Joe Baraban's Digital Photography Blog

Quick Photo Tip: Using People to Show Scale

Giving some sense of scale

Besides the fact that people like to see people in photos, I like to have people in my shots to bring a sense of scale to them; not all the time, just some of the time.

Not only will adding a person show scale, but it will also change the genre of the photograph. In other words, adding people will editorialize the original idea. for example, taking a picture of a building with no people in it makes it lean towards the architectural side of photography.

When you add a person, not only will it reveal the actual size of the building, but it will ask the viewer why the person is there. When you do that it you’re creating a story for the viewer to read visually; it asks the viewer to express an opinion making it editorial instead of architectural.

 The same thing happens with a landscape. Simply stated, a landscape represents all the visible features of a countryside that the viewer can see all at one time from a single viewpoint.

Before the passing of the school’s founder Bryan Peterson, I’ve had ‘landscape photographers’ take my online class with the BPSOP and I’ve also had them sign up for my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, and I can tell you that they can be a stubborn lot; not all of them but a lot. What I’m getting at is that they can be adamant that a landscape cannot be a landscape if there buildings in the composition, and certainly not a person.

These people call themselves purists, but they have no compunction to do a little work on them in Lightroom or Photoshop; it makes me wonder just when you can begin or stop being a purist?????

I digress again.

I’m not going to get into that, but I will say that when you add a person it gives scale to the image. The viewer doesn’t know the actual size of a building nor does he have any idea of the vastness of the landscape he’s looking at. What he does know is the average size of a person, and that will help him identify the size of a building or the scope of a landscape.

BTW it also, like an architectural photo, makes the viewer wonder who that person is, where did he come from, and why is he there. These are questions that will keep the viewer around, and unless you’re shooting photos strictly for yourself and if you’re at all like me, you like people to look at your pictures.

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 some time.

JoeB

AskJoeB: San Diego Amusement Park

A skilled student of mine sent me this photo to comment on. Here’s what he had to say:

“Hi Joe,

What do you think about this photo? I took it in San Diego at the amusement park in Mission BLVD.
It was my attempt to play a bit with movement and lights at twilight, and I’ve tried different exposures, in order to get the shutter speed that would have been creatively right for the effect I wanted to achieve.
Color communicating ideas

Ok, first of all, I love the colors. There’s a lot to be said for the study of color theory, and how the different colors have a psychological effect on the viewer.  For example, The blue background is calming, while orange is considered an attention grabber. yellow is cheerful, and red (the most powerful color of all) is stimulating, and at the same time is sexy, occasionally angry, and can sometimes imply risk-taking.

Sad to say, the founder of the school, Bryan Peterson passed away, and the school permanently closed. Before it closed,  I always said to my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, Color communicates ideas!!!

When you put these colors together in the form of lines (the most important of all the elements of visual design) and then make them move, the results can be memorable.

Ok, let’s talk about the idea itself:

One of my Personal Pearls of Wisdom is “In a perfect world, what if?” In other words, if you could go back and re-shoot this photo, what would you do different; providing you could do anything you wanted? What would any of you do different? Send me a mssage and tell me.

If I was to go back there with you, I would either create more of the buildings and lights, or lose them entirely. Right now they’re a touch distracting, mainly because the viewer might not draw a conclusion as to why they’re there and what he or she is looking at.. If you hadn’t said that you were at an amusement park, the ride in the foreground might not have been interpreted as part of the park. There’s lots of things I could conjure up that might create the same kind of effect.

If you were trying to say Amusement Park, then I might try to show more of the area.  More visual interest and Tension by incorporating more lights in the background. Remember that you won’t be around to explain your photo, unless you title it as a ride in an Amusement Park..not the best idea!!!  I might show a little more of the environment to make it what I call a “quick read”. If your intent was just to show the ride in motion, I might pull back to see more of it and perhaps one or two shutter speeds faster as well as different exposures. Maybe a little brighter sky.

Overall, I would say that it’s an interesting image to look at, and because of all the things going on, the viewer will stick around longer…exactly what we want!!!!

Thanks for sending it.

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

JoeB

Food for Digital Thought: Dealing with Distortion Part I

Symmetrical distortion
Symmetrical distortion

To many of my fellow photographers, distortion is very bad and would rather not take the shot than to have it look distorted; I agree, in part. Having said that, there are times when distortion is not a problem and can actually help you take your image what I refer to as “up a notch”.

There’s two aspects to distortion that I want to talk about in my part one and two posts on the subject, and that has to do within the  architectural  genre, and both come up in my  “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct all over our planet.

I often get submissions from photographers that have buildings in them, and the majority of the time they are falling/leaning over to one side or another. The most common reason for that is where the photographer decides to take the picture from. Where you stand is very important in keeping the building straight.

If you’re standing off to the right or left of the middle of the building and aim your camera back placing the building in where you think the center of the frame is you’re going to get some form of distortion; and to me it’s not the good kind.

You’re not going to be able to straighten both the vertical and horizontal lines at the same time, you’ll only be able to straighten one of them and there lies the problem. You’re going to have distortion if you tilt your camera up to get the entire building in no matter what; it’s called Parallax Distortion.

What you can do to make it look better is to make the distortion symmetrical by standing right in the middle of the building, as seen in my photo of the First International Building in downtown Houston.

My next post will deal with the second aspect of distortion, so stay tuned.

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

Quick Photo Tip: Get rid of those blinking areas

I blow out highlights!!
I blow out highlights!!

During my Maine Media Workshop, I was working with a fellow photographer and the moment before she clicked the shutter, her LCD screen exploded with blinking black areas going on in the highlighted areas. This meant that those areas were being overexposed or “clipped” as what’s said by those that don’t know what they’re talking about.

I think “visually undesirable” is what I’ve been told by students (who were told this) that tøok my online class with the BPSOP. Since then the school has closed due to the passing of its founder Bryan Peterson. I’ve also had similar conversations in my own “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

I digress.

“Egads”, I yelled to no one in particular, “make it stop blinking, I’ll tell you anything you want to know!!” The student relayed to me that she had been told that whenever she encountered the blinking, to immediately stop what she was doing because she was about to overexpose an area. It also annoyed her (not knowing what it meant) and how did she take it off.

Seriously? The only reason anyone (not in their right mind) would want to do that is if they wanted to be led (blindfolded) down that one way path to mediocrity. Or maybe they wanted to have the slightest chance in winning a blue ribbon at their camera club’s annual competition.

Here’s what I think…Get that blinking stuff off you camera. Go to settings on your camera and where it says “highlight alert” disable it. Believe me it’s a better thing you do than you’ve ever done before…why?

Because one of the ways to generate visual tension is contrast and another is the use of light. Those blown out (clipped) areas brings energy to your images. I don’t always blow out the highlights because there’s a time and place for everything. That said, whenever there are bright highlights in my composition I’m always looking to blow them out.

It’s easier said than done because if you use the meter in your camera, more than likely it’s going to give you an average exposure of the highlighted and shadow areas; based on what the meter is set on. For best results, set your meter on spot and try exposing just for the areas in shadow; this will blow out the highlights.

For most of my fifty-three year career, I’ve used a Minolta One-Degree Spot Meter. It’s an external hand held meter (you can find them on e-Bay) that can read just one degree of reflected light, which gives me total control to do as I please to my photo.

I prefer the energy, so next time blow out the highlights my fellow photographers and you won’t spend eternity in photographic purgatory.

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. They don’t stay up very long since they fill so fast. Come shoot with me sometime

JoeB

Student’s Work: Online Classes

Shot by Ana in her vineyard.
Shot by Ana in her vineyard.

For years, actually sixteen, I taught online classes with the BPSOP. Several months ago, Bryan Peterson who founded the school passed away after a long illness and as a result, the school closed. I still conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around our planet, and for those interested, I also have a six month ‘mentoring’ program. If you want more details, contact me at: joe@joebaraban.com.

Coming from a background in art rather than photography, I studied the basic elements of visual design, and now I show my fellow photographers how to incorporate these same elements into their imagery: Line, Pattern, Texture, Shape, Form, Balance, as well as negative space, perspective, vanishing points, shadows, and silhouettes..to name a couple!

Each week of a four week class I gave a different lesson, and my students worked with these elements while composing their photos. After the four weeks, they had what I refer to as an Artist Palette, and these elements are on it.

In my Gestalt, students had to have taken my first two classes before signing up. In this class I showed my students how to manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the visual information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. We work on the six concepts: Figure-Ground, Similarity, Law of C0mmon Fate, Continuance, Closure, and Proximity.

In this slideshow are photos from all three classes, and I hope you are as impressed as I am as how their level of photography jumped up several levels from where they began.

Enjoy:


Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Check out my occasional workshop at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime. They fill fairly quick, so if you see one posted and you’re interested, send me an email.

JoeB

Workshop Stuff: Autumn in Provence

Shot by Petr during the blue hour in Nice.
Shot by Petr during the blue hour in Nice.

One of my most favorite of all the workshops I’ve conducted was the one in Paris…“Boy oh boy do I love Paris.”

I had led a group of my fellow photographers to Provence for one of my yearly workshops. We met in Arles and for three days photographed many of the areas where Vincent Van Gogh roamed the streets and countryside looking for subject matter including: Arles, Avignon, Saint Remy de Provence, Les Baux, and Chateauneuf de Pape.

From there we traveled by van to Nice and for the next three days photographed this beautiful city by the sea, a sunrise in the magical village of Eze, then a train  one afternoon to Monte Carlo.

Many of the photographers had taken my online classes with the BPSOP, and studied the elements of visual design with me. There were so many that had been on prior workshops, and some as many as three, four and five before coming again with me to Provence. It ‘s always like a family reunion with several people returning to shoot with me again, and this time it was to celebrate my 70th birthday…which we did!!!

Christine taking a picture of Mikki taking a picture of the class.
Christine taking a picture of Mikki taking a picture of the class at the top of Eze

All I can say is that there were so many great images that it was difficult to get it down to the number I finally wound up with. I realize that it’s a lot of photos to look at, but it was the best I could do to reduce the size to what I consider a good representation of the area, the light, and the people.

Enjoy the show:

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com<, and follow me on Instagram: www.instagraam.com/barabanjoe.  Watch for upcoming workshops and come shoot with me again, or for the first time.

JoeB

Famous Quotes: One Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

One picture tells a story.
One picture tells a story.

How many times in your life have you heard this old adage? For me, I’m putting it at a million to be one the low side. I’ve also said it to my online class with the BPSOP and my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops as many times. One picture is worth a thousand words can fit all types of applications, for all types of people.

The quote has been attributed to several sources throughout the years from a Chinese proverb to Arthur Brisbane, a newspaper editor who said it in 1911. In any event the meaning has really come to light in the digital era as truth in our new transparent culture. It’s now talked about ad nauseam in social media, but the simple fact is that it’s all about being able to (very quickly) convey so much meaning with so little or no explanation at all in one photograph.

For my fellow photographers it especially has meaning since we talk about it in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “stretching your frame of mind” workshops I conduct around our planet. Just let your image do the talking for you since you’re not going to be around to share your thought process with the viewer. Unless you’re going for an abstract in which case you’re leaving it up to others to see what they want to see, then it needs to be what I refer to as a “quick read”.

If you’re trying to tell a story, then get to it because it’s not easy to hold the viewer’s attention for very long. Imagine that you’re a cinematographer shooting a scene at twenty-four frames a second. Stop the projector and take one frame out and show it to the viewer. That’s what you’re up against when you’re shooting stills and have to portray whatever it is you’re trying to portray in one image…not like motion where you have some time to get the message across. Btw, did you know that one page in a screenplay is equal to one minute on the screen?

The methods we use to gain attention to our photography varies, but what’s important is how we manage what the viewer perceives and processes when looking at the visual information we lay out to him in the form of a photograph. Visual input is a part of our everyday life, and when you’re trying to gain attention, by telling a story, we want to take immediate control of what the viewer sees when contemplating the message we’re putting out.

In other words as the Notre Dame football teams were know for…”rock em sock em” when it comes to telling it in one photo.

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

JoeB

Student Work: Question On The “Law Of The light”

In the “Law of the Light”?

I was going through some of my fellow photographer’s work, and inadvertently found this question.  In the past, when I got a question and photo, I liked to share what the photographer had to say. This way others that might feel the same way or have been in a similar situation can identify a lot easier. Here’s what he had to say:

“Hi Joe,

After reading your blog post about the “Law Of Light” (part one) I’ve started to pay attention in my photography for the “glow” effect you described. Of course I never shot photos with that physical law in mind, I only knew that the best light was with the low angle at sunrise/sunset and having my subject side lit would make it “pop” and it give it a more tri-dimensional effect by revealing it’s form.

Here’s a landscape shot I took in Sand Diego at Pacific Beach.  I only got the right creative exposure —shutter speed of about 2 seconds to get a calm ocean— later on this photographing session, when the sun was almost gone and the rocks were not glowing anymore.

Moreover the tight wasn’t my friend at that time —it was rising and it was the only time I could take this photo, meaning no other chances to plan another session with the light getting low.

I think of these shots as keepers but I’m not gonna use them in my portfolio. This is not only because I didn’t get the creative exposure I wanted, but also because I’m noticing a light flare on them. The flare is probably due to the camera position towards the sun and the use of an ND Grad filter to hold back the sky exposure.

What are your thoughts about it? How can we avoid light  flares when shooting with the “law of light” in mind? Is that possible to avoid light flares when we are obligated to use an ND grad filter, a polarizer or an ND filter for creative purpose (or a mix of this three depending on what we’d like to get)?

Is my approach to this matter right, or am I missing something here, Joe? Thanks for your suggestions and for the tricks you usually share with us non professional photographers.

PS I’ve also added the shot without any light glare but that I consider to be a shot for my portfolio. Thus you decide if is the case to show ’em both or not.”

If you read my post on the ‘Law of the Light“, you read that the sun should be in the ’10’ or ‘2’ position on the clock. In your photo the sun is closer to ’11’, making it almost backlit. In this case you won’t be able to get rid of any flare since the sun is  close to the middle of the frame. This not to say that if the sun were at ’10’ or ‘2’ you wouldn’t get some flare, because you would if the sun is too close to the edge of your frame. BTW, filters don’t have anything to do with flare from the sun.

We talk a lot about light  in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet.

The solution is an easy one. Make sure you have a sun shade on your lens. If that doesn’t completely solve the problem, stick your hand out in front of you opened flat and place it between the sun and the lens. When the shadow from your hand covers the lens, the flare will go away. You can count on flare when you light from 9’oclock to noon to 3’oclock. I always watch for it.

Personally, I like the version on the left where the light and color is more dramatic. The glare in the water doesn’t detract from your photo. If anything, it adds Energy.

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

Quick Photo Tip: Adjust

It’s all about making adjustments.

For me, the easiest way to walk away with the best shot possible is to make a series of adjustments as I’m shooting. Photography is all about making adjustments from your first frame to your final composition.

As I’m shooting, I look all around the frame. I’m doing my Fifteen Point Protection Plan, my Border Patrol, and the Four Corner Checkoff. Each time the shutter opens and closes I’m making adjustments, some minor and some major…a new final composition, and I take several “final compositions” before I’m through….shoot adjust, shoot adjust, shoot adjust, etc., etc., etc.

The reason? To achieve what I want in the camera, and not have to rely on a computer to fix the problems I could/should have done prior to clicking the shutter.

I rarely use the first image I take unless I’m street shooting and I have one shot at it. It’s always the second, third, fourth, etc., before I’m satisfied.

I’ve discovered after thirty plus years of teaching that my fellow photographers will generally bring the camera up to their eye and aim, shoot, then move on to the next shot. Doing that really lowers the odds of that one photo being the one that can stand the test of time. The proverbial ‘OMG’ shot, a ‘keeper’, one that makes it to the ‘wow’ category of picture making.

In my online class with the BPSOP I use to critique so many images that could have been so much stronger had they made just a few adjustments. I say that in the past tense since Bryan Peterson, the founder recently passed away and the school closed. In my personal “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops, I’ll observe a photographer shoot an images and immediately walk away. Slow down and smell the flowers I’ll say to them; don’t be in such a hurry.

Maybe the horizon line is off, perhaps it’s something growing out of someone’s head. It could be something coming into the corner or edge of the frame (those dead branches for one example) that you really don’t want to be there…I call those UFO’s, which would not be considered something that was hidden in Area 51. These may be nothing but minor nuisances, but they could also be something that even a computer can’t fix and therefore winds up on the cutting room floor…as in painfully deleted.

In the above photo of a dance instructor in Cuba, there were several adjustments before I was satisfied: I had her standing with no chairs, sitting with no chairs against the wall, then I added a chair, then I added another chair, then I had her looking out the window, then straight at me, then at me through the mirror…shoot adjust, shoot adjust, shoot adjust, etc., etc., etc.

If you consider yourself a painter as I do, then a good analogy would be to not think about your camera being on a tripod, think about it being a blank canvas on an easel. A finished painting is achieved by adding and subtracting pigment. Mixing colors to get just the right shade of blue, adding white or black to change the value of an area. Switching from one size brush to another is akin to changing lens. Then there’s always the option of using a palette knife of various shapes.

If you’re into getting the right light, then you’re shooting from different points of view and thinking about my clock. Shoot then adjust by moving around to see how your subject looks lit from the side perhaps to bring out the texture, then make another adjustment by placing the sun behind your subject to backlight it.

The digital age has had a profound effect on photography. some good and so many not so good. One good thing that has come about is the ability to shoot a photo and immediately look at the back of your camera to check it out. It’s so easy now to make those adjustments that will undoubtedly take your photography to where you’ve never gone before; and what I refer to as ‘up a notch”.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and follow me on Instagram: www.barabanjoe.com Check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog. I’ll be conducting a workshop every so often, so be sure to check them out at the top of this post.They fill rather quickly.

JoeB

Student Work: BPSOP/ Part II Class

Silhouette and light.
Light, Drama, and the Elements of Visual Design working here.

Before continuing with this post, I have two openings that just opened because of a family emergency for my January trip to Havana and Vinales, Cuba. Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested. Send me an email to: joe@joebaraban.com.

OK,until recently, I always like to show what my online classes with the BPSOP were doing in my part I and part II courses, as well as in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops. Sadly, the founder, Bryan Peterson, passed away from cancer and the school shut down. I taught, and still teach, fellow photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design and composition into their photography. Terms like: Negative space, Vanishing Point, Perspective, Tension, Line, Texture, Pattern, Shape, Form, and Color are all a part of their new ‘Artist Palette’. As a result, they walked away armed with the knowledge of what it took to create strong, well designed and memorable photos; and the ability to “make pictures”.

In my part II class, a continuation of what they learned in part I, we worked on the most important of all the elements of visual design, Line. We also worked on creating shadows, silhouettes, and the use of light to add drama and tension.

The following slideshow, as well as the photo featured at the top of this blog are examples of how they used not only what they remembered from part I, but what they walked away with at the end of the four week part II class as well.

Even though the school has permanently closed, I still conduct my six-month mentoring program. If you or anyone you know is interested in taking their level of photography “up a notch”, shoot me an email (after checking out my website) at: joe@joebaraban.com

Enjoy:

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 post. They fill fairly quick which is the reason they don’t stay up long. Come shoot with me sometime  and walk away with your own ‘Artist Palette’.

JoeB

AskJoeB: How Do You See The Image?


Not too long ago I had one of my students submit to me something a little different than the usual photos I received to critique. It’s not something I will usually talk about since it’s not a pure photograph, but a montage. I found it quite interesting in the sense that being an art lover, I like looking at all kinds of different genre.

As usual, I like to show the actual question for those of you that have been in a similar situation, or have had similar questions. Here’s what Yvonne had to say:

“Dear Joe,

As a painter turned photographer, I finally needed some touch-of-the-hand.  I think of the montage part as drawing on top of a photographed image   But, an unexpected weakness appeared.  They look cheesy really easily.

Not all in the series are montages.  I like the mixture in a single series.  Many are diptychs.  Yes, I’m after an emotional tone in the straight photos and I expect to add little more in the montages than a figure and an ambiguous point of view.

Well, I bow to your critical comment.  This title: Your Voice is Mine, from the series Chokeberry Sugar.   My question: How do *you* see the image?  Thank you, Joe.  It would be important to me to hear what you think of it.

Very best, Yvonne

Yvonne,

As I said, this is not what I usually receive, and it’s not what I ever critique since I’m not a student of this particular genre. That being said, I can only comment on what I see and feel as someone that loves looking at art. However, I can comment on some of the areas that I use to teach in my online class with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet. Sadly, Bryan Peterson, the school’s founder passes away not too long ago.

The first thing I want to say is why so dark? I realize that you’re trying to seduce the viewer via mystery and drama, which is a very good thing. To me, it’s important for the viewer to be able to see it so he or she can realize any kind of emotion you are obviously trying to portray. If it were me, I would have more contrast between the sky and the trees; that would add more (visual) tension…as in some of the scenes in old Beula Lagosi as a vampire and Lon Chaney as a werewolf movies.

BTW, those movies scared the daylights out of me when I was a kid.

I would have moved the rabbit over to the right, so there was black negative space defining the top of his head instead of it running into the trees in the background. I would have also shown the rabbit’s front feet instead of cutting them off. Speaking of the area on the right, you could have eliminated a lot of it by making this montage more of a vertical. You could almost divide this in half and say the same thing.

Besides that, I don’t feel like it’s cheesy, and you’re right…it can very easily. That’s probably the main reason why I usually don’t like a montage. There’s a certain degree of taste that I like about it. I love the tack sharp texture on the rabbit. Texture is one of the basic elements of visual design, and used correctly can take our art what I refer to my students as “up a notch”.

Thanks for sharing it Yvonne.

Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com and follow me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/barabanjoe. Be sure to check out my workshop schedule at the top of this blog.

JoeB

Food for Digital Thought: Color or B/W

It's all about capturing their soul.
It’s all about capturing their soul.

When I first starting my career, right at the beginning of recorded history, I knew nothing about color photography. I had studied painting and design my entire life and almost always worked in color.

However, at the time when I was shooting with my first real camera, a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm lens, I was shooting in B/W. The reason being that I was also learning all about photography and how to process my film to eventually make my own prints. Color wasn’t an option even if I did know or think about it…which I didn’t.

In 1971, when I started shooting for UPI, AP, and was a Black Star photographer we shot primarily in B/W, so that’s the way I saw things. Besides at that time I was looking for the moment, that moment that assured me that my photo would be bought ( for ten dollars apiece) and transmitted. Color never entered my mind.

To me, that was the best way to shoot B/W…with B/W film. Now, As I tell people in my online classes with the BPSOP, and in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops I conduct around the planet, if you’re going out with the intention of shooting B/W, then either look for the action and capturing it or look for the ten different tones that’s between white and black.

As I’ve told my fellow photographers, my background is in painting, drawing, and design. One of the exercises I remember is completing the grayscale with white and black tempera paint. I had to start out with a block of white and by adding a little black at a time get to black in ten steps. We referred it to: 10% of black, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, etc. until we got to 100%…pure black right out of the bottle. You might try it sometime. It will help you better understand how we perceive our environment around us without any color.

Contrast will be so important when composing, and you’ll want to have areas of pure white and areas of pure black..as well as the complete tonal range. It takes some getting use to if you’ve never thought that way, but in the long run, I think your images will turn out much stronger than just sit in front of the computer and deciding to convert a color image.

My  B/W image is from those early days when I only thought in B/W. Unfortunately it’s a digital files so it’s lost a lot of the real beauty it had when it was a print.

Btw, Ted Grant, a Canadian photojournalist once said, “When you’re thinking and shooting in color you’re photographing their clothing, and when you’re shooting in B/W, you’re taking pictures of their soul”.

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

JoeB

Cuba: April 2015

Taken at one of the cultural events the group goes to.
Taken at one of the cultural events the group goes to.

Last January, I lead a photographic cultural tour to Cuba. It was a great experience not only for the group that was full, but for yours truly as well. BTW, it was my eight time!

It’s a fantastic country, with wonderful, friendly, and engaging people. The photo opportunities range from the cultural events we go to as part of the tour, as well as the “dawn patrols” and afternoon to late evening shoots we all go out shooting on our own.

I’m going again next January 3rd, and you might think that after being there eight times I would have seen and photographed enough to fill a long slideshow to the family. But as I often quote a 19th century French novelist named Marcel Proust to my online class with the BPSOP, and in my own “Stretching Your Frame of mind” workshops I conduct around our planet, “The only real voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes”.

One could keep going back to Cuba and find new photo opportunities each and every time, and I’m looking forward to doing just that. Here’s a slideshow of photos not that I took, but those from my group. As you can see, they’re truly indicative of the kinds of subject matter you see when you’re there with me. I would put a lot of these images up against the majority of self-professed professional photographers that are out there right now.

Enjoy the show:

I hope these images reach down into the soul of every photographer out there looking for places to see and photograph while inspiring you to join me. If Cuba has always been on your bucket list, I strongly suggest you see it before it changes forever as our government’s relationships with theirs becomes more and more open.

I can guarantee you as I did with all the photographers work you’ve seen in both these posts, an experience you’ll be talking about for years to come. Come join me next January 3rd. as I see things again with new eyes. For those that are interested, I can tell you that my group fills fairly quick. If you’re interested, you can send me a n email to joe@joebaraban.com.

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

Student’s Work: PSOP Gestalt Class

Figure-Ground, The Law of Common Fate, and Similarity.
Figure-Ground, The Law of Common Fate, and Similarity.

Until the founder passed a way, Bryan Peterson, I taught three online classes with the best known online school out there, the BPSOP. I taught a Part I and part II class that’s all about using the elements of visual design to create stronger more memorable photos.

I recently finished my new inaugural class on how to incorporate the six principles of Gestalt (which deals in “Visual Perception”), into fellow photographer’s imagery. I also teach these same principles in my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshop I conduct around the planet.

The six principles most commonly thought of are: Figure-Ground, Similarity, Closure, The Law of Common Fate, Continuance, and Proximity.  When used correctly, they are guaranteed to be effective in taking your photos up several levels.

These principles are not difficult to learn and use. Truth be told, many of you may have been using these principles but didn’t realize it. All you knew is that for some reason people really liked your pictures!!! Until approx. fifteen years ago, in a fifty-three year career in the advertising and corporate world of photography, I didn’t realize it myself and if I would have heard the word Gestalt, I probably would have thought someone had sneezed and looked around to say “God bless you”.

It was serendipity that I happened to be reading an article and realized that these six principles could be applied to Photography. Now it’s an important part of not only my thought process, but everyone that has taken any of my classes or workshops.

Here is a slideshow of just some of the images from my class. There were so many that it became difficult to narrow it down as much as I did. These represent all the different principles and I expect you’ll be as impressed as I was when I first saw them as submissions.

Btw, In my classes there was no Photoshop allowed and any cropping has to be done in the camera. All photos were created just as you see them without any additional help. It’s about becoming good photographers, not good computer artists.

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. I don’t keep them up long because they fill rather fast with only ten photographers.

JoeB