become very fluent in visual storytelling. This year’s photos were technically impressive and many of them were very personal.”

On the IPPAWARD website you can see the winning images in all categories and find out more about all winning photographers. If you feel inspired, you’ll also find more information about how to enter the 2019 competition.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don’ts

06 May

Maybe you’re already a seasoned event photographer interested in improving your business, or perhaps you’re reading this because you’re about to photograph your first event and want some pointers. As a photographer, you want to be keenly aware of your image as well as behavior when working on-site with clients. A superior professional image shows the world that you’re both competent and worth the cost of your services for event photography.

This article provides my recommendations on how to appropriately conduct yourself before and during an event photography shoot. Positioning yourself to land assignments and inspire confidence in your clients starts with your demeanor and presence.

1. DO Wear Appropriate Clothing

Your apparel says a lot about you. On one event photoshoot, I was approached by a guest who appeared interested in hiring me for a freelance job. But he hesitated, saying “Honestly, you look expensive. I’m not sure I can afford you.” While that assumption may have been right, his reaction was far better than “You look cheap, maybe I can lowball you.”

man in tuxedo toasting - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Always ask your client about the dress code ahead of the event. Did you forget to ask? Play it safe and dress your best. It’s better to be the sharpest dressed person in the crowd than the jeans-and-t-shirt person in a sea of tuxedos.

group in tuxedos -Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

2. DO Respect Privacy

As a photographer, you’re probably familiar with the fact that not everyone likes being photographed, much less by a stranger. In order to make guests feel at ease, introduce yourself, “Hi, my name is John/Jane Doe and I’m here Photographing for XYZ Media.”

Guests might ask for further info, such as where the photos will be displayed. It’s wise to gather this info with your client ahead of time. Sometimes an introduction isn’t necessary. Once guests see you making the rounds with your camera, they might just grab you for a quick shot, no questions asked.

beef sliders - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

To avoid liability/privacy concerns, you can specify in your contract that it’s the client’s duty to inform guests of a photographer’s presence for the event. In my experience, clients have no issue with this.

3. DO Show up Early

Most of my event clients want to know that I’m willing and able to arrive early, which I do as a courtesy at no extra charge.

menu on a plate - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Showing up early not only allows you to familiarize yourself with the venue and points of contact, but also shows your professionalism. Take precautions: Leave extra time in case of traffic, car troubles, or those dreaded wardrobe or equipment malfunctions. Plus, when you arrive early you can grab some preliminary test images of the venue/rooms as well as important detail shots.

4. DO Learn People’s Names

If you sometimes have trouble remembering names, as most of us do, take care to write down all client names (especially new clients) in BIG letters on your notes sheet for the event.

Everyone likes hearing their name, and a prospective client will subconsciously be more impressed if you can end the conversation with a friendly, “Well Kathy, I’m glad we talked and I’m looking forward to working with you.” Re-read that sentence in your head but without the name this time. It sounds a bit cold and dry, right?

5. DO Interrupt as Politely as Possible

As you make your rounds during a networking or cocktail hour, many people will be engaged in conversation. When it’s unavoidable interrupting a conversation, I recommend approaching while making eye contact.

Mexico Consulate Award - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Typically someone in the group will notice you and your camera and know what you want. If nobody notices you, don’t be too shy or just stand there awkwardly. A gentle tap on the shoulder might be in order. Of the hundreds of times I’ve approached people for photos, I seldom get a “no”. People understand that photography is my job, and most are happy to pose for a photo.

6. DON’T Photograph People Eating

For most events over two hours in length, there will be a portion where guests are treated to a meal or hors-d’oeuvres. Photos of people eating should be avoided, so this is your chance for a work break.

Pay attention, however, because you can get some great candid photos of tables at the tail end of a meal when the satisfied diners are typically in a good mood. I’ve captured many great photos of guests post-meal laughing and chatting this way. I recommend standing back and using your zoom lens to capture these images.

people talking - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

7. DON’T Be Pushy With Public Figures or Celebrities

You might be excited to learn that someone notable, a political figure or even your favorite musician will be attending an event. Thanks to the bad behavior of so many paparazzi over the years, many public figures dislike or distrust photographers. Can you blame them?

Radio Show awards photo - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Keep this in mind as well: most celebrities dislike being told what to do. If you’re photographing a meet-and-greet situation and it’s not an intimate portrait session, be careful about asking a celebrity to strike a pose or shift position, regardless of whether or not it would help the photo. Try to gauge the individual’s temperament and mood. If he or she ignores your question or reacts badly, don’t persist! Shooting around such non-cooperation will be necessary.

8. DON’T Show Alcohol or People Drinking

Not everyone cares if they’re photographed holding a beverage; in fact, some people like that image. Regardless, as a courtesy to guests, it’s best not to show them drinking alcohol. When photographing a group of guests standing around a table, it’s a good precaution to ask whether any of them would prefer to set their drinks down first.

Wiley Awards Ceremony lady with wine - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Wiley Awards Ceremony image cropped - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

Cropped to remove the drink.

9. DON’T Drink Alcohol While Working

Quite often you’ll find alcohol flowing freely at events and parties, including even the high-level corporate get-togethers. You may be tempted to join in on the fun. If you are, I recommend waiting until your job is done and your camera gear is safely stashed away before indulging.

You wouldn’t want your client to give you the okay, only to have the CEO of the company or the bride’s father spotting you with a tall glass of whiskey in one hand and a camera in the other. You’re a professional, and that’s not a good look for you.

Editor’s note: I personally would recommend NEVER drinking at an event you are hired to attend, even if you are done shooting for the night. Other people can’t know that you’re off the clock. They just know that you’re the official photographer and that they saw you drinking. So use your own judgment.

wine bottles - Event Photography Etiquette: Avoid Embarrassment With These 10 Dos and Don'ts

10. DON’T Make Sales Pitches to Attendees

I recall reading a one-star review of a wedding photographer who acted completely inappropriately on a job and it stuck with me. Not only did that photographer allegedly flirt with the bridesmaids but he tried handing a business card to the groom during the cake-cutting ceremony instead of photographing his client’s special moment.

Take note: Bad timing and poor social awareness could land you poor reviews and do harm to your business and reputation.

That’s not to say that your conversations with attendees couldn’t turn out to be productive, just remember that your paid job at the event is to photograph. Assuming that you’re maxing out your assignment, it’s fine to chat with guests here and there. But let the subject of your services arise from their questions, not from your self-promotion.

Summary

In summary, there are many precautions to consider in order to come off as a professional at an event. Whether it’s a wedding, party or corporate engagement, self-awareness is key, and a little preparation can go a long way in demonstrating your competency and professionalism.

If you follow these tips and do your best work, your clients will undoubtedly be impressed and more importantly – happy.

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Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

03 May

There are some common mistakes photographers make when starting to shoot food. Are you guilty of these five food photography mistakes?

There is a saying that if you can shoot food, you can shoot anything. Some would disagree with this, as every genre of photography has its own challenges. However, food can be very difficult to shoot purely for the reason that it dies in front of the camera so quickly.

One minute your towering stack of pancakes causes your salivary glands to go into overdrive, the next minute you wouldn’t feed the pancakes to the dog. Despite what many an Instagram account would have us believe, a lot of food is not really that good-looking. It’s up to the photographer and usually a food stylist and a whole team of people to create the drool-worthy images you see in cookbooks and magazines.

peach tarts - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

Great food photography is about planning and considering all the details up front. It is also a process of constant problem-solving. Thinking through the key aspects that make up a great food photograph before picking up your camera will go a long way towards helping you get the best results.

#1 – Bad Light

As with any form of photography, the most important principle is light. Without light, you’d have nothing. This is why photography is often referred to as “painting with light”. Whether you are using natural or artificial light, the approach you take with your lighting will make or break your photographs.

Often what separates the professional food photographers from hobbyists is their keen understanding of the physics of light and how to manipulate it to get the effect they want. If a client wants you to shoot their orange juice product to look like it was taken early in the morning on a sunny day and you live in rainy London, you will have to know how to recreate that light.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - breakfast sandwich

Lighting is not just about getting enough light onto your subject. As long as you have some light, you can get a decent shot with a longer exposure. Good lighting is also a matter of correct light.

For example, a common issue is restaurant photography where the indoor lighting contaminates the scene, creating unwanted color casts, particularly in the highlights. This can be difficult to fix in post-processing but can be avoided by overpowering the ambient light with a flash system, such as a speedlite, or flagging (blocking) the top to keep the unwanted light from hitting your set.

#2 – Poor Composition

Image composition is an art form in itself. Apart from light, it’s one of the most difficult aspects of food photography to master. It can take years for composition to become second nature to you. Going in-depth on this is beyond the scope of this article, but there are some things to be aware of that can help you improve your compositions right away.

To start with, keep it minimal. Your main subject with a couple of supporting elements, like a prop and a square of linen is all you need. Use three to five elements in your composition. Using odd numbers while composing your scene will add more symmetry and balance than even numbers, which can create competition between the elements and divide the viewer’s attention.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - cinnamon buns

Think about the textures in your scene. Adding texture in terms of your props or surfaces and backgrounds, or even supporting ingredients such as seasonings or garnishes can really elevate the simplest food image.

Another tip is to keep your surfaces and background neutral. Bright colors will detract from the food and even cast unwanted tones onto the food.

#3 – Incorrect Angle of View

Before beginning to shoot, it’s crucial to decide on the best angle to shoot your food scene. The right choice will depend on your subject.

Foods with several layers, like burgers or stacks of pancakes, look best when shot at eye level, so every element can be seen. On the other hand, flat foods like pizza and cookies look best shot from overhead or at 90 degrees, as this angle puts everything on an even plane and brings a graphic element to the subject.

This is a great angle for tablescapes or other scenes where there are numerous elements that might not otherwise fit into the frame.

Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes? - pizza shot

Another popular angle is forty-five degrees or three-quarters view. This angle works in many situations with many types of food. It works with most focal lengths and the main subject’s shape, height and texture are displayed.

fettuccine with peas - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

One angle I would rarely recommend is a low camera viewpoint, where the camera is aimed slightly upwards. You sometimes see this in burger advertisements, but it rarely works for most types of food subjects.

#4 – Incorrect Focus

When approaching a shoot, you also need to be aware of where the sharpest focus should land. Typically this will be more toward the front of the food. In addition, think about how much of that area should be in focus. This will influence the f-stop (aperture) you choose.

I rarely shoot any lower (wider) than f/5.6 for my food compositions, as I find not enough of my subject will be in focus otherwise. When shooting food, the objective is to show off the food and make it look its best, which won’t happen if most of it is blurry.

Once you have taken your shot (preferably with your camera tethered to your laptop) check your focus at 100% magnification. Make sure focus is where you want it and the depth-of-field is not too shallow.

chia pudding_darina kopcok_DPS

Also, calibrating your lens to your camera will ensure that you are not missing focus due to technical issues.

#5 – Cropping Incorrectly

The beauty of digital photography is that you can sometimes address issues that you have encountered during your shoot in post-processing. One example of this is using the crop overlay tools in Lightroom or Photoshop to finesse your compositions. However, image crop is a point that needs to be addressed when shooting.

Common mistakes new food photographers make is shooting the main subject too close, to the point the viewer doesn’t understand what is being portrayed. Or the cropping is too tight to show the food in its best way.

In the image below, the Indian-spiced prawns look much better when the scene is shot wider and includes a couple of elements that they’d be eaten with, like naan bread and chutney. The closer shot lacks movement and flow and is overall less appealing.

indian prawns - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

When shooting, try a couple of different crops and see which looks best. Also, a good tip is to shoot your scene wider than you want it to look in the final image so you can use the crop guides in your post-processing program of choice to improve your composition.

croissants - Are You Making These Five Food Photography Mistakes?

Hopefully, these tips will help you plan for your next food shoot. Let me know in the comments some of the challenges you’ve faced with your own food photography and how you’ve overcome them. What food photography mistakes have you made?

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These are the winners of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

21 Apr

2018 Sony World Photography Award Winners Announced

After first revealing the shortlist and later the Open category and National Award winners, the World Photo Organization has finally unveiled the overall winners of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards. This includes the coveted Photographer of the Year, Open Photographer of the Year, Youth Photographer of the Year, and Student photographer of the year awards, as well as the 10 winners of the Professional categories.

This year’s winners vary greatly in both style and substance: from stark portraiture, to dreamy landscapes, to an ecologically-minded photo project that sheds light on the problem plastic pollution.

The overall winner and 2018 Photographer of the Year accolade goes to British photographer Alys Tomlinson, whose project Ex-Voto:

The winning work encompasses formal portraiture, large format landscape and small, detailed still life images of the ‘ex- votos’ (offerings of religious devotion) found at pilgrimage sites of Lourdes (France), Ballyvourney (Ireland) and Grabarka (Poland).

Tomlinson’s project was selected as the best from the 10 Professional category winners, where she also took home top prize in the Discovery category. The title comes with $ 25,000 worth of prize money.

Open Photographer of the Year was awarded to IT specialist and self-taught photographer Vaselin Atanasov for his photograph Early Autumn; Youth Photographer of the Year was earned by 16-year-old Megan Johnson for her image Still; and Student Photographer of the Year went to Canadian student Samuel Bolduc for his series The Burden, shot on behalf of College de Matane, Quebec.

Scroll through the slideshow to see the Overall, Open, Youth, Student, and all 9 remaining Professional category winners, then head over to the World Photo Organization website to see all of the 2018 winners and runners-up.

Press Release

Overall winners revealed for 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

British artist Alys Tomlinson named Photographer of the Year
10 Professional category winners and finalists revealed
Overall Open, Youth and Student winners announced

London, April 19, 2018 – The World Photography Organisation today names the overall winners of the prestigious 2018 Sony World Photography Awards at a London ceremony.

The coveted Photographer of the Year title was presented to British artist Alys Tomlinson for her series Ex-Voto, winning the photographer $ 25,000 (USD). The work was praised by the jury for its beautiful production, technical excellence and sensitive illustration of pilgrimage as a journey of discovery and sacrifice to a greater power.

Tomlinson was selected from the 10 category winners of the Professional competition who were announced today alongside those in 2nd and 3rd place in each Professional category. The overall winners of the Awards’ Open (best single image), Youth and Student Focus competitions were also revealed.

All winners were flown to the London awards ceremony and received Sony digital imaging equipment, publication in the winners’ book and their work will be shown as part of the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London.

Outstanding Contribution to Photography recipient Candida Ho?fer was also at the ceremony to collect her prize.

Produced by the World Photography Organization, the Sony World Photography Awards is the world’s most diverse photography competition. The 11th edition saw a record breaking 320,000 submissions by photographers from more than 200 countries and territories, presenting some of the world’s finest contemporary photography captured over the past year.

The Awards’ annual London exhibition brings together the best established and emerging talent from around the world, providing winning and shortlisted photographers the opportunity to showcase their work on an international stage.

Photographer of the Year – Alys Tomlinson, British

Ex-Voto is a personal project by London-based photographer Tomlinson (age 43). The winning work encompasses formal portraiture, large format landscape and small, detailed still life images of the ‘ex- votos’ (offerings of religious devotion) found at pilgrimage sites of Lourdes (France), Ballyvourney (Ireland) and Grabarka (Poland).

The photographer mainly explores themes of environment, belonging and identity. She recently completed an MA (Distinction) in Anthropology of Travel, Tourism and Pilgrimage and has been recognized by a number of photography prizes.

Open Photographer of the Year – Vaselin Atanasov, Bulgaria

Selected from 10 category winners as the best single image in the world, Atanasov is recognized for his work Early Autumn and receives a $ 5,000 (USD) prize. An IT specialist, Atanasov is a self-taught photographer who began shooting in 2014. The winning photograph captures autumn in the Central Balkan National Park.

Professional Category Winners and Finalists

From insightful documentation of worldwide cultural and political events to showcasing the natural world, the photographers below were selected by judges as the best series of photographs in the world.

Architecture: Gianmaria Gava, Italian with Buildings
2nd Edgar Martins, Portuguese / 3rd Corentin Fohlen, French
Contemporary Issues: Fredrik Lerneryd, Swedish with Slum Ballet
2nd Margaret Mitchell, British / 3rd Alfio Tommasini, Swiss
Current Affairs & News: Mohd Samsul Mohd Said, Malaysian with Life Inside the Refugee Camp
2nd Luis Henry Agudelo Cano, Colombian / 3rd Rasmus Flindt Pedersen, Danish
Discovery: Alys Tomlinson, British with Ex-Voto
2nd Antonio Gibotta, Italian / 3rd Maria Petrenko, Ukranian
Landscape: Luca Locatelli, Italian with White Gold
2nd Rohan Reilly, Irish / 3rd Tomasz Padlo, Polish
Natural World & Wildlife: Roselena Ramistella, Italian with Deep Land
2nd Mitch Dobrowner, American / 3rd Andrew Quilty, Australian
Sport: Balazs Gardi, Hungarian with Buzkashi
2nd Behnam Sahvi, Iranian / 3rd Matteo Armellini, Italian
Still Life: Edgar Martins, Portuguese with Siloquies and Sililoquies on Death, Life and Other Interludes
2nd Tristan Spinski, American / 3rd Werner Anderson, Norwegian

Youth Photographer of the Year – Megan Johnson, American, Age 16

Open to photographers aged 12-19, Johnson was awarded for her image Still.. Shot on the cliffs near her house in Connecticut, the black and white image captures the complex and intricate solitude the photographer faces in everyday life.

Student Photographer of the Year – Samuel Bolduc, Canadian, Age 20

Bolduc was chosen by the judges from students worldwide for his photographic series The Burden. The work beautifully illustrates the physical burden of plastic waste in the environment to highlight the urgent need to half plastic pollution. Bolduc represented College de Matane, Quebec and has won 30,000 Euros worth of Sony photography equipment for the institution.

Outsanding Contribution to Photography – Candida Höfer

As one of the world’s foremost contemporary photographers, German artist Candida Höfer is renowned for her precise methodology and technique. Her powerful portraits of vast, empty interiors are held in collections around the world. The Awards recognize the artist for her contribution to the medium.

The news of the overall winners joins the March announcement of 2018’s 10 Open competition category winners and 63 National Awards winners, to complete the announcement of 2018’s awards. All winning, shortlisted and commended images can be seen at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards Exhibition at Somerset House, London from April 20 – May 6th www.worldphoto.org/2018exhibition.

Sony World Photography Awards

The objective of the Sony World Photography Awards is to establish a platform for the continuous development of photographic culture. The Awards do this by recognizing great advancements in photography through the Outstanding Contribution to Photography prize as well as finding and promoting new talents of the future, whether this be in the Professional, Open, Youth or Student Focus competitions. Sony is committed to supporting global photography. This is demonstrated not only via the Awards, but also by its significant grant program which offers winners of the student competition $ 3,500 USD and professional competition $ 7,000 USD to develop personal projects.

The 2019 Sony World Photography Awards opens for entries 1 June, 2018. All entries are free at www.worldphoto.org.

Photographer of the Year and 1st Place, Discovery

Photo © Alys Tomlinson, United Kingdom, Photographer of the Year and Winner Professional Discovery category, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Untitled from the series ‘Ex-Voto’

Series Description: A handwritten note neatly folded and hidden in the crevice of a rock, crosses etched onto stone, ribbon carefully wrapped around piles of twigs. These are all offerings of religious devotion, known as ‘Ex-Votos’ and found at Christian pilgrimage sites worldwide. Often placed anonymously and hidden from view, pilgrims leave ex-votos as expressions of hope and gratitude, creating a tangible narrative between faith, person and the landscape.

Taken at the pilgrimage sites of Lourdes (France), Ballyvourney (Ireland) and Grabarka (Poland), the project encompasses formal portraiture, large format landscape and small, detailed still-lifes of the objects and markers left behind.

Shot on 5×4, large format film, the images evoke a distinct stillness and reflect the mysterious, timeless quality present at these sites of great spiritual contemplation. People and landscape merge as place, memory and history entwine. NB all images untitled and taken in 2016/2017

Open Photographer of the Year

Photo © Veselin Atanasov, Open Photographer of the Year, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: The autumn has begun to decorate with its colors the woods of the Balkans. National Park – Central Balkan, Bulgaria.

Youth Photographer of the Year

Photo © Megan Johnson, United States of America, Youth Photographer of the Year, Youth, Your Environment (2018 Youth competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: This image was shot on October 22, 2017 on the cliffs right near my house. It was taken on an iPhone 7 for the following: life, to me, has more detail in black and white.

The image represents my current state at home and school. Despite having a social group and a caring family, I often find myself alone, left to watch what goes on around me, all the while being caught up in the very center of it. This glimpse through the trees of the figure on the cliff represents the courage it takes to be one’s self in today’s society, and how even when you’re on the inside, you can be pushed out.

Student Photographer of the Year

Photo © Samuel Bolduc, Canada, Student Photographer of the Year, Student Focus, 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Series Description: My photographic series for this second brief are staged poetic photographs illustrating people bearing the burden of plastic wastes in the environment. With these images, I want to show the actions we have to take regardless if pollution continues at this speed or not. Through commitment of my characters, I also want to evoke the hope of changes about the accumulation of plastic wastes in the environment. The vast winterly territories reveal the contrast between their magnitude and the small place humankind has.

My creative process was guided by the three guidelines of AIR strategy: Avoid by the awareness of what should be done to counter this pollution, Intercept by the involvement of human in a realistic and durable solution and Redesign by the characters’ collaboration in the production of the staged photographs.

These images were created in the Lower Saint-Lawrence region in Quebec, Canada, in February 2018. The characters represented in the photographs are friends, acquaintances and people from the recycling milieu who agreed to collaborate to this project. At each encounter, I explained the issues of the project and the impacts plastic wastes have on the environment.

1st Place, Architecture

Photo © Gianmaria Gava, Italy, 1st Place, Professional, Architecture (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: November 2017. Vienna, Austria. Because the building had the right criteria to be photographed for my project “Buildings”. Shot on tripod.

Series Description: The project Buildings is a research about the archetypical forms of architecture. When functional elements have been removed, the constructions appear as pure geometrical solid shapes. As such, they seem uninhabitable. Nevertheless, these buildings arise questions about the function and accessibility of architecture in both the public and private space.

1st Place, Contemporary Issues

Photo © Fredrik Lerneryd, Sweden, 1st Place, Professional, Contemporary Issues (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Lavenda and Wendy are rushing into the classroom where the ballet is held after changing clothes around the corner of the house

Series Description: Every Wednesday at Spurgeons Academy, a school in the middle of the indecipherable maze of Kibera’s narrow streets and alleys, students take the chairs and benches out of a classroom and sweep the floor. The school uniforms are switched to bright-coloured clothes. When teacher Mike Wamaya enters the classroom, the students get into position and place one hand on the concrete wall as though it were a ballet bar. Classical music plays out of a small portable speaker, and the class begins.

The Ballet class is part of Annos Africa and One Fine Days charity activities in slum areas around Kenya. In Nairobi they work together with two schools in Kibera and one school in Mathare, another slum closer to the city centre. The dance is a way for the children to express themselves and it strengthens their confidence in life, and a belief that they can become something great.

Some of the children are now dancing several days a week in a studio called “Dance center Kenya” in a upper-class area of Nairobi and living in a boarding school, so thanks to their talent they have taken themselves away from the harsh conditions in the slum.

1st Place, Creative

Photo © Florian Ruiz, France, 1st Place, Professional, Creative (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Series Description: In the snowy landscapes of the heights of Fukushima, I have captured the invisible pain of radiation. Inspired by the drawings of Japanese engravings, I hoped to capture the fleeting moments, the ever-shifting perceptions of nature, where radiation accumulates the most.

The title is the measure of contamination of landscapes in becquerel (Bq), a unit that expresses atom disintegration and its mutation’s number per second. By a process of staggered superimpression, I intended to show the atom’s alteration in my pictures. The transparency effects, the broken perspectives give rise to a shape that is in motion, an impermanent world. Then, I created a vibration, a departure from the reality of the subject that reveals the presence of radiation in the image.

The process reinvents and twists the very landscape, leading to a sort of vertigo, a threatening danger hidden behind the purity of the white of the landscapes.

1st Place, Current Affairs & News

Photo © Mohd Samsul Mohd Said , Malaysia, 1st Place, Professional, Current Affairs & News (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Bangladesh military control the situation, as Rohingya refugees wait to receive food aid at the distribution point in Balukhali refugee camp, Bangladesh on September 28, 2017.

Series Description: Ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine state has taken a turn for the worse, where on Aug 25, more than 400 houses were burnt, and within this two weeks, nearly 125,000 Rohingya refugees left Myanmar for Bangladesh.

International organizations have reported claims of human rights violations and summary executions allegedly carried out by the Myanmar army. Now Over 400,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since violence erupted in the Rakhine state. This pictures show their life inside the Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh

1st Place, Landscape

Photo © Luca Locatelli, Italy, 1st Place, Professional, Landscape (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: A view of Torano’s “marble valley” in the Apuan Alps, one of Italy’s most marble-rich area, where the abundance is surreal. What we admire as pristine white stone was born hundreds of millions of years ago in overwhelming darkness. Countless generations of tiny creatures lived, died and drifted slowly to the bottom of a primordial sea, where their bodies were slowly compressed by gravity, layer upon layer, until eventually they all congealed and petrified into the interlocking white crystals we know as marble.

Some eons later, tectonic jostling raised a great spine of mountains in southern Europe. Up went the ancient sea floor. In some places they rise more than 6,000 feet.

Series Description: Rarely has a material so inclined to stay put been wrenched so insistently out of place and carried so far from its source. In Italy’s most marble-rich area, known as the Apuan Alps, the abundance is surreal. Hundreds of quarries have operated there since the days of ancient Rome and Michelangelo sculptured most of his statues from this stone. Now the trade is booming due to the demand in Saudi Arabia and other gulf states.

The photographs of this area’s majestic quarries reveal their own isolated world: beautiful, bizarre and severe. It is a self-contained universe of white, simultaneously industrial and natural.

1st Place, Natural World & Wildlife

Photo © Roselena Ramistella, Italy, 1st Place, Professional, Natural World & Wildlife (2018 Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Luigi a young Sicilian. The economic crisis, high unemployment rate is re-directing young Sicilians from small rural communities back to their lands and working in agriculture. Luigi helps his father cultivate small fields and take care of their farm animals.

There isn’t a day in which he doesn’t dirty his hands to try to save some money to assist his young fiance’, a Romanian national that he met while working in the fields and can now pay for her trip back to Sicily and start a new life together.

Series Description: Deepland is a personal journey that started on May 2016. I traveled on the back of a mule the old Sicilian trails, starting at Nebrodi, passing through the Madonie, Peloritani and all the way to the Sicani Mountains. The mule track is a rural road similar to a trail, but also suitable for the circulation of pack animals. Prior to the development of the modern road network itself, it represented the link and trade route between the towns and the farmland.

Until about fifty years ago, mules had a prominent role in Sicilian country life providing employment and assistance to the local farmers. Due to the economic crisis, many people are moving back to the countryside, especially the young, who have chosen to react to this difficult historical moment by working the land, planting local crops and breeding livestock, creating a new rural economy.

The project is divided into two parts, research of local communities still living in remote areas and the track of a new map, a document of what remains of the old mule tracks, the last update comes back to the 50’s. Ongoing.

1st Place, Portraiture

Photo © Tom Oldham, United Kingdom, 1st Place, Professional, Portraiture (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Colin Anthony, singer, in the back bar From the series ‘The Last of The Crooners’.

Series Description: The Last of The Crooners is a portrait of what was. Long before Gilbert and George made art in the East End of London, in a corner of every pub at weekends you’d find pub singers crooning their way through a set of jazz standards, entertaining audiences all over Hackney and Bethnal Green.

These sharply turned out ladies and gentlemen entertained the throngs—and kept them in the pub. The audience for this form of entertainment has obviously changed over the decades, with only one notable venue still continuing to honour this tradition, with the rigid commitment of consistently hosting guest singers, three times every single weekend for over forty years, The Palm Tree in Bow, E3.

Rich in warmth and familiarity, The Palm Tree is world famous for maintaining its original East End atmosphere despite the impact of gentrification, land value, council pressures and independent pubs generally feeling the pressure of the shifts in habits of its clientele. It is a rich culture, though now sadly remains as a unique and lone stalwart. These really are The Last of The Crooners.

After several years of asking, this family-run pub has finally allowed me access to document the many great characters who still perform here, in a bid to capture this slice of time while it hopefully remains as it always has been—a beautiful and celebrated discovery, cherished by every visitor.

1st Place, Sport

Photo © Balazs Gardi, Hungary, 1st Place, Professional, Sport (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Horsemen fight for a headless calf carcass during a buzkashi match on the day of Nawroz, or Persian New Year, in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan on March 21, 2017.

Series Description: In buzkashi, Afghanistan’s violent and ancient national pastime, riders battle for control of an animal corpse that they carry toward a goal. Sixteen years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban, the sport is dominated by rival warlords who will do anything to maintain power in a turbulent country that once again is up for grabs.

1st Place, Still Life

Photo © Edgar Martins, Portugal, 1st Place, Professional, Still Life (Professional competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards

Image Description: Letter of departure written on an academic notebook.

Series Description: Siloquies and Soliloquies was produced at the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), in Portugal. A significant number of the images produced at the INMLCF depict forensic evidence, such as suicide notes, letters and other objects used in suicides and crimes as well as inherent in the work of the pathologist. The images here included represent a variety of suicide letters written by individuals who took their own lives.

The work explores the tension between revelation and concealment questioning, amongst other things, the ethical implications of representing and divulging sensitive material of this nature. Edgar Martins’ decision to work in the National Institute of Legal Medicine stems from his interest in highlighting the historic and symbolic role of one of the places that, in the context of modernity, institutionalized—through scientific practice and judicial discourse—the representation, analysis and scrutiny of death and the dead body.

In this sense, the incursion of a photographic artist into a place so charged with scientific character (medical, judicial, ideological) necessarily calls on epistemological, psychological and semantic questioning: e.g. what distinguishes a documental image of a corpse or a crime scene from an image that reproduces the staged creation of a mental image of a corpse or a crime scene? What effect do these differences have in the viewer’s imagination? How do the retrospective and prospective horizons appear in the face of these different types of image?

The Suicide tool as Destinerrance proposes to scrutinize the tensions and contradictions inherent in the representation and imagination of death, in particular suicide, and, correlatively, the decisive but deeply paradoxical role that photography—with its epistemological, aesthetic and ethical implications—has played in its perception and intelligibility.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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NAB 2018: Watch these high-speed camera robots ‘dance’ at the Nikon booth

11 Apr

Nikon-owned Mark Roberts Motion Control (aka MRMC) brought its high-speed Bolt and Bolt Junior ‘cinebot’ camera robots to NAB this year. And in a fit of “just because we can, probably means we should,” the company decided to choreograph a little dance number for the two robots on the showroom floor.

DPReview decided to skip NAB this year, but friend of the site Jim Goldstein graciously allowed us to share his two videos of the bots in action. To quote Jim, it seems it’s “Out with ‘booth babes’ at NAB and in with ‘booth bots’.” We 100% support this change.

You can see the full routine from two angles in the video above and below.

Videos by Jim M. Goldstein and used with permission.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Ben Von Wong used 4,100 pounds of E-waste to create these futuristic portraits

07 Mar

Photographer Benjamin Von Wong recently teamed up with computer maker Dell to try and make recycling “cool.” Together, they took 4,100 pounds of electronic waste and used it to build three futuristic scenes that show how e-waste can be used to power the future of tech instead of languishing in some landfill—in other words: how e-waste can serve as a bridge between the past to the future.

For the past several years, Von Wong has taken his talent for capturing and creating incredible scenes in-camera, and used it to help push for various causes in the world of conservation. That’s how he wound up photographing this model in shark infested waters, or capturing these images of ‘mermaids’ swimming in 10,000 plastic water bottles.

His latest project finds him continuing his quest for conservation and social responsibility, this time alongside computer company Dell.

As Ben explains in his blog post about the project, he got in touch with Dell after finding out that the company has the world’s largest global recycling program. But for all of their cool recycling tech—like, for example, ‘Closed Loop Recycling’ that reuses metals and plastic from old computers to build new ones—the company struggles to get people to recycle.

“After all, how do you convince people that recycling e-waste can be cool?” ask Von Wong. These photos, this project, is supposed to be the answer to that question… or at least the beginnings of a conversation.

Wistron GreenTech gave Ben 4,100 pounds of e-waste to use on this project—the approximate amount a single person will generate over the course of their lifetime—and together with 50 volunteers over the course of 10 days, they build three ‘epic’ sets using simple tools, glue, paint, and wood.

Using keyboards, laptops, and circuit boards, Ben worked together with David Jeter and used forced perspective to try and make the sets look larger than life.

Here are a few behind the scenes photos of the build process:

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And here is what all of that hard work produced. Ten days of building and shooting for just three epic hero shots:

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In Ben’s mind, however, the whole process was definitely worth it.

“It took only 4 hours to clean up 10 days of hard work,” he laments, “but the images will hopefully live on forever and empower every individual to tell their friends and family to Rethink electronic waste, Recycle them responsibly, so that responsible companies like Dell can Revive them as brand new computer parts.”

To read the whole story and see many more behind the scenes photos and details about things like lighting and set design, head over to Ben’s blog by clicking here.

All photographs by Benjamin Von Wong and used with permission.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

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Avoid These 5 Major Mistakes Made By Travel Photographers

18 Feb

Whether you are traveling abroad or within your own country, there are several mistakes that I’ve seen travel photographers make that hinder the process of making memorable photos.

Five Major Mistakes Made By Travel Photographers

Mistake #1: Not being aware of cultural sensitivities and laws

When you travel to another country it’s easy to forget that the people there may see certain things differently than you. For example, in China, you will see signs up in temples asking you not to take photos. So it should be fairly obvious that doing so may cause offense.

Others are not so obvious. Did you know that in Spain the law prohibits photographers from taking photos of people in public without permission unless they are taking part in a cultural event such as a festival? That’s right, Spain is not a great place to be a street photographer (although that doesn’t stop people from doing it).

Unless you know this, you probably think taking candid photos of people in Spain is perfectly okay (as it is in most other places). Once you understand the attitude (and the law) towards photographing people in Spain, you can adjust your behavior to fit in with local expectations and behavior.

If you want to create a street photo of somebody, it’s best to stop them and ask for permission. That way you protect yourself and (added bonus!) keep out of trouble with the police.

Avoid These 5 Major Mistakes Made By Travel Photographers

I made this street portrait in Cadiz, Spain after asking the street vendor if I could take his photo. If I had tried to take a photo without him noticing it would have been illegal, and if he had called the police I would have been on the wrong side of the law.

Some countries have laws forbidding the photography of certain buildings, like airports. Did you know that photographers have been arrested, jailed, and accused of spying in Greece for photographing an airshow at a military base? If you’re going to Greece it’s a good idea to know which buildings are out of bounds for photographers. Make sure you’re aware of any legal restrictions in your country of travel.

Mistake #2: Being disrespectful to local people

When you travel somewhere new, especially somewhere that is exotic to you, it’s easy to treat people as if they were laid out, like colorful extras in a movie scene, for you to take photos of. That is not true, and it’s disrespectful and unkind to act as if it is. Imagine how you would feel if somebody from another country came and tried to take photos as you went about your daily life, without consideration for you and your feelings.

It seems to me that a big part of the problem is when people travel through other countries without interacting with locals in anything other than a commercial context, such as renting a hotel room or eating in a restaurant. Sometimes this is down to language – it’s hard to strike up a conversation in China if you don’t speak Chinese, for example.

But your travels (and life in general) can become a lot more interesting if you are open to non-commercial experiences with local people. Try having conversations with people about their hopes and dreams, what they do for a living, how they like living in their town and similar topics. You’ll gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the places you’re traveling through when you do.

A Spanish friend of mine invited me to see a farm owned by a member of her family. I would never have gotten to see the farm or make this photo if we didn’t know each other.

Language study is an excellent way to meet local people. I have many good friends in Spain and South America that I met online through websites aimed to help people learn other languages. I’ve met most of them in person and learned a lot about their culture and countries in the process.

Mistake #3: Not putting safety first

Another mistake I’ve seen photographers make is forgetting to take care of their personal security or failing to take appropriate precautions to guard their gear against theft.

Most photographers travel to most places without any security problems, but there is always the potential for something to go wrong, especially if you don’t put much thought into your personal safety and the security of your camera and computer equipment. Some countries are safe, others can be dangerous, so make sure you do your research beforehand and take any appropriate precautions.

A good travel insurance policy that covers your gear (check the fine print) will help give you peace of mind if the worse does happen.

Mistake #4: Taking too much gear

We’ve all seen the type of photographer that walks around with a large dSLR camera and telephoto lens, perhaps even two, swinging from their side.

At the other extreme are photographers who travel with just one camera and one lens. When I worked at EOS magazine we published an article about a photographer who traveled to India with one camera and a single 50mm lens. He made some beautiful images so the approach worked for him.

During a recent trip to China, I calculated afterward that I had used my 35mm lens for 73% of the photos, including the one above. That tells me that I probably could have taken just that lens and still enjoyed a very productive journey.

There’s nothing wrong with taking lots of gear, especially if it works for you. Professionals often take lots of lenses so they know they are covered for just about any situation they may encounter. But there are a couple of things worth considering.

The first is that a large camera and lens combo is an obvious target for theft. Smaller cameras attract less attention and don’t look as expensive.
The other consideration is creative. If you have too much gear it’s heavy to carry around and you can waste time trying to decide which lens/camera combination to use.

The key is to think in advance about the subject matter you intend to photograph and what gear you’ll need for it. If you are into long exposure photography, for example, then you’re going to need a tripod, cable release and neutral density filters.

If you are photographing people, you need to decide what lens or lenses you are going to use for portraits. If you are photographing local architecture, you will probably need a good wide-angle lens. If you are going to walk around all day taking street photos, a small camera and lens are much less tiring than a large DSLR with a telephoto zoom.

You get the idea. Ultimately, you need to find the right balance between taking enough gear to meet your needs and taking too much. Also, if security is a concern, you may want to consider leaving your more expensive gear at home.

Mistake #5: Not doing enough research

If there’s one mistake that links all the others, it’s this one – not doing enough research. It’s important because it makes you aware of any local laws or cultural sensitivities you need to know (mistake #1).

As part of your research, you may get in touch with local people (mistake #2) who can give you advice or help you gain access to places or events you would never know about otherwise. Some photographers go even further and work with a fixer – somebody who introduces you to other people, translates if necessary, and acts as a bridge between you and the local culture.

Research alerts you to any security considerations (mistake #3). It helps you decide what gear you need to take, and avoid overload caused by taking too much equipment (mistake #4).

In other words, doing your research is a key part of avoiding the mistakes that many travel photographers make.

Research also helps you find interesting places to photograph, such as this ancient fishing village in north Devon.

Conclusion

These mistakes are based on my observations of other photographers while traveling. But what mistakes have you seen other photographers make? What mistakes have you made yourself? I’m looking forward to hearing your responses in the comments section below.

The Candid Portrait

If you’d like to learn more about street and travel photography then please check out my popular ebook popular ebook The Creative Portrait.

The post Avoid These 5 Major Mistakes Made By Travel Photographers by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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