Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

The greater the conflict, the greater the tension.

As I tell my fellow photographers that either take my online classes with the BPSOP, or participate in one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops, we want our viewers to stick around as long as possible. The goal is to make them active participants when looking at our images.

I tell them that the greater the conflict, the greater the tension. Tension as in Visual Tension.

In my class on Gestalt, one of the six concepts is Figure-Ground. This is the way to separate the Figure, the subject, from the Ground, the background. If both the figure and the background each carry the same visual weight, it can create tension; as each threatens to overtake the other.

This happens the most when either the subject is dark against a lighter background, or the subject is light against a darker background. A great way to achieve this is to have the negative space as important as the positive space.

Contrast is also one of the ways. Putting bright highlights adjacent to the shadow area. Bright areas against very dark areas.

Diagonal lines have more energy than horizontal and vertical lines. The conflict is in the fact that diagonal lines are perceived as less stable and the feeling of the lines falling forward.

Having the subject either very close to the edge of the frame or partially out of the frame. It creates an uneasiness and draws the eye to it.  When we generate Visual Tension, the viewer feels like there’s something going to happen.

As I said, all these examples will make the viewer stick around longer…exactly what we want him to do.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram  www.instagram.com/barabanjoe Come shoot with me sometime in one of the workshops I have listed above.

JoeB

Anticipating the action

No, I’m not talking about the song Carly Simon sang in 1971…for those old enough to remember it. I’m talking about how the word anticipation plays a key role in “Street Shooting”.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I often talk about being aware of your surroundings at all times. This is when it will happen…that shot that could make your day!!!

I’m usually talking about keeping an eye out for the light, and how important it is in coming home with that elusive OMG photo. That keeper that will either go on your wall or in your portfolio…or both.

But in this post, I’m talking about anticipating the action. The action that can occur at any moment when you’re walking down a street looking for photo opts.

A good sports photographer knows the sport he’s covering backward and forwards. He knows it well enough to be playing in it, and at some level sometimes does. A good street shooter has that same instinct, or he at least should if he’s going to be successful.

I watch everything when I’m walking, and even have those proverbial “eyes in the back of my head”. If I see someone that’s sticking out of the environment around him for one reason or another, I’ll watch him/her for several minutes…with my camera halfway up my chest. If nothing happens, I’ll move on to someone else. Sooner or later I’ll see something that makes me focus in tight. I’ll watch and anticipate their next move. A move that I would maybe make myself. It’s people watching at its finest.

When I was younger and shot primarily B/W on the streets, I was always looking for that one shot, and if I was very lucky, and I mean very lucky, I might capture someone in a moment where they are expressing their thoughts in some form of body language or gesture. In the above photo, that’s exactly what happened. I was shooting and writing a story for a local Sunday supplement on Mardi Gras day and what the locals had to deal with as far as the crowded streets and sidewalks were concerned. I watched her for some time and just had a feeling that something was going to happen. In a brief moment she had summed up her day to me and because I had waited and anticipated I got the shot.

Btw, this photo is now in the permanent photography collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

One of my favorite things to do is to put on my longest lens and then put the camera on a tripod. I’ll position myself in a crowded area and in a 360-degree movement I’ll pan the people. An analogy for you old movie buffs is watching Robert Mitchum in The Enemy Below when he’s in a submarine panning the horizon at periscope depth looking for targets…Ok,  not actually an analogy, but for me, it’s mighty close.

I could literally do that for hours, and on occasion have come close.

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, and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Sal and Judy.

Years ago, I was asked to shoot a brochure for a printing company in New Orleans. The theme of the brochure was “something’s cooking at Upton”. The designer had me go to five of the best-known restaurants in and around the city; best known not to the tourists, but to the locals. I was to take a portrait of the owners and had received a free hand to approach the portraits in whatever manner I wanted.

As I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, if you want to take your photography what I refer to as “up a notch”, scout your locations ahead of time. Know where the sun is going to be so you’re not somewhere at sunrise when you should have been there at sunset.

The fourth restaurant on my list was Sal & Judy’s Restaurant on the Southside of New Orleans. I went there the day before to meet the owners and to determine when the best time to shoot was going to be. I pulled up in front and the pink building hit me in the face. I was ecstatic!!! A pink building…wow!!! That faced West!!!

As I stood there an idea started to form in my mind. I tell my fellow photographers that if I can visualize a photo in my mind, given the time I can re-create it on film.

As I stood there I saw in my mind three bands of color spreading across the frame from left to right. I saw a band of blue (the sky), a band of pink (the building), and I needed a third band of color. something that would tie it all together…including the portrait of Sal and Judy…an idea leaped out from my mind.

I introduced myself to Sal and told him I was the one sent to take his and his wife’s portrait. I asked him if he knew anyone that had a green convertible, thinking that the odds were not in my favor. He looked surprised and said, “Well hell yes, I have one”. This was way tooooo good to be true I said to myself.

“What do you own?” I said to Sal. “A 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass Convertible”, Sal replied. I thought I was hearing things!!! I asked him if he would bring it the next day, and explained my idea. I told Sal what to wear and to have his wife wear something that would go with the green car. When they showed up driving the car, I knew I had struck pay dirt…a portrait for my portfolio.

As I started shooting, one of the waitresses came out to tell Judy something. I immediately saw her black and white striped uniform and knew what I had to do …to add a “layer of Interest”.  I had all three women come out with a screwdriver on their trays to add yet another splotch of color.

It was great fun and it reminded me of the days before photography when I was an art major studying painting and design. I was still painting, only I had changed the medium from a paintbrush to a camera.

🙂

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram. check out my workshop schedule and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Shot from the front, and with a red tractor.

I teach my fellow photographers how to use the Elements of Visual Design to create stronger compositions, as well as images that have strong visual interest. Unfortunately, it’s more than every once in a while that someone in my online class with the BPSOP, or someone that’s with me in one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet tells me that a friend told them not to do something.

Just the other day, one of my students said that a friend of hers, that’s a “professional” photographer, told her to never shoot buildings from the front. WHAT?????

Moreover, I’ve also been told that friends (more professionals) have also said to never shoot anything that’s red. Someone, please shake me because I must be in some kind of twilight zone episode. How about this one from a friend to another friend…”Why worry about it now, you can always fix it later”. “Always have people walking into the frame so you can give them room to walk into”, is another ridiculous statement; by yet another professional photographer.

Let me digress for a moment by saying…by definition a professional photographer is someone that at one time in their life got paid for taking a photo. All it takes is one photo to qualify for this ubiquitous title so…I’m just saying!!!

My standard answer is…’Well, I guess if they told you to follow them while they jumped off that bridge, you would? If you do, leave your camera on the ground before you take a dive so someone might get some use out of it “.

I find it interesting that a lot of photographers, especially those that haven’t been at it long don’t have faith in their abilities and creative ways to make good photos. It’s hard to be objective when looking at our work, and so we sometimes rely on what others tell us, and we take it in good faith to be the way it is. After all, they want to sound as if they know what they’re talking about when in reality you probably know more than they do…at least as much!!!

Follow what you feel is right, and stop listening to your friends that just might have an agenda other than helping out. Take workshops from people whose work you admire. More than likely they’ll lead you down a better path. Read books like Freeman Patterson’s, The Art of Seeing. It’s one of my all-time favorites.

BTW, I guess I really screwed up when I shot this building straight on and put s red tractor in front!!!

🙁

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

Look ma no Photoshop.

For all my fellow photographers that fell in love with taking photos in the digital age, there was actually a time when you had to create everything in the camera. A time when you had to take a roll of film out of a canister and load it into your camera; compose, then focus all by yourself.

Now, you don’t have to do anything but bring the camera up to your eyes and click the shutter. If something ain’t right, well don’t worry because you can “fix it later”. I’ve heard this exact quote a lot in my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

Don’t think for a minute that I’m some old-fashioned, medicare card-carrying gray-haired old man that has not kept up with the times. I might be old and gray, but I assure you that I’m fairly good with Photoshop and use it all the time; on just about every photo I take.

I like creating as much in the camera as I can because to me that’s what a good photographer does. If there are things that I have no control over, or can’t fix before I click the shutter, I have no problem working on them in post-production.

In the photo above, I was hired by a man who collected Cadillacs. He wanted a poster to put up in his office, and he wanted to show the cars in his front yard. I scouted the location to determine whether it received morning or evening light, and determined that a late afternoon shoot would provide me with the best and latest light.

I set up my camera on a tripod and arranged the Cadillacs while looking through the viewfinder. The hard part was arranging the cars so they would reflect light, but not be blown out. It took the entire day to do it. I brought out a hose and we wet down the driveway to catch any reflections I could while creating a sense of depth. Knowing that I had a small window of light, I waited until it was the way I wanted then took the shot.

All this was created on one piece of film.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule, also follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/ Come shoot with me.

JoeB

Just one white reflector.

When I’m teaching either with my online class with the BPSOP or with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, students are always asking me the best way to use fill flash when shooting portraits outdoors. I have a simple and quick response to them.

I tell them that in my fifty-two year career, I’ve never, and I mean not once used fill flash outdoors. I don’t even like to use it indoors. I can honestly say that I’ve never missed it because my portraits do just fine without it. So, you’re thinking, what do I do?

Here’s my set-up. How much simpler can you get?

I use a collapsible reflector with white on one side and silver on the other. 90% of the time I use the white side. I’ll occasionally use a larger piece of Foam-board when I have a larger area to cover, as in a full length shot. All I ever need is a stand that won’t fall over, an A-clamp, and a reflector. It’s a hell of a lot easier than figuring out ratios when I’m losing the light. Why complicate my life? There’s enough things I have no control over that does a good job messing with my head. Why cloud it up even more with something that I love and have control over.

It’s unbelievable how many times I see an outdoor portrait lit with a flash. It’s a look that’s been beaten to death, and usually the photographer doesn’t know what he or she is doing which makes it worse. I realize it’s a matter of personal preference, and for me I like a natural look. The kind of look that has never gone out of style and never will.

Take a look at some of my portraits lit with only a white reflector or a larger piece of foam board:

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

JoeB

It’s all about the light

For those new to my blog, I teach an online class with the PBSOP, and I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around our perfectly round planet. Now, before I get into my post, I wanted to explain exactly what light is all about:

LIGHT: “Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation within the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400-700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750-420 terahertz, between the infrared (with longer wavelengths) and the ultraviolet (with shorter wavelengths).”

For those that understood this definition, you are way above my pay grade…and probably, for the most part, left-brained thinkers. However, for those like me, we are right-brained thinkers. For those that are switch hitters, I’m always impressed when I meet one of you.

To me light is everything. There are two reasons why light is not necessarily everything. Humor can replace great light, and street shooting when you’re trying to capture a moment in time.

Other than those, light is what makes or breaks an image. To get to that point, it’s important to know where to stand in relation to the light source, when, and how long to stand there.

Don’t just stand there, bring your camera up to your eye and ‘take a picture. Take a look around and see what direction the light is coming from.

I have seen images that were submitted to my online classes, and I have seen it firsthand when watching a photographer in one of my workshops. As I constantly tell my fellow photographers, before you do anything, think about whether you want to sidelight, backlight, or front light your subject?

My favorite form of light is when it’s available…I just love North light softly coming into a window, etc. It’s also important to comprehend the phases of natural light.

Learn to distinguish the Golden Hour, the Blue Hour, and the twilights of daytime and nighttime. Explore the ways each can be used to create varying degrees of warmth and saturation in our images.

I assure you that if keep all in mind when you’re out shooting, your work will show it.

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

I’m always ready for anything that comes my way.

In my famous quotes category, they don’t necessarily come from well-known photographers, writers, or musicians. They are quotes I’ve heard over time that have stuck with me for one reason or another.

Yes, in order for me to identify with them they need to have some bearing on what I happen to have been doing for the past forty-eight years…and that would be taking pictures.

Louis Pasteur once said, “Chance favors the prepared mind”.

Photographically speaking, that refers to being mentally ready to take on whatever is coming your way…either from behind you or straight at you.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m constantly pointing out that light, among other things comes and goes so fast that it’s easy to miss out.

Sure, it takes talent, but it takes fast reflexes, being alert to the forever changing light, and a very good knowledge of your camera. I sometimes just scratch my head when a fellow photographer signs up for one of my workshops and shows up with a brand new camera and an assortment of lenses he or she has…and bought and so very proud of.; without ever reading the manual or shooting with it before the workshop.

I specifically remember being at a location in Paris at sunrise. Not just a typical beautiful sunrise, but one that was anything but typical. It had a perfect mix of a glorious sky and beautiful warm light. So beautiful, that one could just stand there and admire it…which incidentally was exactly what this photographer wound up doing.

She had purchased a new camera system and four lenses, and had no idea how to use it; since I didn’t shoot with the system, I could not help…a sad lesson learned.

I digress.

When you put your camera over your shoulder, you are basically going out hunting that wily-rouge OMG photo, that keeper that you can put on your wall and be proud to say you shot it…when asked.  You need to be ready and alert mentally for anything because that’s what’s liable to come your way…anything and everything. That also includes always looking over your shoulder.

A well-known pool hall expression is…”When you snooze, you lose”. One example is if you had just been shooting on the Aperture mode and suddenly something happened that would require a fast shutter speed, you would probably miss it if you hadn’t thought about it (very quickly) and changed your setting. This is one of many reasons I always shoot on manual…but that’s another story.

In the photo above, I was returning back to the San Juan airport after shooting the coastline from a helicopter. I looked to my far left and saw this incredible sky, and for a moment it had mesmerized me.

To my right, I saw a jet taking off and quickly got myself into position to shoot the jet as it headed towards the clouds and before the jet was gone…which took about ten seconds. As a result, I was able to capture this amazing (un-retouched) image that has always been one of my favorites.

Btw, imagine what it must have looked like to the pilot and co-pilot.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

Pretty weird man.

I suppose it comes from the old days, my youth, when I worked for UPI and then AP as a stringer. I was given assignments where I had a chance to roam the streets of Houston. Naturally, I also had to cover the Houston Rockets, the Astros, and the Oilers. That was fun as well, but not like being in the position to capture something weird. I just adore weird!!!

I like for my photos to be remembered and shooting predicable subject matter just won’t do it for me. I’ve learned to either smell something weird that’s either happening or about to happen. I’ve also learned how to create weird as well.

In my online class with the PPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I tell my fellow photographers that they need to look for that which is different. Something out of the ordinary. Something that even scares you or puts you off a touch can lead to those kinds of photos that people will remember. If it’s weird people, I like to get “up close and personal”. If the situation comes up, be ready for it. Go for it and take the photo plunge. You’ll love what you get.

In the photo above, this man had a weekend business set up in a tent on the side of a small highway on Highway 59 North of Houston. As soon as I saw the red stripes a half mile ahead of me, I knew that there might be weird lurking around.  Sure enough the owner fit the bill. I asked to take his portrait, and he said yes but insisted in wearing some of his merchandise. Who was I to turn my back on weird? I wanted to get close to get the full impact of this very strange man, and I think it worked!!!

I just love the weird in life.

In the photo of the two steel workers, I created the weird look. I simply had them sit together and had them raise and lower their heads until I was able to get the reflections of the sky in their sunglasses.

So, my fellow photographers, next time you’re out shooting, look for weird things. Scary as it might seem, it’s all around you…all the time. you just have to look for it.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my new 2014 workshop schedule. I have some great ones coming in this year. how about my 26th year at the Maine Media Workshop the very end of July, Cuba in November, Jerusalem in September. Come shoot with me.

Don’t forget to send me a photo and question to:AskJoeB@gmail.com.

JoeB

  It’s interesting to note that whenever you hear the word roaming in these days of rapidly changing technology, you immediately think of your ‘Smart Phone’.

Well, while that’s true, I conjure up something completely different. I think of the psychology of Gestalt, and how it plays such an important part in keeping the viewer of our photos around as long as possible.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet we work on the different ways to manage how the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the visual information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph.

Since humans rely on the perception of the environment that surrounds them, it’s our objective to present information in such a way as to take control of what he sees.

The more ways we can get the viewer to ‘roam’ around our composition, looking for new things to discover, the longer he’ll stick around.

What I try to do is create “layers of interest” in my imagery. What I mean is while I like to have one subject or center of interest, I like having secondary points of interest.

Generally, that means having pieces of the puzzle sprinkled around the four edges of my frame, and letting the viewer put all these pieces together creating the finished product…A well-composed, balanced photo that meets several of the criteria I’ve discussed in my “did it do it” category. a photo that the viewer will remember long after he’s moved on.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule.

https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

It was my vision not my camera that took this photo

To my fellow photographers that follow my blog, either those that have taken my online class with the BPSOP, or have taken one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the world, or those that have just found me in one way or another I have a thought for you.

I have had discussions with photographers that say, “Technology is the facilitator of vision”.  First of all, here is the actual definition:

fa·cil·i·ta·tor| fəˈsiləˌtādər | nouna

person or thing that makes an action or process easy or easier: a true educator acts as a facilitator of learning | a program run by trained facilitators.

In other words, all the new equipment that’s coming out will make you take better pictures. Ok, here’s the definition of vision:

vi·sion| ˈviZHən | noun 1

the faculty or state of being able to see:

She had defective vision. • the images seen on a television screen: the box converts the digital signal into sound and vision on an ordinary TV.

2 the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom: the organization had lost its vision and direction. • a mental image of what the future will or could be like: a vision of retirement.

3 an experience of seeing someone or something in a dream or trance, or as a supernatural apparition: the idea came to him in a vision. • (often visions) a vivid mental image, especially a fanciful one of the future: he had visions of becoming the Elton John of his time.

4 a person or sight of unusual beauty: madame was a vision in black velvet. 

If we just concentrate on the first definition, the state of being able to see, How in the world does technology have anything to do with it?

For me, before I raise my (whatever camera technology affords me) camera up to my eye, I have to see what it is I want to shoot. The old expression, “It’s not the camera, it’s the ten inches behind it that count” couldn’t be more true.

I quickly pre-visualize the composition I want then I raise my camera to take the shot.

I guess I’m just too old and gray, but I’ve seen some of these new cameras where you almost have to have a left-brain degree to understand what all the programs and buttons mean.

So, my fellow photographers that have these awesome mirrorless cameras, more power to you and I’m sort of jealous of what they can do.

For example, I was shooting sports for AP, a very long time and standing on the sidelines of an NFL game, and had a 200mm lens on that I had to focus myself. Try getting a running back that’s coming right at you sharp when you’re on manual and focussing the camera all by your lonesome. Now all these Sports Illustrated photographers just have to aim their camera and they get perfect pictures.

I also had to walk five miles to the game in a snowstorm!!!! Oh well, it is what it is.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com , and follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/barabanjoe/

JoeB

One shot is all I got.

First of all, the expression “Don’t give it a second thought” is an idiom. So, to begin with, let me explain what an idiom is:

Essential Meaning of idiom

Enjoying the view of the Old town Square with a glass of wine.

I teach three online classes with the BPSOP, and I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop around the planet. Before the start of my Springtime workshop in Prague, I had arrived there a few days early to scout all the locations with Katka, the woman that was coordinating/producing everything for me. I always do this so I can put my fellow photographers at the right spot for the early and then late light.

One afternoon she took me to a wonderful restaurant in Old Town Square. We sat on the roof and enjoyed appetizers with a glass of white wine. Looking down I asked Katka what the big crowd was doing at the base of the tall Old Town City Hall that seemed to be in the center of the square.

Katka told me that they were standing at the base where the astronomical clock was located waiting for the top of the hour. On the hour, a show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures—notably a figure of Death (represented by a skeleton) is set in motion. They all come out and the skeleton strikes the bell. Immediately, all other figures shake their heads, side to side, signifying their un-readiness “to go.”.

As it turned out, we were through just in time to go down and watch the action unfold up close and personal. I was standing there looking up as the skeleton began his thing, and when I looked behind me, the place was packed with people taking pictures of the figures above me. It really struck me funny and it sort of felt like they were all taking my picture. Of course I yelled out…”My people, my people” since I always wanted to do that and there was never going to be a better opportunity.

My people!

🙂

For one brief shining moment…I was a Photo God!!!

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.

JoeB