After a long time of preparation and many hours of help from a lot of friends, “Take Better Photos Now,” the ebook is available for purchase.

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If you were one of my test subjects who have already seen the CD or the downloadable files, please let me and everyone else know what you think by leaving a comment. This is going to be an exciting year with planned photo class webinars and a members only site soon to be unveiled.

Thanks to all my supporters!
Enjoy and happy shooting!
Michael

I taught a private lesson today and it made me re-visit the photography basics. Fundamentals are needed in every regime. Sports teams athletes drill the fundamentals almost on a daily basis. So, why shouldn’t photographers?

Let’s take a look at composition.

In the first image I’ve carved the canvas into thirds(give or take)both vertically and horizontally. Unfortunately, most photographers place their subjects dead center and composition takes a back seat. But, remember that a viewers eyes are drawn to the areas where the lines converge. So, look at the composition of the next two images. The subject’s head is placed in the upper left area of convergence in the 2nd image. The viewer’s eyes naturally are led to the subject’s face. The slight tilting also creates a diagonal that leads the eye from the bottom right area back up to the face, too.

The third image places the subject’s right eye in the upper right area of convergence. It’s a much more interesting composition than the dead on composition of most photographers.

Don’t forget to capture moments along with great composition and lighting(future blogs).

In the fourth image I composed with the subject’s head in the upper left area of convergence with the subject’s body in the left vertical third. It’s my oldest son and I threatened to reveal a horribly embarrassing story. The threat worked and he gave a reaction that I was looking for. I have pretty good lighting, good strong composition and a nice moment. Voila, a strong photo!

Finally, I have a simple photo of the full moon. I just placed the moon in the upper right area of convergence and the result is a strong composition rather than a center-weighted image that isn’t quite there. Enjoy!

The Rainy Day

It’s raining in southern Cal today, storm watch 2010! Wait that’s the old days!

Now I can talk a walk and look around for the small things that I might have overlooked in the past. Art Nature Photography is the listing for today’s post and I just wanted to take a look at the world that we normally cruise by at 45 mph while talking on the cell phone.

The first image uses traditional composition with the leaf in the upper right area of convergence and something called negative space which is essentially everything else that is in the frame (nothing) or the reflection of a gray sky. It’s there in the composition to balance out the leaf. Does that make sense?

Sometimes you can isolate your subject (like the leaf) to make a statement with your image. The lifeless leaf, isolated in a sea that reflects the lonely gray sky on a rainy day. See how that works?

The second image is similar. The rain drops in the upper part of the image are in the upper right area of convergence and the yucca leaves/spears are in the horizontal thirds. The background is simple but not as sparse as the first image. Still it isolates the water drops and let’s the viewer focus on them in the simplicity of the composition.

Finally, , the last image is from my garden. I love when it looks wild and inviting and I really like angels. If you look carefully, you will see a second one out of focus to the left side of the main subject.  I placed the white angel’s face in the upper right area of convergence (must be my day for that!) but I used another technique in this image.

The angel is placed “looking” out of the canvas of the photograph. Normally you would want to leave room in the composition for your subject to “look or move into” but in this instance I want to create tension in the image by having my subject look off into space.

Enjoy this rainy day we need the water here in the desert!

A lot of cameras were given and received as Christmas presents. Here’s an entry about children’s photography. Too many times in my earlier days, I tried to make the perfect portrait of my children. It usually ended with me being frustrated and my kids crying and a lot of bad photos.

Forget about the perfect smile and the kids looking directly at the camera. What works and is the best way to make photos is to just have fun during the portrait session.

Whatever the kids do is cute.  That’s the key. If they cry or run away or smile it will be fine.

In a nutshell that is the key or secret. Too many sessions are ruined by overzealous parents trying to make children do what they want.

You cannot reason with a tired or hungry three-year-old! However long they give you, consider it a gift.

The gallery photos that I have included are from a recent session for a 16 month old and his mom. I made sure that the timing of the session was after his nap and that he had eaten. Then we went to a local park and let him run around.

I utilized a lot of compositional techniques as he ran around and waited for various lighting situations to maximize my opportunities for the most good photos. Practice photographing a small child with your main subject in the areas of convergence. Don’t expect great results on your first session, but practice to achieve greater and greater results.

Enjoy and success!

I was photographing a couple at one of my favorite spots, Huntington Beach at sunset. I had to post a couple of the sunsets, just to let all my friends on the east coast see how our weather is. Landscape composition varies depending on what part of the ’scape you want to emphasize.

Our first frame shows a classic 1/3rd land and a 2/3rds sky of a beautiful sunset.

Our other images show a version where we have about 4/5ths sky and 1/5th water, while we also have a 2/3rds water and a 1/3rd sky.

My last frame is actually a bit of a rulebreaker. Why? I’ve placed the surfer walking in the lower right area of convergence, but he is walking out of the frame. Normally, you want to leave space for our subject to walk or run or even look into. Why? Because it helps our viewers eyes to remain engaged and not stop viewing our image. It also emphasizes the ocean over the sky.

Lastly, we can’t forget our friends on the east coast who encountered one of the largest snow storms to hit in a number of years.  Looks like a white Christmas for them and we will just have to suffer through another wonderful sunset. BTW, that’s Catalina Island in the background.

Today I would like to share more about photographic composition and how it affects our viewers.

Our subject is Victor Pang a Pacific Islander who speaks out about cancer to his fellow islanders. Support groups and helping those who are currently battling cancer or those who might be survivors is one of his many passions. I was asked to photograph Mr. Pang for CURE magazine. I decided a portrait near the water would make sense and put him in an environment that he loves.

He brought his paddle, authentic hat and a flowered shirt and the rest was up to me. Let’s talk about the composition of this photo.

I wanted to show Victor near the water, so we walked right under the pier as close to water without getting wet. The pier acted like a giant screen blocking out the light, but not the ambient light that was nicely diffused due to the clouds.

I decided to place my subject’s head in the upper right area of convergence of the top horizontal and the right vertical thirds of the image. The paddle, I carefully made sure that it didn’t blend into the darkeness of the underside of the pier. So, I had it surrounded by the clouds, that way it was sure to stand out in the frame. The horizon is on a standard 1/3rd sky and 2/3rds land ration. I wanted to emphasize the water and the land, thus, the 2/3rds devoted to that.

Finally, I wanted to show the vanishing point of the pier, I placed that in the convergence of the upper left corner. The lighting was achieved with one off-camera Canon 580EXII at 1/2 power which gave me a ratio of about 1 1/2 stops over the ambient, or so. That’s another post in the future. All in all, I was very pleased that a simple portrait could be so visually effective.

You can see some of my other poses that were part of my creative process, but in the end, the first frame is the one that I like the best.

Simple composition can lead your viewer’s eyes exactly to the places that you desire to highlight. Thanks for looking and enjoy!

A picture is worth a thousand words, and most of the time we as photographers have writers block.

Visual storytelling is an expression of our vision, in images, rather than words. So, many times my students or even peers will tell me about the situation they were trying to capture and it seems their descriptions are more vivid than their actual photos.

Why is that?

One of the problems is that we try to include too much in every image. Sometimes all we need is part of the whole that will speak volumes about our story. Be subtle, be gentle and your vision will be heard loud and clear. This was obviously a wedding that I photographed. Hands are always so important but so overlooked IMHO.

I’ve composed the image with the groom’s hand in the upper left area of convergence. The viewer doesn’t need to see either of the couples faces to know that they are in love. In fact, I believe it is better without them. Less equals more in this image.

Next time you go out to shoot, try looking at pieces of the whole. Compose, check the lighting and wait for the perfect moment and capture it. Then your images will truly speak of your vision. Enjoy!

Hi, I wanted to talk today about photographic composition and the rule of thirds.

This image illustrates how each frame needs to be carved into thirds, both vertically and horizontally. The areas where the lines meet are referred to as the areas of convergence.

This photo is of my niece, who I asked to stand against the wall of the entry way of my old house. I spent about 20 hours converting this wall into an Italian villa-like wall. So, I took a picture of it anytime I could!

Her yellow dress and the flowers on her shirt matched the wall, so I placed her face in the upper left area of convergence. The viewer’s eye is naturally led to these areas, so the goal of the photographer is achieved.

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Digital photography tip on lighting and our angle or point of view.

This entry talks about light and how often we don’t really recognize it and how our angle or point of view makes all the difference.

In the first image we have a typical crib in a nursery. There’s a window that is on the left side with non-direct light coming into the room.

In the second photo we have our baby. Most people are happy with this type of an image. We can see the baby in the photo and that is about all. The angle is from a normal adults view, high above and looking down on the baby.

But in our last image, we have an image that will last.

Why?

Because it combines composition (I’ve placed the baby’s face in the upper area of convergence), great lighting (the window provides  soft even lighting) and a nice moment as the baby smiles.

My angle or point of view helps to draw the viewer into the image by shooting through the slats of the crib to bring some visual complexity into the photo, too.

Instead of a boring image of a baby lying in their crib, we have a memorable photo of a really cute baby seen from their point of view of the world. The slats do give more complexity to the photo, too.

To review:

Window light where the light is not directly shining on the subject is normally very soft and beautiful.

The angle/point of view of our photo is highly important to give a different perspective to your photographs.

Hope you enjoyed another digital photography tip!

Have a great day.

Here’s a simple tip on composition, starring one of the cutest kids I have ever photographed. Sam is a great little model. Thanks to Brock & Esther his mom and dad for letting him appear.

When composing an image in your viewfinder or LCD live view(on the back of your camera) think of carving or dividing up the area into equal thirds both horizontally and vertically. Draw lines through those areas and where they meet is where you want to put the most important subject of your photos. For example, little Sam’s head is near the area of the convergence of the upper horizontal and the right vertical lines. The viewer’s eyes (that’s you and me) will naturally be lead to look in those areas. So, not only is he cute, but our composition makes us want to look even more! And that is the goal of every photographer, to have viewers want to look at their photos. Have a great day!