Bright Sunshine

I call this photo "eleven a.m." because that's when I took it.  The sun was bright and hot with the ambient temperature pushing 94° fahrenheit.  The lilly blossoms loved it.  Ordinarily, I avoid taking pictures in bright sunlight because everything you see happening here—high contrast and harsh shadow areas can be  problematic.  This is especially true when photographing people.  Digital doesn't always handle high dynamic range well, but in this case I feel I was able to take advantage of it.  My exposure was set at a minus 2/3 on the ev scale (if you don't know how to do that check your camera manual), to hold back blowing out the highlights completely.  This is also a RAW file which allows for a good deal of post-processing latitude in Photoshop CS5.  I could have chosen to tone down the contrast a bit, but decided not to.  This is the way it looked to my naked eye and this is the way I wanted to portray it on the computer screen.  It's an unusual image in that both pads and blooms are at their peak with almost no decay.  The next time you see lillies growing in a pond, look at the pads and note how quickly they begin to deteriorate.

Silhouettes add drama

This is one that I call Oak in Winter.  There are a couple of things about this image that are worthy of some discussion.  First, it is (or was) a color photograph.  When color is minimal or adds nothing in particular, I will often eliminate it entirely in post processing.  Secondly, trees have always fascinated me as a subject and I find them striking when they reveal their skeleton framework after dropping their leaves.  The subject here is just that, a skeleton of a tree.  You should always photograph things that interest you.   It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.  If they categorize you as a bit weird, so be it.

Photograph what you love and learn to continually develop and refine your particular style.  I have mentioned before in this blog that my style is characterized, for the most part, as simple, direct and uncluttered.  When I shoot pictures I give this a lot of thought looking through the viewfinder and will sometimes shoot ten, fifteen or twenty images if time permits and the subject isn't going anywhere.  One of the nice things about digital, is that a memory card can hold lots of photos and if you decide you really don't like them, you can throw them away later.  Avoid being too analytical while you are shooting and trying to make decisions about whether or not to keep an image.  While you are wasting your time looking at that tiny little screen on the back of the camera, other opportunities are passing you by.  You can be fooled into thinking that something is worthless when it may actually have some merit.  Also, I don't care how many thousand dots a manufacturer puts on that LCD screen, it is very difficult to tell if you have critical focus on something that has a two-and-a-half or three inch diagonal dimension.  It's much more sensible to make those decisions on a 24-inch monitor.

Learn to analyze what you see in the viewfinder however.  Move a few feet closer or a few feet farther away and shoot it again.  Get a higher or lower point of view, or change lenses.  Keep shooting until you are satisfied.  Think about what kind of photo might be taken in different weather conditions or at a different time of day.  If you find yourself with unusual ambient light however, be aware that if you come back tomorrow the light will probably not be the same.

Kids and animals

I was told at the beginning of my education in journalism (photojournalism that is) that you couldn't miss with shots of children or animals—immediate empathic response (especially with the very young kids and animals).  We have a great zoo in Memphis and I go frequently when the temperature is below 95.  Unfortunately that leaves out most of the summer, but one of the things I especially enjoy is watching the relationships like the one you see here.  Little kids love the animals and that love is returned.  When an adult walks up to this glass wall, the sea lions just swim on by.  The kids will get them to stop every time and they play with each other.  It's a marvelous interaction to watch—too bad the rest of the world can't take a lesson here.  If you want some fun pictures at the zoo, try looking at it through the eyes of a child, and have your camera ready because things happen fast.

Pay attention to detail

When you are out shooting images of the world around you with your wide angle vision, it's easy to miss the small things.  This might be especially true when you are out on the street shooting images of passersby and trying not to be too terribly obvious.  On this point I would like to say, if you are shooting pictures then that is what you are doing and you should not try to hide it.  It takes a little getting used to in the beginning as many photographers are shy and a bit uncertain.  When you're mixing in the crowd and putting a camera in people's faces, it can be a bit unnerving.  Do not try to hide the camera.  This will make people very suspicious of you as it implies that you are doing something not quite on the up and up.  Shooting from across the street with a telephoto lens doesn't work either.  Most people don't mind that you are making photos and if they do they will be quick to tell you.  If someone does not want their picture taken and they ask you  not to, then you should comply politely and move on.

When you notice detail that you want to shoot, such as this lady's feet, there is no getting around it.  There's no hiding or attempting to hide what is going on here.  If it seems appropriate, ask permission.  In this case I simply implied what I wanted to do by pointing the camera downward and saying "may I?"  She just smiled back and I bent over and made the image.  The photo was taken with a 20 mm lens so I had to be close.  In other words, to get the shot I had to interact with the person.  Also, as an aside, in my experience, people with body decoration or highly stylized clothing etc., really want to be noticed.   Taking their photograph is flattering.

Always be sure to interact with individuals and thank them.  A short conversation is frequently appropriate as well.  If they ask for a copy of the photo, get an email address and send them one when you get back to your computer.  It's only fair.

Making a Statement

There are all kinds of ways to make a statement with a photograph, and many reasons for doing so.  Sometimes a photo just seems to cry out for different treatment.  My view is that if you have the means and the skill why not make it (the statement that is)?  The shot of the fountain plaza and the student center at the University of Memphis is a good example.  It was taken on a bright sunny day with a few puffy clouds and a clear blue sky.  I shot it with an extreme wide-angle lens (7 mm) on the Panasonic GH1.  It was really a nice enough photograph, sharp and well exposed.  It was also somewhat boring from my point of view so I thought I would make it different.  In this case, I began to play with it in SilverEfex Pro, which is a third-party filter sold by Nik software.  The end result was something that resembled an antique post card.  While the effect is not far off of one of their default selections, I did do some minor tweaking to get what I wanted.  There is not much point in going through the process as I believe everyone needs to find their own way through the software maze.

As a finishing touch, I found a complimentary color and added a border.  As stated in the beginning, I wanted to make a statement.  Why?  I was trying to say something different about a rather banal subject, or maybe I was just bored and needed to entertain myself.  The reason isn't important.  What is important is the end result.  I happen to like it because I think it worked.

Macro off the glass

The little things peak my interest more often than not.  Walking past my front door, I noticed the mosquito hawk resting (probably trying to get out of the hot sun).  One of my Panasonic cameras almost always has a macro lens attached so I grabbed it off the shelf and proceeded to make a dozen shots.  The macro lens is a Leica 45 mm (90 equivalent on this particular camera) and is extremely sharp.  That was great as far as photographing the insect was concerned, but the sharp little lens picked up every speck of dust, inside and out, on the glass door.  So, while I like the shot and the composition, I spent a lot of time in Photoshop cleaning the  little specks off the window.  I cropped it to a 16 X 9 ratio which is a favorite of mine (mentioned before in this blog) and it suited the subject as everything above and below the crop was quite out of focus.  It also save me a lot of window cleaning.

The wonderful world of black and white

Sometimes, often for me in fact, I will shoot a photo that is very strong graphically and the color actually takes away from the image or in some way distracts from the point of the photograph.  The black and white image of the ostrich above is a case in point.  On this hot and hazy afternoon at the Memphis zoo, colors were far from saturated.  The bird, basically gray against a shadowy out-of-focus background, was stirring up the dust by flapping her wings. I'm not sure what she was doing although I have seen small birds do something similar to delouse themselves.  The point of the picture was the dust cloud however, and, while it had some backlighting, it did not stand out well from the muted colors around it.  It did not stand out well enough to suit me that is, as I felt it was a strong image and wanted to present it that way.  The answer was to turn it into a black and white.  The viewer could then focus on the light values without being distracted by color that was not all that interesting.