Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

One of my students submitted this photo of Yosemite taken in the fog. His question was, “How I would compose this differently, and how would I deal with the exposure in the fog.”

Well,  the first thing I would do is to get the notion that the Rule of Thirds will take your imagery what I refer to as “Up a Notch” out of your mind!!! Check out my past post entitled “The Rule of Thirds is not for everyone“. The essence of that post is that if you want to be a good photographer then by all means follow that rule. However, if you want to be a great photographer forget about that rule.

In my forty-two year career as an Advertising, Corporate, and Editorial photographer, I can honestly say that I’ve never…not once…thought about that rule…why?

Because it’s very hard to generate Tension when you follow that rule. Be sure to look at my photo examples if you go back and read that post.

The most important elements in this photo are the clouds, the mountains, and of course the falls. That being said why show so much sky? In my opinion, you don’t need so much of it because it’s really not doing anything to take your photo “up a notch”. I would have cropped the photo (in the camera ) right above the mountain on the left. The reason is that by doing so, you would be creating Tension two ways: by minimizing the Negative Space between the tip of the mountain and the top edge of the frame, and by placing the mountain close to that edge of the frame.

Also, I would have placed the falls where it could create some Tension as well…anywhere but in the “Rule of Thirds”. I would place it where the viewer would discover it, not where it’s the first thing he sees.. In my classes, I talk a lot about the Psychology of Gestalt. In this theory, it’s important for the visual to become an active participant. One of the ways is to have him keep discovering new things in our photographs. The more he discovers the longer he’ll stick around…isn’t that what we want?????

I love the fog and the clouds. It’s a photo that you don’t see very often, and for that reason alone, it works for me!!!  As far as the exposure is concerned, do you ever bracket??? To me, this image is about a stop too dark. When I lightened it everything was brighter without losing the ethereal felling here.

In my online class I teach with the BPSOP, and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind“workshops I conduct around the planet, we work on the elements of visual design and composition. Tension is a very important one. Use it to your advantage and let everyone else be predictable. Stretch your frame of Mind!!!

Thanks for sharing it with others.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come work on the elements with me sometime.

JoeB

What’s the message here?

A student photographer of  mine from California submitted this photo for me to comment on. Since she didn’t have a specific question, but just to comment, I’ll just assume that her question was whether I thought this was a good photo or not.

Ok,Texture is one of the basic Elements of Visual Design, and when  Texture is lit in such a way the viewer will want to reach out and touch your photo…why, you ask?

Because since we were very little touch has been ingrained in our every day thought process. For example:

• Don’t touch that it’s wet.
• Don’t touch that it’s dirty.
• Don’t touch that it’s sharp.
• Don’t touch that you don’t know where its been.

This old rusted out car is mostly about one of the three varieties of Texture called ‘Information’  Texture.

For photos with information texture, it is crucial to identify precisely what information the texture is to communicate and compose the image in such a way that the texture brings out the proper message. In this image the texture alludes to the history that this car was a part of. The result is a much better image, but in this image what’s the message? Is it just the history of the old rusted out car, or is it the sign in the background? Or both?

DD, I’ve always been a firm believer that if you show a sign (especially one this big), make sure the viewer can read it. In this situation the sign is very close to being as important as the car. I love the graphics and the colors and it looks like its been there as long as the car has. I would love to be able to read what the sign says. Check out my earlier post I called “The Whole Enchilada”. In it I talk about the entire environment, not just the subject, which in this case I assume is the rusted out car.

By the way, DD told me that she was aware of the pole growing out of the top of the car, but couldn’t do anything about it at the time…That’s what the ‘Content Aware’ tool in CS5 is for!!!!

Stay tune for an upcoming post on Gestalt that talks about this issue. It’s called “Proximity”, and you’ll find it most interesting. In my online class with the BPSOP, and the “Stretching Your Frame of Mind”workshops I conduct around the planet, we work on all the concepts in the Psychology of Gestalt.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

So much Visual Tension

This is one of my favorite posts to write on. Whether intentionally or just stumbling upon something that either I’ve heard or read in various publications or when I’m searching Social Media looking for ideas to write my posts on.

I’ve been doing this, teaching workshops both in person with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” classes and with the BPSOP, since 1983.

I would strongly suggest you read “The f64 Group, as it talks about the early careers of some of the most famous photographers there ever was. One of these was Edward Weston. He once said, “Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph it.”

When I’m conducting my workshops and walking around with either one or a few students, we are looking for things that have Visual Tension or represents one of the basic elements of Visual Design.

When I see something that sticks out from it’s environment, it’s like a magnet drawing me in with it’s energy. It could be anything, dappled light on a wall, objects that create one of the basic shapes: triangles, squares, circles, and rectangles, or a person about to create the “Decisive Moment”, by altering their surroundings.

My job as their teacher is to point these occurrences out so that they can spend time creating their own POV. I love this part, watching them going about their creative business each one looking for that elusive ‘wall hanger’.

So, my fellow photographers, go out and look for those things that excite you. If it excite you, there’s a very good chance that it will excite others.  My only advice is to make sure they know what they’re looking at.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. watch for any upcoming workshops. They fill fast so they are not up on my blog for very long.

JoeB

Let the viewer fill in the missing pieces.

I teach three online classes with the BPSOP. A part I and Part II where we work on ways to incorporate the Elements of Visual Design into our photography. I also work on these same elements in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

I also teach a third class on the Psychology of Gestalt. Each of the four weeks we work on the six concepts in this theory. The one I want to talk about today is ‘Closure’.

First of all, here’s a brief description of Gestalt:

By several definitions Gestalt comes from the German/Austrian word meaning shape, form, or the whole . It is stated that Gestalt is the theory that the ‘whole’ is greater than the sum of its parts. It is also stated by others that the ‘whole’ is different than the sum of its parts. My thinking is that when you use the “Elements of Visual Design” in your imagery you are basically working with and structuring these ‘parts’ that will eventually make up the ‘whole’; the ‘whole’ being your finished composition.

The methods we use to gain attention to our photography will vary, but what’s important is how we manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. Visual input is a part of our everyday life, and as photographers it is our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees and when looking at our imagery.

In our reality, making the mind work harder is not necessarily a good thing, but in photography it is.  By leading the viewer’s eye around our composition, having them discovering new things as they go, or having them consider the scene, they are now participating by taking an active role, and when we can accomplish that our images will definitely be stronger.

When we talk about different ways to keep the viewer involved in our photographs, one of several ways is to have them “complete an image, or a form, or an idea”. The brain has the ability to complete an unfinished form or subject, and this ability in the theory of Gestalt, is called closure.

Closure is all about sparking an interest in your photos. to give a little taste of what the entire message your presenting to the viewer. The key is to present to the viewer an interesting composition that makes him or her want to stick around to see what “the bigger picture” is…so to speak!!!

When he fills in the rest of the pieces to create the finished idea, he’ll feel a sense of satisfaction. Of course this idea is predicated on the notion that he knows ahead of time what it is he’s filling in; at least to some degree.

In the above photo, I was sent to East Texas by an in-house magazine for Champion Paper to do a photo story on East Texas Pine Seedlings. The company owns several hundred acres of Pine Trees and a lumber mill. The designer asked me to create a photo he could use on the cover. He wanted it to suggest Texas, the day to day operations, and Pine Tree Seedlings.  I decided to create an image using the concept of Closure.

Here are a few more examples of closure:

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Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on  Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Watch for my new workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

A student sent me this photo and asked me, “If an unknown person was to see this photo for the first time, how will that person judge this photo?”

How would you judge this photo?

My question to you is on what level do you want it judged? Do you want it judged on what I refer to in an earlier post as “The Whole Enchilada“? In other words, do you want it judged as if it was a real photo? If this is what you want judged, then I’m not 100% sure it is. Of course, this is going to be predicated on the assumption that the viewer knows what he’s looking at. If he’s a competent photographer, he’ll know that it could be two photos put together. If he’s not, he might think that it’s a pretty cool photo. I think I might show it to non-photographers to judge this image…why you ask?????

Look at the image in the camera, then look at the environment the camera is taking a picture of. They don’t match!!! First of all, the way the camera is pointed down would distort the vertical lines of the train. I also don’t think you could capture the bottom and the top of the train at one time with this angle. This isn’t happening in the display. The light is different as well as the color, and if you look at the foreground in the camera’s display and the real environment, it’s also completely different.

Why is the train in the display in focus and not what the camera is seeing? If it was about to be taken, the display wouldn’t be in focus????? Hummmm!!!

Is that a reflection of a flash in the top right corner of the camera’s display????

In both my online class with the BPSOP, and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet, I often use my “Pearl of Wisdom” …consider the scene and it’s outcome. In any event, right before you pull the trigger (that’s Texas talk) be sure that you’re message is getting across to the viewer. In the case, if you wanted the viewer to believe he was looking at a photo of a train at the back of your camera, make sure the two dimensional representation (the finished photo) of the three dimensional reality look the same.

Now, this is just my initial feelings. To be fair, I want to include a conversation I had with my web designer who thinks that this just might be a real photo and not a composite. He had some valid thoughts I sort of agreed with and we both did agree that it’s an interesting puzzle???

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this page. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Lots of elements from the ‘Artist Palette’ are in this image.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I teach my fellow photographers how to incorporate the Elements of Visual Design and composition into your photography. While Line, Texture, Pattern, Form, Shapes, Balance and Color are the basic elements, we also work on Negative Space, Vanishing Point, Perspective, Rhythm, and Visual Tension.  All of these are found on the ‘Artist Palette’ the students walk away with after the four week course.

I like to present my online classes work to show how their new ‘Artist Palette’ has taken their imagery to new heights…Up a notch” is what I always refer to it as. As you enjoy the slideshow, you’ll see all these elements in each of the photos and as you’re drawn to these images, you’ll begin to understand why they’re as strong as they are.

Enjoy the show:

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Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Standing just inside the building.

I always try to be at a location either very early or very late in the day so the light is softer and warmer, and the shadows are longer…The Golden Hour. That’s not always possible especially when you’re somewhere that’s just a small part of the overall shoot. You just have to weigh all your options, then decide what’s the most important location to be at during the best light; providing the most photo ops possible in a short amount of time.

While working on a project for a company that raises crayfish in Louisiana, I was given a shot list that had to be covered in the three shoot days that was budgeted. As always, I sit down with the client and designer ahead of time in a pre-production meeting and talk about their wish list. What’s the most important photo? What will be on the cover? To me, it doesn’t matter as I will spend the same amount of energy for a photo that will be small and one that will be a full page.

In my forty plus year career, I think that the expression I disliked the most is when someone would say to me, “It’s not that important of a shot, so don’t spend too much time on it”…Really? I shouldn’t care what it looks like?

I digress!!!

Since we shot all day, there were times when the sun was high in the sky, rendering everything hot, harsh, and lots of contrast. The above photo was shot during that time of day. So what do you do, especially when you’re taking a portrait of some local workers and you don’t want “Raccoon eyes”? You know those eyes that have deep shadows from the sun being almost overhead?

You place them just out of the sun, where the light is just missing their face and the reflections coming off the ground help bounce light evenly on all their faces.

Works like a charm, and it’s what we often talk about in my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Be sure to check out  my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

I’ve always been a fan of the Beetles every since they walked off that plane landing in the good old USA in 1964. That was sixty-four years ago, so I’m not sure how many of you out there saw it happening in real time like I did!!!

Let me digress,

I’ve been writing a blog since 2011 and a post has come out every six days since then!!

Getting my ideas for these posts come in all flavors: in my sleep when I wake up and write the idea down, watching a movie or TV show, eating my meals when I envision them while swirling around my Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup, or spelling them in my alphabet cereal, or while listening to music in my car. This particular posts came to me while listening to Paul McCartney sing, “Let it Be“.

I teach an online classes with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over the (perfectly round) planet.

When walking around with one of the photographers during one of my workshops I’m always noticing that they will tend to raise their camera off their chest or hung over their shoulder, bring it up to their eye, and in one innocuous movement click the shutter…and as a result, over-process the hell out of it later while sitting in front of a computer.

I will tell them to not worry about the first shot being the one, you know the one that will go on the wall, a.k.a., wall hanger. I’m not saying that the first one couldn’t be ‘the one’, what I’m saying is that Vegas wouldn’t take those odds. That said, there is one exception, and that is if you’re street shooting and you have that one in a hundred, or thousand, or million chance of getting it, but that’s better than no chance; as in the submitted photo above.

Case in point, I was walking down one of the narrow streets in Shanghai, China and out of my left eye, my right eye in the viewfinder looking straight ahead, I saw this scary somewhat sinister looking man, his gaze fixed on what I was doing, the thought quickly racing through my mind that I could disappear without a trace in a country of over one a half billion people.

I had a 17-20mm lens on and was aiming the camera down the street panning the crowd for a shot, so he didn’t realize that he was my subject. In the proverbial blink of an eye I took the shot, and in the next blink of the (same) eye he had moved out of the light lost in a sea of Chinese.

Except for that, my chances of one of those ‘OMG’ shots lies somewhere in the second, third, fourth, or even fifth adjustment or variation.

So, my fellow photographers, what happens is that you take that first go at it (British talk) and then kill it with over-processing to make it appear as if you had spend time on it. In my respectful opinion it never works. I have seen photos that look like they just came out of a Disney Movie…and then there’s always AI to really f**ck it up.

Take your time, smell the roses and as Bob Marley once said, “Some people feel the rain while others just get wet.”

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog, or follow me on FB. Come shoot with me sometime.

Soumyajit, who lives in India, just asked me ,”How do you decide the the correct zoom range when you have a restless subject as this one.” I’m not sure I’m understanding “zoom range”, so I’ll go on the premise that she wants to know the best composition and the best way to frame this very weird critter.

For me, the basic problem here is the lack of believability. It doesn’t feel natural, and the reason is that she says she used a black t-shirt to hide the background; therein lies the problem. Why would there be light just on the spider and not anywhere else? That is, if she was trying to make this look like he was in his natural environment.

The area right under his left legs (camera left) is very confusing and hides his legs, so I would work on making this composition more of what I refer to as a “quick read”.

If the zoom range means how big or small to make him in the frame, I would want to not only make him larger, but I would also want to make it easier for the viewer to see all of him. Perhaps showing scale as well. Right now I have no idea how big this guy really is. He could be the size of a quarter or he could be large enough to swallow the entire city of Tulsa Oklahoma…at one sitting.

One of the pearls of wisdom I often say to my students is to, “consider the scene and its outcome”. Did this photo do/say what you intended?

Visit my website at:www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshops at the top of this post, come shoot with me sometime.

Thanks Soumyajit for your submission, I hope this helped.

JoeB

The very first baby photo

For all you new to be parent’s or grandparents, the first baby photo is usually taken in the hospital room, and I can tell you from experience, it’s probably the worst place on earth to take a photo; regardless of the subject matter. A photo that could only be counted as time goes by as the very first..especially if said first photo was taken by a phone!!!

Here’s what’s going to happen: The room will be dark, with the only light on being above the bed the new mom is laying in.  This is going to put those well-known “Raccoon” eyes on mom, you know the ones, the ones where deep black sockets replaced the actual eyes. Except to those in the cast of The Adam’s Family, going through what mom just did might not make her look as good as she could, , and dark eye sockets won’t add too much.

So, if you want some advice, and it’s the same advice I give to my online students with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Fame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, think about the light first and foremost. All it takes is a little thought and knowing how to expose properly to add visual tension and interest to take a photo that can stand the test of time and be considered worthy of sharing it with others every chance you can get…no matter how old the baby grows up to be.

In the above photo, I simply opened the curtain to let some available light into the room. I then exposed for the mother so I could blowout the window behind her…a very good thing and never let anyone tell you different. I used a real camera (not a phone with a built-in camera) and choose a narrow DOF to place the emphasis solely on the mom and baby.

Always take an alternative photo.

So my fellow photographers, what kind of first baby picture to you want to take?

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog,

Come and shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

How many Elements from my Artist Palette do you see in my photograph?

For most of my forty plus career in Advertising and Corporate Photography,  I’ve been using what I call my Artist Palette. Now that I’m teaching online with the BPSOP, and conducting my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop around the planet, I’m passing the baton to all my students.

The full description of my Artist Palette  can be found in the workshop overview on my website, but basically the Artist Palette is filled with all the Elements of Visual Design and Composition. Terms like: Negative Space, Vanishing Point, Tension, Perspective, Pattern, Texture, Shape, Line, Form, Light, and Color are either used individually or together to make the viewer become an active participant in our imagery which in turn will take our photography what I refer to as “Up a Notch”.

In this wonderful photograph Liz, a BPSOP student of mine, has learned just how important her new Artist Palette can be. The balance between the Negative and Positive space, the use of Perspective to create Layers of Interest, Tension generated by framing within a frame, creating three important triangles (Shape), Line, Pattern, Texture, Light, and Color have all melded together into a memorable photograph. When you can use this many Elements of Visual Design in one photo, it’s going to be very hard to miss.

Great shot Liz!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban, follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule and come shoot with me and work with your new Artist Palette.

JoeB

Leading the viewer up the steps.

According to the principal of Gestalt, the objective in our photography is to control what the viewer sees. We want to lead him around our composition and while doing so he’ll become an active participant. Making people work harder is not necessarily a good thing, but in photography it is. The more he works by discovering new things in our photos, the longer he’ll stick around.

That’s just what we want him to do.

One of the concepts of Gestalt is called Continuance, and in my online class with the BPSOP, and with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I teach around the globe, we go into detail, both in discussion and in practice. The viewer will have an instinctive tendency to follow a path, or a river, a fence line, roads, tree line, steps, railroad tracks, etc. These compositional elements are very important as they provide a way for the viewer to travel around our frame, and if these elements leave the frame all the better. We want to give the viewer multiple ways to leave and enter our frame.

The viewer will also want to know what someone is either looking at or pointing at in our pictures, especially if they’re looking or pointing out of the frame.

When I was younger, my friend and I would go to a shopping mall and stand right in the middle of a busy area, and after a few minutes, we would point up to the ceiling. We weren’t pointing at anything, but it didn’t take long for people to stop and look up at what we were pointing at.

It was Gestalt in action only at thirteen we didn’t know it at the time. I’m not sure we knew it at twenty-one either…or for that matter thirty-five!!! Now that I get Social Security, I thought it was a good time to stop doing that!!!

🙁

Here’s a few example of Continuance in photography”

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Check out my website at www.joebaraban.com, follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out any upcoming workshops at the top of this blog, then come shoot with me sometime!!

JoeB

I like the use of a Vanishing Point in my photographs.

Knowing how to incorporate the elements of visual design into our imagery is probably the best way to take your photos “up a notch”. It’s what I’ve been doing for the past forty-two years, and have done very well by it.

Where I learned to use these elements was not studying photography, but the years in school surrounding myself with courses in painting, design,  composition, and drawing. When I crossed over to photography at the ripe old age of 21, I carried all my training into this new medium that I absolutely fell head over heels in love with, especially since it was the answer I had been looking for.

I thought why spend days, or a week, or even a month painting a picture when a photograph taken by my new camera provided me with instant gratification.  I still considered myself an artist, as I do now. I’ve just changed out my pencils and paintbrushes for a camera.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet, One of the elements my students use from their new Digital Artist Palette is called a Vanishing Point. Briefly stated,  a  Vanishing Point is the point where parallel lines viewed in perspective appear to converge at or near the horizon.

Leading lines are those Lines that lead the viewer around your composition, making him/her an active participant in your photography…a very good thing!!!

Here are two photos taken by students of mine that were able to create not only a Vanishing Point and Leading Lines, but several other elements from their new Digital Artist Palette as well.

Yvonne, a student of mine from Utah took this wonderful photograph that uses Leading Lines to take the viewer’s eyes down the wall to the payoff at the end…the Palm tree. The parallel lines are those lines that are at the top and bottom of the wall. They are very close to being a Vanishing Point, but the lines don’t begin behind the camera.

Karen, another student of mine that was part of my workshop at the Houston Center for Photography was with me at the Polo Grounds one sunrise when she saw this great example of a Vanishing Point and incorporated it into her final composition.

As usual, all my students learn exactly where the sun is going to rise and set any day of the year, so Karen knew a week before exactly where the light would fall when it would be there, and how long she had before the light was gone.

Really nice photographs!
Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Come shoot with me sometime. I’ll show you how to use both a Vanishing Point and Leading lines to take your imagery “Up a notch”.

JoeB