Today I’d like to talk a bit about Travel photo tips. Dreaming about some of the places that I have been fortunate enough to have visited.

I visited Paris in 2004 and really wanted to feature the Eiffel Tower in as many images as possible. One of my hopes was to frame the famed tower in a doorway. Although I searched tirelessly for days, I couldn’t seem to find the right doorway. But, I did stumble upon this little beauty.

Here is what I found near the Pont de Bir bridge which crosses the Seine river. It isn’t common knowledge that a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty can be found on the Seine. It’s really strange to be floating down the river and all of the sudden, Bam!, there she is.

I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and started shooting photos with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

Actually on the bridge is this very cool sculpture:

The statue in front of the picture is “France Renaissante” by Holger Wederkinch, which was donated to the city of Paris by the city’s danish community in 1930. During the time I was first there the light was a bit muddy, so I went to dinner and came back just after sunset to see the statue and the tower looking very monolithic and placing them against the sky, achieved a very dramatic image. My tip?

Photograph the same image at different times if possible & the first rule of travel photography is the always shoot first, don’t ever think about coming back.

You never know when you might not be able to come back. This image was unique in that I was able to come back at two different lighting times. Very rare.

My next two images concern Jane Austen.

She is interned at Winchester Cathedral in the southern part of England. I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon in the Cathedral where I stumbled into a tour that was stopped at the large tombstone of the literary giant.

Tourists were very reverent and tried not to step on her actual tombstone. The light was beautiful and dramatic. Happy accidents seem to happen to those who prepare and look for them.

Tip 2.

Do your homework. Winchester Cathedral is famous enough by itself, but I had done my research and was looking for Jane Austen’s final resting place. That way I was able to combine interesting images from one place. The Cathedral and Jane Austen!

Back to Paris!

I wanted my wife to experience the seeing the Eiffel Tower from as dramatic a viewing position as possible. So, we took a taxi alongside the Seine and emerged near the Embarcadero. Here’s the view as you get close to the tower.

It’s a great place to view from as you can see by all the people lined up to look. Here’s Tip 3.

Take your scenic photo, then back up and take a photo of everyone taking a photo or looking. It’s a great scene-setter, plus I love people watching. Notice all the different characters in this photo. I think my favorite is the lady with the wings. See if you can spot this angel.

Finally, we visit Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelson’s monument, especially one of the massive lion’s at the base of the 170 foot tall tower. My last tip is about patience.

The best thing about my travel editor at the Orange County Register, Gary Warner, was his trust in the photographers that he traveled with. He always allowed us as much time as we needed to wait for the perfect moment to make the perfect photograph.

For this photo , he brought a book and sat down as I waited about 10 minutes to see what these kids would do that were climbing all over one of the lions. When we arrived, kids were climbing over another lion, but I wanted to place Big Ben in the background. So, I waited!

I think Yoda said, “There is no try, only do,” So, get out there and do it!

Last time we looked at some portrait basics. I would like to go a little bit more in depth today at photography portrait tips. To let you into my thought process during a portrait session.

In our first photo our model is leaning against a wall in downtown Orange. It was a senior photo session, so I want my subject to have a variety of situations and outfits. The most important thing I want is for the subject to feel at ease. Keep your subject focused on you and the atmosphere that you are creating. That way they aren’t intimidated by onlookers etc.

Still looking at our first image, I used a long lens and a small f/stop to create a shallow depth of field. That way the subject pops out of the canvas and really captures the viewer’s eye. I’ve placed our subject’s head in the upper right area of convergence to lead our viewer’s eye right to her face.

The photos are shown in a chronological order to show our subject’s level of comfort at being in front of the camera.

In the second image, We have the same outfit, but my assistant suggested a pose from a popular singer’s CD. I always try to include input from my subjects. It’s just one more thing to put our subject at ease.

Her head is in the upper left area of convergence and I had her put her knees together for modesty and the lines that her legs and arms would make. Her pose is casual and playful and it matches her smile. The light is coming from higher up and from camera left. Let’s move to the next image.

A new outfit and location is part of our third photo.

A nice shaft of light coming from camera left set the stage for this 3/4 portrait. The light is strong, but pleasing and does not cast any harsh shadows. It’s dramatic light, so I didn’t ask my subject to smile. Instead she opted for a more calm and serious look. In our next and fourth image, I wanted to demonstrate that when you find good light, work it!

Don’t forget to try out different layouts, both vertical and horizontal. Sometimes you can be pleasantly surprised at how different your images can look just by changing the orientation of your camera. My subject is using her arm as a design element to lead the viewer’s eye right to her face.

The fifth image is where our subject really started to feel at ease. She put her jacket back on and I moved closer to capture her facial expressions. Her eyes are in the areas of convergence and that is what the viewer is lead to.

My last image really captured her personality and her ability to dance. I always ask about hobbies that my subject’s might pursue and might be an expert in. My subject had danced for years so I asked her to move around. Bu this time of the shoot she didn’t have any hesitation and didn’t mind the occasional passerby. It was fabulous! Her body is in the right vertical third with her head in the upper convergence area. The viewer’s eye will be lead to our subject making a much stronger composition.

So to review:

Help your subject to feel at ease. Be open to input from your subject and helpers. Look to match your subject’s mood with the surroundings and lighting. Try different orientations when you find good light. Once your subject starts feeling at ease really push for great facial expressions and poses. Finally, ask your subject about areas that they might have expertise. Thanks for reading and enjoy!

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!

Here it is! To kick off my new ebook, “Take Better Photos Now,” I’m having a Christmas special. “Take Better Photos Now” For only $19.95 and includes the ebook in PDF form & the CD-ROM which includes “How to Choose a Digital Camera,” “Digital Photography Basics,” A 50 minute video and the “Take Better Photos Now,” a 110 page ebook. All the books are in PDF form and are readable on your computer.

This special will be available only until December 23rd and is a great way to get the ebook download for yourself and the CD-ROM for someone that loves photography as your gift for Christmas.

FYI, for clarity the ebooks are in PDF format and viewable on both MAC and PC.

On the CD-ROM, you will receive 3 PDF’s (which are seen above) and an almost hour long video that allows me to go in-depth into about 35 of the images in the ebook.

Thank You for looking and Merry Christmas to all!

The Christmas Special Offer can be found here:
http://www.takebetterphotosnow.com/ChristmasSpecial/

A little bit ago @Sylvia asked if I could post a photo of the infamous snoot that I have been using lately on some of my freelance jobs.

The first image shows a piece of black foam paper that I bought at Wal-Mart for I believe 69 cents(maybe 99). I added velcro strips, both the loops and the hooks and stretched it to fit my Canon 580 EXII. I made this one to be about 7 inches long. Just smush it down into the shape you want it and modify your light!

With the snoot, I can add light into a scene without overlighting the entire photo. This photo needed just a bit of light on the subject’s face, but not anywhere else. So as not to overexpose the light from the snoot, I dialed it to about 1 1/2 stops over the existing ambient exposure. I believe the ambient exposure was around f5.6 at 1/200 at ISO 200, thus the snooted light was set to f 8.5 to achieve just a bit of additional lighting on our subject’s face. There is some spill onto the paddle, jacket and the piling behind our subject, but it still works for me.

I hope that helps and thanks for your patience. Enjoy!

I just wanted to thank everyone for participating in the contest last week. I’m hoping to have another contest soon. Now, the winners are:

@Whitney Schroeder

@Shelly Dumser

@Mike Sampson

Congratulations to the three winners! Please email me at michael@takebetterphotosnow.com so I can mail out your prize.

Michael

Layering a photograph is a great digital photography technique. It creates visual complexity and when combined with effective composition, it helps to lead your viewers eye to your main subject while maintaining visual interest.

Here’s a few techniques:

Look to place items such as plants, other people even parts of your main subjects body like their hands.

In the photo with the boy holding his hand, his hand leads you straight to the subject’s eyes. This is a great example of how the technique helps to lead the viewer’s eyes to the subject.

The photo of the boy looking through the bars at a playground helps to illustrate utilizing whatever is in the environment to create visual complexity. The pattern of the red bars leads the viewers eye right to the boy’s face.

Our image of the little girl smelling the flower uses a plant in a backyard to create multiple layers for the viewers. Because of the use of shallow depth of field, that also creates more visual layers that leads to the in focus area where our main subject is. Enjoy!

Cure Magazine Shoot

I recently photographed a medical caregiver who was nominated to be included in a special book for Cure Magazine. An essay was written by Kady Lane about her friend and nurse, Bob Garvin, of Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles.

I was contracted to photograph the two of them any way I wanted by the magazine. A dream assignment, since anytime a client says, ” Do whatever you want we like your style,” just wish I could hear that more often.

I arrived to find the area I was to make the portrait in total afternoon shade. Very blue light due to the shade and I had about 1 1/2 hours of light left in the day.

Moving to another spot was out of the question, since one of my subjects wasn’t to mobile due to her illness. Actually, Kady would probably have moved, but I didn’t want her to.

So my original idea of a shaft of light on the main subject quickly was dashed and I looked around for some inspiration.

I found it at the entrance of the cancer wing. Beautiful red rock tile/slate covered the entrance and would make a great background for my portraits.

I took an ambient exposure and set my camera at f8 @ 200/sec at ISO 400. So, I set my flash at 1/2 power and my camera to manual. I ended up shooting at f20 @ 200 which is 3 stops over the ambient and made for a very dramatic lighting ratio.

Bob is an amazing person who was funny and personable. I can see why Kady nominated him and his story was accepted to be published.

The trick to this type of lighting is to modify the light that is coming out of your flash. You can use a very expensive gizmo or make your own.

I bought a piece of black foam paper for less than a buck and put some velcro on it and wrapped it around my 580 EXII flash and made a snoot. That’s the shape of the light that you see on the wall behind the subjects.

Then it was just a matter of moving the light and the subjects into the most pleasing pose possible.