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My purpose in this blog is to share my photographic experiences.
I have been wondering what would be of benefit to my readers. So here goes.
Through out my life as a photographic portrait artist I have been amazed at the number of people who are convinced that they are ugly!
EVERYBODY is good looking in their own way. The advertising companies want to deny this and make you believe that only if you meet their criteria are you acceptable. That is hogwash!
So what I do is do everything in my power to show you at your very best.
All through history artists have portrayed their models as the would have been if the worst had been the best.
I once made a portrait of a customer whose face was wrinkled and lined from age and drug and alcohol abuse. When I was through and the customer saw the portrait she literally burst into tears of happiness.
What makes the difference?
There are several things which I will cover during this blog.
First= LET THERE BE LIGHT.
Without light there are no images. With good lighting there can be great images and with poor lighting the images can be a sordid mess.
So the first thing that I do when I look at a subject man, woman, child or animal is to ascertain where should the light fall on the subject?
Since this can take several minutes I always tell the subject beforehand that this is not going to be a rush thing. They should relax and enjoy. And above all I never get in a hurry.
In lighting we are looking at colors. But what colors? Red? Which red? Deep red, light red, orange red? When lighting a subject you must be aware of how various colors will affect the skin, the clothing, the hair and many other aspects of the portrait.
{f/RB67/rtdb-1}
This is my number one film camera. My Mamiya RB67 medium format film camera.
There is a huge controversy over the use of film versus digital. To me there is no conflict. Some things I perceive to be better with film and others with digital.
For example shooting a wedding or sporting event, Digital hands down. For portraits and fine art landscape I believe there is still no contest. I choose film.
So on to my journey.
To my way of thinking there are two types of camera users. First are the snap shooters, bless their souls, whose photographic aim in life is to record times and places. They have fun with this and frequently come up with some decent pictures.
Chapter two
In order to really be a photographer it is necessary to understand the basic concepts of image creation.
The very first thing is to decide what you want a picture of. It is like the customer who walks up to the airline ticket counter and says "Sell me a ticket."
The seller says "OK where do you want to go?"
The customer says "I don't know. Just sell me a ticket".
Ridiculous right? But that is the way many people approach taking pictures.
So the questions are these;
First understand that no photographer can be all things to all people. We are all limited by time, skill, and equipment. So deciding what you want to photograph is the first important step toward success. I personally find that if I limit myself to portrait and landscape I have much better final results.
(I plan to insert pictures I have made in order to illustrate points)
[f/Red Rock Country-305-8+12}
BLUFF IN RED ROCK COUNTRY
NEAR SEDONA ARIZONA
1-What do you want to make a picture of.? (Remember snapshooters, bless their souls, take pictures. Photographers make pictures)
I decided that what I wanted to shoot were some colorful landscapes
2. Why do I want to make this picture
3.Where is it located?
After several weeks of planning I undertook this trip from Seligman Arizona to Flagstaff Arizona and back.
My main objective was to photograph the red rock country along Oak Creek Canyon.
4.When do I want to take the picture?
Here is where planning is important.
What time of day would be best for the image I want to create?
When will I get the light and shadows that will most enhance my picture?
Do I what to plan for a bright sunny day or maybe a Cloudy day.?
Will early morning better or afternoon.? (Mid day is hardly ever a good time.)
5.What equipment do I need.?
Many times a person will think only about grabbing their camera and heading for the door. But what about when you get to the site and find that you need certain filters, or lens shades, or a tripod?
I have found that a preplist of the things that may be needed is more often than not the key to a successful photographic outing.
6. How do I go about creating the image?
I have decided why, where, when and equipment. I am at the location!
My next big concern is the mechanics of creating the image. So here is a detailed procedure that I follow to assure that my results will be what I had in mind.
A. Set up the tripod
B. Load the camera with the appropriate film
C. Mount the camera on the tripod.
D. Take the composing card and sight through it to set the scene.
A composing card is a piece of white card board into which has been cut a square hole. I use
4" x 5"
[f/blog/CompCardWPic-1].
The idea is to look through the opening and find the picture that you want to make.
E. When I find a scene that I like I then set my tripod in a position to capture that scene.
F. Next I use my hand held light meter and determine the exposure that I should use. My meter is a Gossen Luna-Pro.
It really does not matter if you are using film or digital I firmly believe that an external meter is critical to successful imaging.
Having metered your light source you will now need to make several other decisions. Is the subject close to you or far away? What is the most important area in the picture. Do you want this area to stand out from the background? Is there a radical difference from the center of focus to other parts of the picture?
G. Consideration must then be given to "depth of field". That is the overall area of sharpness.
Great depth of field will require a smaller aperture ( f16 or f22) and a longer exposure Sometimes a minute or more. (Thus the need for a tripod). Shallow depth of field therefore requires a larger aperture (f8 or perhaps f5.6) and a shorter exposure time.
H. So now you are ready to make the image. But wait! Is the sun glaring? If so you made need to use a polarizer, (I'll go into that a little further on.) Or maybe the reds, greens, or blues need enhancement. Then you need to have enhancement filters available.)
By now you may be saying "This guy is insane." But bear with me. I will cover each of these issues s we get further into the project
[G/Chiricahua/82]
The idea is to look through the opening and find the picture that you want to make.
E. When I find a scene that I like I then set my tripod in a position to capture that scene.
F. Next I use my hand held light meter and determine the exposure that I should use. My meter is a Gossen Luna-Pro.
It really does not matter if you are using film or digital I firmly believe that an external meter is critical to successful imaging.
Having metered your light source you will now need to make several other decisions. Is the subject close to you or far away? What is the most important area in the picture. Do you want this area to stand out from the background? Is there a radical difference from the center of focus to other parts of the picture?
G. Consideration must then be given to "depth of field". That is the overall area of sharpness.
Great depth of field will require a smaller aperture ( f16 or f22) and a longer exposure Sometimes a minute or more. (Thus the need for a tripod). Shallow depth of field therefore requires a larger aperture (f8 or perhaps f5.6) and a shorter exposure time.
H. So now you are ready to make the image. But wait! Is the sun glaring? If so you made need to use a polarizer, (I'll go into that a little further on.) Or maybe the reds, greens, or blues need enhancement. Then you need to have enhancement filters available.)
By now you may be saying "This guy is insane." But bear with me. I will cover each of these issues s we get further into the project
Let us see what happens when we apply these principles to wildlife. I was walking around a park in Susanville Ca. happened upon some deer that were grazing. It was mid February and the deer were wandering around looking for forage.
I had my camera mounted on my tripod and so was able to make some interesting images.
In this first picture I caught the herd as they looked over at me, probably deciding whether to run or not. I was able to get a few shots and this one is the one I will write about.
Notice that the foreground is actually too much for the exposure. My bad. However the series of pictures that I did here worked out well because I was able to edit them for good effect. Also there is a white pole that looks like it is growing out of the back of one of the deer
[f/Deerin SVille A
I adjusted the images for light and contrast and was ready to crop.
f/Deerin Sville A
Next I cropped the image, re-adjusted the contrast and light and also took out the white pole. In the cropping I tightened the background around the subjects and also shortened the foreground for balance.
This blog is getting too long so I think that I will shortly create other blogs dealing with specific issues.
To those who are following the blog please be patient. I am trying to collect and organize my thoughts in a logical sequence
Henry says
Whatever you say
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