I cannot teach this workshop often enough! This is the core of a successful photography. The idea is to “capture” the subject’s essence in the 2 dimensional image of a photograph. . .to “tell” a story about the subject.
With people, it is often a smile, tears, or other emotion / action within the photograph. This ideal can be brought to a landscape, wildlife image, or macro subject. Each photographer has their own unique view of the world, and the objective is to share this with the viewer.
Accomplishing this vision includes camera knowledge, composition, “seeing”, and weaving all this into the photographic image.
I love this workshop the most, because we explore all these aspects of photography in the classroom, and strive to combine them in the field. The focus is on techniques, vision, and composition.
I look forward to meeting all the individuals that join this journey to photographic perfection.
I seldom get the opportunity to stay in the city, and photograph all the different types of light. Composing in the city is similar to Landscape photography, but the lines are more linear and defined. I find that it give me a different perspective to take back to the natural world I love to document.
The shot above is an example of “outside” the box composing. This long exposure was taken through the hotel window at F22. The yellow cast to the image is the temperature of the street lights. The “spotting” effect is the dirt on the outside of the window. All this together creates a “grunge” feeling for the photo.
Photographing the city at night, illustrates the different temperatures of light. The colors that look “true” are most likely daylight balanced fluorescent or LED. The yellow is tungsten or incandescent. The green cast is most likely regular fluorescent.
Daylight brings another look to the buildings. I love the reflections in the modern glass buildings, mixed with the historical brick buildings. The strong use of diagonal line in the above photo guides the viewer’s eye through the picture. Diagonal lines add a feeling of motion to a static image. The reflection in the glass is the buildings across the street light by direct sunlight. I used a polarizing filter to enhance the blues, and was careful not to eliminate the reflection in the glass.
Cities are filled with contradicting images and ideas. The above image is bullet damage to a 1/2 inch glass window. I like the story it tells of prosperity (see inside the building) and the reflection of the historical buildings across the street. This building was a corporate headquarters, and is was situated in an area of diverse stories of prosperity and decline. The lines in this image are the arrangement of the bullet damage which are taped, and the diagonal lines of the buildings in the reflection.
The image below is a combination of a sculpture and the Tribune tower. I intentionally framed the tower with the brightly colored sculpture, and used a large depth of field to bring out sharpness in the foreground, mid-ground, and background.
This photograph was taken in the tulip fields during the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. There were hundreds of people in the fields on this day.
Event provide a great opportunity to photograph nature, though they can be very crowded with people. There are a few techniques that can be used to create the photograph that shows the elements the photographer wants his/her view to enjoy.
First, it is important to control the aperture or depth of field (DOF). Many times, a person in the background can disappear with a shallower depth of field. They become another shape or color without definition. In the photo above, the DOF is shallow enough to blur the tulips in the background.
This is one of my favorite photographs of the tulips that I took on this shoot. Unfortunately, there are people in the background. To use this for retail, I would need to get a model release from the people, or remove them from the image.
Second, take the time to look at all the elements in the photograph. In the picture above, I missed the two women at the bottom of the picture. During the event, people were suppose to stay out of the field, but everyone wanted their picture taken with the tulips. In this instance, I should have waited until they left the field.
Third, selectively crop the photograph before taking the picture. At a crowded venue, it is important to take time to visualize the photographic image before taking the picture. This is where the elements of composition can help the photographer select what goes into the photo. This concept is shown in the image below.
Selective cropping of the photograph in the camera can eliminate people from the photograph.
Fourth, it is important to consider your perspective of the scene or point of view. Often times, the chosen perspective can naturally crop-out unwanted elements from a photograph. In the top image, the perspective eliminates the people and buildings from the photograph. In the third image, the perspective includes all of the different colors of tulips in the garden, while eliminating people, structures and the road from the photograph.
Also, it is important to experiment when composing a photograph in a crowded area.
