Today we take a look at something that might seem simple, but it’s a key component to making great images.
Composition!
In the past I’ve shared about the Rule of Thirds, now I teach the concept of The Grid!
Think of a Tic-Tac-Toe grid.
Now imagine the lines of the game being overlaid onto the canvas of any image.
Main subjects need to be placed where the 4 lines intersect to have visual impact.
Viewers are naturally lead to these 4 areas.
In fact, the worst place to have your subject is dead center.
Visually speaking, the center is the most boring placement for subjects.
So, I encourage my students to look to the outside squares of the Tic-Tac-Toe grid for better composition.
The habit of placing the subject in the middle comes from the focusing mechanism being centered.
It’s a hard habit to break, but with practice, better composition comes from a lot of practice.
In today’s photo, my daughter is in the upper left of the grid area.
This example shows how this type of placement creates a stronger, more visually appealing image.
Practice seeing the grid in all of your images and you’ll notice how much stronger your images start becoming.
Be inspired!

Michael worked as a photojournalist in southern California for 20 plus years and has taught photojournalism at UCLA. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, CA where he teaches photography. He is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now!”
click here for “TakeBetterPhotosNow!

The real reason for the season.
May you and yours be blessed this Christmas and in the coming New Year.
Thank You for your support and for visiting i365project.com and I hope to see all of you in the New Year, too!
Merry Christmas and be inspired!

Every year at Thanksgiving I make portraits of my niece, nephews and my own kids.
It’s quite the affair.
Lights and backdrops and amidst turkey and football, I make portraits.
The standard has become increasingly higher each year.
This year, like last, I was asked to make portraits for my sister’s Christmas cards.
One light on an umbrella, camera right and slightly over the existing ambient light.
I have learned when photographing children, what ever happens, is what you get.
They smile and are perfect angels? Cool, that’s the images I get.
They cry and refuse to do anything their parents beg? That’s okay too!
This bit of knowledge has saved me years of frustration.
Obviously, I work with my subjects to get the best reaction, but with kids, you have to be ready for anything.
In the first image, I asked my niece to hug her brother.
Cute, but I wanted more.

My sister suggested a prop!
Excellent! Props are perfect tools to help your subjects relax and become more at ease in front of the camera.
My nephew and niece did exactly that and the signs’ message is perfect.
I especially love that my nephew’s feet are crossed!

Finally, no shoot is complete without a great outtake.
I asked them to jump and my niece tried to hold the dog, too.
Except, the photo looks like something out of awkward family photos!
She isn’t choking her beloved pooch, but was sad that she wasn’t holding the dog.
The rule that I try to live by is whatever my kid subject’s do, will be fine.
They cry, great! They fight! Even better moments.
Relax and be inspired!

My wife found a 128KB compact flash card in her van the other day.
It was like finding a prehistoric fossil from the Mesozoic Era in our vehicle!
It was like finding a time capsule from years gone by.
I estimate that this beauty was about 10 years old.
My photography style has changed, hopefully for the better, as I’ve pushed so hard on the fundamentals over the past few years.
This shot is of my kids about 10 years ago.
We had just purchased a doughboy above ground pool and my kids were having more fun with it being filled up than I could even imagine.
Utter chaos was breaking out as they completely freaked out!
Isn’t that one of the things that is so wonderful about children?
Everything is pure joy when you are a kid. Even two inches of water.
My wife was so good about slathering way too much sunscreen on the kids to counteract the hole in the ozone layer.
My boys even have t-shirts on!
Makes me wonder why she didn’t put our daughter in one too?
Here’s a few of my technical thoughts about this image:
1) Each child has their own space. The two outside ones are in the respective, left and right, areas of convergence and the pool liner serves as the horizon.
2) Great peak moment of action. The joyous look on the youngest child is pretty apparent and makes a nice feel for the overall image.
3) The background serves as a nice neutral and clean canvas that helps the subjects to “pop” or stand out from the background.
4) The Harsh noon-day lighting is counter-acted by the one child looking straight up. Thanks Devin!

All this amounts to a great second chance for me to capture a moment of my life and more importantly, my children’s childhood, with great light, good composition and an engaging moment. All that does add up to an image that my wife and I will always treasure.
Look to document your family’s life.
Everyday.
It goes so fast and we don’t always have the luxury of finding compact flash cards in our cars.
Be inspired!

We are a society of cameras.
Everyone has one.
In their camera.
A stand alone.
In their tablet.
We all have to document everything we attend.
Yesterday was a beloved child’s first birthday.
When the time came for the traditional, “let the birthday baby eat the cake,” routine, everyone whipped out their camera and started recording, snapping and documenting.
I had to stand on a chair and even then I’ve been in less crowded photo scrums.
At least the light was nice. Even beautiful ambient light that nicely illuminated the birthday boy as the crowd waited for the mayhem to begin.
I finally decided to record the event, rather than just the baby.
Rather than get frustrated about the lack of access, I showed the whimsy of the moment.
Next time you are recording an event and something out of the ordinary happens, consider capturing that event rather than being focused only on the original idea.
You might just be surprised at your results.
Be inspired!

I was hired to photograph a 5k fun run last weekend.
Visual story telling is the answer to informing our friends where, who and what we did recently.
Here’s a few tips.
1. Think like a reporter.
The 5 W’s of reporting will help you to frame your photos. The Who, What, Where, When and Why, will tell you what to communicate for your story.
In the first photo, we have the What. Looks like a race and that’s exactly what it was, a 5k charity race.
You can photograph a sign or the runner’s numbers or as I have here, a human interest story.
The winner of the race ran back to find his sister and finish the race with her holding hands.
Some of that information is needed in a caption, but there’s lots of clues in this image. The boy already has a medal and their numbers are in sequence and they are running around a track.

2. Did something interesting happen at the event?
It rained like cats and dogs!
These friends gathered under an umbrella to have their photo taken. I focused with my long lens and made an image as they were being photographed.
3. Interesting or humorous event?

These boys gave up running early in the event and popped up their umbrellas and kept walking.
It tells the story quickly, but also gives us more information about the event, too.
Like it was raining hard!
4. Establishing shots help ground the viewer.

I always try to make a quick shot that tells where we are or what’s going on to include in the story to help the viewer.
In this set of images the beginning of the race shows the mayhem that occurred and also establishes that there was a race with quite a few people involved.
I’ve always wondered why more children aren’t trampled during these starts?
5. Details! They move the story along.Detail shots give information that is quick and concise. Visually it helps to move the story, without taking too much space.
Each of the racers were given snacks at the end of the race. Bananas!

Grab a hold of these quick tips and try them out at your next event that you want to share with friends.
In only a few images you can tell an entire story without being redundant or more importantly boring.
Be effective and concise.
Be inspired!

Baby gnome alert!
I spotted this cute baby at my church’s harvest festival.
I think the addition of the binky really helps put this costume in great perspective.
I lit this scene with a diffused on-camera flash but slowed the shutter to 1/30 of a second to pick up some ambient light in the background.
Otherwise, my gnome would look like he was living in a cave.
Thus, you can see the large recreation vehicle in the background and a few people, too.
This technique works just about anywhere. For example, a large banquet room, a dark area and even outside at night.
Remember to lower your shutter speed to pick up any ambient light that might be present to keep the background from going completely black.
Be inspired!

A quick portrait turns into a keepsake because of a few quick tips.
1. First look for interesting light.
In this example, it was near sundown and the light was passing through a window and falling onto an interior pillar.
2. Good strong composition.
The light was even helping out in this scenario. It was on part of the pillar, so when I placed my subject in the light, she was already composed correctly!
Her face is in the upper left area of convergence and her body is in the left vertical. Perfecto!
3. Connection.
There’s always some sort of connection between the subject and the photographer. Good or bad, there’s something.
If you can quickly connect on some level, it will make your portrait that much stronger. Saying cheese, isn’t good enough.
A quick joke, a compliment whatever it takes, get into the soul of your subject. In this example, I’ve known the subject since she was born.
She happened to be walking by when I noticed the light and asked her to jump into the light and let me take a quick portrait. Her mom said okay and that’s all it took.
4. Point of View.
It’s where the camera was actually placed during the portrait. In this image, I knelt down and the camera is just below the subject’s eyes. It isn’t looking down on her because of her age, but at her level so the viewer can look directly into her eyes.
Utilize these tips and make stronger more intimate portraits every time!
Be inspired!

I was on assignment today at an opening ceremony for a local AYSO league.
I was asked to make a number of images including portraits, detail shots, news photos and even check presentations. It was indeed a busy day.
The last image I was asked to make was a feature image that represented something beautiful about the community.
It could be anything, which is freeing but can be overwhelming.
I saw it happen in a different way and area, but I wasn’t quite quick enough, so I waited and saw another man holding his son’s hand walking away from the event.
It said everything I wanted it to say.
The future.
Fathers and sons.
Relationships.
Community.
It was perfect!
I decided to semi-silhouette the subjects. There was a clean expanse of lawn which served as a nice clean background.
It was really distracting everywhere else that I looked so this was perfect.
The boy and his dad were walking under a tree and were shaded but the lawn was in bright sunlight.
I let my camera meter for the lawn and let the subjects go underexposed.
That way they would be more symbolic than a particular dad and son. They would be my every dad and son.
The boy is in the lower left area of convergence and that was good enough for me and I let the rest of the composition stand on it’s own.
Hopefully, all of us can aspire to a day with our kids or a day with our dad. A day when everything is okay because our hand is safely in his firm grip.
Be inspired!

The eyes have it!
I was asked to photograph another family today.
Their children were relatively small, 9, 3 and a bit over a 1 I think.
The middle child was a girl and she showed up with a small bouquet of flowers that she had picked on the way to the beach.
I immediately started talking about the flowers as a way to win her favor and to get her to let me take her photo.
It worked!
She asked me to photograph them and that was my first image.
Once the ice was broken, she was a fantastic subject.
I moved in to capture her eyes.

She looks natural and not posed, because I was able to gain her trust which kids can sense from a mile away.
Be fake, just to make a photo and you’ll get nowhere.
Be interested in the details and they open up to you and let you capture the real person they are beginning to become.
The last image was something her parents asked me to try and capture.
A natural streak in her hair that they hadn’t been able to photograph, yet.

I still utilized her eyes as compositional elements by placing them outside the grid to attract the viewer’s eyes.
On your next portrait shoot, be real, be genuine.
Be inspired!