In both my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around our planet, I have my Pearls of Wisdom that my fellow photographers have become to know and I dare say…grown to love?

Maybe.

One of my all-time attention grabbers is when I say it’s all about 25X4, and I especially remember using it a lot in my last “Springtime in Sicily” workshop. I used it every day that we were walking around Palermo, Siracusa, Cefulu’ on the West side of Sicily and Catania, Taormina, and Ortygia on the Eastside.

As I do in my workshops, I show people how to see things occurring all around them. As Henry David Thoreau said, “It’s not what you look at, it’s what you see”. I’ll suggest they look at things with the right side of their brain, the creative side instead of the left side which is the analytical side.

The analytical side sees a tree, and the right side sees texture, patterns, lines, color, light, shapes, and form; all basic elements of visual design.

Having said all that, if you just look straight ahead while you’re walking, you’re only using twenty-five percent of your possible vision that has an immediate correlation to photo ops that either surround you or you pass by. I can say from years of experience, the majority of photographers do just that; it just doesn’t make sense.

It reminds me of the blinders that some racehorse trainers have their horses wear to keep them focused on what’s in front of them rather than what’s behind them or on each side. It keeps them focused on the race rather than the distractions around them.

YIKES!!! Is that what you want to be compared to…a racehorse with no distractions? I think not!!

OK, when I’m walking around hunting that elusive “keeper”, looking for the light in all the right places, I use 100% of the potential shooting area that’s always there following me down the street. In other words, I look straight ahead twenty-five percent of the time for a few steps, then to my right side (a few more steps) twenty-five percent of the time, to the left twenty-five percent of the time and behind me twenty-five percent of the time…now that sure makes sense to me.

In the above photo taken after my workshop in Sicily in Lisbon, if I hadn’t been looking from side to side instead of straight ahead, I would have never seen this guy mixed in with several of his friends….missing what would soon be one of my favorite photos/examples.

BTW, I will also look up and down, and have discovered many of my best shots doing just that.

So there you have it, my 25X4 pearl of wisdom. I can guarantee you that if you make a conscious effort to follow my advice, a whole new set of photo opportunities will open up for you, and it will be a lot more fun.

🙂

Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and be sure to check out my 2016-17 workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.

Keep those eyes wide open and always moving around,

JoeB

When I’m out walking the streets whether it be in Paris, Lisbon, New York, recently in Cuba, or in my own backyard, I pretty much follow the same routine. That is, I look for all the elements of Visual Design, light, and color. Any of these are what I call pieces to a puzzle, and when I can get enough of these pieces, I look for something that can tie them all together. The final touch, the glue, the last “layer of interest” that can complete my work of art…my photo.

If I see something that fits the bill, and I have the time to wait, I’ll find a nice comfortable place to sit (hopefully) or stand and wait. The hurry up part is to get what I think is the best exposure and lock it in to my manual settings. I arrange my composition to allow for that certain something, and when it comes I’ll know it.

It could come in a second, a minute, or ten minutes. The longer I’m willing to devote to it depend entirely on how important I think the photo could be. One thing I know from years of experience is that if and when it comes, I’m not going to have a lot of time to shoot; and as Eddie Adams once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”.

The above photo was taken on my recent third trip to Cuba for the Santa Fe Workshops. We were in a small town an hour outside of Havana, and it was mid morning. The sun was sky high, and it was incredibly hot with little to no shade; too hot to walk around aimlessly. Across the small square I spotted a brick wall with a grouping of buildings behind it.

I immediately saw the yellow and turquoise shapes, and what I also saw were semi-squares that created a pattern.  These are two of the basic elements of visual design. I loved the way the colors seemed to be in harmony and quickly took a vertical approach, minimizing the semi-squares that weren’t yellow. I always take into account what I always tell my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, “It’s not what you put in your pictures that counts, it’s what you don’t put in that matters”.

Ok, the hurry-up part was done, all I needed was that certain something to happen. Several people walked by, but no one was wearing anything colorful. After a longer period of time than I wanted given the time of day and the temperature, I spotted a mother and daughter sitting on a bench behind me.

The daughter was wearing exactly what I was looking for, so I asked the mother if they would cross the street and walk by the concrete wall. The little girl began walking at a faster pace maybe ten feet in front, she suddenly stopped, and stuck her head into one of the semi-squares. I was able to get off one frame before the mom came into the frame, said something to the girl and took her away.

If I hadn’t seen past my first impression and used my Artist Palette, had my composition and exposure set, and was able to minimize an ordinary hot blue sky, I would not have been able to capture this moment in time.

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

Keep those photos and questions coming to: AskJoeB@gmail.com, and I’ll create a video critique of your photo.

JoeB

I’ve been writing down my personal pearls of wisdom for years, and over the course of these years I’ve been sharing them with my fellow photographers that sign up for my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind workshops ” I conduct around our planet. The one I want to share with you today is one of my favorites and most important…“My three W’s”

Ok, I guess you need to know just what they are, and once again it’s all about the light. People are always asking me how I can get the quality of the light and the saturation/depth in my color without a lot of post processing. First let me digress just a little.

I’m from the old school that shot Kodachrome 25 and way before the invention of the computer much less Lightroom and Photoshop. We did everything in the camera, and the finished photo was on one piece of 35mm film…one exposure! Nowadays, I love the challenge of getting as much in the camera as I can, with a minimum amount of time spend in front of the computer. To me it’s more important to be a good photographer than a good computer artist.

Don’t get me wrong, I do a little on every photo, but not much more that what I did to a print in the darkroom.

So, the three W’s: Know WHERE to stand, WHEN to stand there, and WHY you have to be quick when you’re standing there.

WHERE: Before I raise my camera up to my eye, I determine where the source of the light is coming from. I’ve watched so many photographers walk up to their subject and just start shooting, paying absolutely no attention to the light. I can tell you that light is everything, except perhaps when you’re street shooting; although good directional light can enhance any situation and generate visual interest and tension.

I want to create the third dimension in Form ( a basic element of visual design), by adding Depth. This can only be done when you side light your subject. Otherwise you’re left with only height and width. I also like to back light my subject (especially when it’s translucent) which gives it a glow around its outline.

WHEN: Knowing that (for me) the best times to shoot is during the Golden Hour, when the sun is low on the horizon; generally ten to fifteen degrees above the horizon either at sunrise or sunset…depending on the time of year and if you’re North or South of the equator. I also like to be at a location before the sun comes up and after it goes down.

This is the time for Blue Hour when the sun is at a significant distance to the horizon, and it comes before dawn (another great time to shoot) when the blue turns into reds, yellows, pinks, purples, and oranges…and dusk when the reds, yellows, oranges, and purples, turn blue before turning into black.

WHY: After chasing the light for nearly fifty years, I can tell you that it’s so fleeting you can miss a great photo by seconds. Part of what has helped me through a half of a century of taking pictures (saying it that way sure does make me feel really old) is knowing where the sun, to the degree, is going to rise and set at any location in the world…on any day of the week. I know how long I’ll have before the sun gets up to high and becomes hot and harsh.

I’ll know if there’s a building, structure, hill, or mountain that will cut my time short either by clearing the obstacle in the morning, or losing it behind an obstacle at sunset. Part of my process for determining how much time I have is by an incredible app I have on my iPhone. It’s called “My Radar”, and it shows, in real time with a GPS, where any rain is by showing the actual storm as it moves from one direction to another.. I know this doesn’t sound like it’s a big deal, but I know if I’m about to get bad weather and when it will pass over…sometimes leaving a rainbow behind.

Even knowing the where, when, and why doesn’t guarantee you that you’re going to come home every time with that illusive “OMG” photo, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. As Eddie Adams once said, “When you get lucky, be ready”.

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.

JoeB