How to Keyword Your Images in Lightroom.
Look for Pictures That Other People Don't Make
"Look for pictures that other people don't make."
It's a simple statement, but one that is full of insight.
I was thinking just along these lines when during this past weekend I had some students in my Digital SLR Bootcamp make pictures of a bandshell in the park where I teach the workshop. I encouraged them to not only make photographs from eye level, but to really play around and try different perspectives, focal lengths and compositions. I asked them not to settle for just one or two photographs, but to fully exhaust all the possibilities.
Some of the resulting photographs really surprised me. I saw in their pictures perspectives and points of view that I had never seen myself, even though it's a location that I have visited countless numbers of times. In their photographs, these students were really revealing to me the limits of my own vision.
I know what makes a good photograph or at least I think I know most of the time. So, when I photograph a scene or a subject, it's easy to compose a shot thinking that this is the definitive interpretation of it. But is that really the only possibility?
I saw photographers taking risks, making choices that they were not sure would work or not, but still committing to making the photograph. Yes, there was a risk that the image might not work, but that didn't deter them from trying it out and seeing what could happen. They weren't editing themselves and judging the picture before they made it. Instead, they practiced photography and played and discovered what worked and what didn't and in several cases, revealed exciting and beautiful surprises.
Ask 10 photographers to photograph a car and likely 9 out of 10 of them will deliver just that. They will make a picture of a car. It results in a photograph that is nothing more than a document. Then there is the one photographer who makes a photograph not of the car, but the qualities of the car that resonate with him or her. It could be the color, the shapes, the play off light off its surface. These photographers use the camera to create from not only what they see, but what they feel.
It's so easy to compose a photograph by following all the rules. Yes, it can produce a well-composed, well-exposed photograph, but it may not surprise me or anyone else. It may not make me feel anything. It won't reveal the world to me in a different way that's both exciting and liberating.
The best photographers do that and it begins when they make photographs that other people aren't making.
It's about photographing the world that expresses not only how I uniquely see it, but also which reveals my exploration of that world when I make non-traditional choices with the camera. When I am willing to take the risk and do something different, even though there is a possibility that it may not work, is whenI am really living in the spirit of what it means to be a photographer.
Video Tutorial - How to Adjust White Balance
Color accuracy is very important to digital photography and it revolves around our ability to get the white balance right. In this video, Ibarionex demonstrates how he considers white balance and how he uses Adobe Lightroom to achieve the best color accuracy.
5 Reasons You Should Stop Buying More Camera Equipment
Undoubtedly, there is a bit of satisfaction
on investing in a new bit of kit. The arrival of the FedEx van and the delivery
of the anticipated box on the doorstep feels just like Christmas, except of
course for the decorations, the excessive amount of food and a home invasion by
a bearded fat man, who might find himself facing serious labor issues revolving
around his use of elves and reindeer.
It's a wonderful feeling though, taking out the
exacto knife, cutting the tape and releasing a flow of Styrofoam packaging that
seems to linger around the house months after their initial arrival. Are we
sure those things aren't reproducing on contact with air, like some silent,
furless tribble?
Such moments create
the excitement over the potential of new creative opportunities. It
creates a wonderful swell of emotion, which we can experience repeatedly. At
least until, your bank account is overdrawn or the credit card has melted from
overuse. But before you get there, there might be other signs that may offer
fair warning before you end up at a freeway off-ramp with a sign reading,
"Will retouch images for food".
1. You have run out of space for all the original packaging
material.
The justification of course is to retain the
resale value, when something newer and shinier is calling you like the Greek sirens. But now they've displaced the clothes in the closet, which lay piled
in a heap on the lounge chair. Now, the only way to discern which clothes are
clean or not is the sniff test, which your significant other keeps insisting is
not that reliable.
2. Your spine has gone out of alignment because of the weight of
the camera bag.
That exhalation of air that you release each
time you pick up the bag may be an indication of weight being an issue. The
additional thirty pounds that I carry around my waistline is at least well
distributed, but the same might not be said for the bag or backpack that
carries equipment that you never end up using. What might have looked like a
cool walk in your twenties now looks like the initial signs of hip
displacement.
3. Your most passionate creative effort is measuring MTF curves
photographing brick walls.
Knowing that we got what we paid for is
important, especially when it comes to the sharpness and the resolution quality
of lenses. However, things may have been gone too far, when you are making
critical assessments such as whether the style of the brick wall is American or English Bond and if the gaps between bricks each measure 3/8 inches.
The fact you are using GPS data and Google maps to locate the
"perfect" wall is verging on the obsessive and is certainly making
your neighbors very nervous.
4. You become depressed and angry when the manufacturer releases a
new version.
It feels like a betrayal like in grade school
when little Debra Martinez gave Phillip Taylor the biggest cut of chocolate
cake and which you were sure Debra was going to give you because you let her
cheat off your test after she promised you were going to be her new best friend
and you believed her because she was so pretty and you already liked her and...
Well, it was wrong then and it's wrong now. Damn her.
5. You own camera bags that never carry camera
equipment.
They are there in the closet, in the garage,
piled in a heap beneath the desk, camera bags that held the promise of
perfection: the ideal shape, support strap, compartment size. They seemed
ideal, the best and final solution, a bag to rule them all. Now, they are empty
as their promise. It doesn't work now, because...there's this new lens
Chasing the Light Video Tutorials
In each episode I utilized images submitted by members of the Chasing the Light Flickr pool to illustrate those points as well as provide an opportunity to critique the effectiveness of each image. All 10 episodes are available at the Peachpit website.
Click here to see the videos.
If you are in the United States, you can download the episodes via iTunes. Otherwise, look for episodes in the iTunes store in your respective country.
I plan to feature similar videos in the near future based on a series of mini-critiques of 3 images from photographers who contribute to The Candid Frame Flickr pool. So, if you want to be considered for this in the future, please sign up and join the growing community of photographers.
Let me know what you liked about these video and what you would like to see more of in the near future.
The Candid Frame #134 - Juan Pons
Juan Pons is a nature and wildlife photographer who was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is a strong supporter of wildlife and natural habitat conservation and is a member of several conservation organizations. As well as selling his prints to private collectors, he also donates his images to non-profit organizations with nature and wildlife preservation missions. He is an instructor and workshop leader as well as being the co-host along with Rick Sammon of the popular podcast, The Digital Photo Experience. You can find out more about his work by visiting his blog and gallery.
Juan Pons mentioned the work of Gabby Salazar from the Nature's Best Photography competition.
For streaming audio click here or subscribe to the podcast for free via