Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

Shot for the Quaker Oats Annual Report,  one of my three daughters and Lucy, shot in my front yard.

I don’t know about you, but the two hardest things I’ve ever had to photograph are kids and dogs.

It’s stressful enough when you’re shooting for a client who’s paying you a lot of money to deliver the goods, but when you’re shooting just for the family album, the level of anxiety goes way over the top!!! Self-medicating is one way to overcome the angst, and especially any misgivings as to why you accepted the challenge in the first place; even a self-imposed challenge can occasionally strain the nervous system.

 Sure, any fast-acting Benzodiazepines such as Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, or Ativan would probably do the trick, but for those photographers that would rather take a healthier more organic approach, I’ve got just the thing for you. It’s very simple and over the counter.

In my online classes with the BBSOP and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” I talk about this a lot: First, I figure out where I want to shoot. Not just the location, but where I want to stand in relation to the sun to get the right light; whether it’s side or backlight. Then I shoot several frames without anyone in it to get the proper exposure.  The odds are that I probably won’t get more than one shot, or be able to bracket before whatever it is that happens doesn’t ever happen again.

Once I’m satisfied with the exposure, I place the kids and dogs exactly where I took the readings, and let them do whatever it is that kids and dogs do without direction from me. I’ve found that over the years, trying to give any direction is very close to being a pure waste of time. The best I would be able to do is have their attention for a couple of minutes before they’re done with me.

What I’m basically doing is to set it up as best I can and then shoot more of a reportage style and creating the illusion that I just got lucky.

Here are two examples of shooting grandchildren for the family album without worrying about “missing the shot”.

These are some of the ideas I cover both in my online class I teach with the BPSOP, and the “stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and check out my 2012 workshop schedule found at the top of this blog and come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

I saw a fork, but what else did I see?

Here’s another of my favorite quotes, that may have been written long ago, but I’ll always remember it being sung by an old friend named Bo Diddley. The name of the song was, “You can’t judge a book by looking at the cover”.

In the early eighties, I was on the board of the Houston Art Director Club, and my job that year was to find and provide the entertainment for the year’s award show. I thought long and hard and was told to look up agencies that represented well-known artists. On the list of possibles that fit into my budget was Bo Diddley. I couldn’t believe it!!!

I called and we worked out the details and I couldn’t believe that Bo was actually going to perform for our gala. I picked him up at the airport, took him to lunch, and stayed with him the entire day right up to the time he went on. He was soooooo cool!!!

Ok, I might be digressing a tad, but there’s a method to my madness, and here’s how it applies to the present-day task of making pictures.

So many students that take my online class with the BPSOP, and the ones that attend my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop will walk up to something and just start shooting…blindly so to speak. They just look at it with the left side of their brain and just see the obvious. If it’s a tree, then they just see a tree. If it’s railroad tracks, then that’s all they see. If it’s a fountain with a naked baby in it spitting water out of its mouth, then that’s all they see, and that’s how they judge it; by only looking at the cover.

When I look at a tree, I look at it with the right side of my brain…the creative side. I see the negative space that defines the branches, I see the texture provided by the bark and any shapes that might be hidden between the leaves. I move around it to see how the light may backlight the leaves, and look for the important shadows that are being created and laying on the ground.

If I’m looking at railroad tracks, I see patterns created by the ties, texture created by the rocks, and a Vanishing Point I can use to move the viewer around my composition. If I’m looking at a naked baby spitting water into the fountain it’s sitting in, I imagine the possibility of creating a silhouette with backlit water spewing out of his mouth.

My point is to not just walk up and judge your subject by looking at its cover. Open the book and reads what’s inside.

HEY BO DIDDLEY!!!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mine” workshops all over the place. My approach to creating stronger photos is knowing and teaching all the Elements of Visual Design, and being able to see them occurring naturally in the environment that surrounds us; using the right side of the brain to do it.

  Texture, Pattern, Form. Balance, Shape, Color, and the most important element of all…Line. There are those out there that consider Space as one. Space refers to Negative and Positive space.

If I’m out walking the streets with someone in my workshop, I’m constantly looking for these elements and if I can create a visually interesting photo with one or more elements in it, I’ve got a good chance in taking my image what I refer to as “up a notch”.

Sometimes I see the design element first and wait for something interesting to happen, and sometimes I see the background first and wait for something interesting to happen.

In the above photo, using the right side of my brain the creative side, I saw the triangles and the perfect diamond. It was too good to pass up so I decided to wait to see if I was going to get lucky.

I was ready when I got lucky

BTW, Eddie Adams, a famous Pulitzer Prize winner once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”. Sure enough, I was set up and waiting, and waiting, and waiting and got tired of waiting so I saw a manfriend and had him walk through my frame. If I don’t see what I want, I photograph what I’d like to see???

In the bottom photo, I saw the pattern of the trees, and fifteen minutes later this sailboat a.k.a. triangle came into my frame…BINGO!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime and we’ll use the right side of our brain.

JoeB

When Idealism meets Realism.

One of my favorite Pearls of Wisdom that I often say to my online class with the BPSOP and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind Workshops” I conduct around the planet, is “in a perfect world, what if”. I’ll bring this up when I’m discussing one of my student’s photos and ask them if they could go back and re-take the photo, and could add, change, or do anything they wanted, what would they do.

I do this then explain that whether or not they could change anything isn’t the issue. It’s just an exercise to sharpen the mind and have them always thinking about improving their photos so that one day when they could actually add, change, or do anything, they will be ready for it.

The Realism comes from the photo as they first saw it. If I had a quarter for every time a fellow photographer or student told me that they never thought about adding, changing, or doing anything they wanted, to create a stronger image, I would be writing this post on my island with a blue and frothy cocktail resting comfortably on my stomach…with an umbrella perilously hanging from one side. They just figured that if it was the way it was, then that’s the way they should shoot it.

Now, I know that there are photographers out there that believe you should never alter anything before you click the shutter. If that was the way it was before they got there, then come hell or high water that’s the way they were going to photograph it. Well, that’s all well and good, and I hope all their photographic dreams and endeavors come to fruition. My problem is that most of the time, I never like things the way they are.

Since my background is in painting and design, I think of my camera on a tripod the same way I would have a blank canvas on an easel. With a canvas, you add pigment until you get your finished ‘work of art’. That’s the way I approach my photography, I still consider myself a painter. I chose a camera instead of a paintbrush.

The Idealism part of this post is when that same fellow photographer or student tells me things he would have liked to have added or changed. That’s the ideal world, not the real world talking, and that’s the world I live in…photographically that is!!!

In the above photo, I was shooting an annual report for a pharmaceutical company. Although this kind of activity was going on (Realism), this photo was a part of my imagination (Idealism). In other words, I put all the elements together and staged it.

If you want to “take pictures”, then by all means live in the real world where Realism is the common denominator. On the other hand, if you want to “make pictures”, then it’s the ideal world for you. Don’t look at what’s there, look at what you’d like to be there.

As for me, my mother always said I was a dreamer!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Look ma, no Photoshop!

Here’s another post in my never-ending quest to bring to life over the top, incredible, amazing, unbelievable, and yes even scary idea that you can actually create your pictures “in the camera”.

I started teaching workshops in the early eighties when we used film, and Adobe was thought to be a type of building material that went into houses in the southwest part of the US. Through the years I’ve seen the transformation from film to digital, and for the most part students of mine that I teach online at the BPSOP and the “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet fell in love with photography after the sorrowful end of “cellulose acetate”…momma they took my Kodachrome away!!!

🙁

For the most part, my fellow photographers think that Lightroom and Photoshop are just part of the process; a needed part of the process. An integral part of picture taking, the results being a good photo that we can show our friends and family and watch them react favorably with plenty of “Ooh’s and Aahs.

Well that’s all well and good, and truth be told I also enjoy Photoshop, but my first thought is to take on the challenge of creating my photos before I click the shutter. That includes cropping in the camera. You see, by not cropping in the camera, you’ll never know where the edges of your frame are. The best thing that ever happened to me was that I’ve spent the majority of my fifty-three year career in film and without the added help of post processing…why you ask?

Because I think it’s made me a stronger photographer.

🙂

The photo above was taken for Cessna. I was in a shoot plane designed for taking air-to-air photos of their line of aircraft. As you can see, one side of the plane is completely open. We took off first and I positioned our plane so the Citation Jet would get the best light. As the jet approached, I sat on the edge with my feet hanging out and I started shooting until it veered off, leaving a lot of turbulence in its wake. We went through the steps a couple more times until I felt I had it “in the can”. You see, there wasn’t a way I could view my shots in the back of the camera!!!

Checking the direction of the light.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

A perfect Vanishing Point

I teach people how to use the elements of visual design and composition to create stronger and more memorable images. Images that people won’t forget in the moments just after looking at your photo. Images that are compelling and will leave an impression days, weeks, and yes, even months afterward.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I stress the fact that “light is everything”, and should be considered first when composing your photo. One of my Personal Pearls of Wisdom is, “You find the light and you’ll find the shot”.

Now I’m not referring to the shooters that like to prowl the city streets looking to capture an emotional photo that has some kind of consequence, or as followers of Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work would say, “The Decisive Moment”. These are the type of photos that rely more on a quick finger hitting the shutter release and timing than on light. Instead, I’m talking about the type of photographers that likes to create beautiful photographs in any other genre that are timeless representations of reality. To me, these are the type of photos that require great light. Landscapes, Architecture, environmental portraits, to name a few.

Foggy day in Sicily

OK, here’s where the Quick Photo Tip comes in. As I tell my students and fellow photographers, there is one genre that doesn’t need quality light to be memorable and that’s Humor. Humor is the one concept that can replace a day of flat, gray, and un-inspiring light. Whether it be a funny situation, an awkward expression on a loved one’s face, or perhaps something as simple as a misspelled word on a sign, if it’s funny that’s all you might need.!!!

In the above photo of the man and bicycle, I took advantage of a natural Vanishing Point happening on an overcast day. During a workshop in Sicily, one of my students added some humor in a heavy fog.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime and we’ll have a few laughs.

JoeB

I set this photo up and shot it as though it was happening in real time.

Since I can remember, I’ve been accused of someone lacking in patience. I don’t necessarily agree with that except for when it comes to “making pictures”.

One of my all-time favorite “Pearls of Wisdom” is, “I don’t photograph what I see, because I never see what I want; so I photograph what I’d like to see”. What I mean is that I love throwing a camera over my shoulder and go out to “take pictures”.  This is usually when I’m traveling, and sometimes I get photos that I really like and sometimes I don’t.

With my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet,  I talk a lot about the difference between taking and making pictures.

What I prefer to do is go out and “make pictures”. I like to set things up and then stand back and shoot in a repertoire fashion. In other words, I have complete control of the action, and I’m after a photo that looks real…as if I just happened to capture it. The look of being at the right place at the right time.

In all these images, I set the action up and then photographed it as though it was really happening. Give it a try sometime. It will take some pre-visualization on your part, but you’ll like the results…and you don’t have to rely on a virtue called patience for it to happen!!! 🙂

PausePlayPlayPrev|Next

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

  I get my ideas for all my posts from the strangest places, and I never know what is going to spark an idea. They can be from listening to a description of a photo submitted by one of my online students with the BPSOP, or from those that are taking one of my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind workshops during one of my daily critiques, while sleeping, or even watching an old movie.

This idea came from a conversation with some friends during the week of Passover when for the one-millionth time I watched The Ten Commandments. I’m not sure how many of you ever watched it, but it has been one of my all-time classics starring Yul Brynner and  Charlton Heston. I’ve seen it so many times that I know most of the dialogue and say it simultaneously with the characters; much to the chagrin of my wife.

The quote was said by Brynner playing Pharoah, aka Ramseys II. He said, ” So let it be written, so let it be done.”

What in the world does that have to do with photography, you’re asking yourself as you scratch your head!!!!

Okay, here you go…it’s amazing how many times one of my students tells me that he or she did something (in creating a photo) because they had read it in a book…so it had to be true. When possible I will ask them to take a screenshot of exactly what they read, and in what book they read it.

Here are just a couple of instances of what they showed me: They actually read it wrong, they took it completely out of context, it referring to a completely different genre so as not to compare apples to apples, it was written so long ago that the way it was then is no longer the way it is now, or last but not least…the writer didn’t know what he was talking about. This last part reminds me of an old saying, “You have a great typewriter so you must be a great writer.

I digress.

Don’t get me wrong, I read a lot on the ‘information highway’ for ideas and to do research of what I heard and didn’t know, so as to answer my student but I never trust just one person, and neither should you. There’s so much misinformation out there mainly because everyone thinks they are an expert in the field. Generally, with little or no experience in the area that they’re writing about.

There are some great articles on the internet written by some of the top photographers, but I always, and let me repeat, I always seek out affirmation; by reading as much as I can on a subject and making sure everyone is on the same page…so to speak!!!

BTW, I’ve been shooting, writing, and conducting workshops since 1983, and I know a little bit about it.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog, Shoot with me sometime.

If you’re still reading this and are interested, here’s the line:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4emcNAf5lY

JoeB

Would it have the same impact without the student running to her graduation?

From as far back as I can remember, and through all my research on the subject, I’ve known that people like to see people in pictures. In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I stress putting people into their compositions.

Photos are a powerful way to communicate ideas, or tell stories, and in the digital age, they’ve become paramount in sending information over the web. A scene without a person in it falls short in getting a message across to the viewer that’s thousands of miles away.

Showing a gondola in Venice floating by itself and moored to a set of stairs down one of the many canals, doesn’t say the same thing as a gondola with two tourists being chauffeured down the same canals by a Gondolier while having a glass of Chianti; the late afternoon adding a rim light to their and wine glasses.

I’m always trying to put people in my photos when I’m trying to show scale to an environment. The viewer can relate to the size of a person since he’s familiar with average heights. Also, where you place the person in the frame will take on different meanings. For example, placing a person in the middle of the frame and close to the lens gives a feeling of intimacy, whereas placing the person in the bottom right corner sends a message of loneliness; as well as the feeling of being small in the scheme of things.

Use people to add color to your imagery as well as an ordinarily overcast day. Having someone wearing a red sweater will add Visual Tension and draw attention away from the fact that’s a gray day. Another way to create Visual Tension is by using body language, gesture, and stopping the action of someone, and leaving it un-completed. Blurring a person walking or running through your composition not only adds interest but adds energy to your images.

Silhouettes of people are a great way to introduce a mood to your photos. They are abstractions of a three-dimensional reality, presented in a  tw0-dimensional representation. They add a sense of mystery and drama.

Use people as a ‘payoff”, when through the use of directional lines, you move the viewer through the frame to lead to him or her. Use people as parts that when designed together create Shapes. When traveling, be sure to photograph the people as they are as the key to the countries culture.

Finally, Pattern is a basic element of visual design and I like to use people to break the rhythm of patterns.

Here are some examples that encompass all the ways I have listed:

People Like to See People in Pictures

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.  Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

What do you think this photo is about?

I teach fellow my photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design and composition into their imagery. I teach these elements at an online school with the BPSOP. I also teach the same elements in the “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

After a long hiatus, I’ve begun teaching my class on how to use the six principles of Gestalt to “make stronger photos; the ones people will remember. Gestalt is all about making the viewer an active participant and as a result, it also makes him work harder when looking at our photos.

Whether it’s about having him discovering  new things when he’s looking, or leading him around the frame via directional lines and Vanishing Points, or the ways to imply more content outside of the frame, Gestalt is about Visual Perception…what the camera beholds, the viewer will perceive.`

Seems like Moses said something like that when he parted the Red Sea!!!

🙂

The viewer’s perception stops when he has gathered all the visual and sometimes esoteric/obscure information. At this point, the processing of the information takes over. What he was looking at, now that he’s taken in all the different parts, is now looking at the whole; the basic theory behind Gestalt.

There’s a lot of factors (that are the photographers’ responsibility) in what the viewer will walk away with. The process part is a series of steps the viewer will need to go through to achieve whatever end he was after the split second before he snapped the shutter.

One of the first things to consider is whether you’ve given meaning to your photo. Make sure it says what you wanted it to say because you won’t always be around to explain your intent unless you were going for an abstract in which case each viewer will walk away with something different. If you weren’t going for an abstract, then your photo needs to be a quick read.

If your photo is too esoteric the viewer won’t process the information fairly quickly. I’ve learned from watching people at photo openings that he or she will move on leaving you with a photo that you’ll be the only one to admire…and that would suck!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

It’s all about the blue.

I don’t know if your kids or grandkids ask you question after question after question, but my kids use to all the time while I was shooting them. They were great models so I shot with them all the time. I remember shooting with them late one morning and during a quick break, one came up and ask me why I didn’t shoot when the sky was blue, followed quickly by the question why is the sky blue anyway?

I told them what I tell my online students with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops. I like shooting during the “Golden Hour“. I like the colors and the long shadows. I like it because it’s soft easy light compared to the harsh reality of the midday sun. I can get different parts of my composition closer in exposure when the sun is low on the horizon.

It’s not that I don’t like blue skies, but in order to get the exposures close, without having to shoot away from the sun, those skies can turn a whitish blue; especially close to the horizon where the shorter blue wavelength must pass through more atmosphere and as a result, gets scattered away before reaching your lens. If I’m caught in a position where I can’t shoot under the kind of light/sky I prefer, then I’m going to compose my photo where the entire frame is about the blue sky.

“Ok, so daddy”, one of my three impetuous daughters asked, “Why is the sky blue?”

“Well sweetie”, I said to her. “It’s like this. When the sun is way up in the sky it lets out light at a short angle. This shorter angle lets my favorite colors, red, orange, and yellow, pass through the air (atmosphere) without being messed with. The shorter colors like blue and violet get eaten up by the gasses (molecules) in the air (atmosphere), which scatters their light. This causes the sky to look blue whichever direction you look; the blue light reaches you everywhere overhead.” I gave her a minute to digest what I had said and then continued with the fact that water vapor (humidity) and pollution make for a cloudy day and that’s why the sky sometimes looks gray.

She gave me what I thought was an incredibly curious and intelligent face then said, “Can I have a quarter for some ice cream?”

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

Using Leading Lines to move the viewer around the frame.

I teach fellow photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design into their photos. Both in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, we work on ways to keep the viewer sticking around and becoming an active part in our photos. The theory of Gestalt is behind this idea, and it’s also a big part of the classes I teach.

The more ways we can have the viewer travel around our composition, either from one point to another or leaving and re-entering the frame the more he’ll stay involved. One of the best ways is by using Leading Lines (also referred to as directional lines).  Line is the most important of all the elements of visual design. Without Line, none of the other elements would exist. Although Line encompasses many different facets, in this post we’ll just look at those lines that have the most movement in them; the ones that do the “leading around”.

In the photo above, I’ve used the small roads to lead the viewer around the frame. Also, notice that the roads (the lines) are moving diagonally. Of the three basic lines vertical, horizontal, and diagonal, diagonal lines have the most energy. The reason is that diagonal lines are in the process of falling forward; this gives them more energy. To be sure, you don’t need actual roads to do the leading. Any strong lines will work as in the examples in the slideshow.

Next time you’re out shooting, look for Leading Lines. It’s a sure-fire way to take your photo what I refer to as “up a notch”…http://joebaraban.com/blog/example/directional-and-leading-lines/

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

The moment it was caught in the camera.

One of my all-time favorite photographers was Henri Cartier-Bresson who by the way, said that when you crop a picture you destroy the original integrity. He also said, “The picture is good or not from the moment it was caught in the camera”.

This quote has been my mantra since I started shooting fifty-three years ago, and during these years I have never cropped one of my photos…not once! I suppose it’s because my background is not in photography but in art. Having said that, I still consider myself an artist who has changed the medium from a paintbrush to a camera; when I painted a picture, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to crop it later…would you?

I teach online classes with the BPSOP and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over the place. In both venues, I ask photographers not to crop in front of a computer but in the camera. I once read that when you crop in front of a computer it’s a sign of a lack of discipline and sloppy technique.

One thing I have found is that when you take your time composing, you have a much better chance of getting it right the first time…as in the moment you clicked the shutter. I have seen it over and over when I’m walking along shooting with one of my fellow photographers and they bring their camera up to their eye. There’s absolutely no time spent on any thought process, they just shoot and move on; “I came, I shot, I left” will forever be your mantra.

I’m here to tell you that I’m a damn good photographer and I wouldn’t do that, so you would have to be one hell of a shooter to rely on just one shot being a ‘wall hanger’…unless, of course, you need a computer to help out. I say to each his own, and if that’s your thing then one day you’ll become a master computer artist…and not someone that can decide if a picture is bad or good from the moment it was caught in the camera.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB