Coverage

Sometimes, in order to be noticed, receive recognition, credibility, reputation, notoriety...

Contests MUST be entered.  Today is no different.  :)

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Emotions in Facial Expressions

 Something I hear all too often is "I never like pictures of me, because I'm never making the face that I think I'm making".

So, how do you evict emotions in facial expression?

To create descriptions for these I stood in front of a mirror and kept thinking about things that made me feel these ways and took notes as to how I personally responded to each stimuli, while some people may express emotions visually differently than another...I believe that unless you're Kristen Stewart there's a pretty good chance that there are strong similarities in what I described...and how you show it.

Annoyed - Eyebrows scrunched, slight pursing of lips, intense stare at person/object annoyed at.

Interest - Attentive eyes, head slightly cocked with a slight squinting of the eyes.

Joy - Eyes fully open (no squint), very slight tilt of the neck, almost a grin on the face.

Surprise - Eyebrows lifted fully exposing more of the eye than is usually seen, head slightly forward, jaw on the floor.

Fear - Head pulled back and slightly turned away from source of fear, slight tilt of head.

Boredom - Head tilted slightly backward and titled to side, shoulders shrugged.

Awe - Mouth half open, gentle raise in eyebrows, eyes slightly opened.

Admiration - More of a grin in the lips, "grin with the eyes", very slight close in eyelids to show focus of admiration.

Love - More intense admiration, closed mouth grin, dimples (if available), under eye wrinkles (constriction in cheeks creates a tug between the lower eyelid and the cheeks making barely noticeable wrinkles under the eye more apparent).

Serenity - Eyes closed, head tilted back slightly and slightly to the side, shoulders back, open acceptance.

Have you ever:

Asked a professional in their field and received a response that was longer than you expected, and much less simple than you thought reasonable?

There's probably a good reason for that.

If I were to ask a construction company for a proposal for a home on land I already owned I know full well that I'd have hundreds and thousands of questions to answer.  Why?  Because they're professionals who know that there are very particular points in their industry which require very specific information, they've also worked with more than one client and have accepted that the more information they get From the client, the better the result they can sell the client at the end of the day.

Well, is photography so complicated?  Why do photographers always give so long of an answer?

Some may give a short answer, that can be good or bad.  Perhaps the best response is a series of informed questions that only require short responses so that both parties can make the best of their day.

A photograph is a very complicated matter from the professional stand point.  A subject (whether it's an inanimate object or a animate object, a person or a pet) is a very dynamic image to capture and everything about that "snap" needs to be considered before the snap.  Why?  Because this allows the photographer to have the right environment for the subject.

Photographing a Ferrari in the war torn country of Somalia is about as brilliant an idea as photographing a couple's engagement photo's outside the county jail (assuming that they don't work there and that's a whole different ballgame called "environmental photography" which has nothing to do with weather or pollution but everything to do about the environment in which a person identifies themselves).

Perhaps the most important element in a photograph is light.  If there's not a good quality of light (for the intended concept in the image), a consistent light, a good color of light, a consistent color of light...then the photographer needs to already have responses to produce a consistent quality and color of light that enhances the desired image.

Environment may be the second most important element, as insinuated to two paragraphs ago.  Taking an image of something in a location that doesn't make sense for it to be in can be effective in some instances, on the other hand it can destroy the desired purpose by conflicting messages in the final product.

The first and second element as previously described determine the third element.  What gear will the photographer need to complete the shoot as desired?  I frequently pre-visualize a setting by actually photographing at the location in the situation I'll be shooting in before I am shooting the actual end-image simply because it allows me to have this third element nailed from the start.  As a photographer I need to know what extra light I need to bring with me, will that require me to bring power cords?  A generator or battery packs for my lights?  Do I need to bring a background to block something out, or to soften light?  Will I need an assistant to help with a reflector to balance the lighting on the subject(s) for the image?  What lens do I need to bring for primary?  Do I need a secondary camera, or three and four lenses ready to go?  Am I shooting a dozen images or three thousand images?

All of those "little" things have a fairly drastic effect on your end image.  I'll get more into nitty gritty concepts that evolve from this in later posts, but for now give the professionals a break.  Answer their questions pertaining to the ideal photo that you want captured and see if they don't just blow you away with the quality they provide you by knowing what you wanted and being able to mitigate how to make that happen for you.  :)

After all, I'm a professional.

While there are non-professionals out there trying to make an extra buck...if they're even a little decent they'll still ask you some of the above questions so that they can at least Try to deliver what they're being asked for.

Well, I've put instructionals here and there.  What would YOU like to see and learn about in photography?

Do you like the step by steps showing differences?  Do you prefer videos explaining how to perform different "tricks" or does explaining it in text suffice for you?

2013 Portfolio

It's been a bit since I've shared an updated portfolio so I've corrected that.

Enjoy!

HDR: In Camera vs In Post Production

 A lot of people have stretched into HDR Photography in the recent years as technologies have advanced.  Many cameras offer the capability to create an HDR image in-camera vice using a post-processing software package (like Photoshop or Lightroom).  A major down point to these in-camera options is they prevent you from using the camera during the processing, which means you're missing opportunities.  You may also not have as many options for controlling the exposure and it's impossible to properly see on a tiny display (anything smaller than 15" by many standards, most professionals prefer 20"+) if the exposure and adjustments really are correct for the image in question.

Personally I'd rather be able to take more images while shooting, and have more control over the end-product.  This is especially true when creating the HDR image requires multiple exposures (every HDR image requires at least 3 images, but 7-9 are more common) that are over longer than normal exposure times.  For example, the first image on this page is an HDR image that was combined from 7 different exposures.  This played with the streaks from the cars and the lights on the buildings as well as traffic lights.  It also gave nice depth throughout the dark portions of the buildings, tracked the movement of the moon a little behind the Union Bank building and gave me the option to use a single image for a print later, or the end-product HDR image.

The image here on the right is the same HDR image as above.  It's the same except for its differences.  I took the original HDR image that I had initially created, converted it to Black & White (during that process I was able to push and pull various color layer attributes to make the black and white version even more interesting with detail and contrast), then I added a sepia layer to it.  The Sepia layer added a lot of character for the image, but left the buildings feeling like they were new constructions in an old world.  Finally I added a layer of texture to give the image a feel like it was manually printed on a heavy tooth piece of cold-press, warm-tone paper.  That little difference made the image work, and I was able to give it some other special treatment, like over darkening the trees to balance out the blinding light of the cars, etc.  There are some things that can't be done in camera, while it's best to get the exposure and composition as close to perfect in camera as possible, some things are  better left for Photoshop.

Triptych

I'm working on a new triptych, the last one I put together was sold shortly after creation, I'm also going to be printing out a couple specialty prints.  After I've got these new guys printed and framed I'll post a photo of them on here and talk about framing, matting, and art work as a series in both diptych and triptych forms.

Stand by :)