Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

I love large areas in shadow to add a dramatic edge.

Before reading this post, for all of you that have taken my part I and II classes, the school is bringing back my Gestalt class for a month, starting the first week in May. Here’s the link: https://bpsop.com/courses-1/

When I was a young kid, the family got our first television. We would all gather around it mesmerized and completely taken in by this new form of entertainment. One of the shows we use to watch on Saturday nights was a show called The Shadow. [continue reading…]

Engage the viewer

I don’t know about you, but I like people to look at and enjoy my photography. In order to do that I need to make my images contain enough visual interest to keep them around.

Like all of us, visual input is a part of everyday life, and as photographers, it’s our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees when looking at our imagery.

We want to make the viewer an active participant when looking at our photos. For example, the more ways we can have the viewer move around our composition, while at the same time leaving and entering the frame the longer they will stick around. The more things we can get the viewer to discover while moving around the frame will also keep them around longer.

Think about putting people in your images; it’s a known fact that people like to see people in photos. Editorialize your pictures, in other words, have them ask questions, tell a story; which by the way is one of the definitions of editorial.

This is what engaging the viewer is all about. I primarily think about incorporating all the basic elements of visual design, especially color, and this is as good as it gets in keeping the viewer around for at last six seconds.

That might not seem like a lot, but consider that some television commercials can be as little as ten to thirty seconds of constant motion, so in that regard looking at a still photograph for six seconds is a big deal.

All this is a big part of what I teach online in my BPSOP online classes, and also in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the world.

So, my fellow photographers, whatever you do do it on the path less traveled. Don’t follow any rules you’ve been taught to follow. Rules hinder the creative juices, and you’ll only wind up going down the well traveled road to mediocrity.

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

JoeB

Painting 101

Degas once said, ” Painting is easy when you don’t know how, very difficult when you do.”.

I find this to be the basis for writing this post. You see, I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around out hopefully around the planet.

Most of the people that have taken both online classes have taken at least one of my workshops; some as many a ten. As their eye develops, and they’re using the right side of their brain to compose more and more, frustration begins to creep into their thought process.

They tend to over analyze everything and I can tell you from years of experience teaching, doing that is not in your best interest.

I show people how to use the artist palette I give them that instead of pigment, there are the basic elements of Visual Design: Color, Shape, Pattern, Texture, Form, Balance, and the most important of them all…Line.

When I say over-analyze, I mean they begin seeing design elements that are not really there except for in their imagination. They get so tense that they almost become paralyzed and wind up either not shooting anything at all, or shooting something that winds up being deleted on the computer monitor.

So, my fellow photographers, when you go out shooting it needs to be fun and not something you overthink. Making visual mistakes comes with the territory, and everyone makes them…me included.

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

JoeB

Went through my checklist for UFOs.

One of the first posts I wrote when I started this blog (way back when) was on one of if not the most important tools my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet takes with them…my “Fifteen Point Protection Plan”.

This “15PPP” as I refer to it is designed to help photographers look for things they don’t want in their composition, and to put things they should include. From that time to the present I’ve found myself expanding on this topic since it just wasn’t enough help. Now besides my protection plan, I’ve been including two additional ways to protect yourself from what I call unwanted UFOs. I tell my fellow photographers to not only run through the fifteen points but to also check the four corners and what I describe as the “Border Patrol”.

What I mean is to run your eyes along the edges of your frame; the edges that border your photo. Run them along one side, then the next, then the next, until you’re back to where you started. Doing this, along with the four corners and your Fifteen Point Protection Plan will keep you from discovering these annoying elements before you click the shutter and not in front of your computer screen…that is if you’re lucky enough to see it even then.

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

JoeB

A different lens

I’ll admit that in my college days, and the days soon after, one of my favorite songs was sung by one of my all-time favorite groups. The song was If I Had a Hammer, and the group was Peter, Paul, and Mary.  I won’t take up space or time here but it was about someone that would hammer all the time, day or night. He would hammer out all the social injustices and love (lots of them in the sixties) all over the land.

Ok, you might be asking yourself how this could possibly relate to this Photography Blog???

I’ll answer that by submitting to you this saying,” If you have a hammer in your hand and everything looks like a nail, then you have a problem”. Still wondering????

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m constantly telling my fellow photographers to try different lenses. So many people get comfortable with one lens or one focal length on their zoom until it gets to be a problem. What I mean is that a comfort zone might be established and sooner rather than later a fear will creep into your psyche and manifest itself deep into your thought process. It’s very powerful and could prohibit you from advancing creativity.

Yes, I’ve seen it happen, and believe me it’s not a pretty sight!!!

It can become so obvious, that after a few days in one of my workshops, or even online, I can almost tell who shot the submitted picture without looking at the name. Either because the photo was taken at the exact same height (that would be the height of the person’s eyes to the ground), or the same things were in focus or out of focus across the composition, or the amount of subject matter was the same from edge to edge and from top to bottom, or the shutter speed, ISO, and the aperture were identical. It’s no wonder that I’m always being told by a student that they feel like they’re finding it difficult to be creative.

How do we go about taking your photos “up a notch”? It’s the ability to look at the same subject matter/location as many ways as you can. That means changing your lens all the time. Look at it with a wide-angle, something at least in the 17- 20mm range, then from 35-70mm, then over 70mm if you can. Of course, this is made easier if you have a couple of zoom with you; sometimes a little too easy!!!

What I mean by that is zoom lenses make us lazy. It can keep us from moving around a scene. Ernst Haas once said, “The best zoom lens is your feet”, and I couldn’t offer better advice to anyone.

Next time you go out, put on a lens you’ve completely forgotten about and shoot with it. It sounds easy, but for many people, it can be tooooooo scary to even consider. You just got to “Get over the hump”!!!

Visit my new website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my 2020 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB  

As I found it

Besides conducting my personal “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops and teaching online with the BPSOP, I just returned from my workshop in Cuba as part of the Santa Fe Workshops, and it was a wonderful experience. Good as my other four trips, and in some ways better. This time we based out of Remedios, which is mostly East and a little South of Havana; very close to the coast.

Remedios couldn’t be more different than the three workshops I have done in Havana. Where Havana is full of energy (and tourists), offering a diverse set of photo ops, Remedios is on the other end of the spectrum. It’s a lot closer to the feel of Santiago.

Here is the program Kip put together of all the participants: https://youtu.be/Pli8lOkJCX4

Being less considered a tourist destination, Remedios is a centerpiece for what would be the old and traditional colonial town one might think of when talking about Cuba…after Havana, that is.

The group of people was absolutely great as well as talented. When you mix that with a fun, friendly, accommodating, and very professional staff of very good Cuban photographers, I just can’t think of a place I would have rather been. Thank you Jorge, Claudia, and Sandor for your help and friendship.

Special thanks to Kip who is the program director and after at least a hundred trips, he still approaches it as though it was his first; he’s in love with Cuba.

Here are a few of my images, including the one at the top:

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As I have said, When I’m out shooting I don’t expect to see everything I want to photograph. I look for different pieces of the puzzle and try to put them together to form the finished one. Right after the last piece has been put in, that’s when I shoot.

That’s not to say that I’m not always looking for ‘moments’ because I am; my background includes shooting for the wire services. For me, those “rare special moments” are elusive and don’t come easy, so I fill the time taking pictures of what I’d like to see. Having a background in painting and design, a camera on a tripod is just like a blank canvas on an easel.

That said, virtually all of my images were actually shot as I saw them, which is sort of rare for me; not planned, just a coincidence. Besides showing a few of my photos, I have also included a short program we put together to showcase all the photographers in my group.

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

Just another sunrise?

In my online class with the BPSOP, and also in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I will send out this article for all my fellow photographers to read. In my recent workshop to Boston, I had people read it and one woman said I should post it on my blog.

I told her that I actually did about ten years ago but now that she mentioned it I would post it again. I had found on the internet years ago so I thought I would share with all of you again.

Unfortunately, I failed to write down the name of the woman or man who wrote it, and now I can’t locate the article again. I would have loved to credit it to her/him as I find it a great read. If you are the author or know who she is, please let me know so I can credit it properly.

Here’s the article just the way I found it:

“Unless you take photographs strictly for yourself, you probably like to share your images with others. What makes that dreaded slide show your uncle pulls out every time you visit so boring is that while it has tons of associations for him and your aunt, it has none for you. After all, it was their trip to Borneo, not yours. You didn’t share the experience of buying food from a street vendor or smell the smells of the urban neighborhoods. So, pictures of them don’t mean much to you.

You should keep this exclusivity in mind when editing your own pictures. Ask yourself, “Do I like my images because they have a certain emotional appeal to me alone?” A special vacation shot or a picture of your grand kids, might be an example. Or, do your images convey a more universal meaning that will inspire emotional response in others? It helps to gather feedback from a trusted friend.

REMEMBER THAT BELOVED SUNSET OR SUNRISE YOU HAVE–SO EXCELLENTLY CAPTURED, SO EXPERTLY PRINTED AND FRAMED–MAY BE JUST ANOTHER SUNSET TO SOMEONE ELSE.

Learn how composition can affect meaning. Placement of the subject within the viewfinder can have profound effects on the meaning. Placing the subject low and surrounded by a large amount of negative space sends a different message than cropping it close. The former may send the message of hopelessness or depression, the latter a message of intimacy or friendship.

It’s a challenge to create images with meaning. It’s what separates a good photographer from a mediocre one. In judging contests and exhibits, I’ve seen many prints that are technically well done, but lack depth of meaning. These may be processed to resist aging in preparation for archival preservation, but they won’t stand the test of time on anyone’s wall–except, perhaps, the photographer’s own.

For, without an emotional connection to the image, we’ll grow weary of it. It’ll remain on exhibition for a few months and then be taken down or simply ignored as part of the background blur of our lives.

Our ability to connect with an image emotionally entices us to keep coming back to an image over and over again in order to repeat the emotion. Or, what’s even more exciting, we may find new meaning in the image as we grow emotionally and experience it in a fresh, new way.

A part of the issue surrounding meaning is the controversy over whether an image should be titled. Many contests require that the photographer name her image as part of the process of entering. And I know of several professional competitions in which the title of the print is actually part of the judging process.

I can’t tell you how strongly I object. A strong print needs no title. If I have to be told what the meaning of a print is via a title, I wonder if the photographer is certain of his message.

Titles also serve to direct and/or mislead. A title given by a photographer may direct his viewer in a particular direction, but without the limitations of a title, a viewer may discover meaning which was only subliminally apparent to the photographer. We have all taken a picture and thought it meant one thing, only to find that everyone else was seeing something else– something that emerged from our subconscious.

A title, in this instance, would have served to confuse the real meaning.

And, of course, there is the issue of language and culture itself. If a title is important, what if it’s in a language the viewer doesn’t understand? Does the image cease to have meaning? Of course, not. Art, in general, and photography specifically, are universal languages. They speak to us all–regardless of our native tongues or cultures.”

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’s your go-to lens? The lens you will put on if you’re just walking around the narrow streets in one of the various medieval villages hunting for that elusive wall hanger? For me, it’s the 17-40mm.

To digress a touch, I’m not a proponent of always using one lens as in one of the prime lenses that so many of the people in my online class with the BPSOP, or in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet always have on.

I find those lenses to be limited since they have such a shallow DOF, which is why I don’t own one. If you’re of the kind that just uses that lens, then, for the most part, your photos will tend to look the same; especially when you’re shooting on a program and not paying attention to what’s in focus and what isn’t.

As I said, I keep my 17-40mm lens on, and it’s not because I use the zoom a lot…because I don’t. It just gives me a good range of focal lengths when shooting in tight and narrow locations.

It’s always interesting when I tell my fellow photographers that I use it to shoot everything from landscapes to portraits; especially environmental portraits. As long as I keep my camera level, I can get ‘up close and personal’ to my subject while showing a lot of their surroundings.

If you don’t pay attention to whether your camera is level, especially when you place your subject close to the edge of the frame, there will be distortion and not the good kind.

 So next time you go out shooting slip on a wide-angle lens and see what it’s like. It will take some getting use to but you’ll find that the reward is well worth it.

Btw, all three photos were shot with my 17-40mm lens.

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

JoeB

Formal balance

For the past three years, I’ve been teaching an online class with the BPSOP, and since the early eighties I been conducting my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind”, workshops showing photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design into their thought process, I also give them what I call my “did it do it” list for good composition. It’s a list of twelve concepts that will help guide you though your thought process on your way to creating a well composed photo. I have written ten of them so far on my blog and you can find them by clicking on “Did it do it”.

This list is not meant to be rules, as most of you know by now that I don’t like rules. This list is merely a guide to help fellow photographers understand what goes into “making good photos”. I’ve been mentally referring to this list for most of my forty-six year career, and they have served me well.

The seventh one I’d like to share with you is called “did it have balance”. What do I mean by Balance? The balance between the Positive and Negative Space? Well yes, it’s one of my many crusades when working with students of photography, but it’s more than that.

Balance is about visual weight. A balanced photo is what we as photographers try to achieve because it makes for visually inviting images. A balanced photo gives the viewer a feeling of stability. We all are more comfortable when the environment around us is feels firm and steady. When I’m composing, I’m looking for harmony between the various shapes, colors, and most important, the areas of light and dark and shadows they might create. A sidebar here is when I tell my students to work on “mastering the light”, I also tell them to “master the shadows” as well, since shadows are our best friend.

In the psychology of Gestalt as it pertains to photography, the main goal is to take control of how the viewer perceives and processes information when looking at our photos. We want to make him an active participant and when we can do that, he’ll stick around looking longer. By using visual weight correctly, and distribute it evenly, we can pull the viewer’s eye around our composition which in turn makes him work harder…and that’s a good thing!!!

There are two types of balance, Formal and informal (asymmetrical) balance. In my first of two posts on this subject, I want to talk about Formal balance.

Formal balance is positioning your subject or subjects (either identical or similar) around a central point or an imaginary line drawn down the center of the frame, dividing in in half. Thus, both sides of the vertical middle are equal. Formal balance is much easier to create than informal balance.

In the photo above, I was specifically after Formal Balance. It was shot used in a brochure for a company in Louisiana that raises crayfish for mass consumption. The graphic designer wanted something that he could use for a wrap-a-round cover. In other words a similar subject on the front and back of the brochure.

Visit my new website at: www.joebaraban.com and be sure to check out my new 2020 workshop schedule at the top of this Blog. come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

  Since my background is in painting and design, I show photographers how to incorporate the basic elements of Visual Design into their imagery.

One of the elements is Color, which leads me to a quote said by one of if not my favorite artists. Wassily Kandinsky once said, “Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”

Color is a universal language and is a great way to communicate ideas, and I’m always looking for it. For example, you see a group of people with their backs to you at a park. They’re all wearing the same color sweatshirt. What would that mean to you?

Color is a stimulant for our eyes and ties the elements of a photograph together. Color affects every moment of our lives and has an enormous impact on our photography. Knowing color is one of the first steps in making (not taking) consistently good photographs.

Color can give you a sense of mood, a sense of place, and a sense of time.  It can also be used to move the viewer’s eye around your composition; use it to create harmony and balance.

People that take my online class with the BPSOP, and those that participate in my “Stretching Your Fram of Mind” workshops I conduct around the world will often comment on the color saturation in my photos.

It usually is, and it’s not because of Photoshop. The main reason is that I shoot mostly in “Golden Light”, and I use the angle of the existing light as an important aid.

Having said all this, the one thing that really sticks out in my mind after reading Kandinsky’s quote that’s not always the case is that when you photograph people in color you’re photographing their clothes and when you’re photographing them in black and white you’re photographing their souls.

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

Coloring outside the lines

This is a category that I enjoy writing in. Although most of my pearls of wisdom are created by yours truly, there are some that I have read and remembered over the years. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if somewhere in my teaching past starting in 1983, I didn’t come up with a lot of them myself…not that it really matters!

🙂

What matters here is the meaning of the phrase. I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over the world. I recently did a workshop in New York shooting in all five boroughs. We had taken the tram from Manhattan over to Roosevelt Island to shoot and as soon as we got off we went under the Roosevelt Bridge that connects the two boroughs.

Part of the class that was in the vicinity began shooting the skyline as the tram was coming from Manhattan. As I watched them I immediately saw that they were taking the predictable shot. The shot that I would refer to them as coloring inside the lines.

What I mean is that a couple of them walked to the right of the bridge, avoiding it, and started shooting the skyline. One walked to the left of the bridge and two more walked under the bridge to the edge and started shooting.

I moved to a position where I was directly under the bridge and waited for the next tram to come over.

My point here is to never take the road well-traveled. Always look for ways to color outside the lines and take the path less traveled. Look for different points of view, aka getting on your stomach. put on a lens you would never think of, etc..etc.

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

JoeB

“The Law of the Light”

Through the years, I’ve been asked why my photos look the way they do since I use little to no post-processing. There’s no secret as to why, if you’ve taken my online classes with the BPSOP, or have come on my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over our (round) planet.

My secret is simple. In relation to my subject, I know where to stand, when to stand there, and how long I have to shoot while standing there. Before I bring my camera up to my eye I look to see where the direction of the sun is. For me, that’s the most important part in creating strong photos.

Ok, imagine a clock in your viewfinder, but if it’s easier, imagine the clock on the ground with your subject standing in the center. Now, imagine the sun (or light source) coming from behind the 11,12, and 1. This is ‘backlight’. It’s probably the way I light almost all the time…why?

Because backlight makes everything glow: water, grass, hair, or anything translucent. It adds so much energy and can be effective even if your subject is a touch on the boring side.

Now, imagine the light source behind the ’10’ and the ‘2’. This is what is called “The Law of the Light”. When the sun casts light on a subject it comes at a specific angle, and that angle is called the “Angle of Incidence”; it’s the light falling on the subject.

When that same light bounces (reflects) off the subject and hits the lens, it also bounces off at an angle to the camera. When those two angles are the same, it’s called the “Law of the Light”…also known as “The Angle of Reflection”…and I don’t know why??

Side Light

Now, imagine the sun at either ‘3’ or ‘9’. This is sidelight, and if I can’t backlight or put my subject in the Angle of reflection, this is the light I go for. When the sun is at ‘4’ or ‘8’ it’s ok, still somewhat side-lit, but bordering on front light…to me, this is the worst way to light…5,6, and 7 is front light and I avoid it like the plague…why? Because there aren’t any shadows or shading; it’s all about Form.

Form is a basic ‘element of visual design’, and Form refers to the three-dimensional quality of an object. When light hits an object from the side, part of the object is in shadow. The light and dark areas provide contrast that can suggest volume. Without shadows, the subject will be recorded without Form…appearing flat. Without shading/shadows Form exists in just two dimensions, height and width.

Front Light

This is what happens when you front light. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t take pictures that are front lit…I’m saying that those times for me are rare, and the sun should be low on the horizon and the background behind the subject fairly dark. Remember that Ansel Adams once said, “There are no rules for good pictures, there are just good pictures”.

So as I said, THE VERY FIRST THING I EVER DO when I get to a location…before I ever raise my camera up to my eyes…is to determine where the light source is coming from. Then I position myself to get the right/best light.

As far as WHEN and FOR HOW LONG, almost all of my photos were taken when the sun is no higher than ten degrees off the horizon, or in The Golden Hour.

In the mornings, I will usually shoot before the sun comes up (the Blue hour) and for about an hour after sunrise, depending on the time of year and where I am.

The same goes for the afternoon. I’ll start shooting about an hour before sunset, then until the end of the Blue Hour.

Having said this, this is the ideal time to shoot, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only time to shoot. It’s always time to take photos!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my upcoming workshops at the top of this blog.

JoeB

Did it do what I intended?

This is the seventh post in a series I call “did it do it”.

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct, I talk about my “Did it do it” list for creating good photos with strong compositions. These aren’t rules (followers of my blog know that I don’t like rules), they’re merely guidelines to use when out shooting. If you can remember these guidelines, you have a very good chance in taking your photos what I refer to as “Up a Notch”.

I call this post “did it do what you intended”:

So many of my students will submit a photo and tell me what was in their mind the second before they clicked the shutter, but what they were thinking didn’t transfer to the final composition. The key to remember is that you won’t be around to explain what you were thinking, and what story if any you were trying to get across to the viewer. It has to be a quick read, and unless it’s an abstract intended for the viewer to interpret it the way he or she wants, it has to be able to stand on it’s own…without you there.

“Consider the scene and its outcome” has been a phrase I’ve been telling my students since the eighties when I first started teaching workshops. Make sure your photo passes the too esoteric muster. If you want to convey loneliness, keep what you put in your frame to a minimum…one person, one house, etc; not a crowd somewhere off in the background or an entire neighborhood. If you want to convey mystery and add drama, don’t shoot in the middle of the day. Shoot either early or late when the long shadows and contrast can help out. Above all, always make sure you consider “The Whole Enchilada“.

If you want to show how vast the area in your viewfinder is, or how large a building is, then put something in the frame that will show the scale. Something that the viewer will recognize and know its actual size.

In the above photo, the message Toyota, my client, wanted to get across in this full page ad was their ‘mentoring program’ where several well know athletes would go around to middle and high schools and talk about their occupations, and what it takes to achieve their goals.

Visit my brand new website at: www.joebaraban .com, and check out my 2019-2020 workshop schedule. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB