We Learn Photography

This photo is the first in the 52-week challenge. It's a "self-portrait" in the aspects that it does not include me, but tells a lot about who I am through my environment on what I do. I am a teacher, a photographer, a Mac user, and a computer geek. 

It is usually customary for many of us to set new goals when the years turn over. One of the best things that one can do with improving their skills as a photographer would be to set specific experience goals for themselves. For myself, that will be in the form of another 52-week project which I hope to continually share on this site. A photo a week for a year? I think I can do that. Either way, there are lots of ideas out there. Here are a few for you to perhaps try out: 1. Black and white project: photograph things only in black and white. Your camera should have a monochrome setting in the menu that would allow you to shoot the shot and preview the photos in black and white. This will both challenge you and allow your eye to notice more basic compositional elements. 2. Themed project: Pick a them. Whether it be a color, a shape, a location, etc. Then photograph that theme as much as you can. Look for it wherever you are. Go exploring and try to focus on just that theme. G...

In my family history, one of the most consistent activities that occurred during the holidays is that the camera was ever-present. You knew that you were getting your photo taken during this time. As time when on and I began to get into photography, I joined in this trend as well. Soon, however, I started to find myself asking, "what should I focus on for these photos?" This was because every holiday was looking the same. I wanted to somehow make holiday photos a little more interesting. Not just for the viewer, but for me as the photographer. Here are a few tips that I have found useful for keeping holiday photos a bit more interesting for everyone: 1. Start a tradition: These kinds of photos, although kind of cheesy, can be fun. Get the kids in front of the tree, pose everybody with wrapping paper head-pieces, or come up with a new idea. The tradition photos have the less likely chance of promoting any grumbles, as they are "tradition after all". Try t...

Any photographer will tell you that light is the most important part of making a great image. I mean, without it, there's no way to make a photo. However, we always need to remember that a camera does not see light the same way we do. Often times, we must master the skills of getting our cameras to see the light the way we do, or at least get close to it. But sometimes we want the light to illuminate in ways that bring the most impact.  Take your Christmas tree as a good example: We often behold the beauty of it in our house surrounded by subtle ambient light, but the tree shines brighter and creates a soft and exciting mood about it. The moment we try to capture it with our camera, we get either a dull shot with little tiny colored or white dots and flat ambient room light,  or we get brilliantly shining lights but a room so dark you can't see the beautiful room light given off by those lights. The problem here is that our eyes can see several shades of light and da...

One of the most frustrating things for people when taking photos during the holidays is how their photos turn out blurry (like the one above, which could have been better). Let's tackle this issue: Blurry photos often comes because pictures are taken in poor lighting conditions for your camera. Despite what we see with our eyes, a camera cannot see in darker lighting situations as well, and to compensate, often times it will slow down your shutter speed to gather more light to its sensor. This results in blurry photos of any movement or of a shaky photographer. To remedy this, we need to figure out ways to make the camera see more light. Here are a few suggestions: turn on more lights: the more light the camera has, the faster it can make it's shutter speed go to stop shakiness. turn up your ISO to a higher setting: The ISO is a setting in the camera that controls how sensitive the camera is to light. If you can find this setting (read your manual), turning it to Aut...

Too often, we enter into photography the way we are introduced to it. Somebody has a camera and wants to capture a moment. This is often a candid moment or a family event. "Take a picture", is often what is said because we want to record the moment.  But what if we changed how we say this? What if, instead of, "taking" the picture, we became more invested in "making" the picture? What's the difference?  Well, "taking" the picture suggests a passive idea that your job as a photographer is simply to record an event with minor care to how it looks or is presented. Just photograph the scene as you see it and do it quickly. "Making" the photo conveys something much different. Making a photo suggests creating, crafting, manipulating, etc. This would be a more accurate representation to how someone serious about improving their photography thinks. They want to "make" the photo, control the lighting, colors, and way ...

Want to instantly improve the look of your photos? Learn basic composition. That's really it. Knowing where to put things in the frame of your shot and what to exclude is probably the single most important thing that I focus on when making an image. Where does one start with learning that? Here's a good article on the subject:  https://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules Much of really learning composition comes from practice. Usually a well composed photo get's attention from its ability to manipulate the eye of the viewer. Drawing the eye across the frame through a leading line or by the pleasing repetition of pattern or sensory amplification of texture. Knowing what these are and how to master them takes time, but when you do, your photos will instantly be improved. 

This is probably one of the most asked questions by anyone looking to get into photography. To be fair, there are way too many choices out there, so let's do our best to tackle this question as objectively as possible. First off, I need to let you readers know that I have owned and used a tremendous amount of different cameras over the years. From smartphone cameras to point-and-shoot models to industry-leading DSLRs to mirrorless and everything in-between. That being said, I obviously have my preferences. This post will not spend time on that. I'll try to be as quick and concise as possible. Here goes: 1. Get what you can afford, but be reasonable. Seriously. If you can't afford much, I would advise save up to expand your options. If you are looking for the perfect camera, then you will be majorly disappointed, because it doesn't exist. I DO know that unless you are willing to spend more than 100 dollars, then you probably wont' find anything worth buying...

Fuji XT10, 18-55mm 2.8-4 lens, ISO 200, F/11, 1/180sec I took this photo while out with my photography class on the school property. It was windy and the temperature was around 43 degrees. It was not pleasant to be outside. I have taken so many pictures over the years on school property that it's been very challenging to find anything new or remotely interesting to photograph. However, on this day, I think that I was determined to not be underwhelmed. I didn't let the weather get to me, which it usually does. I kept exploring until I came upon this scene. I kept shooting, despite freezing fingers and a slowly depleting battery due to the cold. In the end, I came away very satisfied with my image, despite a drab sky and no color in the landscape for the most part. My lesson here is that sometimes it takes a little bit of determination and willingness to be uncomfortable to get the shot.

Shot with an iPhone 6 I can't keep up with the amount of cameras and lenses and equipment that I've used. From small flashes to big strobes, to beginner lenses, to professional ones. From full-frame cameras to iphone cameras. If there's one thing that I've learned from using all of this gear is that the less I have, the more I find I can create. It may seem backwards to think that less gear is going to spark creativity, but it goes along with the lessons of limiting yourself. Knowing what you can't do can sometimes spur you on to either 1.) try harder to do it anyways or 2.) go in a different direction. I often find myself frustrated with having "only" my iphone with me for photos. However, in the end, I end up taking some of my favorite shots with it. There's no way I'd be lugging a camera around in some of my situations, and when that happens, I've missed the point and likely, the shot. Take a minute to evaluate where you are with ta...

Disclaimer: This is a personal experience post, and has less to do with photography tips or techniques but more to do with personal revelations. I recently noticed that my photography was changing. At least in terms of how I shot and the kinds of shots that I make. I'm a relatively shy person in public with strangers, and I used to hate pointing the camera at people who weren't asking me to take their photos. However, this is all changing. Why? It's a little unusual to put it this way, but the answer is: new gear. I'm not going to brag a particular model or camera brand, but with my former cameras and gear, I felt like I was wielding a giant weapon in front of my face when I used it. I always had remembered the looks of concern from people who saw me pointing a huge lens at them when shooting in public venues and weddings. It made me feel awkward and guilty, and in time, I found myself becoming MORE shy because of it. This meant that I was losing great moments ...

A lot of photographers and other artists often struggle with inspiration. Sometimes the ideas that were the fuel for their inspiration runs out. Perhaps it was simply the newness or excitement of a certain subject or technique? Once it is gone, the drive to continue creating wanes, and then you are often left without ideas or motivation. Here are a few tips to keep you inspired as you continue to learn and practice photography: 1. Look at other work:  When I say this, I don't mean just other photography, but other art work. Paintings, architecture, music; they all can have a profound impact on how we see things. Sometimes listening to new music or visiting an art gallery or browsing pinterest can help motivate yourself to see a new perspective. 2. Try a new limitation: Sometimes the best way to be creative is to find ways to create within certain boundaries. When you are limited in what you can do,  your mind works better to see things differently so that goals can b...

Cameras don't see light the way we do. In fact, they see significantly less of a range of light and darks than we do. Because of this, they can sometimes be fooled. However, despite their limitations, understanding the different ways in which they measure light can help any photographer improve upon the results. But to do this, we need to understand something called "metering". Metering is the way that your camera evaluates the scene and responds with the appropriate settings. For instance, if you point the camera at a bright sky, it's going to give you different settings or tell you the light is different, than if you point it at a dark grove of trees. Because not all scenes are created equal, camera manufacturers have invented things called "Metering Modes". Thankfully, these are pretty common among all cameras. Let's look at 3 of the most popular modes. 1. Matrix or Evaluative metering: this kind of metering is the default setting on most ca...

The photos below were taken just minutes ago. They were taken on a whim, with one camera and a prime (fixed focal length) lens. I went outside with my photography students to help them complete their landscape project. I always take a camera, and I always take pictures. Not because I'm planning to make an amazing photo, but because I've learned that there is value in keeping yourself motivated through images. I never know what I'm going to get when I go out with my camera, and most of the time, I come back with little to nothing interesting. Either way, I am practicing, and we all know what lots of practice can do for  you.

In our last post, we looked at two types of autofocus: Zone (or area) autofocus, and spot focus. Today we are going to talk about 3 more kinds of autofocus settings: single-shot, Continuous (or Servo) and then there's a hybrid type called AI-Servo. Single-shot is just that,  your camera locks on a target that you choose and doesn't change. It's what most autofocus cameras do by default. However, sometimes you want to photograph something that moves a lot, such as small children, athletes, cars, etc. This is where changing your autofocus to continuous (nikon) or servo (canon), can help. Continuous (Servo) autofocus allows you to choose something to focus on, and then the camera will continue to track that subject while it moves. This is really helpful, but can take some practice to get used to. One thing to keep in mind is that you must half-press your shutter button the whole time to allow the camera to constantly re-focus for you if the subject moves. The last ki...

Let's face it: Cameras are confusing. Especially when you have a big, heavy, DSLR with lots of buttons and knobs to deal with. And if this weren't enough, you have to deal with the insane menu systems with additional features that you didn't even know were there. One of the features that often gets overlooked, mainly because it may exist in a menu setting, is how your camera focuses. In actuality, the lens has a lot to do with it, but your camera has several methods of focusing. I'm going to cover two of these right now, and in a further post, I'll talk about some additional focusing that your camera can do. Zone or Area focusing : This is the autofocus setting that most cameras have on by default. What this does is tells the camera to focus on what it thinks you want it to focus on. In other words, whatever in the frame is noticed by the camera. For what it's worth, this setting does a decent job, but the problem is that you are depending on the camera ...

Today's post has to do with light and when you should utilize it to your advantage. For some photographers, they don't think about light at all. In fact, when I was first starting out, I took any shoot I could get and didn't even consider lighting. That was a huge mistake when I eventually learned that shooting outdoors at noon on a sunny day can make for awful pictures. So when SHOULD you shoot and Where? Here are some tips depending on the light available to you (and assuming no flash photography). On a Sunny Day:   For shooting portraits, you want to avoid harsh, contrasty light. Therefore, shoot OUTSIDE in the early morning or early evening hours when the light is softer and the sun is lower in the sky. When the light is high in the sky and harsh and contrasty, move your subject indoors and use the brightness of windows to get a nice soft light. Sure, you can put people under trees and in the shadows of building and such, but shooting in shade only, can lim...

Have you ever taken photos of people in your house and discovered that everyone looks like they have an orange, spray-on tan? Or maybe you've taken photos on an overcast day and everyone looks like they are smurfs? The reason this may be happening has to do with something called "White Balance". White balance, is a setting on your camera that helps the camera see the accurate color temperature of white. Cameras are pretty dumb when it comes to understanding color and many of them have to guess at what "white" actually looks like. Our eyes, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of understanding what white is because our brains are very good at knowing these things. Therefore, since this is all known by the camera manufacturers, they have conveniently included a setting on almost every camera that allows you to help the camera figure this out. The setting is called...wait for it...White Balance. White balance can either be found on your camera in the fo...

I recently came across a blog post today that completely opened my eyes to what I perceived was a shortcoming with my camera. After following the advice of the writer and changing my settings to their recommended adjustments, I feel like I have just bought a new camera. It acts so much better and gives me way better performance. This is not because my camera was not capable, but because I was not capable. I didn't understand some of my settings. Had I taken this into a critical shooting situation, I would have been frustrated and embarrassed. However, I can't stress it enough. KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR GEAR. Study every setting, every feature, read camera reviews if you want, but learn your camera. You will be a guaranteed better photographer if you do.

If you are one of those people who like to load their photos on a computer and tweak the color, or other things, then this post is for you. I am one of those people mentioned above. In fact, I have a very hard time just leaving the files as is when I get them from my camera. However, over the years I have learned a lot about processing images. Here's my two cents on it: DO NOT over-process. A lot of people like to take their pictures and make them look like they were taken on a really old camera 1000 years ago or carved on a cave wall with stones. Perhaps you like that look, and that's fine, but there is a huge danger here. Soon, processing your photos can become a crutch to your photography. You begin no longer relying on taking good photos, because you develop a mentality that your processing will "save you" from bad pictures. No way. Don't get me wrong. Photos can certainly be enhanced with some work, but the extent of that work should be reigned in....