I was in downtown Los Angeles today and decided to just take my iPhone and have fun.
One of the images that caught my attention was this painting on an old building and how it balanced itself on the wall and in my photo.
Balance.
Everyone needs it, but it comes to naturally to most of us, we tend to take it for granted.
Balance in photography is the resolution of visual forces or subjects.
In the above image, the eyes balance the frame and hold the viewer’s attention with the resolution being the shadow of the nose and the bar of red at the bottom of the frame which holds everything together.
Without balance, there is only chaos and a visual feeling of incompleteness.
Look visual tension and the resolution of the within the confines of your frames to create visual harmony.
Notice how the eyes draw your attention?
Neither one is stronger than the other, they both seem to have an equal magnetism for your attention.
That’s the balance of this image.
Practice achieving balance in your images with resolution and the ability to hold your viewer’s attention.
Be inspired!

Michael is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now,” and, “Mommie Pics,” ebooks that help everyone become better photographers through tips and secrets that he has learned during his more than 25 years of experience as a professional photographer and photography teacher. He currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. To purchase either ebook, click the links. CLICK HERE FOR “TakeBetterPhotosNow!
CLICK HERE FOR MOMMIE PICS

Great way to start any morning is to look up and see a beautiful and colorful sunrise.
Here’s a few things to keep in mind.
1. Highlight the sky.
Remember, it’s the sky that you want to feature, so let the sky take up at least 2/3rds of the canvas, even more if possible.
In this example, just a tiny piece of the ground is even included.
2. Utilize the elements that you have.
I noticed electrical wires and a random telephone pole. I placed the wires in areas that created different zones and made diagonals which give movement to the image.
3. Enjoy the beauty.
Sometimes photos are just beautiful. Even in an urban setting, the glory of this sunrise can’t be contained.
Sit back and enjoy and be inspired!

Michael is the author of, “Take Better Photos Now,” and, “Mommie Pics,” ebooks that help everyone become better photographers through tips and secrets that he has learned during his more than 25 years of experience as a professional photographer and photography teacher. Her currently is an adjunct professor at Cal Baptist University in Riverside, California. To purchase either ebook, click the links. CLICK HERE FOR “TakeBetterPhotosNow!
CLICK HERE FOR MOMMIE PICS

I shot a quick portrait session for a friend’s daughter today.
I wanted to talk about working with subject’s that aren’t used to having a camera shoved in their face and becoming America’s Top Model in 60 seconds.
I often am asked by my students how to relax subjects during photo shoots.
Here’s a story I was told about the great Alfred Eisenstadt, the famous Life magazine photographer.
At every portrait session, he would make a fuss over the subject. Pretending to see a hair out of place or a speck of lint on their jacket, he would ask, ” May I touch you to remove the lint/hair whatever,” and the subject would always say yes and immediately the ice would be broken and a great photo session would ensue.
Eisenstadt would tell everyone, “There was never anything there, I just wanted to make them feel that I cared.”
Everyone wants to feel special.
So, I try to make my subjects feel that I care and if I ask to remove a speck or just look them straight in the eyes and tell them that they look marvelous. I always try to make my subjects feel like they are the only person that matters at that moment.

It’s really not that hard.
You just need to be sincere and take your time to convey to your subject how serious you are.
In this image, the subject’s mom and friend were watching and she felt uncomfortable posing. I told her exactly what we were going to accomplish and then showed her the image on the LCD of my camera. Her reaction was, “I like that!”
Her confidence in me rose and we proceeded to have a very successful session.

I posted this last image because of the “realness” of the moment. It’s probably not going to be a 17 year old’s favorite image. But, I like it because I was able to get this real moment out of a subject that wasn’t too excited about having her photo taken, isn’t a model and was being watched by her mom and friend.
This is the moment that photographers look to capture. Where the subject isn’t aware of who is watching and their inner soul comes forth.
Next time you go for a portrait session, try to think about these tips:
• Make your subject feel special
• Be sincere in what you say and do
• Look to capture the real person and not just the person who says “cheese.”
Be inspired!

How to make your portraits come alive?
Ask your subjects to do something physical that will help them to forget they are being photographed.
In the above image, I was shooting a senior portrait session when I found out that my subject liked the shots of models moving.

I asked her to skip. Most girls stopped skipping sometime in elementary school, but I secretly believe that all women still want to skip.
She happily skipped and I was able to make an image full of life that is realistic and full of life.

The next time you make a portrait, look for a distraction, something physical for your subject.
Running, jumping or even skipping can achieve a distraction that will help your subjects be real.

Realness helps to turn a staged lifeless image into a photograph that is alive and worth looking at.
Be inspired!

I was asked to do a senior portrait that I recently talked about in another post.
I didn’t mention a photo that is causing a lot of comments on Facebook.

Willow Smith’s song, “I Whip My Hair,” swept the nation awhile ago and so my subject wanted to whip her incredible hair with the sun shining through it to see what the effect would be.
Well, her golden hair was stunning.
I shot this image at about 1/800th of a second to try and freeze her hair as the setting sun illuminated it.
I missed my composition by just a hair, but the effect was so much fun, I had to go with it.
Perfect or not.

Enjoy and be inspired!

I recently photographed a family friend for her senior portraits. The trend today is a lot of different scene changes with the various hobbies, looking cool.

I thought, ” Hey, I can do that.”

A very talented violin player, I wanted to her personality shine. Here’s a full length shot with her prized possession.

Just a bit of attitude, makes for a nice image with a bit of self-confidence peeking through.

What I always try to do with musical instruments is to show them in an unexpected way.

I had my subject hold the violin in a way she never would, to start out.

Here’s what it evolved into…

The next image was a bit conservative,  but did have some nice lines and again, was just  slightly unexpected.

The diagonal line created by the strings made for a nice compositional element in this image.

Still, I was looking for something that would make the viewer really take notice.

I was a bit stumped.

When this happens in the process, I usually go back to something very conservative. I find this helps me to start the process over again, but not from the beginning, just a small detour. So, I shot the subject with her violin in more expected pose. Then, it hit me.

What about the back of the violin?

And the cool shape?

I had my image.

I decided to place her eyes in the upper area of convergence and use the cut out to highlight my subject’s eyes.

A surprise.

An unexpected look at a common object.

Be inspired!

I photographed seven seniors for their yearbook recently at the Fullerton Train Station. I’d like to share a few tips about Senior Portraits and photographing groups of people.

The first image shows life, fun and action. Without something for your subjects to do, you end up with a bunch of subjects standing around trying to look cool(even though they are).

Let’s see if we can find a better situation for our teens.

Finally, we have our last image…
I choose to show how a static pose can actually work. The inside of the pedestrian bridge works to enclose our subjects and draw the viewer’s eyes to the group. I carefully placed each subject where the camera could see them and asked everyone to stare directly at the camera to achieve a more confrontive pose.
The result is a cool and somewhat aloof image.

The next time you have a larger group to photograph, try having them do something to achieve an image that has action and great expressions. Enjoy!

In this image we have the jumping into the future etc. pose. The area really had busy backgrounds. I tried to use as wide open a depth of field as possible, achieving a very shallow depth of field. Or to clarify further, as little of the background is in focus as possible. Jumping in unison is sometimes the hardest part of this pose. Fortunately, this day the seniors were in rare form and jumped together.

The next image shows the guys. You can never go wrong asking boys to show how strong they are or to show off. I asked them to jump on each others backs and stay there as long as possible. A great pose with great expressions!

Moving on…..
How about choosing the tallest or smallest person in the group and doing something interesting with them?
Here I choose the tallest boy and had the entire group, or the majority of them, hold him up. It works for good expressions and the pose looks good, too.

The next pose or idea was to change my point of view. Having your subject lie down changes everything. The viewers perspective changes as does the perception of your subjects. It really is an all-around winning situation.

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!

The past few days I’ve had the pleasure to take a few senior portraits. Senior portrait photography is a special genre that requires a flair for fashion and an ability to push the envelope. Here’s a couple of examples from two recent shoots. One is for a high school senior and the other if for a college senior.

Good composition and lighting are a must. Each image was carefully crafted to lead the viewer’s eye to the main subject. But, I also tried to make the subject’s feel like supermodels on their very own fashion shoot.

Even Heidi Klum, one of the most beautiful women in the world and one of the highest paid supermodels, complains about her “trouble” spots. So, I always work to highlight every subject’s best features and to minimize any “flaws” or less favorite attributes.

It’s a fine line but every photographer should try to make their subjects feel like your care and are doing your best to show them in the best possible way.