Upcoming delight!

3 weeks since my last blog post, and besides a few birthday parties, graduations, fathers day, and other celebrations I am failing to mention I have been extraordinarily busy! Alas, I am back, writing, and photo editing, for a short while at least... Husband and I have a glorious trip in our near future, a much needed jaunt away from reality, work, and life. Trips to far away lands revitalize ones soul, provide time for reflection and time with your loved ones, and reignites the creative fire that we all have... and I cant wait! Fortunately for me Husband is the most patient and kind man I have ever known, he patiently waits for me to compose the photo just right and never rushes me through any one attraction no matter the quantity of unruly children or annoying adults invading your personal space.

The photo topic tonight aside my always interesting life? Cropping. Being a mid level photographer I find this an interesting subject, I have met photographers that despise cropping and have described it as "The Devil Himself" (not kidding). These photographers preach that "you must get it right in the camera", while I agree with getting it right in the camera I also think that getting the shot itself is important. Sometimes in life you cant ask a child to "hold that pose, right there Ace!" because lets face it, Ace is 2 and just like a child life is unexpected! Children move, people get in the way, drivers of vehicles pull right into your frame, and what do you do? Recompose the whole shot? Yes, but only after taking the initial photo and catching the original thought. I try to avoid cropping, really trying to "get it right in camera", but sometimes you just have to crop, crop, crop it!  Here are a few examples of where cropping helped emphasize the subject of the photo (and I think was totally acceptable to crop!)

Now, if I hadn't snapped this shot off right at this very moment I wouldn't have caught the sweet moment between Grandma and Grandson. Sure, there is excess in the photo, but if I had zoomed in and focused the moment would have been gone.  What did I do? I crop, crop, cropped it!!

Cropping the edges and removing the clutter in the photo makes the subject clearer. And, btw, I just love the orange cup!

Another great time to crop? When someone else takes your photo. Lets be honest, no one will take the time to compose your photo like you would... but to be in a photo you have to either have a tripod or use someone else to take the photo. This is the case in this photo, my wonderfully amazing brother took the photo of me, Husband, and their kiddos but didn't really get in there with the camera or the zoom. What did I do? I cropped it!!



Removing the excess "stuff" around the edges of the photo enriches the photo and all of its little amazing subject.

Like I said before, I do really try to get the photo "right" in the camera (and you should too!) but in these moments it was more about the moment and capturing its preciousness before it was gone, or before a child moved, looked away, etc... In summary, its not the end of the world if you have to crop but be mindful when you are shooting of unwanted items in your photos and try to eliminate as many as possible before taking the shot!

Where does the time go?

Where does the time go? March 23rd I did some senior shots, of course this job happened to be the weekend before our big Texas trip leaving no time to edit before we left, here we are nearly three weeks later and I have finally completed the task. Really? Three weeks? WOW! Thats the expectation of a very slow wedding photographer or one with a gigantic team of editors, but not of a senior photo session (as I type this i'm smacking my own hand saying "bad photog, bad, bad, bad"). Why the sudden influx of items to take up all my time? I pondering this question and when coming up with nothing I realize... there isn't a sudden influx... there is just the same old stuff taking my time and making me unavailable. Sure I work a 40 hour weekly traditional job, a secondary twice a month job, and am taking 6 credits via online and in class school, but that never stopped me before. In considering all my frustrations and deciding how to better manage my time a light bulb enters the brain, learn how to improve your daily tasks, your daily workflow. Yes, of course! I preached to know your photography equipment better in my last blog post, now I just need to be more efficient in the equipment I use on a daily basis! Today's topic, learn your equipment and developing a more effective working process, which can be applied to anything however I will be relating it to photography processes.

1. Learn your equipment (again)! this time, learn the things that make you more (or in my case less) effective. In the photographic process this starts with the camera (see previous blog post), and it also includes your computer/workstation. While I feel I am a master with my computer, it has been giving me grief lately! It thinks when it should be processing and doing things, and it loads programs when I should already be up and running. This is unacceptable! Resolution? I installed more RAM memory. Simple, cost effective, and self installed (yea, I'm a little techie!). I went from 5mb RAM to 12mb RAM for $70! This is the equivalent of dropping a V8 into a Corolla, lots of bang for your buck and guess what? Computer efficiency is up 240%. SUCCESS!! This thought and suggestion can be applied towards anything, make yourself more efficient by learning how to better use your equipment, and if its not efficient enough fix it.

2. Workflow reorganization. Now, photography workflow can be quite specific a task, however a good workflow is necessary to be effective with any task. I have realized my workflow is all over the place, I start one place, see something shiny and flock to it, lose three hours with said shiny thing, then have to start all over again trying to figure out where I left off. You can imagine my adventures with trying to gain control over my clearly hyperactive brain, I begin to get frustrated in trying to figure out where I left off... the frustration grows into anger... and anger leads me to just throw out all my work and begin again. True story, this happened just last week. Start with your most basic process first, and move your way down to the more specific detailed tasks sticking with the original item/chore/project until you are 100% complete. For us photog's this process should look something like this (and its nearly midnight, I might be forgetting a step):
1. Uploading photos from the camera, and reformatting card immediately (in camera) after ensuring upload is complete. This eliminates in field stress of "Shoot, have I uploaded these photos yet? Can I use this card or not??" Which also happened to me, during the senior photo shoot and again during our Texas trip. DUH moment!!
2. Rename the folder holding the photos to reflect the job
3. Tag the photos with people and subjects for easier future reference and search-ability
4. Creating a "100% Edited" folder within the project folder
5. Culling, the process of going through and deleting the hideously wrong photos
6. RAW processing, if you dont shoot in RAW we need to talk
7. Begin photo edits, first in folder to last. I promise you, this is something that I had to force myself to   do!! I always want to edit and process my favorites first then I forget which ones I have already edited and then end up editing them all over again jumping all over the place! Oh the hours I have lost!! If you are like me save yourself the trouble and edit in order!!!
8. Save edited photos to the 100% Edited folder. Yes I'm a victim of an itchy clicker finger... I get excited when a photo is done and my itchy clicker finger clicks "Save" instead of "Save As" and then I proceed to overwrite my "digital negatives" which is never a good thing. UGG!
9. Once all photos are edited post them online to your site, only do this when they are ALL completed. I learned this the hard way this week, you lose interest in the secondary and third set of uploads which means you lose sales. Make your clients wait til you are 100% done. If you want to give a teaser photo to entice interest that is A-OK, but just one!

Like I said, its nearly midnight and I just finished with an Anthropology paper so I might have missed a few steps in the workflow but you get the idea.

In the last week I have had one photo really grab my attention, its one from the senior photo session mentioned earlier. This girl is gorgeous, which helps my photography look amazing:) Have a great week, and keep on shooting!



 

How to stand out in the crowd.

Over the past blog-less week I have spent my time visiting Texas, and was it a busy mini-vacation! In 4 days we put 1100 miles on the rental car, dined at fine roadside bbq joints several times, stopped to smell the roses in six cities while completely ignoring the flowering plants growing in the cow patties of shanty towns we decided not to invade with our ever exuding city slickness (by this I mean having all of our teeth, wearing shoes, and shirts!). We visited with four Austin Ames' (my family), met 30 of my husbands near, distant, and grandfathered in family members, and am pretty sure we were dosed with some of that hillbilly Sasquatch fearing fever during our night "Hide and Go Jeep" game at Uncle Joes! What a efficient and excellent trip!
During the trip and all the meet and greets I found that two of husbands family members were photographers, one of which has a budding wedding photographic business and the other more of a holly hobbyist. I pondered this thought, 3 in 30 people or 10% of the population is into photography. If this small sample of the population holds true for the larger picture, this would mean an estimated 31 million of the current estimated population (compliments of the US Census Bureau July 2012) is into exactly the same hobby and business as I. Kind of a petrifying thought actually, 1 in 10 people are self proclaimed photographers. This leads to further thought process... how does a new photographer, seasoned photographer, or even senior photographer combat a quickly rising population of photographers? Two words, YOU DONT! I have learned so much these past few years from other photographers, its amazing the things classes and tutorials dont teach you. Real life experience with real life photographers teaches you invaluable things, here are some of the invaluable ideas I have learned:

1. Never underestimate yourself, or anyone else for that matter. You never know how experienced, or inexperienced, one is.  By not assuming I am more experienced that anyone else or know more than another photographer I am eliminating the biases that come with that ignorance. Everyone can learn something from other people, even if it is as small as a change in point of view, or if it is as magnanimous as understanding depth of field.

2. Never assume just because you have taken a class you understand the principles taught in that class and can make them work in a real life situation, I have proven this fact so many times to myself with ruined photos! Nothing beats practice! You can memorize every word in a book but without putting your new found knowledge into action its useless and usually unmemorable.

3. Find what you are good at, what you love, or what you have the "eye" for and be the best you can at that thing. I am an excellent sports photographer, and more recently a landscape photographer. Being good at these types of photography is my specialty, can I do wedding and portrait photography? Sure. Do I want to? Not really. Do I make exceptions to my rule for special people? Sure. Do I turn down work because of lack of experience in that field? Yes. Do I mind turning down the work? Not really. Are other people more experienced than me in these areas? Absolutely.  Knowing your own limitations is not the same as underestimating yourself, learn your difference.

4. Learn your equipment. You cant pull off the shot you want without knowing every single button on your camera. The sun might set quicker than you anticipated, you need to know how to get that same shot with half the light. The shutter you have selected might not be fast enough, you might need to change it in an instant to not miss your opportunity. Or the background might not be appealing, learning how to blow out the background in a split second might be the only way to save the shot. These are some of the real life in-field situations you will be faced with, and if you cant change that setting you cant get that shot.

5. Continue your education. I found a local Meet-Up group of photographers and we go on photo safaris, it might sound completely nerdy but when a man with 40 years of experience gives me a business/photo/camera tip I consider it a free gift from the photo-gods. You hear that? Free. Free experience and expertise from a man who has paid for and earned 40 years of it just because I listened to him talk. Learn from the best and aspire to be your best. Take workshops, there is probably one closer than you imagine, and if there isn't Improve Photography and Digital Photo School have some really great online workshops, articles, and tips for your implementation and absorption.

This is all I have for now, as I battle off the other sports and landscape photographers in my neck of the woods (pun intended) I will continue to blog about things I find pertinent in the photographic world.

 

Macro Mission! And my encounter with Germans...

These past few days I have been on a Macro Mission, thats what Im calling it at least. Macro is fantastic, even if you have a point and shoot LEARN IT! Macro is there to show us how amazing small things can be, texture, detail, and size is dramatically changed with this setting. Its a favorite of mine! I highly recommend you figure out how to turn your camera on to Macro focus setting and go take some up close shots! Yes, you must get very close to your subject. Do I recommend you shoot an anthill? Nope.  Yes, even your camera on your cell phone is HIGHLY likely to have a Macro setting. Dont be afraid, get in there and shoot.

My dear sweet husband and I went to Shoshone, CA this week. This particular trip was one of exceptional awesomeness, while visiting the local gas station for our monthly lottery ticket purchase I was interrupted... and not by just anyone but by a German with no shirt, a gigantic beer belly, and a thick as mud accent.
"So you win lottery, ya?" (imagine a really really thick German accent here)
I glanced up and there was not just one but three of them, all the same with the exception of the new two being fully clothed (for which I thanked my lucky stars, I only had 2 nipples staring me in the face not 6). I responded with
"Big winner, 3 bucks!"
He chuckles and his uncovered belly jiggles.
"So Ill marry you, big winner"
The word winner with a thick German accent sounded like wiener, which added to the hilarity of the sitch.
I laughed and said
"Too late, I have already snagged me a husband!"
I hurried to finish my lottery ticket purchase and exited the gas station as I was super uncomfortable with all the nipple staring happening inside the store. Outside, I wandered around the area taking random photos in Macro mode while my all-too-late husband just sat quietly and waited for me to finish shooting.

All of these photos post processing was simply cropping and changing to black and white. Personally I associate texture with black and white photos, you might not, and however you see something is how you should shoot it and post process it for print (or for most people to post it online).

This piece is actually some sort of farm equipment, not sure what it does but the gritty texture of the item and the harsh shadows of the afternoon made for very interesting photos. Note, for this photo I was using a F2.0 aperture to lose the focus of the back area of the photo, which was completely unappealing.

Texture is amazing in Macro, would you have passed this tree trunk by without looking twice? The focus point was placed on the hole in the middle of the trunk and a wide open aperture of F/2.0 was used to blow out the focus in the background. Note, if you chose a focus point on an item that is physically closer to the camera  more of the background would be out of focus and fuzzy.

Mid-shoot I was again interrupted by the nipple staring shirtless man...  and again, husband had disappeared. Where was my knight in shining armor? Nowhere!!
"Hey, you want my picture?"
I tried to not laugh at the question, but when I looked up I couldn't help myself. Imagine this... three Germans, one teeny Minnie-Winny camper, and my favorite nipple staring shirtless man doing leg lunges in the parking lot while asking me if I wanted to take his photo. GLORY! This definitely tops my trip off with hilarity!! And if you are wondering, no I didn't take his photo, the memory of him will last I'm my thoughts indefinitely. Back to the photos!

Again, texture! This is actually the underside of a palm tree that needs to be shaved down badly, however, the texture is amazing. When you shoot macro get in close, you will be amazed at what you find!!

An old and rusty park bench with harsh sunlight made for a very interesting photo. I did not shoot this in Macro, but it was taken on our Shoshone adventure and I think its amazing so I added it.

Once I got all these photos shot, and I was fully satisfied I had explored the area my all-too-late husband and I headed back home.

This guy is Bob, hes one of our many very sweet Jack Russel Terriers. He had anxiety with the camera near, though he persevered and I was able to snap this shot of my Bobba. I turned on the Macro focus setting and moved the focus point to the lower part of his snout, then I continued to shoot his pretty face til he couldn't stand still anymore. My entire post processing for this photo was to crop out the sides and turn it into black and white, that's all. The detail in his fur on his nose and whiskers is so dang cute, and the gloss and sheen to his out of focus eyes plays to my heart. Hes a sensitive, sweet, and curious boy and this photo portrays that.

Go on now!! Get out there and take photos! Something most photographers wont tell you they take lots of photos too and some of them don't turn out as expected either. Don't get down on yourself for taking 20 photos to get 1 great shot, that just means you had 19 opportunities for improvement so use those opportunities and improve! Now, these odds are terrible for wedding photographers and I don't suggest you go out and shoot weddings without the correct experience, however, for a beginner-amateur this is acceptable! Just get out there and shoot, that's the only thing that will make you better.

Lastly, when you see something beautiful no matter the size stop and take a few photos. Beauty can live anywhere.