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What Makes A Photograph Breathtaking?

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Its easy to look through hundreds of pictures, and enjoy each one for what it offers. Then you open up a site with a photograph that makes you say … WOW!

There is a difference between 99 percent of the photographs out there, and the 1 percent that truly leaves you breathless. And while you may say that a breathtaking photograph is in the eye of the beholder, there may be things you can do to make your photographs truly breathtaking.

Head over to a site like The Big Picture. I visit there every once in awhile when I need inspiration. The photographs are unbelievable. But what makes them truly magical is the story they tell when you look at each subject all together.

And of course you can’t leave out a site like National Geographic. Their photography has been WOWing people for decades. And while the stories they tell are remarkable, it’s the photography that really penetrates your heart.

So how do you take a breathtaking photograph? I searched through other photographers sites to see what they have to say. [Read more...]

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7 Tips For Visual Storytelling

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You’re not just a photographer; you capture a story with a visual image.

The better you are at seeing the story unfold before you snap the shutter, the better your final product will be. That’s where the true art form comes into play. Some photographers look beyond the quick image, and look for a way to put a lot of emotion into one image.

If you want to improve your photography, improve your storytelling first.

1. The Who, What, Where, When and Why

The first rule of great storytelling is discovering the facts. Chances are you remember this assignment from your grade school days. Pick out any story in the newspaper, and you should quickly be able to pick out the 5 W’s – who, what, where, when and why. That’s the crux of a great story. It provides the details, and brings the reader in.

The same holds true in photography. What is your ultimate goal with a photograph? Center in on who you are photographing. What message are you trying to convey? Where are you going to capture the image? When will you be working with your subject? Why is this image important to you and to your subject? [Read more...]

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How To Add Creativity Into Your Images

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About a year and a half ago, I introduced you to an up and coming photographer, Neil Creek. Back when I first met Neil online, Twitter was a relatively new site, and he was making great headway by offering his MeetHeads concept at local tweetups.

Neil has been busy as ever, and recently created an ebook that is now ready for you to learn from. His ebook, Photo Nuts and Shots: Tools and Techniques for Creative Photography is filled with over 100 pages of guidance and tutorials to help you become better and more creative with your photography.

And for a limited time, you can save 25 percent as part of the early bird special. For only $14.99, what have you got to lose?

Order Photo Nuts and Shots: Tools and Techniques for Creative Photography Today

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Understanding Portrait Lighting

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Lighting a portrait can be a daunting task if you are not familiar with how light affects the subject.

  • Do you have the subject face the light directly – which will cause flat lighting?
  • Do you cast the light to the side and add depth to the subject?
  • Or, use a light source to enhance the rim light?

The best way to understand portrait lighting is by studying the relationship of shadow and highlights altered by a single light source. Once a simple concept is mastered, your photography will take a totally different look.

While simple in nature, the use of a stationary egg combined with a single light source shows the relationship of shadow and highlight. The video below displays this in an easy to understand format.

Read the entire article here via ProPhotoResource

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How To Take Great Portraits Without Showing A Face

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Have you ever had a great idea that you can’t wait to try out on a client? You want to place a child just so, with a certain background, and achieve a certain result? Then the client yells out, “Look at the camera, smile, bigger smile, come on smile…” You get the drift. Nothing is more frustrating than having your idea sour because a parent wants her two year old child to pose and smile perfectly for the camera.

For me, there’s something innocent about a child that a smile simply ruins. A two year old has huge eyes that speak volumes – who needs a smile to see that? And if you truly want a two year old to smile, why not have them giggle as loud and as hard as they can. That’s a true two year old spirit!

And of course it doesn’t stop at the age of two. What about a teenager deep in thought while reading a book? Why have her look up – why not capture her doing what she loves the best?

Sometimes a photograph is so much more if you simply don’t capture the face. If you don’t focus on the eyes. And you don’t get that big smile. Sometimes a photograph is so much more if you capture the person’s soul, doing exactly what they want to do. What they have a passion for. That’s where you start separating from a picture taker, and dive into the world of photographic artistry.

Selling the Concept

People have a preconceived notion about photography. They expect the turn, look at the camera and say cheese idea because that’s what they’ve done ever since they were children. When they come to your studio, they expect the same thing because that’s what they are primed for. You may have better backdrops, better lighting, and take better photographs, but it still should have the subjects smiling at the camera, right?
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Your Television Could Be Ruining Your Photograph’s Composition (The Rule Of Thirds)

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A guest article by Jeff Colburn

Yes, you heard right, your television could be ruining your photographs. It has nothing to do with electromagnetic radiation emissions or the “Couch Potato Syndrome” and everything to do with the composition you are exposed to whenever you watch television.

More often than not, the main subject of a scene is in the center of the screen. This is a very static form of composition. “If it’s so static,” you ask, “Then why do I watch hours of it every day?” Simple. It’s a moving medium and the average image is on the screen for just a few seconds. You don’t have enough time to get bored, or even analyze, a given scene before it’s replaced with another one.

If you want to test this out, rent an old classic black and white movie. Each scene was on the screen longer. Composition was vital because there was no color to distract the viewer. Look at how Alfred Hitchcock, Cecil B. DeMille or Orson Welles constructed a scene. Freeze some of the frames and see what they’ve done. The composition and lighting are amazing. In contrast, watch your favorite television show in black and white, with the sound turned off. See if it still holds your interest for the entire program. You may be surprised.

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7 Tips For Creating A Great Portrait In The Bright Sunlight

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One of the many reasons people choose to live in Colorado is the 325 days of blue skies and sunshine. And that’s a great thing if you enjoy being outdoors like we do.

However photographing in the direct sunlight has its challenges. With a portrait, you can usually schedule it early morning or late evening to capture it in the sweet light. But what about a wedding that takes place in the middle of the afternoon? You can’t postpone a wedding simply because you are looking for better lighting conditions. So you adjust.

1. Use the sun to your advantage. Instead of placing the subject with the bright sunlight behind you – shining into the subject’s eyes and making them squint – play with the placement. If you put the sun at a 45 degree angle, you’ll begin to see dimension in the subject. Or put it behind your subject, and use the sun to create interesting affects.

2. Use reflectors. You can use light reflectors and diffusers to control the light source, bounce highlights back onto the subject, and block out the harshest sunlight from directly overhead.

3. Find the shade. No matter where you are, you can find a shady area to get out of the sun. Look to tuck your subject behind a building, or in a grove of trees. You can still get beautiful lighting, wonderful backgrounds, and less chance you’ll have a squinting subject.

4. Create your own shade. Use props to create a shady place anywhere. From hats to parasols, find something that gives your subject personality.

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5. Tell a story. Instead of focusing on the typical portrait with the subject smiling into the camera, look for a different perspective. Maybe walking along the beach, or enjoying a moment alone in a field of flowers. Be creative, and look for something that makes you stand out from the typical photographer.

6. When in doubt, use a flash. If you are taking a portrait where the emphasis is on the face, make sure you have adequate lighting on the face to compensate for the sunlight. While we personally do everything we can to avoid flash, at times it may be your best choice.

7. Try using a different lens. As portrait photographers, its easy to rely on one standard lens again and again. When you’re in a difficult situation, try a variety of things. One of our favorite lenses is a fish eye. Get up close to your subject and blow the background completely out of proportion. You’re subject will love the different perspective, and you can end up with some amazing affects.

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Adding Motion To Your Photography

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I love a great portrait. You know right where the focus is. Everything is crisp and clean, and it captures the true emotion of your subject matter.

But what do you do when your subject simply won’t settle down? You’re at a sporting event. Or the bride and groom are rushing up the aisle. Do you really want to stop the movement, and not capture true reality?

That’s when you add a little motion to your photography, and turn a regular portrait into a completely new experience.

1. Slow down your shutter speed.
You can’t gain motion with a quick shutter speed. With a quick shutter speed, you’re going to stop the motion, concentrating on the details of your subject. How long you leave your shutter opens depends on the movement – and what you truly want to capture.  A second or two? An hour or more? Really there is no wrong answer – it all depends on what you are ultimately trying to capture.

2. Control your camera.
For long exposures, it’s best to place your camera on a tripod. If you want the subject to stay in focus while the world moves around it, you need a secure camera with no movement.

But if your action is happening around you and your subject is part of the action, use the technique of panning. Panning follows the subject as it moves, and keeps them relatively in focus while the background blurs. The shutter speed will depend on how fast your subject is moving, and how long you will be following the subject.

3. Be prepared.
What results are you hoping for? Plan out the image ahead of time. Will you have multiple tries at shooting motion? At a bike or car race, you may have the option to shoot multiple images, trying different things each time. Experiment, and keep track of what works, and what doesn’t.

At events like a wedding, it’s important to have two or three cameras ready to go at all times. When the bride and groom are walking (or running) up the aisle, jump in and get a great image focused on their faces. Then step aside and get the motion of their movement. Two images. Two pages in an album. And it will be difficult to pull either one out because of the uniqueness and different perspective.

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3 Ways To Take A Better Business Portrait

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Remember back in grade school where you would wait patiently in line to have your class picture taken? You would hop up onto a bench in front of a backdrop, smile at the camera, and be presented with one of the worst pictures possible a few weeks later?

That’s the business of taking quick, class photographs. But it’s not the business of taking a business portrait.

By the time we grow up and become a professional, we want more than just a quick “say cheese” portrait to put on our websites, business cards, brochures and social networking sites. We want something that’s a little classier. Something that showcases us in our best light. Here are a few ways you can bump up the quality of your professional business portraits – and charge more for them in the process:

1. Step away from the backdrop. Don’t do the standard images. Head out to the great outdoors and find variety in your portraits. From a city street, to an overgrown walkway, an environmental portrait will give your client more variety, and make him or her less stressed with the entire process.

better business portrait

2. Use high key lighting. With today’s technology, sometimes a backdrop isn’t the first choice. People today like to use cutaways for their websites and brochures, and have the ability to make their brochures and other marketing materials pop. Start by asking what they hope to accomplish with their business portraits. Then give them a wide array of options.

business portrait

3. Build up their business. What does your client do for a living? Why not incorporate that into their business portraits? Be creative with all of your executive images, and give them a selection to use for different reasons. While the average client may be looking for one good image to use on a business card, once you present more options, they may end up buying more to have more uses. An image of a baker surrounded by her high-end wedding cakes may be just what she needs for an article in a trade magazine. Or a framed wall print in her bakery.

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How To Photograph Babies

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You can’t pose them. They won’t sit up. They may cry if you scare them. They won’t smile. They won’t even look at the camera when you want them to.

So how can you capture great photographs of a baby that the parent will want to buy?

What starts out sounding like a negative actually can be worked into a BIG positive from selling your photography.
how to photograph babies
A baby won’t pose, but they will only be little for a very short time. They won’t sit up, but they have the tiniest hands and feet.

This is a once in a lifetime moment. Wait a month and it will change. Put it off for a few months, and you lose the opportunity forever.

Now that’s a sales technique. But before you start selling, you have to take the photographs.
[Read more...]

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