Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

I will often walk up to one of my fellow photographers on some street in Sicily, France, or in another of my ‘springtime” destinations workshops or my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I also teach and I’ll observe him/her shooting a subject that includes some kind of action. I often notice this in photos that are submitted in one of my online classes with the BPSOP.

What I observe and notice (right away) is that the photo was not taken at the optimum point in time; to achieve the most visual interest and tension. They will quickly reach for their camera whether it be over their shoulder or around their neck and just start clicking away.

Of course one might be luckily enough to capture that moment, the peak of the action, but don’t count on it. I’ve heard soooooooooo many times someone saying, “if I would have waited I would have gotten it”…or “If I would have shot earlier I would have gotten it”. Either way you missed.

In every situation that has action in it there’s usually a moment in time that tells the story about the action you’re photographing; there’s always one exposure that the most important, and that’s the peak of the action.

Since the environment around us exposes us to various action, being at the right pace at the right time is crucial in capturing that moment. Or setting up the action and shooting it in a reportage style to make it appear as though you were in the right place at the right time (like I like to do) will work.

What I mean by the peak of action can be explained this way: If you were to through an apple up in the air, there’s a moment in time that it’s no longer going up, but has not started to come down. That split second in time is the peak of the action.; and it’s different from the decisive moment.

I know it sounds difficult, bu in reality it’ quite simple to capture. The key is knowing it’s going to happen, and slow down just a touch…and preparing yourself for it. Having your camera set on continuous shooting is a very good way to get it. For me it’s a visual reaction I’ve come to rely on automatically since I’ve been doing it for a long time; certainly before the digital age.

In the above photo of the little boy, I had him jump over the sprinkler several times in front of different houses. Clearly, the boy is frozen in air. He’s no longer going up, but has not started to come down…thus, the peak of action.

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

 

JoeB

 

 

I just love thinking back over my forty-three year career to all the funny things that happened during some of my shoots, and I gotta tell you that there were so many that are repeatable and some not so much!!!

If you’ve taken my online class with the BPSOP, or my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, you’ve probably hard some of the ones I wouldn’t repeat to just anyone.

Years ago, one of the craziest projects I worked on was for Apache Oil and Gas Annual Report. They were in the process of partnering up with the Egyptian government to start drilling there, so they sent me over to photograph whatever I wanted provided it said something about the country and it’s history. What a great assignment. For a week, I basically had Carte blanche, backed by whatever expenses I saw fit to use in order to get the shot I wanted. As the above photo will show, Egypt is dripping with history.

The day before the above shoot, we were scouting locations to find a sunrise location where I could position the camel caravan I had just hired. We were scouting on camels, so when we found the right spot and returned to the stables I made a point in saying that it was going to be the very last time I would ever get on a smelly, dirty, obstinate, and very uncomfortable camel.

Before sunrise of the morning of the shoot, we headed out but this time the designer, my assistant and I were on Arabian Stallions instead of camels. Wow, what a difference!!! After a great morning shoot, we headed back racing down the huge sands dunes with the Pyramids of Giza looking right at us. It was a Cecil B. DeMille moment and one I’ll always remember.

Ok, now for the funny part: For those of you out there that have never seen the pyramids, let me tell you that they’re not out in the desert; quite the contrary. Much to my surprise they’re just on the edge of Cairo, with a resort hotel and casino across the street ((actually where we stayed), a shopping center on one side where you could buy pyramid thermometers, and a golf course on the other.

Hard to believe? Well two photos are worth two thousand words. Here’s one with the client putting on a green ( with a caddy possibly a descendant from Pharaoh himself ) and the other is yours truly hitting out of the largest sand trap in the world!!!

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

JoeB

Alan sent me the above photo and ask for my opinion. Here’s what he had to say:

“Hello Joe:

I was up in Acadia National Park a few years ago.  I love to sail  and we were out on this boat for a sunset cruise. I captured this image and thought it was interesting how the deck hand was focused on doing something as they sat on the rail.

I decided to turn it to Black and White as the color did not add to the image.  I like this image because it tells a story framed with the sails and showing the deckhand.
Then it looks like I got a “Sunstar”   We discussed these in the BPSOP composition class. Even though I like this image and I think it is good, I am sure that there is room for improvement.  What could I do to make this one better?

I look forward to your critique. ”

OK Alan, let’s take it one idea at a time:

With my online class with the BPSOP, and also with my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, one of the things I tell my students is to make sure whatever message they want to get across is what I refer to as a “Quick read”. Since you won’t always be around to explain to the viewer what’s going on in your photo, it has to be able to stand on its own. What I mean is that you say it was interesting watching the deck hand. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that would know that it was a deck hand and not someone with you taking the cruise.

If you want to say deckhand, then say it visually. Have him doing something that only a deck hand would be doing.

First of all, we don’t perceive in a square, we perceive in a rectangle…a 3:2 aspect ratio. Your photo is way too claustrophobic for the environment that’s surrounding you…but that’s another story!!!Now let’s address the color vs Black and White issue:

Don’t get me wrong, I love B/W, and started my career shooting mostly B/W with the AP and UPI. There’s a time for B/W (unfortunately these days that means de-saturating the color), and there’s a time for color and watching the sunset on a sailboat cruising off the coast of Maine is, in my opinion, a time for color. You say that color didn’t add to this image so I would love to see the original color version because I’m from the great state of Missouri and our state motto is “The Show Me State”!!!

Sailing is just too romantic to view in B/W. Think of all the famous quotes about sailing, and the one that immediately comes to mind is: “Red sky by morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”. Can you imagine this quote as the title to your photo???????

Here’s a phrase I constantly hear now that I’m the age I am: “They retired and sailed off into the sunset”. When you retire, would you want to sail off into a B/W sunset?

Thanks for the submission Alan. I hope I was of help.

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

JoeB

Elija is a photographer living in Croatia. He recently took my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” class with the BPSOP and submitted this photo to show how he used several Elements of Visual Design and Composition that are on his new ‘Artist Palette’ to create this wonderful photograph. He composed this photo with these in mind: Line, Pattern, Texture, Negative Space, Perspective, Shape, Color, and Visual Tension.

The man was in the middle of the frame, and I made a suggestion to Elija to move him to the edge, and this is where the Visual Tension comes in. Now, I know that some of you were taught to always have your subject walking into the frame (The Leading in rule), but when you do that, the viewer will already know where he’s walking. I want the viewer to wonder where he’s walking to next by implying content outside the frame. By placing him close to the edge of the frame, and minimizing the Negative Space, it’s creates Tension.Not the garden variety that comes from emotional or mental strain, but visual Tension that occurs when forces act in opposition to one another; as in the person and the edge of the frame…BTW, that’s a stupid rule!!!

By the way, I wrote a post about the Leading in Rule, and why I thought it was a DUMB. Check it out!

After a four week course, Elija is able to see these elements before he composes his idea. With his imagination working in tandem with the Elements on his ‘Artist Palette‘, the results are what you’re looking at now. A very well done photograph, one that will surely be remembered.

Great shot!

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

JoeB

A camera, handled correctly, is a passport to wonderful places and experience. You’ve noticed that I put ‘handled correctly’ in italics, and there’s a good reason for that.

I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I also conduct workshops everywhere in the world. It’s the workshops that I want to talk about because it’s there where  I find the biggest problems.

Case in point. During my workshop in Prague, we were shooting sunrise at a famous cathedral know for being one of the first to use a Flying Buttress in it’s architecture. Right at sunrise a woman came up to me with her new Leica (with lens was $60,000) and asked me if I knew how to use it.

Apparently, she had bought this system right before the workshop and had no idea how to use it….boggles the mind!!!

I said that I had no idea and asked her if she had practiced with it and read the manual before coming. I also said that there’s lots of instructions you could find on YouTube.

She responded with a strange kind of look and then said that she had never thought about it. She thought that there would be people in the workshop that could help her.

I can’t tell you how important it is to try out new equipment before going anywhere. Whether it be a new body, a lens, or switching to a brand new system…especially a new system. Sit down with the camera and manual and go through each and every page so you’ll have a complete working knowledge and

be in a position to come back with photos of a lifetime.

The second most important thing I strongly suggests to all my fellow photographers and students is to learn how to shoot on manual. Make your own decisions as far as the camera settings, and not let the camera (a machine) make them for you. I can guarantee you that you’ll become a far stronger shooter.

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

JoeB

Valeriano submitted this remarkable photo and asked what I thought of it.  Here is what he said when I asked him to explain what he did:

“Hi Joe,

The exposure was 4 minutes (I have used a 10 stops ND filter and a 2 stops ND Grad to hold back the sky).

I knew the pier would have been a silhouette and I wanted to catch the muted colors of the last rays of sun at sunset. Also I have chosen to go for such a long exposure in order to get the ocean really calm an some movement in the clouds, juxtaposing it to the fixed figure of the pier structure. What do you think?”

OK, I have to preface my answer to him by saying that Valeriano was an online student of mine with the BPSOP. With both my online class and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet, I teach people how to use the elements of visual design and composition to take their photography what I refer to as “Up a Notch”. We also work on color as a way to communicate ideas and light as the single most important element found on my Artist Palette.

In Valeriano’s photo, he has used his new Artist Palette to create a wonderful photo; a photo that will be remembered. His use of Negative Space to define the posts in the water, the railing on the pier, and the people and umbrellas was no accident. We start working on Negative Space in the first week since it’s so important to strike a balance between the Negative and Positive Space. Valeriano knew exactly what he was doing!!!

In the second week of my online class, we work on using Vanishing Points to lead the viewer around the frame, as well as to the horizon. Valeriano, by placing himself where he did, created a wonderful Vanishing Point, and as you can see, it’s a wonderful way to keep the viewer an active participant in our photography. When we do that, he’ll stick around longer, and that’s exactly what we want him to do.

By framing the way he did, he created “layers of interest” by anchoring the sitting area in the foreground. This is also what we work on..Perspective and depth. His use of a silhouette is something we spend an entire week on in my BPSOP part II class

If I could do anything, I would have asked if I could open all the umbrellas and create a pattern with them using Negative Space to define each one…we also work on Patterns (an element of visual design) as well.

It takes a lot of work and thinking to create a photo like this, and Valeriano should be proud of his accomplishment.

Thanks for the submission, I enjoyed looking at it.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe come shoot with me sometime. You’ll walk away with your own Artist Palette as a souvenir of your experience.

JoeB

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my Workshops I teach around the globe, we work on the elements of visual design and how they can be incorporated into our imagery. These elements are found on my ‘Artist Palette’, and it’s what a lot of my workshop is all about.

One of the elements is called Tension. Tension is Energy, and it’s a very important tool in taking our photography what I call “Up a Notch”.

There are several ways to generate Tension in our photos, and one of them is “Framing within a frame”. The Energy is created when the viewer looks through the frame to see the subject. He will first see the frame, then he’ll move through it to see whatever it is for him to see. The time spent on doing this will take additional Energy, and TENSION=ENERGY.

Here’s an attempt by Laurette, on of my online students to create Tension. Not only is it a very good example of “Framing within a Frame”, but it’s also filled with other elements of design that can also be found on my ‘Artist Palette’:

Negative Space, Patterns, Texture, Line, Vanishing Point, Shape, and Perspective.

When you can put this many elements into a photograph, it stands a very good chance in being considered “Up a Notch”…even though it’s a square.

🙂

Nice job Laurette!!!

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Look for coming workshops at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

I was shooting for five weeks in Hawaii for United Airlines and the Hawaii Department of Tourism. Along with some of the top hotels, they had formed a coop in which they all shared in the expenses.

I had sent my producer over a week ahead of time to scout locations for me to look at once I got there and to ultimately shoot. I had told her that I wanted to include some typical well-known tourists attractions, because they would look different when I shot them….why you ask?

For the simple reason that the tourists would get there sometime after breakfast and before lunch, or after lunch and before dinner. Either way, they would be there in the worst possible light, while I would be there before the sun came up and right before it set.

In these types of locations, it’s all about the light, and very few of my fellow photographers ever thinks about that. In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m always stressing that the light is critical if you’re trying to take your photography what I refer to as “up a level”.

Knowing where the light is going to be, how long it will be there, and when it will leave is fundamental in coming home with that illusive OMG photo. The only time light can be second in the thought process is when you’re street shooting and “the moment” will and can trump beautiful light…especially if you’re shooting B/W.

One of the tourist attractions my producer found was on the Island of Kauai. It was the Kilauea Lighthouse, and it was one of the more popular attractions on the Island. At a popular lookout point I checked the light for sunrise and sunset readings coupled with my Morin2000 Hand Bearing Compass. After determining that it was a sunset shoot, I set out to add something to what would otherwise be a fairly predictable photo; even at sunset…another “layer of interest “.

There was a big enough budget that I could do pretty much what I wanted in terms of props. In this case the prop was a forty-five foot sailboat I chartered to have it tack back and forth close to the cliff. Since I knew where the sun was going to set, it was easy to backlight the huge sail.

We arrived at the lookout well in advance to make sure we secured the best spot, free from other tourists that might get in the way; not an option considering what the sailboat cost.

Right on time the sailboat came around the cliff and as it did, all the tourist that were also there started hooting and hollering while clapping at their good fortune. While the rest of the ‘weekend photographers’ shot with their small cameras with even smaller lens, I had my 600mm F/4 Nikor lens on.

The crown couldn’t believe it when the sailboat started going back and forth with the lighthouse overlooking it; they hooted, hollered, and clapped some more. Finally one of them came over to me to see what I was doing since I had a headset on with a voice-activated mike.

What I was doing was talking via a powerful walki-talki to one of my assistants that was on the sailboat with another walki-talkis. I was the one that was instructing the sailboat to tack back and forth. When the word got around to all the others, they began to hoot and holler louder than they had been…and applauded my entire crew.

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

JoeB

I often wonder what kind of photographer I would have turned out to be had there been Photoshop way back when. Way back when Adobe was a type of house in the Southwest part of the US. What would I have done differently? It’s always a topic talked about with my online students at the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

Remembering back when whatever you did in terms of creating a photo that the client would buy, had to be done in the camera because way back when there weren’t personal computers.

The big companies were just starting to use computers, and these giant behemoths I was occasionally sent to photograph took up an entire floor to generate the power that can now be found sitting on my desk in my iMac 27 with 32 GB of RAM, a 4.0 GHz processor, and a three terabyte Fusion hard drive…maybe? Close?

In my opinion, I wouldn’t be near the photographer had I had access to Lightroom, Photoshop, and all the plug-ins that one can find out in the geek-produced/induced digital market. I would have wound up with a sore butt from the hours that would have been needed sitting in front of a computer to achieve what I did in the camera.

In terms of my imagination, and my eye, and always thinking about “coloring outside the lines” these things would not have been any different. It’s using that imagination and my ‘eye’ instead of digital help that I’m talking about. Using the Elements of Visual Design and composition, and being a student of the Light is what made me whatever I am today, and not a computer.

I even know how to focus manually!!!!

🙂

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a purist in any sense of the word. I love Photoshop, and I use it on every photo I take to some extent…why not!! I just personally like the challenge of getting it in the camera.

In the above photo, I was shooting for Rubbermaid outdoor furniture, and had two truck loads of their entire line that followed me down the California coast. We were in Big Sur at the Ventana Inn. Actually, we were on the roof of the Nepenthe restaurant and it was mid day.; not the ideal time to shoot as the light was hot and harsh.

I needed the light to be soft so it might replicate the period of time we were going for; it wasn’t going to happen without help.

If this would have been shoot in the digital age, creating that feeling in front of the computer would have been easy, but it wasn’t. Instead, to get that feeling I set up my 20X20 silk to diffuse the harsh light. coming from a sun that was directly above us. As you can see, this isn’t a small item, and it took an hour and a half just to set it up in the wind.

Think about a 20X20 piece of silk…that’s 400 square feet of sail, and if not tied down correctly on huge stands that were held down with sand bags, it would take my assistants over the ocean and deposit them in really cold water inhabited by things that can eat you…or maybe just play with you until you drown.

The good news is that it wouldn’t take me ( as I would be the only one left) near as long to break down what was left of the set.

🙁

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

JoeB

 

In my online class I teach with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I’m always telling my students that LIGHT IS EVERYTHING. I also tell them that when you find the light, you’ll find the shot.

As for the photograph above, I was walking the streets of Cairo doing what I’m always doing…looking for light, when I walked by this small shop where this man was selling very strong sweet tea. There, right in front of me, was the light. It was just a sliver of light that was  hitting the man and the small area around him. I immediately backed up to observe how a tiny bit of light could create such a strong image.

This is exactly what I was telling Eleanor, an online student of mine. The week assignment for the class was to go out and Find The Light. That’s exactly what she did, as you can see in these wonderful photographs.

Great job Eleanor!!

Take a look at my website at www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. you’ll see a lot of what I think is the number one most important piece of advice I could ever give anyone. You find the light and you’ll find the shot! Come shoot with me sometime and we’ll look for it together.

JoeB

06Two of several lessons I give, both in my online class with the BPSOP and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the globe, deals with Vanishing Points and Negative Space. It’s about taking these elements of visual design  and using them to take you photography “up a notch”. The above photograph is one I show to my students as an example of both appearing in one shot.

These two elements are found on my ‘Artist Palette’ along with: Perspective, Tension, Light, Color, Texture, Pattern, Line, and Form.

Briefly, a Vanishing Point consists of parallel lines that begin somewhere behind the camera, and converge at a point on the horizon.

All photos are made up of Negative and Positive space, and in my class and workshop, we deal with that Negative Space that ‘defines’ the Positive Space and gives it substance.

Birka, one of my online students living in Moscow, Russia went out to “make a picture” with a Vanishing Point in it, and also use Negative Space to define the Positive Space. In the above photograph, she did just that. The white columns on the left form a Vanishing Point that leads the viewer to the two people walking in the middle of the frame. The Negative Space I’m referring to is that space that surrounds the two people, defining them. If it weren’t for that Negative Space between the people and the shadows on both sides of the columns. they wouldn’t be what I call a “quick read”; in other words, they wouldn’t look like two people walking.

This is how important Negative Space and a Vanishing Point are in taking our imagery “up a notch”.

Great shot and great job Birka!!!

JoeB

I was going through some of my videos and came upon this one. It gave me so many great memories that I wanted to share it with you. It was a workshop I did years ago in Sonoma and Napa Valley. I have to say that it was one of the best experiences I’ve had teaching. I had a full class and all of them were good photographers, which made it even more fun when it came to the classroom critiques. Every day I looked forward to seeing everyone’s photos and I was never disappointed.

Some of the class had taken my online course with the BPSOP and wanted to actually shoot with me, and some had taken other “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops and wanted to shoot with me again. Since I rarely shoot myself, I spend all the time walking around to see what others are doing. I’ll offer advice or talk to them about what they’re thinking, give them different ideas, and suggest alternate points of view.

Russ and Pat Johnson, who live in Sonoma, had taken one of my workshops and since I  had always wanted to do this workshop I had asked Pat if she would be willing to produce it for me. She agreed, and we virtually spend a year putting it together with Pat doing all the legwork and making contact with the vineyards. We shot at several of the top vineyards in Napa and Sonoma and they were gracious enough to give us a private tour and wine tasting before and after the shoots for the class. Pat also arranged for this years farewell dinner that was hosted by the Michelin rated Sante’ Restaurant in the fabulous Fairmont Sonoma Mission Hotel. It was a perfect ending to a memorable week.

I had a very hard time picking the photos for this post, as there were at least twice as many as I’ve shown here. For the first time I had a photographer who just happened to be Russ Johnson who is also a videographer, create a short film on the workshop. It will give you an idea and show the flavor of what goes on in one of my workshops.

Here’s just some of the images shot during the five days. Enjoy the show!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Be sure to watch for my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Cone shoot with me sometime.

JoeB

Here’s another photo in my ongoing category to show those of my fellow photographers how it was when Adobe was a type of house prevalent in the Southwest. Both in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, the vast majority of my students became interested in Photography after the demise of film and the cameras that shot it.

These same students think that computers with Photoshop, Lightroom, and all the available plug-ins downloaded into them are a necessary part of the new digital age. To some, it’s the only way to create photographs. While it’s true that Photoshop and Lightroom have been an important part of my photography, I can also tell you that you don’t need any of it to make memorable pictures.

On the first day of my classes, I tell people that for the duration of the course, whether it be the four weeks of my online class, or my one week workshops, they’re not allowed to use any post-processing of any kind. I can’t tell you how many people freaks out!!! “What? Are you kidding? No way I can do that”, just to mention the three most popular come-backs.

FYI, auto focus is a luxury, not a necessity. That really has them baffled.

The above photo was taken for a company that was building a mid-level high rise in Houston. Since the building hadn’t been built, they wanted to show what amenities there would be in the area for those that would live there. One of the ideas was to create a photo that suggested Fine Dining in the area.

I created this photo in the wine cellar of a well known restaurant in the area. With the bottles of wine in the background, I set up a table and arranged the wine glasses and tulips from edge to edge. That was the easy part. I wanted to show a hand coming into the frame lighting one of the candles. Trying to open the shutter and exposing for the table setting and then having the hand light the candle proved to be impossible. I just couldn’t get the flame to stand up and look delicate. Remember that this was before the days of Photoshop, where it would now be soooooooo easy to create it on the computer.

I finally figured out a way to make it work. I had the waiter hold his hand in position with an unlit match in it. I turned off the modeling light and fired the flash to record everything. While the shutter was still open, I placed a black card in front of the lens and lit the match with another one. Once the smoke cleared and just the flame was showing I removed the black card and exposed for the flame.

What you see here was shot on one piece of film and one exposure.

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

JoeB