Photography Archives - Page 4 of 32

Take Better Travel Photos Today

Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster in London, Photo by Brenden Sherratt

One of the biggest mistakes most people make in the pursuit of travel and holiday pictures is overlooking the fabulous in a quest for the trite and cliche. Every photographer in the business has made that mistake at one point in their career, so make a pledge that the pictures you take on holiday this year will be different.

Everyone knows what the Statue of Liberty and the Washington Monument look like. Any photos you could take will probably look just like hundreds of others of the same exact thing. Yes, take one or two, just for the scrapbook value, but don’t stop there. Find a unique angle, a different way of looking at something familiar.

4608328163_317aeec8f7_o — Reflection of the Washington Monument in an eye. Photo by Jennuine Captures

When I used to work on a military base the building we were in had a peculiar paint job around the front door. Otherwise, it was just another nondescript government building designed and built by the low bidder. But the front door was distinct. So when I took a picture to remember my time there, I took a picture of the door handle. The handle that I reached for every morning for years and years and eventually came to dread touching. So many emotions all tied to an object that I looked at every day and almost failed to notice.

When you’re on vacation, get a shot of the touristy things, then try to find little details that define your experience. Maybe it’s a unique cab driver, or a street vendor, or some other details that normally get lost in the background clutter.

Faces in Temple Bar, Dublin, Photo by Brenden Sherratt

I have a friend with a large family who recently was able to get four generations of daughters together for a photo. He took the predictable group photo, then took one of everyone putting just their hands in a circle over a black background. Guess which picture was the most popular?

It’s the details that seem inconsequential today that spark the most vivid memories tomorrow. There was a stand of trees where we used to live, nothing particularly special about them, just trees. One day I fired off a shot just to check exposure levels of that stand of trees and forgot to delete it. It got mixed in with the assignment that day and I ran across it days later processing the pictures for the customer.

tree photo — A photo of a stand of trees that I almost deleted ended up meaning more to me than I would have thought at the time

To this day that’s one of my favorite shots. Just some trees, but I saw them every time I went outside and, even today, that shot can bring memories of that place flooding back.

So this year, don’t just take the obvious shots. Take pictures of hands, feet, dog toys, crumpled wrapping paper, and the millions of other little details you see but don’t always notice. Instead of just looking at the tourist attraction, look to the left and right, look behind it. Find a unique angle and tell a different story the next time you are on a trip.

The Charles W Cushman Collection

article-2036932-0DDE142B00000578-95_964x667 — Collecting salvage on the Lower East Side, October 4, 1941

Charles Weever Cushman was an amateur photographer who took the time to document the U.S. and other countries through photographs spanning over three decades from 1938 to 1969.

article-2036932-0DDE138B00000578-491_470x674 — A portable soft drink stand at Bowling Green on October 1, 1942

Mr. Cushman took pictures of everything and I mean, literally, everything that was around him. People, places, animals, buildings and fields, nothing escaped his attention. Everywhere he traveled he shot roll after roll of Kodachrome color slides and kept good records about the location of each picture. Not just taking pictures, but documenting the world around him.

He bequeathed approximately 14,500 Kodachrome slides to the University of Indiana, which then made them available as a web archive.

Warning: If you like looking at old photos, don’t follow this link until you have a lot of time on your hands!

miami 1939 — Miami Beach in 1939 echoed shades of old Havana - courtesy Indiana University

The Cushman Collection makes a point that all photographers should emulate: Take pictures of everything around you. Not just “artistic” photographs, everything. The trees out in front of your house, the street you live on, your city, the people in your life beyond your family. The local store owner, the pizza delivery guy, friends with new cars, as many experiences as you can capture. And keep notes about times, dates and places. Take a cue from this guy about adding metadata to photos for future reference.

I’m sure a few people found Charles Cushman’s photos interesting while he was alive, but nothing like today. Today they’re a rich glimpse into life as it was for three decades, how the world looked and worked.

street corner in Chicago — A Chicago street corner circa 1944 is one of thousands of such photos - via Indiana University

Today the world is flooded in digital images of everything imaginable and yet there are relatively few people actually documenting the world around them for future generations.

Charles Cushman dragged his camera gear around with him for 32 years and left behind a legacy of history that is, in many ways, priceless.

article-2036932-0DDE188400000578-485_964x669 — Corner of Pearl Street, October 7, 1942

article-2036932-0DDE196B00000578-691_964x670 — Three homeless people from South Ferry doss houses are in Battery Park on June 6, 1941

Some photos via DialyMail

Three Common Photo Mistakes and How To Fix Them

When you look at a lot of pictures, you begin to see trends in the mistakes. Look at enough pictures over a long enough time and you’ll start to see the major trends fall into just three or four broad categories.

Anyone can take better pictures by following a few simple guidelines that will help you avoid the big three mistakes that are most common as you look across hundreds of images.

Get In Closer

wide shot — This is as close as I could get without getting wet

Probably the most common mistake I see in photos is that they were taken from too far away. There’s a huge amount of background and right in the center is the little tiny subject.

The easiest way fix that is just to zoom with your feet and walk up closer to your subject, cutting down at the amount of background in the shot. Sometimes, like when you’re shooting at the beach, you can’t always do that.

cropped surfer — Now the picture is more interesting with less background

For the times you can’t walk up closer to the subject, you can use your camera’s digital or lens zoom to frame the picture a little tighter.

Okay, you’re as close as you can get on foot and your camera lens is zoomed all the way and it’s still not close enough. From there you can bump up the image size your camera is shooting to its absolute maximum, and then crop out parts of the picture you don’t want later on your computer.

Use Fill Flash During The Day

It’s ironic that most digital cameras are optimized to take their best pictures at a time of day that the light is less than perfect for taking pictures. Well, it is what it is and you have to deal with the harsh shadows, ball caps, and squint-eyed subjects that are the result of direct sun.

Fixing direct sun involves a device called a scrim which is a lot of work to set up and take down.

Another option is just to move into a shady area and turn on your camera’s internal flash or use an external flash.

Remember to ask your subjects to remove their sunglasses unless you want them to look like mobsters.

The Point of Interest Does Not Go In The Middle

It’s called the Rule of Thirds and not the Suggestion of Thirds for a reason. So many times people will zero in on the subject and want to put it right in the middle of the shot.

In a portrait, the eyes tend to be the point of interest, so make sure they’re not right in the center of the picture. Put the subject or the point of interest at the intersection of one of the thirds and compose the rest of the shot around that.

If you follow just these three rules, your shots will be better than 90 percent of pictures ever taken.

The Five Biggest Lies In Wedding Photography

wedding picture — February is Pop The Question month which officially kicks off the spring wedding rush - by Diamond Farah via Flickr

We’re coming up on Valentine’s Day, which a wedding photographer friend of mine euphemistically calls Pop The Question Day. No matter how you look at it, there will be a lot of rings in a lot of champagne glasses by the middle of the month.

The Valentine’s Day rush will inevitably kick off the wedding booking season, which promises to be a good one in 2012. Wedding photographers I know are already seeing healthy bookings for the season, with one reporting 15 deposits in already.

As brides pull out their checkbooks and the real stampede starts to book venues, arrange catering, find a DJ and book a photographer, this is a good time to review the basics of shopping for a wedding photographer and to be aware of the most common untruths that can slip through unnoticed in the rush.

Sometimes it’s not a deliberate lie. Wedding photographers have a natural tendency to answer every question with yes, yes, yes. That sometimes leads to misunderstandings with brides thinking they’re getting service that isn’t in the contract.

The “Now Or Never” Lie

wedding 4 — "Now or Never" is a love song, not a negotiating strategy - by I.A. Walsh via Flickr

If a wedding photographer tries to tell you that you have to book today or the slot won’t be available tomorrow, leave. Anyone trying to bully you into signing a contract is a major red flag.

The best photographers will book early but that doesn’t mean you need to be in a rush. There are many great photographers out there and cancellations happen. In fact, be suspicious of any photographer who tries to use fear of availability as a pressure tactic to get you to sign a contract without giving you a chance to sleep on it. The best photographers will show you their calendar, show you the dates they have open, remind you that bookings are only finalized when they get the deposit and let you leave with the contract to read at your leisure.

The very best wedding photographers will also have a shelf of books you can sit down and page through at your convenience.

The “Sure, I’ve Shot That Venue Before” Lie

wedding shot 2 — Sure I've shot that venue before...where is it again? by Photos In Cancun via Flickr

Some photographers will say they’ve shot a venue knowing they can figure it out. If they really have shot that venue before, then they’ll be able to show you a wedding album shot there.

If they haven’t shot a venue before, an honest photographer will just admit it and the really good ones will swing by on their own time beforehand and take some background shots to make sure they have the proper lighting gear on the big day.

The “Preferred Vendor” Lie

This is a big one and usually comes from a caterer or venue operator, but sometimes a photographer will trot out a list of local venues and caterers that claim them as a preferred vendor. Those endorsements are almost always paid.

Carters and venue operators rarely get to the see final pictures anyway, so why would you take their word in the first place?

The “Top Rated Wedding Photographer” Lie

Some wedding photographers will trot out some really impressive ratings and endorsements from groups with names that sound really impressive. Anyone can manufacture endorsements and there are companies specializing in what’s called “online reputation management” that can boost vendor ratings in online forums and rating sites.

The best wedding photographers have a blog and post a few pictures from every wedding they shoot so you can see consistent quality from one wedding to the next. Pick out your favorites and ask for the bride’s contact information as a reference check.

wedding 3 — If their assistants were that good they'd be running their own business - by Harold Hoyer via Flickr

The “My Assistants Are As Good As I Am” Lie

Really? Then why aren’t your assistant photographers running their own successful wedding photography business? The real pros are members of a professional association or a guild and when they need help, that’s where they go.

This is a topic to approach with some caution. After all, if the photographer you really want is sick or ends up under a bus, you want someone there, right? Many photographers do have hand-picked teams doing most of the work while the top person goes from wedding to wedding inspecting the shots and maybe adding a few of their own. That’s okay as long as they explain that all up front and you agree to it.

Sometimes there are really good reasons for a person not to be available and you want to be a little flexible. What you do want in writing is some reasonable assurance that the photographer you want isn’t merely handing the paper off to someone else while they’re out playing golf.

First Steps On Your Journey In Photography

Many of you are just beginning your journey in photography with cameras you received or bought for yourself over the holidays. 2011 may not go down in many record books as a banner year, but it was a great year for discounts on high end camera equipment. Many of you are now carrying in your hand some of the most advanced and sophisticated optical imaging devices ever created!

Starting out is an exciting time. Every photographer remembers their first really amazing image the same way romantics remember their first kiss.

So, from those of use who have been in the business for many years, here are some suggestions for your first steps in your new passion of photography.

Learn About RAW

Raw vs JPEG — Jared Polin from FroKnowsPhoto.com looks at the difference between RAW and JPEG. Raw photos save more info about the image, allowing greater control when editing.

While many of you may have a fantastic new camera, you may not have an editing program capable of handling RAW images. It’s okay if you can only work with JPEGs at first but, if your camera supports it, do shoot RAW+JPEG even though it will burn through your card storage space like wildfire. Even if you can’t work with RAW images right away, save copies of your images in RAW format so you can revisit them in the future.

RAW images are everything your camera sensor records while capturing an image and much of that data is discarded by the compression to JPEG. Once that data is gone, it’s gone forever if you don’t have a RAW backup.

Compression artifacts are not the problem they were a few years ago. JPEG compression has improved dramatically over the years but it’s still a good idea to keep those RAW image copies around in case new imaging technologies arise in the future.

Read The Manual

I know I sound like a broken record when it comes to reading the manual, but cameras are so sophisticated today, packed with so many features, that it really is time well spent. You don’t have to memorize where every feature and menu item is located, just know they’re in there. You can always drag out the manual later if you need to look up a particular feature.

Get A Skylight Filter

Look on the barrel of your lens or check the manual (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) for the filter size of your new lens and order a skylight filter right now. It’s really just a clear piece of glass, but it can save your lens.

Every photographer in the business very long has a cracked or crushed skylight filter on a shelf somewhere that would have been their lens without the sky filter.

Get a Rain Sleeve

2854066667_221070c0b2_z — Photo by Rachel

While you’re ordering your skylight filter, add a rain sleeve like this or this and keep one in your camera bag or jacket pocket at all times.

Weather happens and, even though most new DSLRs have fairly good weather sealing, the amount and quality of that sealing can vary widely. Why risk your camera when rain covers are so cheap? Some day you’ll thank me for that advice when you get back to the car soaking wet but your camera is safe inside its rain sleeve.

Now get out there and take pictures!