How many times have you seen a picture where it just made you say “WOW! I wish I could capture something like that!” And, you ask the person, “How’d you get that shot?” Typically you’ll get an answer like “Just got lucky I guess.” Well, I am not sure I buy into that. Does luck really factor into taking good pictures? Perhaps on rare occasions it does, because as the old saying goes, “Even a blind squirrel can find a nut occasionally”
But consistently taking good pictures requires more than luck. It requires certain key elements that anyone can incorporate to increase their “keeper ratio”. Today, I’ll look at 5 ways to increase your keepers. So, here’s 5 ways to get lucky!
Plan ahead. Just the mere act of planning for a shot can help. If you know you’re going to be in the mountains, take a wide angle lens with you. If you know you’re going to be at a party, take that nifty fifty. Wildlife? Take a zoom! Remember, prior planning not only prevents poor performance, but it also can help you take better pictures.
Learn the technical stuff. Know the technical stuff. Memorize it. There are certain fundamentals you just have to know, and by taking that sundry stuff and migrating it to a point where it’s in the back of your head and you don’t even have to think about it, then they can become tools. If you understand apertures inside and out, then you can really use depth of field to create better pictures. The same goes for planes of view, angles of view, composition rules, and all that other stuff.
Take lots of pictures. As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect. So, stop reading forums, blogs, magazines, books, and all that stuff from time to time (except for my blog of course!), and get out there and practice, practice, practice!
Look at the pictures of others. Not only is appreciation of others work inspiring in its own right, but you can also train your eye to see what makes some images just “work”.
Dedicate some time each day to do something related to photography. It can be any of the above, from taking pictures, to editing pictures, looking at the works of others, studying your manual (learning about apertures, shutters, etc.), or any other photography-related ideas. You can only improve your skills by repeated use. Since I’ve referenced other idioms, another one could apply here: If you don’t use it, you lose it. Just like musicians who practice every day to get better, if you don’t practice your craft regularly, you won’t get better.
So, there you have it, 5 ways to improve your luck. And this is just from my own perspective. As is always the case when it comes to opinions, there are probably many more out there. Got your own ideas about ways to “get lucky”? Share them in the comments section or via email. In the meantime, Happy Shooting – hope everyone can “get lucky”!
First off, a bit of quick news about the blog in general: the layout has changed. Can anyone tell the difference? It’s a rather significant one, so hopefully it won’t go unnoticed! 🙂 Chime in and that’s your chance at winning the Think Tank Photo Streetwalker bag I reviewed a few weeks ago right here on the blog!
So, back on today’s post topic, as part of my maintenance routine that I recently posted, last evening I was doing some of my extended “IT” maintenance on my Windows computer. As a part of that maintenance, I was trying to optimize my hard drive performance, and thus resorted to cleaning out temp files, cache files, history files, restore points, and other sundry stuff. A defrag procedure on the hard drive, and I was back up to some pretty screaming speeds again. Puffing out the chest at getting a 5 year old Dell running a 2.4 Ghz Celeron processor, Windows XP, and 2 GB of RAM to move that fast without over-clocking, I checked off on what I thought was a job well done.
Then I opened Photoshop:
Uh oh – it seems I cleaned things out a little too much. Well, since I have diligently kept all my media, documentation, license#’s and other information in multiple places, I was easily able to find the needed materials to re-install. But, here’s the thing – that would require importing all my actions again, re-installing other elements like Noise Ninja, and then also go in and customize all the features I like (scrolling with my mouse to zoom in and out of the image, curves menu with more lines, etc.) Who wants to do all that? Well, not me! So, off to Google I went.
That five minutes on Google doing some research saved me probably two hours of software maintenance time. Adobe has a neat little utility that can be downloaded and run when things like this happen to restore your licensing info without having to go through the entire re-installation. Not sure what it does or how it does it, but the utility is very handy, so I thought to share it with the reading audience today. Here’s the download link, and supporting reading materials.
The underlying point here though, is that even the extensive maintenance I itemized the other day does not cover everything. Go into Photoshop, copy your preferences down via image pastes into a Word doc or other such format. Make a copy of your plugins folder external to PS – the same goes for Actions, noise removal, automation tasks, brushes, etc., etc., etc.! With as advanced and complex has an application like Photoshop has become – you can save a ton of time if you take some proactive measures.
What do you save from your Photoshop configuration settings? Share your ideas in the comments! As always, thanks for tuning in, keep on shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow – Thursday Thoughts returns again with Chris Breedlove!
Hey all, welcome to the Tuesday blog post for CB – today the latest in the Canon Blogger Digital Podcast Series is up for your mobile listening pleasure. It turns out I can ramble on for quite a bit as I take a look at three distinct topics:
Making Money in Photography
The Value of Social Networks
and some Free Web Resources that you may have missed
I also take the usual spate of reader/listener questions (great ones this go around, so thanks and shout outs to Marcus, Krista, and Nick! In the future, send me links to your websites so I can return the generosity on the podcast and here on the blog post. For now though – thanks! So, share your questions, comments, and feedback through the many opportunities here at the blog and via email.
A couple of show notes:
The 1st segment is a more detailed look from yesterdays post on “The Cost of Doing Business“, and talks about the details involved in creating a business plan.
The 2nd Segment looks at the value of social networking, so naturally here, I will suggest you stop by and say hi to me on The Twitter, LinkedIn, and through the various forums I participate in.
And last but not least, on the subject of freebies, my apologies for the two contest mentions from Popular Photography, but they have since closed (I hate it when they don’t indicate that at the source page!), sorry! Dave Cross blog can be found here though, and Scott Sherman/Michael Stein’s podcast can be found here. Anyway, thanks for stopping in, and as always, share your feedback, comments, and ideas either in the comments or via email.
That’s it for today, don’t forget to vote in the latest sidebar poll at the blog! Hope all your shots are good ones… happy shooting and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
Recently I was participating in a thread in one of the photo communities that I enjoy, and the subject of the cost of doing business came up. I decided to take a serious look into the costs associated with being an event or wedding photographer. Turns out, the costs associated that I could determine made me appreciate even more the fact that I am a hobbyist/enthusiast and not a pro – I couldn’t survive on this salary and with that kind of workload!
Anyway, I thought I’d share the results of my calculations here, and hear what others have to say. Am I too high in my estimation? Too low? Did I miss any expenses? Are some unrealistic? (I don’t know how much health insurance is if you are not part of an employer plan…)
I categorized the costs into various groupings to include:
Hourly Commitment
Gear Investment
Educational Investment
Advertising Investment
Miscellaneous Expenses
Is there anything else? See the attached Excel spreadsheet and plug your own numbers in! (I made columns C, D and E formulas so everything should adjust out for you…) In the meantime, Happy Shooting, and I hope all your shots are good ones!
As a proud member of Jason Moore’s “P&P Blogroll” I’ve had a unique opportunity to find and become acquainted with several photographers who I might otherwise not had the pleasure of knowing. One such talented individual is Andrew Smith, of Visual Realia. Andrew’s blog is a unique combination of photography and poetry. It is truly an amazing combination and well worth adding to your RSS feeds. Andrew agreed to participate in the Thursday Thoughts here at CB, so without further ado, here’s some great insight into his talents:
Q: Everyone always wants to know some of the basics, so let’s get a few things out of the way at once here…How long have you been a photographer? A: I remember having a camera or two as a child, and enjoyed using them, but was pretty much just using point and shoot film cameras until digitals became affordable for the mass market. My blog’s been up and running for a few years now.
Q: Canon or Nikon? A: Wait a minute… this is one of those trick questions, isn’t it? Canon? Nikon? I’m an Olympus man!My past two cameras have been made by Olympus, and I love them both. Price for performance is excellent. I’m surprised more people in the blogging world aren’t Olympus users; reviews are usually strong. Even the fact that your question doesn’t include Olympus is somewhat telling about Olympus’ need to think about their marketing. My Olympus behaves very consistently, and has provided me with a very pleasant user experience. By the way, the first camera I remember having was shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head, and you pulled his one ear down to shoot. I’m hoping “Mouse” will be added to Canon and Nikon in this question in the future.
Q: Fair enough, I’ll start including more camera vendors in future questions, and thanks for the good info about Olympus! So, moving along, Mac or PC (and I’ll add Linux to the mix given your last response! 🙂 )? A: My first computer was an Apple IIGS, which was under-appreciated. It treated me well, and I’ve happily stuck with Apple products since. I have one of the 2008 towers, which is really friendly with Photoshop.
Q; Chocolate or Vanilla? A: I love and make homemade vanilla ice cream with a recipe that dates back to at least my grandparents. And none of that wimpy “cooking the egg” thing.
Q: Okay, now I am getting hungry, but let’s continue into something with a little more granularity,. Photographers often enjoy hearing helpful and constructive critiques of their work, as we are aware of how much we can grow from it. However, we’ve also all had the “nice shot” and “cool” comments when we’ve shared our work. With that backdrop, what was the singular most useful critique or comment you’ve ever had on work you’ve shared publicly? A: I’m going to buck the standard thought in “serious” photography and say that I have no problem with those “cool” and “nice shot” comments, and even proudly admit that I’ll leave such comments myself, if they fit. Don’t get me wrong; I’m quite happy to get specific feedback about a technique, framing, tonal use, depth of field, etc. If I see a photograph online that strikes me as using such a technique particularly well, I’ll comment on that. There are also times, however, when a photograph loads on a web page (or I see a print) and my brain immediately screams, “Cool!” When a photograph quickly grabs me on an emotional level, that’s a success for the photographer. While I could break apart the image and try to figure out what makes the photograph work, quite frankly, that’s not as important to me as enjoying the image as one entity. Learn techniques, but enjoy the photograph. We’ve all seen web sites where commenting on techniques or aspects of a photograph seem more about the commenter’s desire to show off their photography vocabulary rather than saying anything new about the work. If I share a photo that causes a viewer to give me a one word emotional response, that’s pretty “cool” to me!
Q: Well, my next question would be a follow-up one asking “Who said it?”, but clearly that’s not needed here. Great perspective and it will definitely make me reconsider the value of the short answer-critique. SO, let’s move onto the next “critique” question: If someone was asking you for an honest critique of their work, what 3 factors would you look at most (excluding friendships or family relatives, we’re talking professional or fellow photographer-types here)? A: After my response above, I better include emotional or communication aspects. Technically, I agree with a lot of photographers that light can never be stressed enough, and line or movement always interests me.
Q: Wow, you’re gonna make me re-think the entire questionnaire here, but this is really an interesting perspective to things. What about personal experiences from out in the field? Got any war stories from field shoots or outings that you can or would be willing to share? A: Since I do not derive my main source of income from photography, I’m usually not in situations where war stories present themselves! Worst-case scenario, I put down the camera and enjoy a beautiful walk and the interesting world around me. On a lighter note, I’ll always remember photo walks where onlookers eye the mass of photographers and wonder what grand media event is occurring.
Q: That happened in Golden, CO when we did the Scott Kelby walk too! Someone asked me who was coming to town and I answered “Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt for a half second before coming clean.” It is kind of fun to see that reaction though. Anyway, I digress…back on topic, if you had to choose between the gear or the software as the only way to create, which would it be and why? A: Toss up. I’ve seen amazing photographs from pinhole cameras that clearly show that gear means nothing compared to imagination. Software skills can sometimes bring out the hidden beauty in a captured moment, but the photographer using the program needs to be able to know where to look for that beauty. In the digital world, it’s hard to separate the camera, the digital file and the software. Each is a part of the process that will hopefully bring out something that communicates a moment as seen by the photographer. In the end, both the gear and software are nothing compared to the idea and the person creating it.
Q: Any final thoughts you’d like to share about the state of photography or any catch phrases that you keep in mind when shooting?
A: Photography is a tool to share something. Maybe it’s a literal document of a moment in time, or possibly an image from the photographer’s mind. Either way, focus on the technique beforehand and communication as you open the shutter. A great jazz musician learns chords, scales and the work of those before him or her. There’s intense practice that allows the musician to internalize those techniques and skills, so when the moment comes to improvise in front of an audience, the technical aspects don’t get in the way of the artistic message. Learn what you can and look at the work of artists in all mediums. Practice the skills and techniques you need, pick your time and place, push those technical thoughts aside and enjoy improvising.
Thanks Andy for such a thoughtful set of answers and for taking the time to participate in the latest Thursday Thoughts. It shows just how quickly blinders can become a part of your vision and that we all just seek to be aware of when we might be putting blinders on!
So, that was it with Andy, and thanks again to him for taking the time to sit down with CB for a One-on-One. Please stop over to his website at Visual Realia and enjoy his work. Leave some comments too (even if they’re one-word comments! 🙂 )
Happy shooting all, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
The weekly podcast that usually goes up on Tuesdays was supplanted yesterday by the Election Day message. Returning to photography topics today, the weekly podcast has been posted and is ready for your listening enjoyment. I’ll have some notes related to the podcast to include at the end of today’s post.
In the interests of keeping the “What’s This?” on schedule, we are now in week 18. Last week’s was in fact, the stained glass that a reader correctly identified rather quickly. So, I am hopefully going to make things a little more intriguing for you this week. Let’s see the first to identify this image:
Podcast Notes:
Gadget Infinity is the site to get the Cactus Triggers from – be careful to order for the correct lights
There are some great patterns inside CS3 (not available in CS4 anymore), just go to the following folder to find them: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS3\Presets\Patterns\PostScript Patterns
Q&A – Recording Software, Crop Factors, and photo terminology
Wrap-up: Contests, Road Tip, & Polls
Happy shooting all, watch those apertures, and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Well, I finally got the Cactus gear that I ordered online at GadgetInfinity last week. I had ordered their wireless trigger/receiver combo set and an extra receiver for the purpose of getting two lights to fire. I excitedly opened all the packaging and unwrapped it all, then – stop, hold the phones, and check this out – I read the directions!
Yes, that’s right, an admitted geek read directions to make sure I utilize them right. After reading about these kinds of things on David Hobby’s Strobist site and over on the Flickr Colorado Strobist site, I wanted to make sure I don’t accidentally fry either my precious 40D or the cheapo 550EX because of improper usage.
Well, after reading through the massive 1/4 page sheet of instructions, I was confused so I sorted back through the gear and here’s what I have:
So, I am not sure what the one cable is for on the right of the trigger (transmitter). Is that supposed to plug into the transmitter, or the transceiver? If you look at the back of the transceiver, there’s a funky little plug there that looks as if it is made to accept the one female end to that spare cable. Meanwhile, the other end looks to be another RCA mini, and the side receptacle on the transmitter is built to take an RCA mini. Not sure I understand why, as the trigger would normally be connected to the hot shoe of your flash.
Finally, it looks as though in order to get these triggers to work with a Canon 550EX, I would need an adaptor cable of sorts that would change an RCA mini to a female version of that three-prong set on the 550. Any ideas from those out in the blogosphere?
Lest I forget you, dear readers, here’s a brief bout of humor courtesy of What the Duck:
HAPPY HALOWEEN EVERYONE!!!
Don’t get too hyped up on sugar – you’ll get camera shake! Happy shooting all and we’ll see you back here on Monday! Thanks in advance to anyone willing to help me sort out this wireless trigger confusion! 🙂
Jason D. Moore is a well known photographer and graphic designer, with ACE certifications on Adobe PS CS3, has extensive experience as a videographer, is a member of the Adobe Acrobat User Community, and also has some extensive experience in web development. Suffice to say, he is very well-known for his Photography and Photoshop Blogroll, and has had several mentions on Photoshop User TV. He also hosts photo walks in the Southern Tier of New York and is just a super nice guy. Last week he and I had a chance to exchange a few emails and I learned quite a bit about him and his background from our discussion.
Q. Everyone always wants to know some of the basics, so let’s get a few things out of the way at once here…How long have you been a photographer? A. I’ve been taking pictures on and off since I was a kid. When I was the editor of my high school yearbook I began to see images more in terms of their composition and how they conveyed a message when placed together in a collection. I got a lot from my dad when I would go along with him on video shoots growing up and learned how to take it from just conveying a message to telling a story. I didn’t do much with photography in college, but rediscovered my love for it while studying abroad during my senior year with Semester at Sea (www.semesteratsea.com) and then began taking it really seriously with my first dSLR – a Nikon D50 – back in 2006.
Q. 2. Canon or Nikon? A. Nikon
Q. Mac or PC? A. PC
Q. Chocolate or Vanilla? A. Vanilla – but I also really like Black Raspberry, Peanut Butter Cup, Cookies and Cream, and Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream.
Q. Moving into a little more granularity, photographers often enjoy hearing helpful and constructive critiques of their work, as we are aware of how much we can grow from it. However, we’ve also all had the “nice shot” and “cool” comments when we’ve shared our work. What was the singular most useful critique or comment you’ve ever had on work you’ve shared publicly?
A. I’m not sure it’s considered a critique that I learned from but I always remember Scott Kelby telling me, “You’ve got some very inspiring work—a great eye (which is what it’s all about), and some great Photoshop skills to boot!” And when one of my shots was picked as a NAPP Editor’s Choice, Larry Becker said, “This (and many other images in this portfolio) make us want to be there. This is beautiful art.” Making viewers want to be there is a high goal to strive for and it pushes me to try harder every time I go out shooting to attain it. These comments would mean a lot no matter who said them, but because they come from men I respect and who know what they are talking about, it really touched me.
Q. If someone was asking you for an honest critique of their work, what 3 factors would you look at most (excluding friendships or family relatives, we’re talking professional or fellow photographer-types here)?
A. Technically speaking I look at framing/composition, color/tone, and sharpness/depth of field (not in any particular order). However, while all of those things are important, I’ve always been a believer in art trumping the technical. I look for a sense of style, individuality and a unique approach/perspective, and most of all, that the piece tells a story. If it moves me, the technical stuff doesn’t matter as much. Q. Got any war stories from field shoots or outings that you can or would be willing to share?
A. It’s not a photography story, but a videography story. A few years ago at my old job I was headed out on a shoot about 4 hours away. Before I left, I checked all my gear to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything – batteries, microphones, cables, directions, etc. – and headed out the door. I was already running a little bit late. When I got about an hour and a half into my drive, I suddenly realized that I never checked to make sure I had enough tape for the day. At the next service area I reached into the camera bag and realized that, not only did I not have enough tape for the day, I didn’t have any! So I had to drive back an hour and a half to grab the tapes that were sitting right next to where the camera bag was. At the end of the day, I was advised of a “better” route back home which actually added an extra hour or so to the trip. So I ended up spending 4 extra hours in the car.
There are also the couple of times when I was doing some live event work when, due to scheduling or technical issues of one sort or another, I had to endure 40-hour work days, including setup of a convention center’s worth of sound and video equipment and full-day sessions of conferences.
Q. If you had to choose between the gear or the software as the only way to create, which would it be and why?
A. I learned a lot about Photoshop before I learned a whole lot about Photography and I think you can do some amazing things when the two are working in concert. With that said, I’d have to go with the camera over the software. Photographers were creating breathtaking shots long before there was Photoshop and really, without the shot, the software isn’t much use, is it?
Q. Any final thoughts you’d like to share about the state of photography or any catch phrases that you keep in mind when shooting?
A. I’m a details kind of guy and I really like the phrase “get close, then get closer.” I think I heard it from Derek Story but can’t be certain. It’s a concept I’ve heard over and over but that says it really well. One of the things I strive for is to find a part that tells of the whole. Sometimes you don’t need to show all of something for your audience to get it. Sometimes just a small piece can say more than the entire subject and you will usually find that your shots are more interesting that way too!
I’d like to thank Jason for taking the time out of his busy schedule to share some of his thoughts and experiences with the readership here. Please stop over at this website to thank him yourself and to see his portfolio of work. He can be found at: http://www.jasondmoore.com
Today, I take a somewhat introductory look at the prevalence of photography forums across the internet. With communities cropping up for every nuance and interest, one literally has dozens, if not hundreds upon thousands to choose from. Everything from lighting, to portraiture, landscape, architecture, and even food photography has a community of avid participants. What to make of it all? Which ones are good and which are not as beneficial as others? I’ve referenced a few communities here from time to time, including ones that I still participate in on a regular and on-going basis.
As my interests wax and wane into different specifics, I find myself moving from one community to another in search of what I am looking for and I suspect others do the same. What are we looking for? Well, that can vary depending on where we’ve been and where we want to go. So, to kind of help clear the air on all the vagaries of photo forums online, I cobbled together my weekly podcast to talk about three basic types that I see all over the internet.
Do you participate in forums? What kinds of information do you look for when you visit these forums? What types of forums are they? If you had to classify them according to the 3 main types referred to in the podcast, where would your community fall? Here’s a chance to promote your own communities in new and interesting ways, by sharing your thoughts in the comments. Let me know and I’ll share the best of these in next Tuesday’s podcast. In the meantime, Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow.
P.S. Don’t forget to vote for my photo over at the TWIP contest on Photrade here – only 2 days left!
Even though I primarily shoot with Canon gear, if a product comes along or crosses my path that can get the job done either better or more cheaply, then I will definitely consider it. Well, about a year or so ago, I was at this event in South Carolina called “Whale of a Sale”, where you can occasionally find some super good deals on merchandise that is either slightly dated, out-dated, or just no longer wanted.
I happened across a Vivitar Auto Thrystor 550 FD and for the bargain basement price of $3, decided to give it a go. Well, now that I have abandoned the Canon ST-E2 system, and moving toward radio transmitters, I got a couple recommendations to look at the Vivitar flashes. Based off the B&H page for Vivitar flash features, it should work, albeit at full power only. But still, a second flash means more light control. So, tomorrow I will likely be stopping by a local photo store to get some radio transmitters for about $15. After a little jury-rigging, the wires should connect up just fine, and I’ll have a two light setup. Grand total in costs: $32
