Joe Baraban’s Digital Photography Blog

Canice sent me this photo to ask me what I thought. As usual, I like to show what the person said so that others that might be feeling the same thing, or have gone through similar situations can read what was said. Here’s what Canice had to say:

Hi Joe,
Attached is an image I took the last night we were in Sienna during the workshop. You now know why I was late for the last supper !!!

You will recall the square was packed that night and we had arranged to meet up for our final meal on the last night. I had worked my way around the square and figured that if I went up one of the streets leading off the square I might get a shot of some people leaving the square with the sun back lighting them. I hear a lot of photography experts criticizing photos because they say there is no way any highlights should be blown. This has me confused because in this image I feel that the blown highlights on the hair make the image much stronger, What do you think?”

Canice, If I had a dollar for every time I had a fellow photography taking my online class with the BPSOP, or in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet, tell me that he or she were told by so called “photography experts” to never blow out highlights, I would be sitting by my pool right now, on my island waiting for my French maid to bring me another cocktail. Something blue and frothy with an umbrella hanging perilously from one side.

In my opinion, you should stay as far away from these self appointed experts…why? Because they will lead you down a one-way path…straight down to the burning fires of mediocrity.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE, AND WHY ARE THEY CONSIDERED EXPERTS????? If I were Emma Lazarus, and I were also a photographer, I might have written this on the Statue of Liberty for my fellow photographers, not just for the immigrants coming to America:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled photographers yearning to breath free from of all these silly rules. The wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Send these, the narrow thinking photography experts, to me:
I lift my lamp besides the blown out golden door.”

Ok, I digress a tad!!!

I really like your photo!!! I’ll usually go out of my way to backlight something. I’ll also try to blow out the highlights since like you I think it adds a different dimension to it; a dimension filled with Visual Tension and Energy.

Canice, if you remember, some of the ways to generate Visual Tension is the use of light, contrast, and capturing a moment in time and leaving it un-completed. In your photo, you have all three. If i were you I would continue up your dedicated path to glory!!!

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.

JoeB

One of the most diverse, interesting, and sometimes complicated of all the principles of Gestalt that I teach both in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet is referred to as Proximity. If you’ve ever felt that your composition was a little off and you weren’t sure why you might have been suffering from a Proximity flaw.

There are several ways Proximity can add or detract from our photography:

The proverbial tree, lamppost, building, or telephone pole that seems to grow out of your subject’s head is one of the not so good ways Proximity can affect our photographs. I’m sure you have either seen it in other images, or have been guilty of it yourself, but have you ever wondered why you didn’t notice it right before you pulled the trigger (that’s a Texas euphemism) for clicking the shutter?

When we take pictures out in some location, we’re in three-dimensional reality, so it’s easy to see the relationship between one object and another. The problem comes when you try to convey your image that was taken in three-dimensional reality, and display it in a two-dimensional representation…as in a photograph.

Since the photographer is physically present, he or she can tell that a tree or a pole or some object is in the distance and not growing out of someone’s head. That is if the photographer is paying attention.

When a picture is taken that fact is lost; you’ve lost the third dimension, depth. The tree is now in two-dimensional contact with the person and the viewer will interpret the two as being one since they’re both in focus and appear to be on the same plane.

This is a very good reason why you need to study every part of your frame before taking the picture. for those of you that have taken my workshop or class, I talk about my “Fifteen Point Protection Plan”. It’s the best way to see this effect and rectify it…how you ask?

By simply moving over a step.

There are times when you can use this flaw to your advantage, and have fun with it; as in the photo above taken by a student in my online Gestalt class, and the photo I created of the cop with the fan on his head.

The funniest example of which I don’t have a photo is when I saw a friend of mine’s five year old putting his thumb and index finger out in front of him aimed at his mother’s head and touching them together several times in rapid succession. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was pinching his mother’s head. Try it sometime; it’s a great stress reliever, and it was Proximity in action!!!

Stay tuned for more on the effects of Proximity.

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

JoeB

CLOSURE:

By several definitions, Gestalt comes from the German/Austrian word meaning shape, form, or the whole. It is stated that Gestalt is the theory that the ‘whole’ is greater than the sum of its parts. It is also stated by others that the ‘whole’ is different than the sum of its parts. My thinking is that when you use the “elements of visual design” in your imagery you are basically working with and structuring these ‘parts’ that will eventually make up the ‘whole’; the ‘whole’ being your finished composition.

The methods we use to gain attention to our photography will vary, but what’s important is how we manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. Visual input is a part of our everyday life, and as photographers, it is our prime objective to present this visual information in a way that takes control of what the viewer sees and when looking at our imagery.

In our reality, making the mind work harder is not necessarily a good thing, but in photography it is.  By leading the viewer’s eye around our composition, having them complete an image, or having them consider the scene, they are now participating by taking an active role, and when we can accomplish that our images will definitely be stronger.

When we talk about different ways to keep the viewer involved in our photographs, one of several ways is to have them “complete an image, or a form, or an idea”. The brain has the ability to complete an unfinished form or subject, and this ability in the theory of Gestalt is called closure.

In both my online class with the BPSOP and in the “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I teach, we discuss and work on the six different ‘concepts’ in the theory of Gestalt. In my part I and part II classes, we work on incorporating the elements of visual design into out photography.

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com. Come see me sometime, and we work and shoot together.

JoeB

I continue my quest to bring to those of you that discovered photography in the digital era, an idea of what it was like way back when. I’m talking about a time when Adobe was a style of house found in the Southwest part of our fifty states. A time when my producer had to drive around to find a phone booth to call me, a person on our crew, a client, a location scout, etc. A time when you had to create images all by your lonesome, and “in the camera”.

Sound scary? Well it was, as I think back about it!!! However, I didn’t know any difference. It was just something you did, and everyone was on the same playing field. Yes, “those were the days my friend, oh yes those were the days.” When I teach my online class with the BPSOP, and I take my “Stretching Your Frame of mind” workshop around the planet, Photoshop is put on hold. We work on getting photos “in the camera”. I don’t mean to suggest that I never use Photoshop because I do. I just love the ‘content aware’ tool!!!

The challenge for me and one I ask of all my students is to be able to get as much as you can without the use of Photoshop. If there’s one thing I’m sure of in this “crazy mixed up world”, is that it will make you a better photographer, and that’s my goal. I’m not interested in my classes becoming better computer artists, just better shooters.

I was shooting a campaign and a series of posters for Prince, the makers of tennis equipment, and the campaign was called, “Let the games begin”. It was about what people will go through to become better players; aside from using Prince’s equipment. The photo above was taken in Santa Barbara, California, and I had scouted several locations with my Sunpath chart and my Morin 2000 hand bearing compass. I knew from those readings that the sun would hit this location at sunset. I stood where I was going to place the tennis player, took a reading with my compass, and determined that he would get perfect late light.

Since most of the work comes in the pre-production stages of a photo-shoot, I was feeling pretty good about the prospects of coming away with a “keeper”. Now, all I had to do was set up the tennis balls, put the model in the right spot, put the Prince blue bag as far away as I could, and still make the client happy, then wait for the light.

Well, here came Murphy’s Law. You know the one, that pesky law that says, “if anything can go wrong, it will. If there’s a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong.”

So, you’re asking yourself what could have gone wrong? Well imagine everything set up perfect, the late sun shining low and bright, and a Santa Anna wind coming up from nowhere and blowing every tennis ball off the court. Can you imagine? Well, I can tell you that it was just about the last thing that was on my mind, but that’s exactly what happened.

What did I do back then without the help of Photoshop? I did what I had to to make it work. I had everyone grab some Duct tape, tear off several thin strips and secure every ball to the court. So every ball you see has two pieces of very strong sticky tape under it.

“Oh yes, those were the days!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Watch for my workshop schedule I’ll post at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime and listen to a million stories just like this one.

JoeB

Frank S. sent me this photo and said, ” Saw you were open to seeing  pics and thought I’d send you this one that just re-surfaced.”

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, I show people how to incorporate the Elements of Visual Design and Composition in to their imagery. Years and years (a million) ago, this man took my Maine Media Workshop, (which incidentally begins July 30th this year)  and along with his close friend, were way above the rest of the class in delivering quality images every day.3

Shooting with me didn’t give Frank his ‘eye’, he had it all along. All I did was to teach him how to use in in a different way. It seems to have stuck because his submission is a very nice portrait!!! Although I’m not a huge fan of combining B/W  (or sepia, I think!!!) and Color, this portrait is among one of the few that I really like.

It’s straightforward simple, but compelling at the same time. It hits you in the ‘eye’ like a big Pizza Pie…but with a thin soft crust!!!

For me, her eyes are the strongest part of this photo. As I teach/preach to my students, Line is probably the most important Element on their ‘Artist Palette’ ( a term I use in my workshops), because without Line, nothing else would exist. It takes lines to make patterns, Texture, Vanishing Points, etc., as well as planes, trains, and automobiles..why???? Because planes, trains, and automobiles all have outLINES.

The most important Line is the horizon line, which should always be straight. However, the implied line between the subject and the lens is  very powerful, and for that reason, if I’m not having them look out of the frame (see my post on the Leading in Rule), I usually have my subjects looking into the lens.

The exposure was very important here as far as getting the bright background, the skin-tones and her dress to have their own feel/look but to be combined together to make up the finished photo. It might look easy, but it’s not!!!

Thanks for the submission.

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

 

 

Most of you will know Johnathon Swift as the guy that wrote Gulliver’s Travels; one of the few books I read more than once. Among a much smaller crowd, he’s known for a quote he said a long time ago. A quote I have read once or twice in the past forty years as an advertising, editorial,  and corporate photographer. He said, ” Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others”.

As I often tell my fellow photographers that sign up for my online classes with the BPSOP, or the ones that shoot with me in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, use the Elements of Visual Design to help you “see past your first impressions”. If it’s a tree, then what else is it? It’s an object made up of Texture, Patterns, Form (when side lit) Shape, and most important Line. It’s about the Negative Space between the branches that are defining those leaves and branches.

Depending on the time of day, it’s about the shadow the tree creates. When shot early in the morning or late in the day when the sun is gone the tree becomes a two-dimensional silhouette against a brighter sky. It’s all these things that most people can’t see…why, because they just don’t know how to see… with the right vision.

In the above photo, the left side of my brain, the analytical side, saw a Ferris Wheel. The right side, the creative side saw motion, a circle, a triangle, patterns, lines, light, and color.

Once you learn how to see with this vision, a whole new set of photo opportunities will be at your disposal. no longer will you say that when you went out shooting, you just didn’t see anything interesting. There’s ALWAYS something interesting to shoot.

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

JoeB

Aaron from Georgia sent me this winter scene for a critique. Here’s what he had to say:

“Hi. I would like a critique on this image. This is one of the better images I have captured for a seasonal winter album. Like all the other pictures in this set, when I squeezed the shutter button, I was attempting to convey a sense of loneliness, cold and mystery. I took about 30 frames at this road near a farm in Eatonton, Ga. On each frame I was looking to use the road and fences as lines to pull a viewer’s eyes into the fog. (Each frame was a little different in composition.) I used a very selective depth of field, focusing on the first fence post on the bottom right of the frame. The image is photo shopped – In ACR, I adjusted exposure, increased the blacks, contrast and clarity. I also sharpened (what little depth of field there is) with ACR. In Photoshop I adjusted the levels.

So my question is: Does this photo convey the feelings of loneliness, cold and mystery well?”

Aaron, although it’s a very nice photo, I can only wonder what it looked like before all the post processing work??????? I also wonder what you would have done before the days of the digital era and specifically Photoshop????  It sort of reminds me of a conversation I had a while back with a student of mine in the class I teach with the BPSOP. She had a similar photo, not as far as a winter scene like yours, but a similar photo with quite a bit of post work. I told her that her photo reminded me of a woman I went out with once (and I do mean once).

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that in order for her to look good, she would put on high heels (for additional height), a padded bra, fake eyelashes, colored contact lens,  and extensions for her dyed hair. It just struck me funny when you mentioned all the things you did to this photo to make it look good. I realize that this is the way it is now with the digital age and so many photographers that have only seen and composed through a digital camera, are thinking about Photoshop as a way of making their photo look better. I wonder what your photo looked like before you worked on it? I wonder if I could have taken this same photo and made it look good the way I would if I was still printing in my darkroom simply by burning and dodging, the right initial exposure,  and the right grade of paper?

Hummm, but I digress!!!

  Ok,  the first thing I wonder is what lens you used, and what aperture you had it set on. The reason I ask is because you said you used a shallow depth of field, but it seems as if all of this composition is in focus. If you had used a wide angle lens and you had it focused at infinity, then everything would have been sharp no matter what you had it set on. To me, it feels like the fog is making everything look soft.

As far as it looking cold, this kind of fog happens any time of the year just about anywhere in the country. I’ve taught a workshop where we had this exact light and fog most of the week. It was very sad since back then the name of my workshop was called “The Poetry of Light”. The class had a T-shirt made for me that said my class was now called “The Poetry of Fog. This was in August.

If you want to say cold, without being there to tell the viewer that it was indeed cold, you have to say it visually. You know it was cold because you were there, but will someone else that wasn’t there?

You do achieve a sense of Mystery and certainly Loneliness simply because of the fog, and the fact that you can’t see what’s over the hill. Loneliness also comes into play since there’s no one around.

The best part of this photo is the way you used Continuance (a concept of Gestalt) to lead the viewer down the road and fence line. You absolutely achieved that. The fence line is a very strong directional element that is very close to being a Vanishing Point which has created a sense of depth.

It’s a good photo Aaron, and thanks for submitting it to me.

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

JoeB

In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” Workshops, We spend a lot of time on color, since it’s one of the elements on my ‘Artist Palette’ and so important in taking our photography what I refer to as “Up a Notch”. 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.

Coming from a background in color theory, painting and design, I have over the years trained my eye to look for color, and it often requires looking past your initial impression. Since my background is also in Journalism (as in a BA) I love to write and tell stories. Now, my medium is photography, so I use color as my way of communicating my ideas.

Nothing can help a photographer more than when he’s forced to shoot in bad light or just wants to venture out on a snowy day. Paul, a recent student with me at the PPSOP went out during our class with his ‘Artist Palette‘ (always in the back of his mind) and found this amazing location.  Since we had started working on Vanishing Points and Directional lines, and how they can add depth to our imagery, he had hit the photo jackpot!!!

 I can assure you that very few photographers would compose this photo so that the green railing would form a Vanishing Point and lead the viewer down the road to the man perfectly framed at the end. Also Paul,” seeing past first impressions“, knew that the green would have an enormous effect on his composition while communicating an idea. Moreover, on several occasions, I’ve had one of my students tell me that it was overcast and decided that there was nothing to shoot on such a gray day…and I love it when they do!! Every time they say that I just whip out this image that Paul shot and “let them eat crow”.

Paul has also done a great job in using one of the concepts in the theory of Gestalt I teach called Continuance.

I would have no problem telling people that I had shot this photograph…BRAVO!!!

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my workshop schedule. Come shoot Vanishing Points with me sometime.

JoeB

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