Learning the business

My successes have been few and far between, but then I have not had a great deal of time to work on the business of getting photography business.

I managed to have two of my photographs take 3rd and 4th place in a contest that won me two laptops, enabling me to give a laptop to my nephew when he needed one, and keep one that I use daily.

I also landed a job creating a pamphlet for a nursing home. Now that was a learning experience. Originally I was only going to take the pictures, which would have suited me fine.. but then the customer wanted me to design a logo, then to do the graphics and layouts.. and from there it escalated to my doing all the leg work with the printer (who in turn farmed out the job creating delays in the finish date that did not go over big with the client.) Then they wanted portraits of the department heads to hang on the wall.. the list kept growing but so did their requirements.

I now wish I had not taken on more than the photography although I did manage to pull off some decent graphics but the layout was more of a struggle than I care to go through again. I learned to negotiate the printing price before divulging the clients name as they flat out told me they would have raised the price if I had told them who my client was. (seems they had previous contact and knew this customer was almost impossible to please.)

After they finally signed off on the layout and design, I had to wait on payment as I was not about to foot the printing bill without being paid up front. (seems some of their other "vendors" had some difficulty being paid which I learned during the process of designing and redesigning things.)

I also won't give the deep discounts I did for this one again. I know what my work is worth more now than I did at the beginning of this job. I also will give specific number of hours or photos that I will do for a set price.

I hope to get back to the actual photography tips rather than the business end of things, but wanted to share with you that you need to be very clear upfront about how much you will be doing for the price you quote and keep in mind you don't know the track record of the folks who hire you, so make sure you don't expend funds before you get a check and it clears.

Absent with reason

A rather odd thing happened shortly after I did my entry to this blog about the importance of focus. I was looking at some recent photos I had taken, and low and behold, at least half of them had less than adequate focus.

This concerned me greatly, so I determined it must be time for some new glasses. I tend to be on the parsimonious side, so I opted for the local Costco optometrist. We did the eye charts and the dilatation, he said my eyes looked very healthy, and the good news was that corrected I would again see 20/20. I then ordered the glasses.. which came in about 2 weeks. I went to pick them up, and discovered I could handle see out of the left lens, which I complained of then and there.

Well they double checked everything, and sent me back to the optometrist, who rechecked my vision, made some adjustments and then announced to me that he could not sharpen up the left eye like he could the right. As he handed me the new prescription, I asked why is that?

His answer was kind of alarming to me. He said probably because of the cataract forming in that eye. I do not equate healthy eyes with cataracts (a distinction that apparently eye doctors have to separate out things like macular degeneration etc.)

Well the glasses were supposed to come in a week, they did not. They did not come in two weeks. By which time I had made an appointment with my parents eye doctor who is one of the top guys in the field, and who has successfully removed cataracts from both my parents eyes, done a cornea transplant, and kept them seeing for years.
As a photographer, my vision is pretty important so I figure go to the best when you need something like this. Well, since the glasses had not come in, and I was supposed to take them to the doctor, I cancelled them the day before the doctor appointment figuring my prescription might change anyway.

I do indeed have cataracts beginning to form on both eyes, the left eye is more pronounced, and the reason the my ability to focus has changed. (guess I will be relying on auto focus more than I like until I can get all this cleared up.)

The problem is that apparently the doctor needs to know my corrected vision before he can tell me if removing the cataract will clear up the vision in that eye.. so I reordered glasses (at the place in his eye center) where I am getting a better quality of glasses, that come with a guarantee against scratching for 2 years, will be here in 10 days or less, but am paying a bit more for.

If all goes well I will be back on track with my focus factors within the month.

I suppose I could have gone onto another element of photography, but somehow it just did not seem right to say how important focus is, and not be able to produce decent focus myself. There is enough hypocrisy in the world without my becoming a practitioner of it.

Hopefully I will have good things to report on my next posting, for which I will also try to decide which subject of photography to discuss.

Focus

The closer you are to an object the more important accuracy in focusing is. When your subject is 20 feet away you can be off by a few feet and still have a reasonably focused picture. If you are very close to your subject, then even an few inches off on your focus is going to throw your image out of focus.
If you are manually focusing an object close to you, get the sharpest image you can by adjusting the focus, then rock back and forward observing the image. When it is at it’s sharpest, press the shutter.
Automatic focus is getting to be the standard on modern cameras but there may be times when you need to do manual focus so read your manual to learn how to override the auto focus. Some cameras have focus lock, or single/continuous focus settings. If you want one object focused but not dead center, you may need to learn how to do single focus, keep your shutter button partly depressed as you move the frame to where you want it and then snap the picture. (this happens more often than you would imagine if you apply the rule of thirds for good composition.)
Discussion of focus always involves some discussion of depth of field. The depth of field is the area in front of and behind your main subject that is in reasonably good focus. Control of the depth of field is important for composition as well as focus.
If you are taking a picture of an athlete for instance, and the crowd behind them would be somewhat distracting to your picture, you can have the crowd be slightly out of focus while your subject is clearly finely focused. So how do you control your depth of field and what limits are there?
One way to control the depth of field is through the aperture setting. The smaller the aperture (the higher the f number) the greater the depth of field. The larger the aperture (the lower the f number) the shallower the depth of field.
Another way to affect the depth of field is through what you focus on. The farther away your focused object, the greater the depth of field. So a row of poles or fence posts you might want to focus about two thirds of the way back so that most of the poles will be in focus. If that is clear as mud, then think of it this way. Say you have 5 poles, focus on the one that is 3rd or 4th farthest from you as more is in focus in front of your focal object than behind it.
The lens you choose also factors in. Generally speaking, you will not want to use a very long lens for a landscape shot since the depth of field will be shallower in a longer lens.
Shutter speed and motion also can play a role in what is focused and how well focused it is. If your subject is in motion, the faster the shutter speed the sharper the image. You can freeze motion with a fast enough shutter speed. Is this the effect you want? Maybe. Sometimes you want to show motion by having the subject slightly out of focus. Or you might bring attention to your subject by having the background slightly out of focus. It is one of the ways you can simplify to bring attention to your subject.

Choosing A Camera

In a fraction of a second the camera admits light reflected from an object and records an image. This is an amazing thing if you think about it.
The camera has undergone much modification and development over the 150 years since it’s introduction.
In 1839 Daguerre in Paris introduced photography using ideas developed by his countryman Niepce.
George Eastman and Eastman Kodak brought photography to the common man with mass production of cameras in the 1890’s,
The German’s produced the Leica and Rolleiflex bringing the highest quality engineering and optical excellence to mass production. Leica and Rolleiflex are still much coveted and valued cameras.
The Japanese with their electronic technology in the 1950’s advanced the design of lenses and optics, took micro circuitry and computer chips developed by American companies and devised metering systems, automatic exposure and auto focus systems that we take for granted today.
When you think about all these advances, and realize it has all taken place over a mere 150 years it sort of boggles the mind. Especially now that we are entering the digital age. Your watches are digital, you have digital media to record on, and the optics for digital cameras continue to improve to rival film cameras. (there are some who think that film will always be a better picture than a digital one.)
What kind of camera you opt for yourself is partially a choice you make based on your finances, the use to which you want to put your photographic art, and your own preferences.
Unless you are going to do exclusively studio work, and have the bucks to put into a medium or large format camera, you most likely will choose an slr, dslr or range finder camera.
slr: Single lens reflex means you can view the image directly through the lens for focusing. A variety of lens can be mounted on your slr and usually there are things like auto focus and manual over rides for settings.(usually 35mm film cameras although 124 was popular as well)
dslr: Digital slr. The same as above only instead of film you record your images on digital media such as xd, compact flash cards, sd cards or some kind of media card installed in the camera.
Range finders: This camera takes more getting used to but has the advantage of being quiet unlike the slr which has a mirror that flips out of the way for the picture to be taken. You do not see exactly what the lens/film will see when you look through the viewfinder. The lack of any camera noise can be beneficial in nature shoots.
There are also fixed focus cameras, variable focus, auto focus, interchangeable lens, filters, lens speeds, and a variety of other things that can confuse you if you are going out to buy your first camera.
The bottom line is this. It really does not matter that much what kind of camera you use, it is how you use it. You can take some wonderful pictures with just a fixed focus limited mega pixel camera if you understand light and how your camera works.
Some things you can avoid are uv filters. The camera shop is looking to sell you more goodies to go with your camera and lens and they have this uv lens that is to "protect" your lens. I suppose there are some folks who frequently try to etch on the lens of their camera, but this filter really does not serve much of a purpose, and gives you one more layer of glass to go through when you are putting that reflected light onto your media be it film or compact flash card. Filters can be of use under certain circumstances, but I have two uv filters and have never had occasion to need them. I do have a polarizing filter which is a very good investment if you are going to take pictures in bright sunlight. (hey I live in Southern California, where it is almost always in bright sunlight.)
Since I have a dslr myself, most of my examples will be for slr and dslr cameras in the postings to come. Pretty much anything that you can say about a dslr goes for an slr, except of course that a 35mm slr uses film and might have things like auto advance (a type of film advance), auto rewind which a dslr has no need for.
The purpose of your lens, no matter what type lens it is, is to focus the light into a sharp image on the film or sensor that records your image. If you have a interchangeable lens camera, you can select the right lens for each job.
Whoa you say, didn’t you just say all lens do the same thing? Yes I did. Different lens produce different images when pointed at the same scene. The image is determined by two characteristics.. Lens speed and focal length.
Lens speed is the amount of light that a given lens can transmit in a given time. (a fast lens transmits a lot of light a slow lens transmits less light.) This should not be confused with the ability to capture a fast or slow moving object, it only has to do with the amount of light the lens can transmit.
Focal length is the distance in front of and behind the object you focus on that is in reasonably clear focus. As a general rule, the longer your lens, the shorter the focal length.
I will probably need to go into lens speed and focal length in far more detail in future entries of this blog. (as well as apertures, f-stops, iso, etc)
All these things are how you control and use the light .. and the light is what you are painting your pictures with.

Elements of Composition

Perhaps this is a good place for me to inject my background a bit. When I was in High School and College I was an art major. The book that put me to sleep every time I tried to read it was a very thick volume called "The Art Of Color and Design." I do not remember the author, I do know I never got through it.

I was taught that a good composition overlapped the objects in it, that your eye needed an entry point, a path to follow, (elements that attract the eye) balance between the elements in a picture and an exit point. These things are valid, but most photography courses and critics have a big problem with what they call mergers (the intersection of objects) which can lead to some confusion if you happen to be taking a picture of a group of anything.
Developing you eye for composition is important to creating pictures rather than just being a snap shooter. If your pictures lack some of the elements of design and composition, it should be because you are choosing to ignore them, not because you are unaware of them or do not know how to accomplish them.

So on to the basics of photographic compostion. Think of these not as rules but as guidelines that you will sometimes want to sacrifice but do so knowingly and with intent.

Simplicity (yes you will hear this one over and over again)
Fill the Frame (again, repetition of this idea)
Consider Verticals
Find the Lines
The Rule of Thirds (I briefly mentioned this before )
Balance
Framing (not to be confused with filling the frame)
Avoiding mergers

Simplify: When you are thinking about simplifying, you need to have in your mind what you are trying to say with your picture. What is my message with this photo? What is the best way to communnicat this message?

Anything that is essential to the message must be included. Things that add to the message can be included. Anything that distracts from the message needs to be left out.

Fill the Frame: This does not mean that you need have your subject touching every side of the frame. What it means is that your main subject should be largest and most prominant in the picture. Extranious space should be done away with.

Lets say you are doing a portrait. If you hold your camera horizontally, you will have excess space either on one or both sides of your subject.
Another way to look at it is, a painter would not leave part of their canvas totally blank. Think of your viewfinder as a canvas and make the best use of the whole canvas.

Note here that while most pictures you take will be rectangular, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a square picture. This of course can be accomplished in the editing process.

Your subject will be strengthened by being closer or larger in the frame, and weakened by being too small or too far away.

Consider Verticals : Portraits generally are a good example of when vertical composition is prefered but that is not the only time to consider them. Even landscapes can have very strong vertical elements to them. Trees, mountains, waterfalls, buildings, uprights of bridges can all be very strong vertical elements. Depending on your perspective, even horizontal things can be vertical elements. An example is standing in the middle of a bridge looking up the river, the river can appear to be a vertical line.
Find the Lines: Just about anywhere you point your camera you can find lines. Use the lines to enhance your photo. Consider diagonal lines, leading lines and curved lines.

Diagonal lines are much more dramatic and dynamic than horizontal or vertical lines in most cases. This is frequently a matter of perspective in nature or landscapes.

A leading line may extend from near any of the four corners of a photo toward the middle of the image or toward a significant feature in the image and is one that your eye follows, and can be very effective in bringing attention to your subject. It can be the border of a field, a riverbank or a line of trees in nature. They add depth to your pictures.

Curved lines add aesthetic appeal such as a curve of a railroad track or river which also can give your composition depth. There are s-curves like clouds, winding rivers, vines, snakes gnarled trees and more that can all appear beautiful to the eye.

The Rule of Thirds : Before you snap the picture, imagine your picture area divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically.
The intersections of these imaginary lines suggest four options for placing the center of interest for good composition.

Which one should you use? That reallly depends on the subject and how you want the subject to appear. Generally you want moving objects to appear to be moving into the frame rather than out of it. That leaves only the top or bottom third ot consider. Does the subject cast a shadow? If the shadow mimics the shape of the subject it can add to the balance of the overall composition. Perhaps there are footprints in sand or something else that creates a sense of balance or shape repetition which can enhance your photo.

Balance: Getting good balance in your photo requires combining colors, shapes and areas of light and dark that compliment each other. Think about your subject and capture it from an angle, view or time of day that compliments your subject and draws attention to it or gives it that drama you want to convey. It actually is easier to do than to explain, and with some thought and practice you will find this starts to make more sense.
Framing: What I am refering to here is using elements of your photograph to frame the subject. A low close in tree branch and trunk creates a frame for the barn in the field, or the archway of the overpass can be an interesting frame for the church spire. The spokes of a wagon wheel or bicycle wheel can frame a variety of things from the face of a child to a couple on a blanket having a picnic.
Since this is a device to draw the viewers eye to a specific place it is best not to overuse it.

Avoiding Mergers: Avoiding mergers does not mean you must have space between all objects in your picture. A group portrait is far better composed if there is not space between them. The mergers to be avoided are things like a tree in the background appearing to grow out of someone’s head.
There is another kind of merger to be avoided, and that is a border merger. That is to say, when you crop out the feet of someone or the wing or tail of a bird, you have a border merger. This tends to anchor the subject to the edge of the frame which kills any action that might have been implied.

Close mergers may not be as objectionable, but can detract from the subject. When composing make sure that tree in the background is not going to take away or distract. (this also goes for the beach umbrella, the boat, the whatever) If there is something that appears to be going to create this merger or near merger, try changing the angle at which you are shooting. Try from a lower angle, or slightly to the left or right to fix this defect in your otherwise good composition.

Drawing Attention To Your Subject

There are a variety of ways to draw attention to the subject of your photograph. You do not need to apply them all, and some are more suited to one subject than to another.

Fill the frame: Filling the frame with your subject is one way of drawing attention to it. Up front and bold makes it apparent what the subject is.

Blur the background: The longer your lens, the shorter your focal range. (that is the distance that appears in reasonable focus in your picture) A short focal range allows you to have your subject in focus and the background slightly out of focus causing your subject to jump right out at the viewer. This is also something that works with showing motion in a picture... panning with the motion will cause the background to blur unless you have a very fast shutter speed to freeze action.

If the attention of everyone in a photograph is centered on the subject, that is another way to draw the attention to it. Or, if it is a group picture, having everyone look at the same thing will add the unity to bring them together as a group making them as subject, stand out.

Your eye is drawn into a picture from the lower left and proceeds up and right until if finds the subject. If your subject is placed in one third of the frame, (which can be right/left top or bottom) without lots of distraction in the other two thirds then you subject will be clear to the viewer.

There are times when you actually do want to center your subject, but that is not the norm. Simplification is still very important, so if there are distractions that are irrelevant to your subject and context in the other 2/3 of the picture, it is better to have the subject centered.

Many composition issues are compromises with what you have to work with. A portrait of the conductor of a philharmonic could easily include a partially blurred orchestra, the seats, or part of a piano. If there is something large like a piano that is going to be in the shot, then have it only partly in the shot so it does not distract from the portrait (of course if the piano is the subject that is another story.)

Composition in photography is important, and perhaps more difficult to put your finger on what is good composition and what is bad.. Add to that the differences of opinion on what constitutes good composition that I have encountered myself makes this a long and interesting discussion.

I hope to give you a sense of this, and present some of the conflicting "golden rules" of composition .. as you develope your own style you will most likely gravitate towards some of these

I Am A Photographer

I am a photographer. I became a photographer to capture life around me and record it for future generations to share. Photography is painting with light. It is recording events. It is art.

A good photograph simplifies. The subject is clearly identified with focus on the subject with little to no distraction. Showing only the elements that add to the story the picture is telling.

This is fundamental to being a good photographer.

A good photograph has a theme to it. Usually this is a universal theme of some kind. The theme could be motherhood, war, just about anything. How do you accomplish this? How do you convey the theme you want to in a picture?

It is a progressive learning process. It does not happen overnight. Your photographs that express a universal theme will move the viewer. If it has a universal theme it touches off the memory in the viewer of their mothers, daughters, infants, or whatever the subject is.