Full Disclosure
One must be willing to declare the process of making their images; it is an act of essential self-awareness. I firmly believe that not revealing the process leads to darkness whether or not the truth is eventually exposed.
The Tuesday Composition: Patterns
If you like this article, you can now get the book! Joe has expanded the “Tuesday Composition” series into an inspiring new ebook on composition, especially for nature photography. Check it out: The Tuesday Composition.
I can’t say that they’re best sellers for me, but I really enjoy pattern shots. Nature often offers us regular and irregular patterns of exciting, dizzying complexity. I just can’t get enough of ’em.
There are several thing to keep in mind when working to create a great pattern shot.
The simplest is to remember that, in making a pattern shot, you’re often working to maximize abstraction. The simplicity and repeititon of a pattern shot makes it easy for the viewer’s eye to notice imperfections and intrusions, so eliminating unwanted details from a pattern shot is even more criticial than it would be in a more conventional landscape image.
If you’ve got a location that has some great looking patterns, first identify areas where the pattern is strongest. Then use don’t just zoom into the pattern to eliminate distractions, explore the scene by both moving your camera position and zooming in to find the cleanest perspective. Your feet are two of your most valuable photographic assets. (more…)
Announcing $5000 Photocrati Fund Grants for Photographers
Hello Photocrati Readers,
We’re proud to announce the formal opening of our first Photocrati Fund Grant Competition. The Fund will give away one $5000 grant this year for a non-professional photographer to undertake a an important humanitarian, environmental, or social photography project. Photocrati is excited to have some of the most celebrated environmental and cultural photographers in the world acting as board members and judges for the competition:
Steve McCurry
Michael “Nick” Nichols
Art Wolfe
The Need for Photography of Important Humanitarian, Environmental, and Social Issues
I’ve interacted with a lot of photographers over the years, and I’ve come to believe that photographers, as a group, are more inclined than the average population to want to harness their hobby/profession (depending on your status) to promote important causes. Like most photographers, I also believe in the profound impact that great photography can have by creating awareness and motivating others to take action.
Unfortunately, the most important stories and causes are often the ones that are least likely to provide compensation, so they often go uncovered, unphotographed, untold. (more…)
Best of Wedding Photography
Quite a bit late now, we're happy to announce the launch of best of wedding photography. This is a new, invitation-only membership site for top wedding photographers. It was launched…
Technology doesn’t define us…
...but it is a part of our identity. I got my first job in this business because the photographer that hired me didn't understand the concepts behind digital imaging. He…
The Tuesday Composition: Anatomy of a Puffin
If you like this article, you can now get the book! Joe has expanded the “Tuesday Composition” series into an inspiring new ebook on composition, especially for nature photography. Check it out: The Tuesday Composition.
I was recently struck by the fact that one of my puffin images, Puffin IV, had been selected into two different shows by two different groups of jurors for two quite competitive shows. I was a little surprised–I would not have thought, of my various images that have been included in shows in the last year, that it would be this particular image that fared best of the images I submitted.
My surprise, plus a sale or two, led me to “take another look” at the image. As you might expect (it is, after all, Tuesday), composition was at the heart of my surprise. If the main parts of a photograph are subject, light and composition (I think beginning photographers often focus too much on subject) it’s light on the subject and composition that really tend to pull together an effective photograph. There are far more interesting photographs of mundane subjects in interesting light and/or interesting compositions than the other way around. (more…)
How to take great family pictures
I think that most people believe that the key to taking good pictures is mostly technical. First you need a good camera and then you need to learn all the advanced trigonometry and physics necessary to use said camera. (“So, a higher ISO means more light but a higher shutter speed means less light? What?) All that stuff is necessary, sure, but let’s not overlook the thing that’s really important: Memories.
Always ask “Why?”
Every time you reach for your camera, ask yourself, “Why am I taking a picture? Why did I reach for my camera?” Most of the time it’s one of two things: Either you want to preserve a memory, or you saw something that sparked a memory in you and you want to record it. If you approach the picture with that in mind, you will take better, more meaningful pictures of your family.
My kids were putting out Halloween decorations last year and I grabbed my camera to record the memory. Don’t stand your kids up and take a snapshot. You have thousands of snapshots of your kids and they all look the same. Instead, ask “Why?” In this case, the reason I was taking pictures was because my children were putting out decorations. The decorations were the memory… the process. So, I focused on the decorations, not the children. My technical knowledge allows me to take the picture from the proper angle with the proper light, etc, but it’s my desire to preserve the memory of my children decorating the house that leads me to create an image that is unique and so much better than a snapshot.
Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G AF-S DX ED VR II Review: Field Test Report
AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II Review
Peter Burian tests Nikon’s latest multipurpose lens with some valuable benefits over the previous model
One of the best selling Nikon lenses, the original 18-200mm VR model was a very competent performer but it has been replaced with a newer zoom that offers several benefits. The latest incarnation includes the best of its predecessor but gains improved Super Integrated Coating for better flare control, and features to prevent zoom creep. As a bonus, the diaphragm is equipped with more blades allowing for a circular aperture at many f/stops. This aspect allows the lens to render out-of-focus highlights as circular for a more pleasing “bokeh”.
While this “all-purpose” zoom may be ideal for families who simply want nice pics, it’s suitable for more serious photographers as well. As the price (about $750 in the US) should suggest, this is a premium-grade 27-300mm equivalent lens. The most expensive in its category, the Nikon model is also one of the largest/heaviest. That’s understandable because of the solid construction, two Extra Low Dispersion (ED) plus three aspherical elements for superior image quality, a remarkably effective image stabilizer plus very fast ultrasonic Silent Wave focus motor. (more…)
Q and A: What’s the deal with the new cameras lacking pentaprisms and reflex mirrors?
Question
What is the advantage of the new cameras without a pentraprism and a reflex mirror … like the Micro models from Panasonic and Olympus, and the Samsung NX? Is the benefit simply smaller size versus a Digital SLR? In that case, why wouldn’t someone just buy a smaller camera like the Canon Powershot G11 which also has a built-in viewfinder? R.N.
Answer
The primary appeal of the “mirrorless” or “non-reflex” cameras – and their new petite lenses – is certainly the greater portability. Of course there are some intangibles as well with the latest Micro Four-Thirds cameras: the Lumix GF1 and particularly the Olympus E-P1 and E-P2. These models are very classy and they feature rangefinder-like styling, which appeals to many camera buyers. (See my Olympus E-P1 Review: Field Test Report ) But let’s discuss some of the other important aspects to clarify additional issues.
The Tuesday Composition: Not so much rules…
And thirdly, the code is more what you’d call “guidelines” than actual rules
–Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
If you like this article, you can now get the book! Joe has expanded the “Tuesday Composition” series into an inspiring new ebook on composition, especially for nature photography. Check it out: The Tuesday Composition.
Today I’m going to take a brief digression from specific compositional topics, back up, and talk about compositional “rules”. I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating.
They’re not rules.
By this point in the Tuesday Composition series I’ve written about almost thirty ideas, each of which could be thought of as one (or perhaps a couple of) rules. But using them as rules will, in the end, limit your creative reach as a photographer. I urge you, in fact, I beg you not to use them as rules, either when you create your own images or, just as importantly, you look at an image of another photographer.
Let’s talk about that. It’s easier to begin this discussion by thinking not only about our own work but someone else’s. When I see a new image from a book, an advertisement, whatever, the first thing I do is to look at it, to see it. I do not drag out my list of rules and walk through it adding up a score. Instead, I look, and feel what I feel, notice what I feel. I don’t start with an analytical process, I start with an intuitive, visual process. (more…)
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