Today’s entry is another in a series of photography tips. Repetition of an image to draw the viewer’s eye into your image.

These are cormorants which are very common in Orange County. I spied them one day while I was out looking for feature art for the newspaper I used to work for. Feature art is slice of life photos that could potentially run anytime.

I saw them all lined up, but every time I got close they would fly away. So, I crawled up on these fowls. A little bit at a time and in about 5 minutes or so I was close enough to nab this image.  When you want to make sure someone understands you, we often repeat ourselves.

When you want to make something stand out in photography, you repeat it. Thus, repetition! The birds create a pattern for the viewers eye to follow.

Here, I used the pattern of the window pane’s shadow to create repetition that is interrupted by the figures. Repetition  can be all about the pattern or the breaking of that pattern. For example, in the first image, it’s all about pattern. In the shadow image it’s about the breaking of the pattern by the figures. Either way, achieves an effect for the viewer.

Another example of breaking the pattern with the woman in the orange/red dress. The pattern of the signs really makes for a great repetition. This was taken before the last night at the 2000 Republican Convention in Philadelphia. I was able to take a look inside the hall before most of the conventioneers were let in.

Finally, I have an image taken of a student studying at Chapman University in Orange, CA. The pillars of the building exude strength, stability and all the things a university should. The tiny figure of the student gives context to the size of the pillars and dwarfs the human condition. Again, another example of breaking the pattern with the student.

Try incorporating repetition of image into your next photo shoot and you will be rewarded with another technique in your arsenal. Enjoy!

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!

More portrait tips today!

If you have been reading this blog any length of time, you have heard me speak about the 3 building blocks that make a great photo.

1) Lighting

2) Composition

3) Moments

Without those components your photos are just not going to be that memorable to your viewers.

Here’s a few more examples from my daughter’s photo shoot that we did recently. We spent a total of about 15 minutes at each site, so we really didn’t spend that much time but, were able to capture some very nice portraits. Let me talk you through my thought process.

1. I was driving somewhere recently and came across a small portion of train track that was asphalted over on the street, but ran beside a warehouse near our home. Perfect for a quick location. One of my daughter’s favorite past time’s is to pick dandelion’s and blow the seeds away! Bummer for my lawn, but good for photos on location.

So, let’s reverse engineer this photo to see what makes it memorable. Lighting? Backlighting but nice even illumination from the camera. I just overexposed to make sure that the subject wasn’t turned into a silhouette. Composition? Her eyes are placed near the upper right area of convergence(the intersection of the upper horizontal third and the right vertical third). Moment? The look in her eye shows her personality which makes for a great and memorable image.

2. Our next image really showcases our subject’s personality. Moment? Totally at ease in front of the camera. For some subjects this takes forever. Most can be put at ease after just a few minutes of talking from the photographer. Ask about anything. The goal is to get your subject thinking about anything but having their picture taken. It really works.

Composition? There is something called an S curve that our subject has contorted her body into. It isn’t fake or posed looking. It places her face in the upper right area of convergence and takes the viewer’s eye from the top right to the lower left! Easy!

Light? Same backlight situation as the first. Which gives our photo beautiful light that highlights our subject’s hair and shows off the train rails.

3. I was able to put a special technique on this image, but the building blocks are still the same. A side-view put a rim light on our entire subject and her head is in the upper left area of convergence.

4. Finally, we have a change of venue and outfit. The lighting is ambient, non-direct that allows for a very soft light washing over our subject. The composition places the subject’s eyes in the left upper area of convergence. It takes the viewer’s eyes into the image and the placement of the subject’s arm takes the viewer’s eyes back into our subject’s face and vice versa.

Talk to your subjects to relax them.

Utilize composition to lead your viewer’s eyes to keep them invested in your image.

Look for lighting that will be complimentary to your subjects.

A few posts ago, I wrote about senior portraits. I want to re-visit that topic and add a few more tips.

Tip #1 Let their be action. Have your subject move around for more realistic images. Let’s take a look at the first image of the girl jumping. She really wanted to have her shoot have the look and feel of a model shoot. So…we talked a bit and showed her where and how to jump(holding her hands a certain way, etc.)I think the photo speaks for itself. She looks like a teen model at her latest model shoot. Yah for me! Her ease also spills over into her portrait in the next image.

Tip #2 Let them live out a fantasy. Our next set of images shows a subject that wanted to be a bit rock star/fashionista. We went to go look for a location that said cool/urban/fashion and found it in a place that had a wall that looked pretty dirty and smelled even worse. But, it was the perfect location for our subject and she slipped into character very easily. The place or setting you choose to shoot in will allow your subject to start feeling like whatever their fantasy is. She wanted to look cool and the urban feel really achieved that.

Tip #3 Props are good! This subject has a personality that can light up a room, but she needed some inspiration. Just like our subject in the previous tip, our subject in this tip needed some help. It came in the form of a playground. She was able to climb and spin around on the swings and her personality really came out during this portion of the shoot.

Tip #4 Help them to focus on doing something. Our last set of pics shows a male subject. They can be a lot more hesitant to pose and be real. But, after writing his name in the sand and having him play around a bit, our subject became a lot more at ease. Look at his portrait. I feel that his ability to not pose or mug for the camera left and he was able to let his guard down and actually reveal a real look at who he is.

To sum it all up…Senior portraits are a process of utilizing whatever you have at your disposal to help your subject relax and start to show a slice of who they really are. Keep shooting and enjoy!

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!

Family beach portraits have always been popular, but let’s try a few tricks to make them unique and memorable.

We are used to seeing a family all dressed in white sitting on the rocks with the waves in the background. Capturing a moment in a portrait can make a break your image. Would the Mona Lisa be so memorable without that tiny little smile? That’s a moment.

So how can we capture a real moment with a family on a beach?

Let them do whatever comes naturally!

The first image was the mom and dad  of the family just hanging out. Their body language tells the story of their love!

Same thing in the second image. A pretty basic pose, but I just let the couple get relaxed and show their real feelings during the session. In the group images we let the group pose and then had them run towards the camera.

So, instead of a stiff posed family, you have an image that shows the personalities of the family and a unique image.

Try to make your subjects more at ease with various techniques. To review, running, talking with them or even having them show their feelings for each other. Finally, you can even let your more athletic subjects go wild. Enjoy!

Hello from the soggy O.C., where it is pouring! But fear not, I was able to make a very nice portrait while staying dry and comfortable inside my house. Today I’d like to show you a segment about portrait photography and lighting.

Manipulating the available light is something that every photographer from beginning to advanced needs to have in their bag of tricks.

In the first image above is a portrait of my daughter, Tara.

I placed her in next to a bank of three windows in our living room that faces north. Very soft even lighting exists here, since the light is not directly striking my subject and due to the sheer curtains, the light is very diffused and soft.

Unfortunately, there is too much shadow on her left side of her face or camera right. A quick a simple way to fix this is with a reflector. Now you can run down to your nearest camera store where they will be happy to sell you a fancy-schmansy reflector for a bunch of money. But wait!

I have a quick and inexpensive solution that is almost always available.

Anything white will do. I grabbed an old poster out of the garage and placed it on top of the piano bench that my daughter is resting her arms on. Look carefully at the reflection in her eyes and you will see it in the lower half of her iris.

Since we didn’t have another assistant available and my labs aren’t very good at standing still, I just had my daughter use her left arm to bend the poster board up towards her face which nicely redirected some of the light from the window back into her face.Loo

See the huge difference it makes? You need to practice how close you need to bring your reflector in to work effectively, but in no time at all you should get the hang of this. Almost anything will work. Try a piece of paper, a napkin anything that will reflect the light from one direction back into your subject will work.

Practice makes perfect and is a lot less expensive than a store-bought reflector. 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!