Photo Tips
My Pictures are all over the web, and even on television, documentaries. I am always meeting photographers that claim they know it all. With all my experience, which is more than most of the know-it-alls I have met, almost qualifies me as just a humble guy who enjoys photography. I wont bore you with Fstopin technobabble ! The camera will teach all you need to know about that. The real talent in photography comes on location, and I have been across the world on location, rain, snow, underwater, aerial and astro-photography. When you are on location, its show time and time for you to get the great shots. You must forget the technobabble and focus (unintentional Pun) on what you want the picture for, and what story you want it to tell. The best technically correct picture hangs on a lonely wall if it tells no story worthy of attention. You see them all the time, but then your eyes comes across one and you “focus” on it as your mind absorbs the story !
Why is the Baby Smiling ? Look around and you discover the baby is amused at the puppy ! There’s your story, now arrange the baby and the puppy into the frame and you have a picture that is 10 times more enjoyable.
Making a Great Photo is a combination of many things….
Is this for a Client, A special situation , or general stock photo ?
There is always a story for a photo to tell, TELL IT !
Its not the beautiful Mountain, but the flower growing with a bee on it ,in the foreground. So then, experiment with Depth Of field. One with lots, one with little.Two Different stories, same picture ! What About Automatic ? I use it and I dont. Generally I always shoot raw, and right before I shut down the camera, I put in on AUTO. Why, With Wildlife photography, I frequently only get 3 seconds, which is not enough time to go manual and set the shot up… so I take the first one auto.
When I have time to compose my shots, I will use auto as a starting point to see light meter and settings to give me a starting point for manual settings. With practice you will know the settings .Automatic is good for conditions you are not familar with, and quickly changing…What about photoshop ?
Well for all those nay sayers who strive for that perfect shot, and refuse to edit their photos, I respect their right for opinion, but I would only have 3 pictures to sell ! Probably not true…. but the point being that I have some photos I dont need to edit, and some I do. Cropping, color adjustment and what you can do with layers is very impressive. So I keep my photoshop current and use it alot. But I stress its the story in the picture that trumps the technical . If you shoot raw, photoshop can fix most technical errors, (ACCEPT FOCUS). If you are way out of focus, or the subject or camera moved, there is little that can be done to recover the image.
For all you photo buffs, I welcome your posts, rants and raves.
Check back here as we will have photo workshops on line and offline.
Our Offline workshops will be on-location, in 2010 we are planning tanzania’s NgoroNgoro crater and another cold winter in yellowstone…. so come with us !
If you would like a course on PhotoShop this is one of the best ones I could find for you !
