Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

Convincing?

This is the ninth post in the series of twelve I call “did it do it”, a guideline for good photographic composition. I call this one “did it convince the viewer”?

So many photographers don’t take the time to put their idea down in such a way as to convince the viewer that the photo was ready to be taken right before clicking the shutter. Did the photographer put forth enough effort and energy to deliver a solid message with the best possible visuals? Did it show the viewer that you knew what you were doing (even if you didn’t)? Did it show intent?

In this digital age, everyone’s in a hurry to get things done, even if it means sacrificing quality.  Get it done and move on seems to be the new Mantra, and there doesn’t seem to be any geographic boundaries that apply here.

In my online class I teach with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet, my goal is to instill in each of my students a sense of pride and accomplishment, and a finish photograph that has convinced the viewer that he or she cared about what they were doing. Creating an emotional appeal that will require a response from the viewer will convince him that his time won’t be wasted if he does. Will the viewer be convinced that the photo he’s looking at has enough informaion and therefore will believe it?

When  students of mine can include enough of these guidelines into their photos, they stand an excellent chance in taking their imagery what I refer to as “up a notch”.

In the above photo for a new high rise that was going up, The intent was to show prospective buyers that there was fine dining nearby.

FYI, the above photograph was shot entirely in the camera with absolutely no post processing involved in the final image. I just love creating photos in the camera!!!!

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

JoeB

In my August online class with the BPSOP, and right before my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conducted in Spain, I was asked what I take with me when I go out shooting. My reply is simple, I make it real easy for my poor tired little brain.

When I go out walking in some city with fellow photographers that are taking one of my workshops, I take two cameras. I have a Canon Mark III with a 17-40mm lens on it that I have over my shoulder, and I have a very small Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX7 with a 24-90mm lens that I have around my neck

That gives me a range from 17-90mm, and for the most part it’s all I need. When looking at my website, you never know what photo was shot with what camera. When asked, I tell people that it’s not the camera, it’s the ten inches behind it that really matters.

I’ve seen photographers carry a backpack that has a whole lot of lens in it. That’s great if you have the time to switch out a lens, but when you’re walking around ‘street shooting’ you would never have that kind of time. Your subject would be long gone or old and gray waiting for you to decide what to put on your camera.

If I’m going to be at a location that I have either scouted or thought about I might take a speciality lens besides my normal equipment. For example, I did a workshop in New York and we went to Coney island. I thought it would be ineresting to tak a 600mm lens and put it on a tripod. I stood in one location and with the camera free to move on the tripod, I scanned the boardwalk looking for interesting subjct matter; the point of this was to knock everything out of focus so the background would be a sea of muted color.

Btw, I have also put my 100mm macro on and shot portraits with it. I like to use the wrong lens for the right subject…or the wrong subject with the right lens…you just never know!!!!

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

JoeB

A good way to incorporate action with nice late or early light is to have your subject walk through an area that consists of a small or dappled area of light while you’re shooting. Easier said than done you say? Not if you set it up ahead of time.

As I tell my fellow photographers that take my online classes with the PPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops, to me light is everything. If you can find the light, you can find a shot. Since I’m usually setting my photos up so I can have control, I’m always trying to use the light to my advantage. I like to staged things and then shoot reportage. What I mean is that I like it to look like it was a ‘grab shot’, and I just got lucky with the light. Well, truth being told, I just don’t have the time or sometimes the patients to wait for things to happen. I want things right now because it’s odds on that what I’m waiting and hoping for will never happen the way I want.

Walk them through the light.

As I said, I like to make photos that appear to be as if they were really happening. One of the ways is to have my subject or subjects walk through a spot of light. I’ll have them start several feet back from where I plan to click the shutter. I set my camera to continuous shooting and tell them to start walking and talking. If they start far enough back, by the time they hit the mark (in the light) they’re in a natural gait. The arms and legs are moving naturally, they’ve forgotten about me, and they’re talking and listening normally. It’s all about “stopping the action and leaving it uncompleted”; one of many ways to create Visual Tension” that I teach in my class and workshop.

In the photo to the left, I had the woman walk through my frame. I set my camera on continuous and when she approach the mark (the small area of light), I started shooting. In order to hit the mark, and at the right exposure, I stood her in the spot I wanted and took a couple of shots to determine what I was after as far as being a little underexposed. Once I determined the right look, I backed her up and began the process.

Walking to the light.

In the photo of the two golfers, I did virtually the same thing only this time I had them walk to where the shade ended and the bright (backlit) light began.

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

Be sure to send me a photo and question to AskJoeB@gmail.com.

JoeB

Creating depth

I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over the planet. I also teach two online classes with the BPSOP, and it’s this school that I’m writing about today.

In my part I four week class, I show people how to incorporate the basic elements of Visual Design into their imagery. I call it my Artist Palette: Shape. Texture, Pattern, Form, Color, and the most important element…Line.

We also work on ways to generate Visual Tension, using negative space to define the positive space, and applying a Vanishing Point (linear perspective) as a way to show depth in a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional world; as in a photograph.

Since the camera has one eye (a lens) it can only see in two-dimensions, height and width; we have two eyes so we see in all three dimensions which include depth. Having my students anchor an object in the foreground using a wide-angle lens creates the illusion of depth.

That’s in my part I class.

When you sign up for my part II class, you have mastered (hopefully) these elements of design and composition and now we work on silhouettes, and your best friend…the shadow. We also spend a great deal of time on Line, and how to use it to move the viewer around the frame; which is a good way to keep the viewer an active participant when looking at our photos.

So now that I’ve given you a brief description of my two classes, I wanted to share with you some of the images that a few of my fellow photographers have taken in several of my past part II classes. I hope you will not only see what they have gotten out of both classes but be as impressed as I am with the level of work.

One last note, in my classes students can’t crop their photos and absolutely no post-processing. I want to see what they can do before clicking the shutter. So, what you see is what they got!!

Enjoy the show.

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

JoeB

Rural China

Although I love all my categories, “my favorite quotes” is way up in my list of favorites. For those of you that for some reason have not read any, these quotes are from all areas of the arts and literature and not just photography.

There are some that I’ve known since my early days of being a professional photographer (fifty years and still counting) and there are those I’ve read since I started teaching  (while shooting professionally) in 1983. I often recite these quotes in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, as well as in my online class with the BPSOP.

When I find a quote that makes me say “OK, that’s cool” to myself, I’ll instantly think of how it fits into my thought process when I’ve been out shooting, and how it can become a teaching aid to my approach to turning my fellow photographers on to the way I see and/or shoot.

One of my all time favorite movies was Scarface, and one of my all time favorite lines in that (or any) movie was spoken by actor Al Pacino. “Say hello to my little friend”.  was said as the bad guys were coming in. Ok, I’m sure you’re wondering how in the hell does this relate to photography.

While on a sunset romantic cruise in Venice.

As I tell my students, always have a camera on your person. Well, one man (among others) once said to me that it was impossible to always have his big DSLR with him and that smaller point and shoot’s just can’t take good pictures”…WHAT I said!!!

In the modern age, there are cameras that have ten or more megapixels, and have lenses that are very fast and very sharp…that will fit in your pants (or shorts in my case) pocket. They can do as much as a large DSLR. Remember that it’s not the camera, it’s the ten inches behind it that’s important.

Waiting for lunch

I keep a Lumix DMC-Lx5 in my pocket all the time. It’s the identical camera to the Leica D-Lux 5 (same lens, same sensor, same look) but is half the price. You’re paying twice as much for that little ‘L’ in a red circle, but I know people out there with giant egos that would rather pay more so people will be impressed. Btw, I’ve recently replaced it (with an electronic viewfinder) with the LX7. 

Walking around Lisbon

After doing a lot of reading, it was the camera for me. The new one is a ten megapixel camera and has a new F/1.4 lens…”WOW”, and you can get a viewfinder for it that shows you exactly what you’re getting.

I can assure you that carrying around this “little friend” will add to the possibilities of never missing a good photo again. Ernst Haas, one of my all time favorite photographers whose work hangs in my house said , “The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference. All of them can record what you’re seeing…but, you have to see.”

FYI, here’s the scene where Al Pacino said this now famous line: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQ8byG2mY8

Visit my new website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime, and bring along your little friend.

JoeB

Pre-Visualization

This is the eight post in my series I call “Did it do it”. These are meant solely as guidelines to help in our thought process when we’re composing the elements that will end in a competed photo. They’re not rules, as anyone that reads my blog can attest to the fact that I don’t care at all for rules. Having said this, I do think we should at least know all the rules the powers that be has bestowed on us before immediately forgetting about them  ASAP!!! I say this for those whose goals and expectations exceed the mediocrity running rampant through the ever changing world of digital photography. 🙂

I use these guidelines in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet. It’s an effective way to illustrate to my fellow photographers the difference between a photo that was taken and one that was made. I call this one “did it show pre-visualization”, and it seems to be one of the most important, if not the most important concept, of all twelve that I work on with my classes.

So many photographers bring the camera up to their eye and just start clicking away and when their finger gets tired, they move on. I wrote a post I called “I came, I shot, I left”, and it’s a perfect example of not Pre-Visualizing. As a result, the photos that make it past the mediocre level are few and far between. One thing I do want to make clear here is that I’m not including Street Photography where instinct is more important. However, anticipating the action before it happens is all about the ability to pre-visualize.

Here’s how I approach pre-visualization:

First of all, I’m always trying to scout a location ahead of time so that they’re no surprises when I get there. I take my Sunpath readings and my Morin 2000 hand bearing compass to figure out the light; as in where the sun is going to be. Since light is everything, I want to make sure the direction it’s coming from, where I have to stand, and how long I have to stand there. From there, I plan out my shots depending on where the light is going to be first, then where it will go, etc.

I think about what props I’ll need to bring back to tell whatever story I’m thinking up in my mind. My thought process is all about taking photos of what I’d like to see, not necessarily what I actually see. Most of the time I don’t see what I want, so I’m not going to waste any time waiting for it to happen.

When I’m not able to scout ahead of time or when I’m traveling, I still pre-visualize; just a lot faster. I still think before I shoot. I won’t just take a photo to be taking one, so that means that I’m still looking around at all the possibilities a location has to offer. I can see a photo in my mind before I bring the camera up to my eye, and will often move things around, add or take away objects that either fit or don’t fit, or ask people to be in my shot. Bottom line is that I’m an artist whose medium is a camera instead of a paintbrush…I paint pictures with my camera.

In the above photo, I was shooting a brochure for the leasing company; they wanted some random shots of people working in the building. As always, I want to have complete control, and I also know that the odds of seeing what I want to see or slim to none. So I asked the client to supply me with some internal company employees that I could work with.  I set up my camera and tripod and placed all the people where I wanted them, and I had all the people act out something they might have been doing if I wasn’t there, then I started shooting in a reportage style to stop people in their actions. I also included one of the six principles of Gestalt (I teach these principles in my new class at the PPSOP) named The Law of Common Fate by having the man in the middle looking towards me while the others are looking elsewhere.

Visit my new website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2019-2020 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come pre-visualize with me sometime.

JoeB

What if?

One of my favorite Pearls I’m always asking my online students with the BPSOP, and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops is, “In a perfect world, what if?”.

What I mean is that if they could go back and re-take a photo they submitted and they were able to do anything different that they wanted, what would they do. If time and money were not an issue, what would they add or take away from their composition?

I’ll usually ask a student this question if I see something that might be distracting, perhaps an imbalance between the Negative and Positive space, or something they didn’t notice when they were composing by not using their “Fifteen Point Protection Plan”I gave them at the beginning of the online class or workshop.

I might mention it even if the photo doesn’t have any issues at all and was a well done image. The reason is simple, it’s an exercise of the mind. There’s several analogies I can offer up to you to explain just what I mean. Do you stretch before jogging? Do you hit a bucket of golf balls at the range before actually playing eighteen holes? What about ‘batting practice’?

These are all things people do before beginning whatever it is that they do to loosen up, getting the tempo in their swing at the right pace, or get their eye-hand coordination finely tuned before that ninety miles per hour fastball comes hurtling towards them.

The same thing can apply to photography. By imagining “what if”, you’re exercising your imagination. Perhaps it’s adding some red tail lights in a street scene at dusk, or a couple at the end of the pier, or someone doing something to add an editorial (storytelling) element. That extra something to move their photo “up a notch”.

Whether you could actually add or change something doesn’t really matter. The point is to practice using your imagination every chance you get. It’s going to keep your thought process sharpened just in case you might be able to make it happen sometime.

In the photo shown above, I was shooting for Apache Oil and Gas in Egypt, and was coming back from the Suez Canal when I saw this scene. I jumped out of the car and quickly set up my camera and tripod. As I was shooting I was also thinking (as I have done for over forty years) “what if”.

In that instance, I thought “what if” there was a telephone truck facing the camera with its headlights on parked right next to the tower in the foreground. There were two men on a Cherry Picker ( a device to lift people into the air) working on the transformer and silhouetted against the sky and the setting sun.

Now that would have been a picture that would be remembered!!!

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

JoeB

Using a wide angle lens to create the illusion of depth.

In general terms, perspective refers to the relationship of objects. It’s not the definition that’s important here, what’s important is how to control perspective and use it in as a tool to make our photographs stronger.

Since the camera has one eye, that being the lens, it can only see in two dimensions: height and width. By controlling perspective we can imply a third dimension by adding depth, as well as the illusion of space and distance. In other words, we can “trick the eye” into seeing more like our eyes and less like a camera. What we want to accomplish is to create layers of interest which in turn creates depth.

With my online class with the BPSOP, and also in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, We work on ways to create depth in our imagery.

There are several ways to create depth: manipulating LINE (a fundamental element of design), value (the lightness or darkness of a color), or color can create the illusion of depth. Depth can also be generated by cutting, dividing, or rearranging the space. Overlapping shapes or objects (one of my favorites) create depth. Arrangement of lights creates the illusion, as when light is contrasted against dark values.

Color can create the illusion of depth by placing bright or warm saturated color near the front of the scene. As color recedes into the background, its value becomes less saturated (caused by water crystals in the air that scatter the wavelengths),  and finally becoming bluish gray as it reaches the horizon.

The best way by far, is the wide angle perspective. Hands down, the wide angle lens is the best tool in your bag to create the illusion of depth. They can manipulate perspective by altering space and distance. They can also offer maximum sharpness from the foreground all the way to the background.

Here’s some examples of the different ways to  create perspective, including “anchoring the subject in the foreground” to create the illusion of depth, and using a wide angle lens to do so:

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

JoeB

It was the lens I had with me…100mm macro or the 17-40mm Zoom?

It seems that there’s no geographic boundaries when it comes to people fretting over lens. People from literally all over the world sign up for my online classes with the BPSOP, and photographers from all four corners of the globe take my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over the globe.

“What’s the best lens to have”?, I hear all the time. Actually if I had a dollar for every time I did hear that, I would be writing this post from my Island with a blue and frothy drink sitting on a table dangerously close to me.

The best lens to have is the one you have with you. I never worry about which lens to have on my camera. Whatever comes up in front of me I’ll deal with no matter what I’m shooting with; I have enough to worry about!!!

I’m certainly not suggesting that you use just one lens. In fact, I wrote a post about always using one lens.

I’ve seen fairly short people in my workshops walk off the elevator with a backback that I wouldn’t be able to carry. It almost as tall as they are and filled with just about every lens offered by the camera’s manufacturer.

One woman in particular comes to mind that walked ( slumped over) all around the grounds at the Palace of Versailes with a huge backpack stapped to her back. I asked her what in the world did she have with her. She said that she had seven lens with her…seven lens!!! When I asked her why would she torture herself like that, she said that she’s afraid of not having the right lens when she saw something interesting…wait! what?

You don’t need seven lens unless you’re a working pro on assignment. Otherwise, think about what you’re after and put the corresponding lens on and have access to maybe one more. For example, I might have a 100mm macro lens on and carry something like a 17-40mm zoom; two totally different lens.

Having said that, I would probably use the macro for portraits as well as it’s intended use, and the wide angle zoom for close-ups…to creat depth. I’ll explain this in the next post.

So my fellow photographers, it’s not the lens nor the camera, it’s the ten inches behind the camera that really matters.

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

JoeB

The dogs outside started howling!!

I put this story on facebook a while back and I had sevral people ask me to post it again on my blog which first came out seven years ago. Here it is again in its entirety:

I recently started a new category I call Anecdotes. These are funny or interesting stories or photographs that actually took place at one time or another during my forty-five years of taking photographs for editorial, advertising or corporate clients.

Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent, or those people that may not be the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. If you take my online class with the PPSOP, or my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” Workshop I conduct around the planet, you’ve probably heard a couple.

I use to be called on by Texas Monthly magazine for all the assignments that were weird or dangerous,  These were usually written by their senior writers whose articles were…weird and dangerous. Since they knew I would always come back with something out of the ordinary, I would get first pick.

I absolutely loved the challenge, and to me the weirder or more dangerous the story, the better I liked it. Editorial photography was always my favorite because I would be given the writer’s text, and allowed to do anything I wanted.

The above photo was part of a story on a man living in San Antonio, Texas who offered exorcisms to those whose family members souls were taken over by the devil, or Satan, or Beelzebub, or Lucifer, or The Prince of Darkness, or whatever name you want to give The Evil One!!!

I called him and said that I was the photographer the magazine had hired to come take his portrait. This man, whose name I can’t reveal (not that he’s still alive) had a stroke and his clientele started going elsewhere. He had just returned to a somewhat normal state and had no problem being photographed for PR sake. In fact, he loved the idea of being in a magazine.

My assistant and I drove to San Antonio not knowing what he looked like, where he did his exorcisms, or what to expect. When we arrived, his protege led us into his office, as it were. and I freaked out when I first laid eyes on his outfit. It was just toooooo good to be true. I introduced myself and started up a conversation.  I had him explain the complete process of evicting the Devil, and he went over esch and every one of the tools he used to force the demon out of the body…any body. As he was demonstrating each one I had an epiphany.

I asked him if he would preform the entire exorcism on me!!!

He agreed so I put my “forever go to” 20mm lens on, got down on my knees right in front of him and had him go through each step while I shot on continuous. I usually like to light with a soft approach, meaning umbrellas or soft boxes, but this time I wanted it to be as raw as I could make it. I had a couple of one thousand watt quartz lights and I placed one to the left and aimed it right at him with no diffusion in front of it, and the other to bring up the exposure in the room.

What you see in his hand is some incense burning in an old soup can with a bare light socket sticking in it. As he waved it back and forth holding the frazzled exposed wire, and screaming at the devil to leave my body…all in Spanish, I was shooting. After twenty minutes or so, things got weird. All the dogs in the area started howling…not barking but howling. It really creeped my assistant and I out.  Goosebumps formed all up and down my arm and I started sweating. My guess was the hot quartz lights in a small room with seven foot ceilings????

It has been one of my all time favorite shoots. One that to this day, I can still conjure up a metal picture of the room clouded with cheap, sweet smelling incense.

Ok, I’m sure I’ll be asked if it worked, and all I can say is who really know for sure. 😉

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and be sure to check out my 2013 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime, I got a million stories.

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

JoeB

Shot in the manual mode

For those of you that are reading my post for the first time, I was an advertising, corporate, and editorial photographer for fifty years.

I’m retired now and teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind”  workshops all over this (round) planet.

I teach my fellow photographers how to incorporate the basic elements of visual design into their imagery. At the same time I work with them on becoming stronger shooters…how you ask?

First, let me finish my digital thought I posted in the title of this post. I didn’t write it and I’m not sure any one person did. At one point in time, I even might have had a hand in it since it’s one of my mantras!!

“Everyone’s a photographer until they try to shoot in the manual mode”. As I said, one of my mantras.

Shooting in the manual mode means that you’re in charge and not the camera; it’s a camera, but it’s also a machine. You make all three decisions: The exposure, the aperture, and the ISO. I can tell you that it’s in your best interest if you want to move your level of photo expertise what I refer to as ‘up a notch’.

In my online classes, it’s always a struggle to get people to stop depending on a program. One of the biggest problems is that most of the photographers out there started in the digital era, and think it’s important to use what the camera offers up by letting the camera make all the creative decisions…remember that it’s a machine, not an instrument for producing creative thought.

I have students that accept the fact (and wear it proudly on their chest) that shooting in the aperture mode is a bad habit, but they won’t do anything about it. It’s part being afraid to learn, and being too lazy to even try. That said, there’s a lot of comfort in shooting with a camera that’s fully automatic…unfortunately!!!

Shooting in ‘A’ means that the photographer sets the F/stop and the camera automatically sets the shutter speed. The problem here is that the camera won’t know what shutter speed will be fast (or slow) enough to do what you intended…it just picks one for you.

Shooting in ‘S’, the shutter priority, isn’t any better. You choose the shutter speed and the camera decides on what is going to be in focus…seriously????? I just shake my head and wonder why a photographer would not want to be in control of his/her photo destiny!!!

While a camera might be smart to some extent, it won’t ever be able to make any artistic decisions; and make no mistake, we are all artists who have chosen the camera as our medium.

Having written all this, if you really want to take you photography “to where no man has gone before”, then set your camera to ‘M’ on your dial and start practicing. It will take a commitment on your part, but the rewards are well worth it.

You can always sign up for my classes and I’ll help you!!!

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

JoeB

In the manual mode

I was recently reminded after watching a news segment on the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963, I thought it might be good timing to suggest for your approval, one of my recent quotes. Like so many people of my generation, I remember exactly what i was doing the moment I had heard. I was sitting in a barber chair getting my hair cut.

Now, in remembrance of those incredible times, I offer you this quote that you’ll hopefully take to heart and include in your thought process when composing your photos: “Ask not what your camera can do for you, ask what you can do with your camera”. There’s no disrespect meant here, since I like so many others in that generation loved the president and agree that his famous quote will go down as one of a poignant reminder of such a tragic time.

With my online class with the BPSOP and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I work mainly with fellow photographers that have only been shooting in the digital era. The era where you no longer have to worry or think for that matter about how to take a picture…it’s so simple you see. All you have to do is aim the lens at something and pull the trigger; that’s Texas talk for clicking the shutter. The camera will do all your thinking for you, and what the camera leaves out, the computer and all the software you crammed in it will do the rest.

It will blink when you’re clipping a highlight, it shows you a histogram so you don’t have to actually study the light for yourself, It tells you what exposure to use, whether you like it or not, It focuses automatically which is a luxury not a necessity. It can bracket automatically which is a good thing, and some cameras even cleaned the sensor for you. Last, it provides so many different shooting programs that to know what all of them mean would take a degree from MIT.

I’ve heard of plans for some states to make it legal to actually marry your camera…No, say it ain’t so!!!

Ok, here’s some of the things you can do with your camera. You can crop in it so you’ll know where the edges of your frame are and use those edges as a compositional tool. You can move your camera to the ‘M’ setting.

For those of you that have no idea what ‘M’ stands for, it stands for manual. From there you can set your own shutter speed/aperture combination thus beginning to study and learn about the light. You can focus it yourself when those weird times come into play where the camera can’t decide what exactly it is you want in focus.

For those people that only shoot horizontally (and you know who you are), you can turn the camera 90 degrees and shoot vertically; btw, there’s more energy in a vertical than a horizontal. You can either look through the viewfinder or use live view when you’re in a weird spot. Some people even hide behind it to be invisible; war photographers did this all the time. If you put your camera on a tripod, you become the same artist as the ones that put a canvas on an easel. With the help of your camera, you can capture the beauty that surrounds you, making you feel good. And last, I seen people hammer small nails with their camera!!!

And so my fellow photographers, “Ask not what your camera can do for you, ask what you can do with your camera”

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

JoeB

Adapt and adjust

The last time I was conducting a workshop I saw several of my fellow photographers walk away from a subject in one of the many location I scout out ahad of time. They walked away because something interrupted them and they didn’t want to deal with it any longer.

Things are not always going to go your way, in fact most of the time they don’t. I guess if they did, it would becoming boring to always be able to shoot a ‘wall hanger’. For me, the thrill is in the chase.

Here’s an example of just what I mean. First of all I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops all over our round planet.

I was with a group in Sicily, and to be more specific, a medieval village high in the mountains just north of Catania.  Going up the tiny highway to shoot at sunset, we were in our bus that was an experience unto itself; but looking all around one could see clear blue skies.

When we arrived and started getting our gear out, within minutes a dense fog enveloped us and the light was history. It was a huge bummer!!!

People were so bummed that they wanted to leave. It was time for a ‘pep talk’!!

I said that in order to rise above and transcend difficulties, one must adapt to whatever environment dealt to you at that moment; besides it took an hour and a half to get ther and I wasn’t going to give in so easily.

“In oder to adjust“, I said with authority,  you have to modify your thought process…”how”, someone blurted out.

By doing a series of things: Look for color and include it in your composition. Put on your widest lens and get up close and personal to your subject.

One of the best ways you can overcome fog or even a gray day is to include humor in your images.

The above photo wass shot by one of my students that did just that. She walked in and out of all the stores that were still open looking for props; anything to include in her photo. She saw this sun and her mind started to think aout what I had said, “include humor”.

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

JoeB