Composition

There are some basic rules of composition in photography. I equate these to guidelines more than rules...if you can remember these things, it may generate more interest in your images. Composition literally means "to put together".
    Among the first is 
"RULE OF THIRDS"
Imagine a tic-tac-toe game on the image (without the X's and O's). The lines are segments that divide the image into thirds, both horizontally as well as vertically. Where the lines intersect are called "POWER POINTS". I usually try to place a subjects eye in a portrait on one of these points, and the horizon along one of these lines in my landscapes. The guides or rules can be broken, and there are times when you absolutely should, as your vision is your art.
"RULE OF ODDS" This rule or guide simply means that an odd number of subjects in a portrait may generate more interest than an even number of subjects.
"RULE OF SPACE" This rule pertains to creating fluidity or movement in a photo. The viewer’s eye is drawn to a particular place with the use of negative (or white) space.
There are a lot of guides or rules in photography, and I've listed a few here. They are not the "set in stone rules to live by"!
I have come to learn, love and live hoping for the "happy accident". That's where something you weren't trying to do accidentally becomes something much better than you could have ever hoped for...and I welcome it with open arms whenever it happens to me. Catching lightning without getting my camera wet, having everyone in the room forget I'm there and act naturally for a candid...
I'd also suggest not worrying about these too awful much before you are able to consistently achieve a proper exposure. Good luck to you! Keep shooting!

Telling a great story through images, and entertaining your audience is the goal of every photographer. But how to get there from here? A little planning goes a long way.,..a lot of planning goes an even longer way....towards having your vision coming together to convey something as simple as a colorful image, a mood, a story to your audience. I think it's a great start to have an idea of what you'd like to say, then figure out how you'd like to say it, tools needed, whether they're subjects or props, or both. It's for you, the artist to decide...

Workflow

After teaching a class on workflow yesterday, I realized it's such a vital thing for people to know that I would be remiss to not discuss it. Let me start at the beginning.
I shoot in RAW normally, it takes more memory, but if I catch that "once in a lifetime shot" and I've blown the highlights slightly, it's nice to know I have some chance of recovering them to some degree, through the RECOVERY slider in Adobe Lightroom. So after shooting in RAW, I go to Lightroom and import the images onto my external drive, naming the shoot and adding MANY keywords. Making sure I'm in the LIBRARY MODULE, I then create a COLLECTION SET in Lightroom (hereafter referred to as LR, and Photoshop as PS), with the Name of the shoot, and then create a COLLECTION in that COLLECTION SET named (usually) PICKS. I then highlight the first image, hold the SHIFT key down and select the last image (automatically selecting all in between), and left click and drag the images from the PREVIOUS IMPORTS to my PICKS collection and drop them. You'll know when you done it correctly, because there will be a small little "stack of images" icon that you'll see before you release the mouse button, and the number of images in your "PICKS" will go from a quantity of "0" to however many images you've imported. I then double click on the first image and using the right arrow and the "X" on my keyboard, go through the images and flag the non-keepers with the REJECTED flag. I suggest doing this process a few times, closely scrutinizing the images you think worthy of keeping by single clicking on them to enlarge them, and making sure they're in focus, eyes are open, no missing limbs, etc...after I'm satisfied all of the images I haven't flagged are worthy of my time to edit them, I click on "PHOTO" and then "DELETE REJECTED PHOTOS". Then I usually go make a cup of coffee, take a shower or something while my slowwwwww pc performs this task.
      Now that I've taken out the trash, so to speak, I click on the first "Keeper" image, and make adjustments to it in the DEVELOP MODULE in LR. The sliders on the right are pretty much in the order you should go in, from top to bottom. I almost always end up adjusting the EXPOSURE slider a little to the right (usually my adjustments are maybe 3-5, except the VIBRANCE slider. Vibrance saturates only the colors that need it, and is intuitive enough to leave the already saturated portions of the image alone. You don't want the adjustments to jump out at you, they should be subtle. I also stay away from the contrast slider, as there's a more efficient way to change that, that I'll get to later. I also stay away from SHARPENING, for the same reason. The following steps are what I use for most of my portrait images.
    Next I'll go back to the LIBRARY MODULE and press CONTROL+E to open the image in PS. I next go to IMAGE, MODE and click on LAB mode. I then go to IMAGE, Adjustments, then Levels. In Levels I make sure there's information going from one side of my images histogram to the other. Usually you want the histogram to go from left to right. If the histogram ends before the edge of the box, drag the appropriate slider to where the histogram ends and press "OK". You can then reopen Levels and see that now the histogram's representation of the information in the image goes from one side to the other. This will help insure you don't have a flat image (missing detail or the full tonal range). Then go to curves, and do the same thing essentially. I also drop an anchor point on the very center of the diagonal line and create a slight "S" curve. This is that increase in contrast I spoke of earlier. Be careful not to overdo it.
    I next go to IMAGE, MODE, and click on RGB mode. Now it really goes image by image, but I press alt+j twice to duplicate the background layer...but if there's catch lights (and hopefully there are) I'll use a white brush in OVERLAY mode at a 20% opacity and the size of the brush just larger than the highlight to brighten it. I may have to ckick 2-3 times to get it where I like it, then go to the other eye and repeat. I also use this for the white of the eye, but make sure you're using a soft brush, and press and hold the mouse button once. If you release it and press it again, wherever you've already gone over with the brush at 20% will now go over 20% again, making the combined brush strength 40%, click again 60%, and so on. You don't want to over whiten the eyes, making them look surreal. The rule of thumb is to slightly overdo it, then decrease the opacity of the top layer to lower the intensity of the effect or changes you made. Dial them down until they're barely noticable. Many subtle changes add up to the end product. If at any point the image looks "PHOTOSHOPPED", you've gone too far. I make duplicate layers, do adjustments on them, then dial down the opacity until I'm satisfied that the difference isn't too large of a jump, and adds to, rather than detracts from the overall image. Another tool I'll use is the SPOT HEALING BRUSH TOOL, making the soft small brush slightly larger than the blemishes, and clicking on blemishes that are not too close to edges. It draws an average from the area around it, and puts that inside the brush circle. It's a very powerful tool, but take it easy with it, keep the size small as you can, and use it for blemishes and pores. Also, make sure you're editing your image at 100% viewing it large. This is very important if you intend to print it somewhere later on. Keep it looking real, don't over process. Often at this point I'll flatten the layers, and make 2 more copies (alt+j), then sharpen the top layer (FILTER< SHARPEN< Smart Sharpen, 60% with a2 pixels lens blur. Then deselect the eye next to that layer (the sharpened layer), making it unseen, and select the copy below. FILTER. BLUR. GAUSSIAN BLUR. Use between a 1-5 pixel Gaussian Blur and click "OK". Now click on the eye on the top layer (the sharpened one), create a layer mask on the top layer, and usuing a black brush in NORMAL MODE at 100% opacity, use a soft brush on skin blemishes to smooth out problems, but leave some texture. after you paint in the effect (stay away from the eyes, lips and nostril openings, leaving them sharp). If you make a mistake, just press the "x" key to transpose the foreground colors to white foreground and black background, and paint over the mistake. Black reveals, white hides when in terms of layer masks.To dial down the effect, reduce the opacity of the second layer (the blurred layer). Then flatten the image by clicking Layer, Flatten Image. After you've finished this process and have the image looking how you like, flatten one last time, go to IMAGE, MODE, 8 Bit. Then FILE, SAVE AS, you can use tiff, jpeg, whatever you like, and save the file wherever you'd like. To save in the LR catalog, just click FILE, SAVE, and it should save it in your Collection in LR.

What is art? In my humble opinion art is anything that you like to look at. Having said that, as a painter, or sculpter or photographer if you see something someone else has done, is it ok to repeat it, as long as you don't try to claim it as your own original artwork? For instance, in this months issue of Rangefinder magazine, there's an image of Barack Obama similar to the one you see here. I (nor the other photographer) invented back lighting, the camera, or portrait photography. So if I like the effect, and reproduce it using my son as a model, did I plagerise the technique, or because the other photographer actually invented nothing new, is it all right? I guess it's subjective.

In the beginning there was light, and the light was good....so we used it for photography...A lot of beginners in the photography world don't know how to discern the "must haves" from the "really should haves", but if you don't, try this. Alien Bees lights come in several ranges: 400, 800, and 1600. They are very affordable with an excellent customer service record, and are inexpensive strobes, which differ from constant lighting in that they are usually brighter, but because they're not on all of the time, produce less heat. The other dilemma of the Alien Bees are that the light isn't as consistent as some discerning photographers would like, but many (such as myself) use them and are happy with the results! They range in the $200-$400 RANGE, WHICH IS ACTUALLY INEXPENSIVE IN THE WORLD OF PHOTOGRAPHY. I own the 400 and a reflector, and so far they've done all that I've needed. I also own 3 light stands with 3 shoot through umbrellas and brackets that connect them all together, and 3 flashes. I can put a flash on a light stand with a shoot through umbrella and make an outside lighting set up that will accomplish a lot. I buy most of my equipment at B&H, and Alien Bees....including my remote flash triggers. It's not very interesting usuually to light everything evenly, as it tend to be less drama in the scene...shadows can be good...as long as they're controlled.

It's all in the details...

I have had the pleasure recently to work with several models of different skill levels, and thought I'd share some things I've learned the hard way.

- Take a moment before taking the first shot to scrutinize the model closely.

- Take a moment before taking the first shot to scrutinize the model closely.

It was so important I put it twice, that's NOT a typo or a mistake. Check the eye liner and mascara, does it need to be touched up? Is it smeared? Are there chips in the nail polish? Does he/ she look as though they've been awake for a week straight? Is his/her hair EXACTLY right? Does he/she need to brush it or comb it? Is it dirty?Are they wearing jewelry that doesn't appear to belong in the images you want to take? Are their clothes wrinkled or dirty?

All of these things are going to cost you hours of retouching in Photoshop and it only takes a minute or two to go over the model's appearance. Also, take a moment before you actually take the first shot to look around the edges of the frame to make sure there's nothing there that doesn't belong, as well as behind the subject for distractions.

Then you ready the first shot. Do they appear afraid or nervous? This will transpose to the images you take as well. Take some time to help them relax and put them at ease, after all, this is a joint effort, affecting both of your careers (possibly). Once they're relaxed and posed, take another minute to look closely. Is there lint on their clothes? Are there unnatural folds in their skin? Even thin people can have skin folds, after all. Once it's as close to perfect as you can get, THEN actuate the shutter. Trust me, you'll still find things to edit in the post processing, but this will save you valuable time (after all, time is money!) later, when you have the time to REALLY scrutinize the images, and you'll have a lot more "keepers".

Point of View and my site

First of all, let me say that after ordering Adobe Dreamweaver for Dummies, and registering a domain name as well as having someone host my site that I'm finally getting a web site going! It's not easy (at least for me), but if you'd like to check it out, click here.

Ok, on to the good stuff....point of view (hereafter I'll shorten this term to "POV") is literally what you're seeing, and from what angle. You may not realize it, but all of your life, you've seen things from a certain POV, whether you're sitting or standing or laying down. Why is this important, you may ask? As a photographer, images of animals or children especially look unflattering or boring if taken from a standing position. Get on your knees, or better yet, lay down! You'll find that this POV creates a much more dynamic (say interesting) image. It can also help the subject to interact in a way that wouldn't have been possible if you were standing.

Even if you're trying to capture a landscape, often a different POV can make all the difference!