Common back in the fifties and sixties were musical groups that were successful with one hit records and not a comparable subsequent hit. It also applies to a sole artist who is remembered for only one hit despite other successes.

Once again I ask you to bear with me while I explain how this relates to you and your photography.

For those of you new to my blog, I teach an online class with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around our hopefully round planet. I see my fellow photographers walking down the streets of old medieval villages and stopping for a photo op.

They will invariably walk up to a subject or location, shoot the first idea that comes to mind, and then move on leaving a lot still ‘on the table’. By the way, the photograph is usually taken at eye level since it’s the easiest and less stressful way to compose. STOP!!! Don’t leave…don’t be a one hit wonder!!

The odds of you taking one shot and walking away with what you think in a ‘wall hanger, a keeper, or one of those elusive OMG photos are slim, and Vegas wouldn’t book it.  Even for me, and I’m a pretty good shooter.

Let me back up for a moment and explain how I would approach the same photo op. The first thing I do before raising my camera up to my eye is to determine the source of the light. In other words, what direction is it coming from. This is when “the clock” comes into play; check out this link!!

OK, so I’ve taken my first shot. Now, I look for variations and that doesn’t mean just zooming in or out while standing in the same spot!!

Here are some of the things I normally do:

• Up close and personal
• Change lens
• Up high then down low
• Different light
• Change a prop
• Put in a person, or take one out
• Look for something that might be unexpected or unpredictable.

When I’m shooting, I have one eye in the viewfinder and the other scouring the location for a way to segue my current composition into a stronger shot. As I’m shooting, I’m constantly making small to medium-sized adjustments besides the variations because like you, I’m always looking for that “OMG” shot!!!!

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

JoeB

I teach fellow photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design and composition into their imagery.

In my part I and part II online class with the PPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, one of the basic elements and probably the most important of them all is LINE. Without line, the other elements of visual design wouldn’t be elements, and worse, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist…why you ask????

For the simple reason that Pattern, Texture, Vanishing Points, Shape, Form, and Perspective are made up of Line. The world wouldn’t exist because everything around us from buildings to forms of locomotion to flowers to humans, etc. all have an implied outLINE.

When I’m photographing people, I almost always have my subject looking into the lens.  One of the most important implied lines is the imaginary line that runs from the subject’s eyes to the center of the lens. Not only does it suggest a certain intimacy and private bond between the subject and the photographer, but it also creates visual tension and intellectual energy.

As I always say, “Tension=Energy”.

I don’t mean the Tension that comes from mental or emotional strain, but the Tension that comes from forces acting in opposition to one another…as in the subject and the camera looking at each other.

At one time taking pictures of people use to be thought of as “robbing oneself of their soul”. Having said that, I’m not looking to steal someone’s soul (what would I do with it once I had it? Craig’s List or eBay?), however, I like the old adage that suggests the eyes are the doorway to one’s soul, and I do like the idea of looking into one’s inner spirit.

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Visit my website at www.joebaraban.com and check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometimes and maybe we’ll go steal some ‘souls’ together!!!

🙂

JoeB

Here’s an interesting article I found on the ‘information highway” I thought I would share with all of you. Unfortunately, I failed to write down the name of the woman or man who wrote it, and now I can’t locate the article again. I would have loved to credit it to her/him as I find it a great read. If you are the author or know who she is, please let me know so I can credit it properly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any Thoughts?

           JoeB

The psychological use of Gesture in Photography can take our imagery what I often refer to as “Up a notch”.

A gesture is a human nonverbal movement by the hand, the face or head, or the feet to express an idea. It’s an action that conveys a person’s feelings or a deliberate act to get across a point. This point can be full of emotional implications.

Capturing this in your photography can be a powerful tool while showing a person’s personality in the process. A gesture may only comprise a very small part of your composition, but its effect can contribute more than half of the overall photograph. This is an important area we work on in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet.

The way a person smiles, holds their head, or hands, or even the way he or she crosses their legs can be a declaration of their persona. Having a man slump says something different than having him stand straight. Placing a person in the middle of the frame says something entirely different than placing him/her close to the edge of the frame. Gesture is a language unto itself, and can often be translated universally. Gesture is also a great way to tell a story without the words.

The most important thing to remember is that a gesture is a fleeting single motion and being able to freeze it in time is critical. If you want your photo to be authentic, it takes practice to capture the gesture at the peak of its action.

I use gesture all the time, but I don’t always wait for it. I like to create a scenario and stage the gesture then make it look like I caught it and then shot it more in a reportage reporting style. By the way, be sure to watch for my upcoming post on non-human gestures.

Here’s a few examples of actually capturing the gesture the moment it happened, and creating it to make it look real. Can you tell which is which?

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

JoeB

In my online classes with the BPSOP, I’ve been finding that so many photographers are always playing it safe. Either from always shooting at the same height, the height of the eye to the ground, zooming in with their lens instead of using their feet, or looking for a different POV.

When I’m walking around shooting with the photographers that are taking my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind”, I see it up close and personal all the time. It’s one and done, and it really doesn’t matter what the subject is.

Now I’m all in favor of my mantra…” more shots per hour”, but that’s after shooting lots of variations. I can tell you from fifty-three years of experience that taking one shot of anything and going home with a ‘wall hanger’ is slim to none. Vegas would probably put it at 50-1.

Life is too short to always be safe. Always ‘coloring inside the lines’ keeps you on the road to mediocrity. Sure, it just might get you that third place ribbon at your camera club’s competition, winning you a 16GB compact card…if that’s what you want. Hell, by triple mounting your photo with color mats that are in harmony, you might even move up to a second-place ribbon…that would be special and now a 32GB compact card.

I say ‘color outside the lines’, and take the path less traveled. Imagination keeps us young, it’s the gas and oil that keeps our mind running. Shoot with a lens you would never think of, get some dirt on your shirt by laying on your stomach, add some props, and editorialize your photo. People like to see people in photos, so think about putting them in your pictures. Don’t photograph what you see, photograph what you would like to see.

Think of yourself as an artist that has chosen the camera as your medium. To my way of thinking, a camera on a tripod is just like a blank canvas on an easel.

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

JoeB