One of my favourite genres of photography is macro. The most common definition of macro photography is photographing small subjects up-close, but technically, that definition is wrong. Continue reading “An Up-Close Look at Macro Photography”
Category: Photography
Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do
When I first took up photography full-time in 2014, I became completely joined at the hip to Adobe’s photography-related products: Lightroom and Photoshop. For many years before then, we had just been casual acquaintances. Over the years, we’ve settled into a very comfortable and predictable relationship. We’ve grown older together, seen changes around us and tried to adapt as best we could.
But sometimes you grow apart as a result. When Adobe first moved completely into a subscription model and last year announced its intention to move more into cloud and web-based image editing, I knew that we were on the skids and destined, someday, for a breakup.
Well, that day has come, sort of. As of today, I’ve moved out of Lightroom, trading in its familiar interface for the new face of ON1 Photo Raw. Continue reading “Breakin’ Up is Hard to Do”
Composition and Composure
Does your photography move you emotionally? Do other people comment on how it moves them? Is there a “wow” factor?
Experienced photographers who share their knowledge with new photographers spend a lot of time talking about composition and the “rules”. Leading lines, rule of thirds, negative space, etc. help to teach the eye what to look for when evaluating a scene. But they don’t spend a lot of time talking about why these rules matter at all.
I can only find one answer: it’s an effort to disrupt the composure of anyone who views the image. To get a reaction. Most often positively, sometimes with delight, and sometimes deliberately negatively. The “rules” provide a roadmap for the senses, and by extension, for the emotions. To be truly successful as a photographer, you have to tap into that emotion – yours and your viewers.
Photographing the Work of Others
It seems there is a long-standing debate around photographing other people’s work. It’s a simple debate: what exactly is the photographer creating if the photograph includes an object or structure that has been created by someone else?
This debate arises mostly in relation to works that exist in public spaces. The originating works may already be labelled “works of art” or may be labelled “architecture”, “edifice”, “structures”, “building”, “hardscape”, “figure”, “carving”, “casting” or any of many names that don’t necessarily assign an aesthetic value.
And yet all of it was imagined by someone, designed by someone, built by someone and placed on display. Even if the work has another function, such as a building, there was a creative effort expended to provide that space. If a photographer takes an image of it, presents it as their own creation and maybe makes a profit from it, is that right? Disclaimer: this is not a legal review. Continue reading “Photographing the Work of Others”
Reading the Histogram
Another short presentation to my local camera club. This item was on activating, reading and responding to the histogram.
A Focus on Autofocus
One of the greatest advancements in photography has been the invention of autofocus. Simply by pointing your camera at a subject and pressing the shutter halfway, the camera will not only meter the ambient light, but bring the main subject into sharp focus.
As with most things photographic, there is theory and there is practice and sometimes the two don’t mesh exactly. Here’s what I’ve learned about autofocus. Continue reading “A Focus on Autofocus”
Some Inspiration…
One of the joys of photography is simply the chance to talk to other photographers. So many topics to indulge, so many experiences to compare. And of course, best of all, the chance to admire good work.
I had the pleasure yesterday of attending a talk at our local camera club by Kas Stone, a Canadian photographer based in Nova Scotia. In addition to her work as a landscape and nature photographer, she regularly teaches, holds workshops and speaks to groups like ours about the art of photography. Continue reading “Some Inspiration…”
File Storage Options – What You Need to Know
The start of a new year. Time to consider shaping up – not only personally but maybe for your photography workflow. How can you do things better? At the very least, you’ve probably accumulated a huge amout of content this year. Are you running out of storage space? And are you safeguarding your work appropriately?
Managing and safeguarding your photographs is a personal decision with lots of options. Built-in computer hard drives are bigger and faster every year. But there’s also detachable hard drives and network hard drives and online storage. How do you choose the right combination?
I’ve used mixtures of all of the above over the years, and currently assign files to different storage options based on importance and where they are in my workflow. I also need a clean, easy way to organize my content – client files here, personal files there.
With image volumes increasing, I recently looked into just how well these options are working for me, and here’s what I discovered. One disclaimer: these options may not be right for you. It’s about what you feel comfortable with and what you are willing to spend. Continue reading “File Storage Options – What You Need to Know”
Being in Control
It’s one of the ironies of photography that we spend ever increasing amounts of money to purchase better and better cameras and lenses, acquiring more and more automatic features to aid us in getting the best images possible.
And then what do we do? We turn everything off and shoot completely manually, because “that’s what pros do”. Think about that for a minute. Does that make sense to you? Give your head a shake.
I recently had a moment shooting an event where I had to do just that. Then I did a little experiment to find out just what I was missing by doing all the work myself. Read on for the results.
Getting Good Bokeh
Another short presentation to my local photography club. Last time I spoke, it was about preventing blurry photographs. This time, it’s about deliberately blurring the background to make the subject stand out. Continue reading “Getting Good Bokeh”
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