#40
I recently had a blog follower ask me to post one of his all time favorite posts that I wrote almost eight years ago. WOW! That’s a long time to remember something, especially when I can’t remember what I was doing last week.
It was on the 101 things I think all photographers should know about photography and the art of taking pictures.
I was “surfing the world wide web”, and I came across an interesting post on things to know about photography. It listed things I’ve been teaching, thinking and talking about for over twenty-five years in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, and in the past two years with my online class with the BPSOP.
While a few were on my list, there were several I didn’t agree with or were left out. In any event, it inspired me to share not only the link to the post, but to reveal my own personal 101 list as well.
Here’s my list, enjoy:
101 things to know about photography:
1. It’s not the camera; it’s the ten inches behind it that’s important.
2. Never photograph a child without asking permission from a parent first.
3. “When you get lucky, be ready”…Eddie Adams.
4. Be sure to always have a tripod with you.
5. Light is everything.
6. Remove the Histogram from your camera; it’s not what you want to be looking at when you have seconds of light left.
7. Get up close and personal to your subject.
8. Always have a roll of duct tape and WD-40 with you.
9. Crop in the camera so you’ll know where the edges of your frame and the four corners are.
10. Shadows are your best friend.
11. Clip the highlights.
12. See past first impressions.
13. Always consider the scene and its outcome.
14. It’s not what you put into a picture that counts, it’s what you don’t put in that matters.
15. Always carry a camera with you.
16. Marry someone whose father owns a big camera store.
17. Bracketing in the camera will make you a better photographer.
18. It’s ok to get dirt on the front of your shirt when you’re composing a photo.
19. Always shoot in RAW.
20. Lens shades help.
21. Pick up the trash in your composition before shooting.
22. Sometimes a pretty sunset to you is just another pretty sunset to someone else.
23. Challenge yourself. Try shooting with your least favorite lens.
24. Only show your best photographs.
25. Study the ‘Masters’, they were here before you.
26. Pre-visualize. Try to see it in your mind first.
27. Use the elements of visual design and composition when taking pictures.
28. Shoot on manual, don’t ever let the camera tell you what to do.
29. Take an online class or a workshop to hone your skills.
30. Break all the rules you can, but first I suggest you find out what they are.
31. Have your camera body facing down when changing lens to keep the dust out.
32. In photography, bigger (cameras) is not better.
33. Take along a big golf umbrella and shoot in the rain.
34. Pictures make great Christmas gifts.
35. Golden light is the prettiest light.
36. Don’t let your camera fall into a Lava Pool.
37. Manufacturing excuses for your photos is not in your best interest.
38. Underexposing looks better than overexposing.
39. Make pictures, don’t take them.
40. Martinis and photography don’t mix very well.
41. Taking art classes will improve your photography.
42. The Rule of Thirds is boring.
43. The Horizon Line is the most important line.
44. You need not go any farther than your bathroom to take good photos.
45. Sometimes asking forgiveness is better than asking permission.
46. A copyright stamp won’t protect you unless your photo is registered with the library of Congress.
47. Taking a great photograph is a lot like scoring a touchdown. Never tell anyone it was your first one.
48. A camera on a tripod is like a canvas on an easel.
49. Make the viewer an active participant in your imagery so he’ll stick around longer.
50. Let someone that knows what they’re doing clean your sensor.
51. “ You can’t depend on your eyes if your imagination is out of focus”…Mark Twain.
52. You find the Light, and you’ll find the shot.
53. When you buy a new camera, read the manual.
54. Good pictures are like good jokes. If you have to explain them, they’re not so good.
55. Shoot to live, live to shoot.
56. Stick with one ISO, and you’ll never have to worry about switching back and forth.
57. Back up all your images all the time.
58. Controlled distortion can work.
59. Always brake for photographs.
60. “The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes”…Marcel Proust.
61. We perceive in a 2X3 ratio (a rectangle).
62. An active imagination is the Fountain of Youth.
63. See, feel and sense the ever-changing Light.
64. The background is just as important.
65. Have your subject walking or looking out of the frame.
66. Don’t show the sky in bad light.
67. Vertical formats have more energy than horizontals.
68. Make sure that when you format your card, you really wanted to.
69. Sometimes when more’s better, too much is just right.
70. Always know the direction of the light.
71. Make your life simpler. Set your camera on AWB and ‘Fuhgetaboutit’.
72. Never leave any of your equipment in your photographs.
73. Including Patterns in our photos is a good thing; breaking the rhythm of the pattern is even better.
74. Shooting in the Blue Hour is a lot of fun.
75. A triple colored mat won’t make a bad photograph look better.
76. A glass of wine after a great sunset shoot is intoxicating.
77. Balance the Negative Space and Positive Space.
78. “Been there shot that” is not a good thing to say.
79. Create ‘energy’ in your photographs.
80. Try to lead the viewer around your composition.
81. Photoshop is a good thing, used sparingly.
82. If you really want to be a better photographer, shoot on manual.
83. Buy your kid a toy camera on his first birthday, then start upgrading.
84. Be objective not subjective when editing your pictures.
85. There’s nothing like seeing the world through a viewfinder.
86. 1/60th of a second at F/8 is the same exposure as 1/125th of a second at F/5.6.
87. Color communicates ideas.
88. If you had to choose between Lightroom and Photoshop, pick Lightroom.
89. Follow Photography Blogs.
90. Don’t loan equipment to friends without including the phrase, “you break it, and it’s yours.”
91. Take portraits with wide-angle lens.
92. Learn “The Decisive Moment” by studying Henri Cartier-Bresson.
93. Give the viewer several ways to enter and leave the frame.
94. Don’t forget about silhouettes.
95. Setting your WB to cloudy on an overcast day won’t necessarily make your picture look better.
96. More shots per hour.
97. HDR prints sell like hotcakes on the sale table in the decorative center of your local Wal-Mart.
98. The early bird always catches the best light as well as the worm.
99. Use gesture to communicate an emotional response.
100. When you have a gray day, be funny. Humor conquers all.
101. Never come home with an empty flash card.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and check out my 2018 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime. I’ve a couple of openings in my Springtime in Berlin workshop next May 23rd. A fantastic city with so many great locations we’re going to be shooting.
This coming July 29th will be my 30th anniversary teaching at the Maine Media Workshop. I’ve always picked this time as it’s the week of the Lobster Festival down the road in Rockland. This ofers a unique set of photo ops, different from the Maine Coast, fishing villages and lighthouses. The Lobster Festival is all about color, design, light, energy, people watchng and environmental portraits everywhere you look; some people are there in costumes and loved to be photographed.
In conjunction with The Santa Fe Workshops, October 2nd I’ll be leading a group in San Miguel de Allende. A beautiful oasis and artist colony, and the entire city is a UNESCO site.
Come join me for a week of fun and photography…what could be better?
JoeB
Hi Joe,
I couldn’t understand one thing: HDR prints. Do you like them or not?
Valeriano,
You must not know what a Wal-Mart is!!!!!!! You usually find these in small towns, and sometimes it may be the only store you can buy everything, including groceries. The absolute last thing you would do is to go to one of these stores to buy art!!!
By saying that you would find HDR prints on the sale table at one of these doesn’t say much for them. That would be a really big NO I DON’T LIKE THEM!!!!!!
joeB
Yes I knew what a Wal-Mart is, I couldn’t understand the rest of it… Thus I was unsure if you liked them or not.
I hate them too, BTW. I haven’t seen one yet that I like. I still rather to control what has to be pure black, what in the shadows with details, what in mid-tones, lights, hi lights with details and burnt highlights.
That implies making a choice when choosing the exposure. Which means having in mind exactly what we’d like to obtain. To me HDR photography, with all the respect to whom loves it, it just means that that photographer doesn’t want to make a choice.
This is such a great posting! Many of them made me smile. Thanks so much for putting all these together!
You’re welcome!
JoeB
Joe,
More great Pearls of Wisdom to add to my every growing list. #71 is has me a bit perplexed however; doesn’t that violate the Prime Directive (never let your camera make a decision for you!!)?.
Regards,
Bryan
Bryan,
It wasn’t the camera that made the decision. I made the decision to keep it set on AWB. The last thing I want to worry about is that I had the WB set on something and forget to change it back. Keeping it on AWB all the time keeps that from happening to me…thus making my life simpler. Besides, that ‘s what Lightroom or Bridge is for…right?
🙂
JoeB
A great list, but I’m confused by #8. I’ve never been on a shoot and thought, “Boy, this would have gone a whole lot smoother if I’d just brought along some duct tape and WD-40.” Please explain.
FDTAte,
I’ll quickly explain in a few words, but I’ve written a post about your question with a couple of photos that will completely explain it to you, so watch for it. It will be a while as I have several before you. It will be worth the wait!!!
While you’re waiting, here’s what I always tell my students, “If it’s suppose to move and doesn’t use the WD-40. If it moves and shouldn’t use the Duct Tape.
🙂
JoeB
I think these are all great except the AWB comment. I have a friend that invented the best tool in the world, here is the link:
http://somaprophoto.com
Thanks for sharing this great list.
Kathy Clark
Kathy,
I took a look at your friend’s GADGETS, and to be honest with you, in my opinion they’re a waste of time and money.
The first Gadget changes the light readings from reflected to incident. Incident light is just not accurate. If you have a dark object next to a light object and you take an incident reading of the two objects or subjects, they both will read the same because you’re measuring the light that’s falling on both of them. You can’t get a true reading of each one and see how they will come out…not a good idea!!! Reflected light is the best light to read.
The second GADGET is a device to give you “every available exposure setting” by using a dial. I couldn’t be more opposed to this method. In my opinion, it’s another GADGET to make photographer’s lazy. If you be a good photographer, you need to learn that 1/60th of a second at F8 is the same exposure as 1/125th of a second at F5.6, and the same exposure as 1/250th of a second at F4. The last thing in the world you need to be doing when you have seconds of great light left is to be fumbling for your handy dial and looking for the appropriate exposure.
The third GADGET is an 18% Gray Bag. Again, do I want to be capturing the last few seconds of light and working with my composition, or do I want to be looking for a place to put a gray card/bag?
YIKES!!!
Thanks for the comment. It’s always good to see new products, especially when they actually help.
JoeB
Hey Joe,
Maybe I missed them; where’s the one that says “inhabited buildings don’t lean inwards or fall backwards”, and the other that says “horizons should be level”? 😉
Great list, good refresher for an alumni (me) of your excellent Stretching Your Frame of Mind workshops.
Cheers!
Charlie Jones
Charlie,
You’re sooooooooooooo right about the horizon line. I completely missed that one.
🙁
JoeB
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JoeB
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JoeB
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Hope you get the issue resolved soon. Many thanks
Thanks for the tip. I ran it by my Blog guru and this is what he said…
That’s “comment spam.”
Note the link to a youtube video. They’re just trying to increase traffic to their video.
Probably to sell male enhancement supplements or something.”
JoeB
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Thanks for taking a look. I release a post every five days, so stay tuned.
JoeB
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Thanks for taking a look. I have a post coming out every five days, so hopefully you’ll keep interested.
JoeB
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JoeB
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JoeB
Thank you,
JoeB
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JoeB
Thanks for the look and the words, I appreciate them.
JoeB