Everybody knows how an elephant looks like

7 10 2010

As mentioned in my previous post, I had the opportunity to listen to some great presentations at photokina. Today I want to share a lessons which resonated with me.

The lesson is to shoot tight. Fill the frame with what you want to show. This also helps to eliminate distracting objects in the background. Try to look for interesting details. The detail can be the fur or feathers of an animal, the eyes in a portrait, the brick in the wall  or  the tusk of an elephant, or ,as Johnathan  Scott put it during his presentation:  ”Everybody knows how an elephant looks like, you don’t need to have the whole elephant in the picture to make a picture of an elephant.”

Be sure to also check out this post on the subject at Photofocus.com.

Happy shooting!

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Learning photography at the movies

28 10 2009

Summer is over, cold and rainy day are here. When it’s raining cats and dogs outside you might want to leave the camera in the bag and watch a movie. This is however no reason to stop learning photography!

The techniques used by cinematographers are very similar to those used by photographers. Next time you watch a movie or TV try to pay attention to how the cinematographer is using photography concepts to enhance or influence the story being told.

Look at the use of
depth of field: what is in focus and what isn’t
composition, does the subject fill the frame?
focus: where is the focus?
brightness, is the scene dark or bright?
color, many colors or monochromatic?
shadows, are there shadows on the subjects face?
contrasts, does the scene contain much contrast
etc etc etc
Try to link the use of these things to what is happening in the story and what emotion is the movie maker trying to evoke. Remember that as photographer you are telling a story too!

Happy shooting!

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Tip: Bring a notebook

12 08 2009

Bald Eagle

For my self set assignment to go to the zoo, I went to the zoo. To be precise the safari-park Beekse Bergen. Before I delve into I the things I learned there (which I will do in a later post), I wanted to share with you one tip which I wish I knew before going:

Bring a notebook.

I would have been so happy If I would have written down the name of the animals. Now my picture will bare the name “Bird” If you do know the name of the bird let me know in the comments…

Anyone knows the name of this bird?

Anyone knows the name of this bird?

This tip applies not only when going to the zoo. It is good practice to carry a small notebook with you. When you take pictures there is a lot more information than that what goes in the photo. You can write down things related to the circumstances like “taken just after heavy rain” or “incoming fog” or memo’s for yourself for future shoots “come back here in Autumn”. Hope this tip help you.

Happy shooting

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Tip: Ignore aspect ratio’s

2 08 2009


Beach houses on Texelby Peter Tennekes

One of the most important and easy editing tool you have is cropping. Most people stick to the standard 4:3 (or 3:2) aspect ratio (often a check-box ‘constrict to master aspect ratio’ or something like this). This is not needed. You should pick the crop which works best for the image at hand. Your photo is an artistic expression and shouldn’t be limited by some arbitrary standard.
Things to take into consideration are getting rid of distractions, overall composition (like Rule of Thirds), good color balance etc.
The argument for sticking to the ratio is the standard photo paper sizes. Most images live on the web nowadays and never get printed. And when you do want to print, you can easily add borders to fit it to the paper.

Happy shooting (and cropping)

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Tip: Work in full screen

26 07 2009

When you are working on a photo (either for making a selection or doing some editing), work in full screen. This prevents other windows, menu bars, desktop backgrounds from distracting you. Working in full screen mode changes how you perceive the image. This is especially true if there is a big clash between the colours of your image and that of your desktop. Your image needs space around it. This is also something to keep in mind when you display your photos somewhere.

Happy shooting.

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Switzerland photos and what I learned

17 06 2009

As you could have read in a previous post I was planing a trip to Switzerland. I also tried to think a bit in advance what kind op pictures I would like to come home with.
The results you can find here: Switzerland Gallery
What I’ve learned:

  • For a picture of mountains to work they need to be placed into context. This can be the valley, other mountains or a foreground object like a cabin. For this reasons pictures taken while on top of the mountain hardly ever reflect the true magnificence of the scenery Landscape
  • One day is too short. If you are photographing landscapes staying somewhere for one day is too short. Landscape photography is a lot about being at the right place at the right time. The right time relating to time of day and of year and under the right weather conditions. The right place is of course the best location to capture the landscape. If you are just there for one day you need luck.
  • Don’t take too many pictures. After a 1 week trip I returned with 1500 pictures. The trip ended 3 weeks ago and I am still not done sorting through them. Many of them are nearly duplicates. For most shots it is not needed to shoot more than one. Make your shot check in the preview that is is ok and move on. A lot of other pictures were just not good composition wise and of most of them I knew at the time of taking that it wouldn’t be brilliant. So next time I will try to limit myself and only take a picture when I feel the composition is good.
    Of course the great thing about digital photography is that you don’t have to care about how much film you have, but it is also a disadvantage as you are more likely to not think enough about the composition.
  • Check your camera! It sound obvious, but I had a number of shots failed because I forgot to set the settings back (ISO value, still manual focus etc etc) I also had some images with dust spots. So check your camera.
  • As mentioned in a previous post walk. I spend 2 days in the alps (in the Jungfrau region) one of those days walking and the other going by train and with a cable car up the mountains. Almost all of the successful alpine landscape pictures were taken during the day walking. It really helps to get a feeling of the landscape.

I hope you have also learned something from my trip. Let me know if you have any comments by leaving a comment.

Happy shooting!
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Photography how-to: zoom blur

7 06 2009

Here is a simple technique to make creative images by adding zoom blur. You most likely can achieve a similar effect in post editing, but here I’ll explain how it is done ‘in the field’.

First composition: First pick a suitable subject. The subject should have a good contrast to the background so it sticks out. Set up your camera on a tripod. The subject needs to be placed in the center.

Now set the focus and switch to manual focus. What you will be doing is zoom and press the shutter at the same time. In order for this to work best the shutter speed needs to be long enough. So lower the ISO setting to 100 or lower, set the aperture to the highest F number. Also set your camera to continues shooting, so that if you keep the shutter pressed it keeps taking pictures.
Zoom blurred flower
Now the tricky part is to time the shutter press and the zooming. The easiest way to do this is to go back and forth so that you continuous zooming in or out. In this way in the 1/30st of a second that the shutter is open you are most likely zooming in or out. And if you keep the shutter pressed you for sure have one with the right effect.
In your favorite application you can crop the image so the subject is off center.

Hope you’ll have fun trying this out. Let me know if you like it by adding a comment.

Happy shooting!
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New DSLR? What to buy next?

3 06 2009

So you’ve got your (first) new dSLR and wandering what kind of additions to get next to get started. Here are 3 items which helped me most in improving my photography, enjoying my new dSLR  and which I recommend you to get first. If you disagree or have some additional must haves, leave a comment.
I bought these things based on recommendations from Scott Bourne’s website and podcast Photofocus site and Alex Lindsay’s podcast This Week In Photography. Both great podcasts ad I suggest ou check them out.

  • Good bag. It sounds trivial but a good bag makes all the difference. In my case it means I have no hesitation in bringing my camera. I have a comfortable bag which actually holds all my gear. I’ve chosen a bag (lowe pro compudaypack) which also has plenty of room for stuff to take on a day trip or hike. When you buy your bag remember that you most likely want to fit in more stuff in the future as you get more buy more gear
  • Fast prime. (a fast prime is a lens with a fixed focal length and a large maximum aperture like the like the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8) This kind of lens really enable you to take those kind of pictures you simply cannot take with a point and shoot camera
  • Lenspen. Cheap, small but I use it a lot, just get one.

Hopes this helps you in deciding what to buy next. Happy shooting.
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Landscape photography tip: walk

1 06 2009

Signpost for walking in SwitzerlandDuring my recent trip to Switzerland I took many landscape photos. While trying to capture the magnificence of the mountain landscape I realised that the fact that I was walking helped a lot.

If you photograph a person you can ask the person to move this way or that, change the angle, move a light. With landscapes that is a bit tricky since they are kind of stationary. In order to overcome this limitation you have to do all the moving. If you do the moving by car you limit yourself further by having to stick to roads and to places where you can stop and park.

On foot you have much better access to the landscape. (of course this is not true for all locations) While hiking though a landscape you can see the landscape change as landscape elements shift in relation to each other. You also see more candidates to serve as foreground objects. As for the light, you get a feeling of how the sun moves through the landscape.

If you gain more experience as a photographer I imagine you will develop the skills to see the visualize the landscape from different viewpoints,  but I’m not there yet and am not yet able to see at a glance what the best view is and at what time.

Some of the results of my trip to in Switzerland are up at my Switzerland gallery (more pictures will be added there soon)

Hope this tip helps you and let me know what you think by leaving a comment. Happy shooting (and walking)

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Quick tip: Which lens? check library

19 05 2009

A repeated question is “which (additional) lens should I buy?” Here is a tip for those of us beginning photographer not sure yet what kind of photographers they are.

Open your photo library. Look at your best photos. Pay attention to what focal length, which aperture etc is used. See if you can see a pattern and base your decision on what you found.

For example. If you have a lot of them at the maximum of your zoom range of your lens and you find yourself cropping them, a longer zoom seems like a good investment. If shallow depth of field is a pattern, a faster lens (What is a fast lens) is a good step.

This tip is of course only helpful if you already have a good amount of photos to sample from. If you don’t have a big library yet, it might be best to start building one first. If you are looking for your first lens, a zoom lens will do fine to start building your library.

Hope it helps you find your next lens. Happy shooting!


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