Links Friday: September 12, 2014

This week's offerings:  Ever try to make a High Key portrait with just one light?  Martin Ziaja at Lighting Rumours shows you how.  Scott Kelby's Crush the Composition video, an hour-long presentation, started my foray into video learning; worth checking out.  "Defraction" is one of those concepts most photographers put off learning.  No better teacher to turn to than Cambridge in Color for an in-depth understanding. Serge Ramelli is one of the savviest indoor architectural photographers I know.  This video covers the basics to advanced techniques.

Day 69, Learning 69: Approaching the Problem of Style

"To do a dangerous thing with style is what I call art" ~ Charles Bukowski

Easier said than done, I think.  Good, actionable advice on how to develop your photographic style is hard to find.  Clichés, on the other hand, sprout like lawn weeds everywhere:  Style develops over time; you can’t rush it!  Confidence creates style!  Imitate other people’s work and put a twist on it!  Here are 3 ways/8 ways/10 tips to creating style!

To make matters worse, some of the top photographers in the industry have been teaching that the endless repetition of an observable technique equals style.  To me, that qualifies as fashion.
 

"Kitsch is the inability to admit that shit exists" ~ Milan Kundera

To a certain extent the clichés  are true; style isn’t possible until you’ve mastered the basics.  We’re all still learning.  Even the most accomplished photographers push themselves to create images they haven’t done before.  The basics are easy.  The intermediate skills are just that-- more difficult than beginning ones.  When it comes to style,  people often try to link the strengthening of technique to the creation of style--  you read about ridiculous exercises to improve one’s “vision” by  “spending the day photographing things that are purple.”  Like that’s going to be a big help on a professional shoot.  But since there are elements and principles of photography and form, it can be useful to practice identifying them in the real world. 

• Line
• Shape
• Form
• Texture
• Color
• Pattern

These are broad concepts and as one student-of-photography to another I can assure you that they aren’t much use until you learn to break them down into smaller elements.  Spend the day looking for one sub-element at a time.  You don’t need to drag your camera with you; use your cell phone. Observe reflections.  Identify complimentary colors.  Spot intersecting lines and curves. Locate a spot where one texture becomes another.  I'll tell you a secret:  None of the exercises will build or improve your personal style.  But they will strengthen the muscles you need to create it.

If you’re a working photographer the number one dictate is that you give your client the product they want.  Always remember that.  But once that's on the memory card, you have latitude to explore. So how do we develop style?

Examine the basic ingredients.  Style appears in the use of photographic elements and principles mentioned above.  It's also in the shape and texture of light.  Style isn’t static; it evolves.  Here are the most useful tips I’ve found to speed the development of personal style:

Style doesn’t develop on its own.  Yes, that's right:  you can take boring pictures from now until the day you die if you don’t actively pursue its development.  Time may improve your basic skills, but you’ll have to apply yourself to create an artistic vision. 

Strengthen your muscles and be attentive to what excites you.  Whether it’s practice or performance (work) pay attention to your interests.  It’s not just about identifying images that work-- a workable image may have no attraction to you.  Find what excites you.

When you’re shooting for a client, take a few for yourself.  Once you’ve met their expectations, ask to do something unusual-- new lighting, new location, new pose.  Keep your request reasonable, but ask.

"The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in" ~ Henry Green

Pick five words that describe your favorite images.  These should be pictures you’ve already taken.  I often ask my clients for three words that describe the image they want me to create; that way I know what I’m working towards.  This is the same principle.  Now go into your image library and pick 10 of your favorite images.  Do they fulfill your five words?  Do you need to pick new ones?  

Pick three words you don’t want people to use when describing your images.  That sounds too easy, doesn’t it?  Here’s the catch:  They should be positive words.  They can’t be “boring,” or “plastic.”  They have to be three words that someone might say they want in their picture.  Is “fun” a word you don’t want attributed to your work?  Bright?  You can’t use gloomy (that's a negative word), but what about dark or moody?  These three “not-words” should guide you as firmly as your five positive words.  And remember, you don’t have to never create images that have those attributes-- you’re pointing your feet in a direction, not cementing them to a spot.

Post Mortem to Death.  This goes back to my first point-- style doesn’t happen by itself.  Review your images; review your process for taking them.  Evaluation is constant; it should be as addictive as taking images.  At Hurricane Images Inc. I constantly dig back into old images, re-edit them, play, and re-invent.

Special thanks to Tiffany Stewart (clothing designer for the top image), Hazel Wheeler (make-up artist), and Lejon Vinge (model, top).

Day 46, Learning 46: Meter for the Light You Can't Control

Meter for the light you can't control

I ran across this sentence in my notebook today and tried to remember what it meant.  I had deconstruct the statement: the light you can't control... ambient light.  The meter part wasn't simply about measuring, it was about  creating your exposure based on the ambient light, and then adding the light you can control.  In the outdoor setting, this advice seems simplistic and self-evident.  For the above image I placed my model in the shade; then I under-exposed her a stop and adding a soft box with an SB800 on camera right to give more energy and shape to the light. 

But you can apply this same principle indoors.  If there are windows, the light outside is the one you can't control.  French photographer (and Lightroom guru) Serge Ramelli makes most of his income from photographing hotel rooms.  He has great advice about waiting for the Golden Hour before photographing hotel interiors. Turn off all the lights and see what the environment looks like, then building your lighting scheme around that.

Day 37, Learning 37: Room Interiors

Some quick tips for shooting interiors:

1. Shoot just before sunset to just after sunset if there are windows in the room
2. Open the drapes, but keep the sub curtains (the semi opaque ones) closed
3. Stage the room, make it look great
4. Turn on all the lights
5. Shoot wide, of course (15-24mm, f/8 - f/16, ISO 100)
6. Use a tripod, and shoot from the corner, waist level
7. Under expose but don't crush the blacks

In Lightroom:

• Correct your white balance, keep it on the warm side
• lighten the image
• Dodge and burn the shadows and highlights
• Correct any lens distortion
• Sharpen
• Reduce noise

In Photoshop:

•  Remove cords, outlets, dust, blemishes
• Smoothen bed wrinkles and the like

Some people recommend bracketing exposures to bring out the shadows, and that's certainly acceptable, but you won't notice a vast improvement over under-exposing and then lightening in post.  Just make sure you're shooting at ISO 100 for the least amount of noise.

Day 17, Learning 17: Invisible People

Tired of pesky people cluttering up your landscape or architectural photos?  The old trick is to slow your shutter down to make anything that moves disappear.  And I mean sssslllloooooowww the shutter.  People moving at walking speed tend to disappear at about 25 seconds.  If they stand still for a moment they'll appear as smudges, then shadows.  In order to slow your shutter you'll obviously need a tripod, and in daylight a neutral density filter (probably around 10 stops). Open up the aperture and keep your ISO at 100.  With shutter speeds this slow you don't need to worry about remote triggers or delays.  I didn't think to use this technique on the photo above and wish I had (I was carrying a mini tripod in my bag anyway).  Images of the Aya Sofia mosque in Istanbul without people are fairly rare, and it would have been easy to achieve.  Consider this next time you're in a church or historic building-- don't crank the ISO in order to get the shot, drop it, prop the camera on something, and go for slow.