Hold The Eye Images

I'm Still Alive!! Just Took A Break.

I'm not going back and try to make up for all the things I missed writing about, but I will update a recent shoot and post some video podcasts Brian Tramontana and I just began. But first, let me review a recent shoot. 

 My studio has a large garage type door with smoked glass. I have use it from time to time for head shots but mainly as a sidelight on the right. I recently did a shoot directly into the light, adjusting the ISO/shutter/aperture to blow out the background as much as possible and still capture the face/upper body. 

I had some cleaning up to do in lightroom for the background but it was easy with the exposure adjustment brush. 

The image above shows you how easy it is to combine the natural light with a Lightroom exposure brush to get what you want.

The above photographs were all taken against the window paned door mostly at ISO 200 with the sun burning through the door in later afternoon around 3:30pm PDT

I also turned Isabella around facing the light shooting wide open for this one.

All of these were shot with a Nikon D800E with 3 lenses, 50, 85, and 70-200. 

The above was just done for fun but she does look very different. 

Here are a few more of the outtakes, different images to give you an idea of the variation of light and pose. 

The last few of these out takes were images shot while Isabella was dancing to one of her favorite CD's featuring AC Myles. AC was also a recent subject of the camera at the studio maybe more on that later. Some of the out take images need a little cleaning up but on the other hand will not likely be used for anything. Here's AC

Freezing Time in Your Pictures

Isn't that what the camera does, freeze time? Doesn't matter if you are feezing the time of day for a landscape, expression for a portrait, or action for something moving quickly. What ever you are shooting is frozen. The downside, most things we see are dynamic and freezing time doesn't represent what we experience. A portrait is only a piece of the complete picture of someone, frozen action likewise is only a snapshot of ongoing activity. So our purpose in photography is to represent what we are shooting by freezing the perfect moment. Sometimes it flatters the individual or moment and sometimes it doesn't really represent either at all. To get it right, you must watch the subject, paying particular attention to what you are going to freeze. Personally, I love to try and capture emotion, energy, smiles, laughs, all those emotions that create a reaction in the viewer.The faces tell the story, the viewer draws conclusions from those expressions.

The same holds true for action shots catching the right moment. In this instance waiting for the light and dancers to line up with smiles.

Catching that moment can create such different moods and reactions as in this recent portrait. The expressions define this image.

Paying attention to the subject means watching the subject without the camera. You have to observe closely before you can capture. You can't rely on the luck of the shutter; it must be planned as much as possible. Getting to know your subject, observing the moods, sensing changes, all gives you the intuition to capture that moment. The common ingredient is patience. Patience with yourself, forgiveness for mistakes, and tenacity not to give up.

 

 

What's the very first big step in becoming a good photographer?

It's not learning the technical aspects of photography although it's important. Knowing how to use a  camera in not necessarily a real step in becoming a good photographer. It is progress but good photography is not a technical issue. The first real step is learning to recognize a good image on an intuitive level. In other words, you know a good image when you see it. This is not the same as liking an image or being impressed with an image, this is more a photo editing skill, recognizing images that work, have impact, and represent a skilled photographic eye. And it is only the beginning, for recognizing a good image as I described doesn't mean you can go out and create one yourself. But this skill of understanding good photography helps train your eye when you are shooting, makes you more aware of how you view the world, gives you confidence and enables you to evaluate you own work. If you don't know you are good, chances are you are not. So how is this skill developed?

You have to shoot a lot of pictures and study a lot of photography. And, for most of us, there is no way around this. The rationale for shooting a lot is obvious, you can't get better at anything unless you practice. What is the current thinking, 10,000 hours at anything for you to become skilled. Quite a mountain of photography. The second part is also key, you need to be a student of imagery. You need to study images from historical greats, modern notables, national contest winners, and most importantly current advertising. You need to constantly be looking at good images, images that have intent, images that represent a certain perspective and body of work, images that sell, images that tell stories, .....until you begin to see a yardstick for your own work. The interpolation of this learning into your own photographic eye is important. I don't mean you will copy but you will be better able to judge your own work based on this study. Most people judge their work by what others say about their pictures. It might be a photo contest, comments on Facebook, Flickr, or some other forum. This affirmation is critical to their confidence. I'm advocating a different approach. I'm not dismissing the reaction of others as important, only emphasizing the importance of developing your own internal yardstick to know when your work is good. You need to rely on your own eye and judgement and begin to think in terms of a body of work not a single image. This is a much more complex and sophisticated approach to good photography and it takes a great deal more time and study. There is nothing wrong with learning how to take a good picture; but good photography is more than a good picture. It is at the root, a perspective that you develop to express yourself. You own way of seeing the world, you own story through imagery, and the journey is arduous, frustrating, and never ending. The critical issue is that if you require outside approval to stay on course, you may never finish. Sure some feedback is critical, but the most important critic must be yourself and to do that, you have to up your skill level and understanding of imagery. To use a sailing metaphor, the seas will not always be calm and you must weather these storms. 

I don't mean to over dramatize becoming a good photographer. Bottom line, you need to know a good image of your own when you see it, understand how it fits into the body of work you are creating, have photographic eye that you have trained for your unique perspective, and be confident in these three skill levels. Getting on this path, is the first step.

Digital Workflow and Storage for Photographers

The latest podcast on a subject that every photographer worries about. In this episode of Hold the Eye Images Podcasting, Brian Tramontana and I talk about methods of managing digital workflow as well as storage options for photographers. You can listen here, click the side bar or find us in iTunes under Hold the Eye Images Podcasting.

Lightroom 4 can no longer open or save to my external raid?

A few days ago, I was returning to a Lightroom catalogue I had been working on when suddenly my Mac Pro in Lightroom 4 shows an error message that I can no longer save to or open catalogs on the external G Drive(Raid). This happens to be where my photos and catalogs reside. Now I have backups but I wasn't  abandoning the idea of my G Drive just because of the error message. I had this problem in the past with the Mac Pro not recognizing a drive after it was improperly removed(connection accidentally removed). In those cases where I could not see the drive, I had to use my laptop to repair permissions under the disk utility before the drive functioned again on my Mac Pro. But this was the first time I had encountered the Lightroom issue. I searched the web, didn't really find much help(so I write this blog). I hadn't knowingly removed the G Drive from my computer improperly, or done anything else except leave the Mac Pro on for an extended period of time. I have found when I leave my computer on for days, things start to get funky. I don't know if going to sleep affects some of the functionality but things happen like my mouse starts acting funny or pages scroll oddly. Anyway, my external raid was useless at this point.

So here's what I did and it worked. Because I could see my drive on the computer, I went into disk utility and ran repair permissions. I then shut my computer down, restarted it, and turned on my G Drive after the computer was awake again. I clicked on the catalog and it worked. No error message, my Lightroom 4 was functional with images once again. If I had lost my ability to see the drive, I would have used a laptop to do the same thing. I have had this occur several times with small external portable drives and it has worked each time to correct the issue.

So that's it the solution that worked for me.

The Power of the Image, Creativity in the Studio

A single image can bring out rage, fear, passion, lust, or even disgust. The power of the still image is alive and well in today's world of video with every gadget made. At Hold the Eye Images Studio we have a skunk works team of volunteers who have been meeting weekly to explore the power of imagery and creative lighting. The volunteers come from Hold the Eye Images Meetup Group. Last week I posted some images from the first session with Peggy and Alex both fellow photographers and for our skunk works, they double as models. This week Julie joined the group. A reminder from last week's images. First handsome Alex in black and white.

Next Peggy and Alex clearly demonstrating modeling skills and character.

I remind everyone of those images because this week was a totally different tactic for image making. I wanted to create a high level of drama, bring out passion, and illustrate how images can be used to get a reaction, both good and bad. The prop in this image is a shotgun. Alex who may be the best male model I have ever photographed(and he is a terrific photographer as well as a physicist) is being used for a totally different emotion. First the lighting setup; one strip light parallel to the floor highlighting the shotgun as well as the side of Alex. Secondly a second light with a snoot to the right of Alex for a catch light as well as adding some light to the left side of Alex's face. Finally the magic touch of water, Alex wets his face before the photograph to simulate perspiration. But before the image here is Alex at the start. As I said handsome, friendly, great personality.....etc. an all around nice person.................but wait for the transformation. 

So now we have Alex with the shotgun the strip light to his right the snoot to his left, the lights balanced for drama with tap water on his face. And this is what you get!

I take no credit for his facial expression, that's Alex and his natural skill at creating character. But the power of imaging is dramatically illustrated in these two images of the same person. Given the time period we are in this type of image could be created for all sorts of purposes, but it is a creation and does illustrate the power of a single image.

We continued on with an idea from Peggy who wanted to juxtaposition a fashion book against a fashion pose. A creative idea which worked really well and Peggy served as the model and created her own pose. The lighting was a snoot on the feet/book and a beauty dish to light the head and hair. The difficulty was getting the book in the correct position for reflection and composition. After a few tries, here's our final image. I like how the image on the book cover is looking at the camera while Peggy is reading the book. Nice job by Peggy in posing for this image.

Many thanks to Alex, Peggy and Julie for their ideas and help with the imaging. As always with photography, every session is filled with new learning and last nights was no exception.

 

Before you go out shooting, do you have a plan?

One of the advantages of scouting a location, event, or a person is the ability to think about how you want to photograph. Thinking about how to photograph is likely the most important step a photographer takes in making a great image. Even if you have the wrong idea it's still the best process to use. Making mistakes is part of the learning process but if you have no idea what you are going to do, mistakes become less instructive. The more you plan the better you get at it; and the better photographer you become. Every outing should have a shooting plan, something you have thought about, an image you want to capture, a technique you want to try. This does not preclude the spontaneous image, coming across something that's wonderful. But you shouldn't depend on these special moments to bail you out.

This is an important subject so Brian Tramontana and I talked about this in our latest Podcast released today. You can hear the Podcast here, or click on the sidebar. You can also go to iTunes under Hold the Eye Images.

Which tripod to buy? How many tripods do I need?

These are questions we all face as photographers. The simple answer to which one should I buy; the best you can afford. A good quality tripod should be easy to use, versatile and last you for years. Top brands like Really Right Stuff and Gitzo are no brainers IF you can spend that much. Others like Endura offer good value. Brian Tramontana and I talk about this and a host of other issues on the subject of tripods. Check it out here.

Or, you can click on the Tripod Podcast in the right hand column. You can always find all the podcasts at Hold the Eye Images on iTunes under podcasts.

What's the biggest mistake you can make as a photographer?

1. Relying on a better camera for better images, yep that's one, but..........

2. Not using a tripod, yep that's one, but..........

3. Not thinking about why you are taking the picture and what you are trying to say, yep that's one but......

4. Paying little attention to the shutter speed and f/stop, yep that one, but..........

5. Carrying too much gear, yep that's one but...........

6. Not being observant enough spending too much time with the gear, yep that's one but........

7. Paying little attention to camera shake from unsteady tripods, yep that's one but.........

8. Over processing images without intent in photo software, yep that's one but.....

9. Fear of trying something totally different, yep that one but.......

10. Getting good at something and simply repeating it over and over, yep that's one, but.......

11. Paying too much attention to the voice of others about your images and not listening enough to your inner voice about what you love, yep that's one, but.......

12. Allowing self doubt to overtake you, yep that's one but..........

13. Accepting failure as bad and not as a huge learning opportunity, yep that's one but.........

14. Not networking with other photographers, allowing them to inspire you, yep that's one but.....

15. Photographing for approval and not for finding your vision, yep that's one but........

16. Never studying the work of great photographers, yep that's one but.....

17. Trying to take photographs that are already iconic, yep that's one but.......

18. Allowing the lack of money as an excuse, yep that's one but....

19. Fear of being different, yep that's one but...

20. Relying on blogs that write about "the biggest mistakes" to learn from, yep that's one but.....

 

Ok, what's the punchline you ask? The fact is, all of the above are valid hurdles to one degree or another. But based on my experience, the single biggest mistake is simply not shooting enough, period. It happens to be the quickest technique to learn quickly, identify weaknesses, correct issues, and up your photographic game. I would say a daily regiment of photography is best. You don't have to spend all day photographing, but lunch time if you have a day job works. If you are home try finding interesting angles, shapes, shadows, or objects and work them. You would be amazed how much you will learn from taking 50 images of a glass of water. It will tax your skills and imagination which are key for improvement. Try simply to create some still images from items in your home, magic can happen. In the process of learning to see, you will master your camera and all will become second nature. When the camera and eye become a simple extension of the hunt, things start to change. Personally I love creating images from nothing. Simply putting things together, photographing with different light and seeing what happens. Your imagination and ability to create die when they are dormant; pushed to limits of frustration, they grow and take you with them. This ability to see through the eye of your camera and exercise your imagination is what distinguishes photography. It makes you a product of yourself; not a copy of others. And being original is the biggest gift you can give yourself.

Musicians of the Grand Dell Saloon, Ray Figueroa a.k.a. Ray Ray

Ray plays base in the Grand Dell Saloon as well as in a band called the South City Blues Band. But in fact he is more than a musician at the Grand Dell. He is sort of Mr. Hospitality, bringing brownies for the audience, taking pictures of the audience from the stage.

You can see he is at ease when playing, loving the audience, always dressing the part.

His good looks helps with the audience as well as his personality.

In this podcast Ray talks about the changing of the dance floor and how much impact that has had. Here is the original dance floor, which was in the audience. Maybe room for three couples, giving the signal listen but don't dance too much.

The new dance floor is substantially larger, the bandstand has moved with lots more room. Here is the new scene.A big difference for the music lovers as well as the musicians.

Ray has had an interesting musical career, here is my interview with him as he talks about music in the Bay Area and his involvement. This is the Ray Figueroa story.