Archive for Become a better photographer

Framing in portraiture

I spend a lot of time giving feedback on photos. One of the comments that pops up again and again is that I'll feel as if an image is framed awkwardly. Some times, I'll find that an image is nigh-on perfect, but it fails to make the mark because it's difficult to understand the motivation of the photographer: What are they trying to achieve with this photo? It's true for all photography, of course, but it's more complicated with portraiture, as it isn't necessarily very intuitive. How, after all, can you connect a story to the way a portrait is framed?

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What went wrong?

A good friend of me recently posted on a social media site that a recent photo shoot he had done had gone horribly wrong; sure, some of the photos came out all right, but none of them fulfilled the 'vision' he was hoping for from his shoot. It's heartbreaking when a lot of effort doesn't pay off - but all you can do is to chalk it up as a writing experience. Analyse what went wrong, and then don't do that again. It's a slow way of learning things, of course, but things learned the hard way are generally learned properly - so there is a bit of a silver lining after all. What can you do when you feel as if you're properly starting to get the hang of photography, but you still want to learn more? There's a simple trick you can use... And it really works, trust me.

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Low-light action photography

Low-light photography is something that often confuses the metric bejesus out of photographers: It's very tricky to get right, and even if you do everything 100% correctly, often-time you'll find that your photos still don't come out as you dreamed of. Now, multiply that with the trickyness of photographing action, and you've got yourself a true cluster-copulation of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Everybody will sooner or later end up in a situation where you're photographing moving things in the dark. To concert, event and dance photographers, it's part and parcel of their chosen photography work. I'll be honest: I don't consider myself a very good low-light photographer (with the exception, perhaps, of my concert photography portfolio, but in those circumstances you've got an entirely different set of challenges. Today, though, I've got a wicked treat for yourselves: One of my colleagues and friends in Australia, David Wyatt, agreed to share some of his observations of low-light action photography with us. He's a scholar, a gentleman, a legend, and a bloody great photographer... Take it away, David!

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Implied nudity in portraiture

It doesn't take much of a brain to fathom what a 'nude' photo is. If bits that are normally covered up on the beach are on display, then it's a nude. Similarly, a 'non-nude' photo is pretty straightforward: There are no hoo-hoos, wee-wees or breasticles on display. So, what is all this 'implied nudity' stuff all about? Well, it turns out that there's an 'in-between' stage of nude photography: Implied nudity. Used creatively, it can add an interesting dimension to your portraiture. Here's how and why.

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Visualising studio lighting

Once you feel you've started to get the knack of pointing your camera at things and clicking the button, it's time to start taking control of all the lighting in the scene. But, as it turns out, that's bloody tricky. I keep having to explain how to 'visualise' different types of lighting to people, and it turns out that it's rather difficult - not because what I'm doing is particularly advanced, but because sometimes, it's just tricky to make the connection between what is happening in a photo, lighting-wise, and how the lights are set up.

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Darkening a room by adding light

I was doing a photo shoot a few days ago, where I was photographing a lemon suspended from a piece of thread. I wanted to make it look as if it was hovering in pitch darkness. Upon seeing the results, someone asked me an interesting question: Isn't it difficult to focus your camera in the dark? Well, no, because the photo was taken in the daytime, with my lights on. So, how come does it look like it was taken at night? That, my friends, is the power of contrast in lighting. You have to remember that you don't need a dark room in order to make a background completely dark - you just need to ensure that your foreground is significantly brighter than the ambient light. Here's how and why...

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No longer looking for n00bs (thanks!)

Edit: I'll keep this post here for posterity, but I have all the help I need. Thank you all so much for your feedback and interest! So, I'm a writer. I write books about photography. And I get a lot of e-mail from people, asking if I can recommend a good book for someone who knows absolutely nothing about photography. Sadly, I can't say that I've found such a book quite yet. The problem with photography books out there is that they are either too technical too early (I happen to find shutter times deeply fascinating, but it's too hands-off for many people who want to get out there and take photos), or they are too tutorial-driven. Several of the most popular photography books for beginners are written in the form of 'hey, see this photo? Isn't it awesome? to take it, set your camera to X, Y and Z, and press the shutter', without actually explaining why you need those settings, and what would happen if you changed them slightly. Only today, a good friend of mine, Sally, asked me if I could recommend a book. that re-awakened the idea I had: Maybe the time has come that I write my own book for complete beginners.

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In photography, rules aren’t laws.

The internet is absolutely full of guides about things you should and shouldn't do to take 'good photos'. Don't over-expose. Remember the rule of thirds. Don't cut people's heads off. Watch your background. Use a shallow DOF in portraits to throw the backgrounds out of focus. 3-point lighting for portraiture, etc. A lot of us just take all these rules for given, as if they are hard-and-fast rules that you have to stick to, because if you don't, you'll fail as a photographer. Break these rules, and you won't take a good photo in your life. Your cat will die, your children will hate you, and your significant other will divorce you.

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When RAW is not enough

One of the first pieces advice I give to people who wonder where to start getting their photos to become better, is to shoot in RAW. There's many obvious reasons for why this is a good idea. With RAW, the final result can be sharper, you have better control over white balance, you get wider dynamic range, you can do HDR photography, and, well, it's what all the cool kids done. Recently, however, I have moved away from shooting in RAW for several reasons. Or, to be precise, I have started shooting in RAW+JPG. Here are some compelling arguments for why you should do the same...

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Learning by example

Some people learn best when they start at the basics: This is a camera. Press this button to make it go 'click', and it takes a picture. Change the aperture to... etc. Me, I like to work the other way around - I learned a long time ago that photography - like computers, cars, etc - is interesting mostly for its results, rather than for its technology. Who cares if your camera can do 1/4,000 second or 1/12,000 second shutter times... Unless, of course, you need the faster shutter time to achieve something.

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