Photographer Clay

Category: Uncategorized

  • Practice photo sessions are important

    Practice photo sessions are important

    I recently bought an LED light wand. I had looked at them before and thought they could be the source of some very creative lighting. I used the light wand for a photo session shortly after I bought it with the help of another photographer who had previously used light wands.

    Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours working with the light to learn about how to get the most from it. I have learned that the light works best in low-light situations requiring higher ISO and wider aperture settings.

    I’m still working with the new light to find out all the possibilities it can provide. I find it important to set up practice sessions with new gear or to learn new techniques. The sessions don’t have to be anything serious, in fact, I would caution you to not use a new piece of gear or technique on a serious photo session until you practiced it and become familiar with the gear or technique. Not every photo session you do has to be a serious session, practice is just as important.

  • Seduced by the color

    Seduced by the color

    One of the best things I have learned over the years is to learn from my past work. As I wrote about yesterday, I go through my Lightroom catalog virtually every day, sometimes multiple times during the day. I often find photographs that I processed in the past and think egads! What the hell were you thinking! That is horrible. I may then spend some time working on the original photograph again using new techniques, styles, improved processing skills, and software and many times find a diamond.

    The original of the featured photograph above never really grabbed me. The light was wonderful, and the colors were fantastic but the building just never really stood out to me, it was lost.

    To me, the colors of the trees distracted the viewer away from the building. I was drawn to the colors but my intended subject was really the building. The building with the stream in the foreground really fits the area in the Ozark mountains. The rustic look of the rocks and the building. I vaguely remember doing some monochrome images of this scene but apparently, I didn’t like them as they no longer exist in my catalog.

    I was seduced by the colors! It becomes easy to get seduced by color, especially in the autumn! I sometimes forget that color exists as tones in a black and white photograph. I’ve talked about how black and white photography often shows us the soul of a subject and yet I still miss the chance to really show the soul of my subject. Color can be that seductress, leading us away.

  • Going back through

    Going back through

    Every day I browse through my Lightroom catalog. Often it is to find inspiration for my topic for the day. I have found that I have a very eclectic catalog of photographs. I have portraits, street photography, landscapes, and everything in between.

    I have also discovered I have a variety of file formats. I have files that are jpg, tif, nef, dng, png, and PSD files. I often wonder why I chose to save something in a particular format.

    I believe it is important to revisit previous work. In my doing so I get inspiration about places, styles, and subjects to revisit. Sort of a do-over. To see if I can do something better or different. I work to compete with myself. Have I gotten better or worse? Have I just changed? Have I learned or have I forgotten?

    Challenge yourself by going back through your work. Don’t cage yourself into always having to compete with others or find something new.

  • Photographing the beauty of nature

    Photographing the beauty of nature

    I often enjoy photographing the beauty of nature but there are times when our equipment limits our ability to accurately photograph the beauty. The photograph above had such a high dynamic range by the time I could get the color of the sky and the light rays the lake and foreground were very underexposed. There were also several distracting elements in the scene. A parking lot and cars along with a shelter house could be seen through the trees in the background. In the foreground along the lakeshore, there was an area of a muddy bank. My eyes, however, were able to accurately see this scene as pictured.

    If it were not for the ability to post-process this image, which by the way is a merged HDR of three separate exposures, I would have been unable to show the beauty of nature in this scene. This is why I believe it is important to understand the limitations and abilities of not only your equipment but also what can be done in post-processing. All of these things could have been achieved with advanced darkroom techniques. The use of computers and modern software just allows us to do those things digitally.

    Learn the capabilities and limitations of your camera along with post-processing techniques. You’re not changing reality or the beauty of nature. You’re bringing it to life in your art.

  • Photographing emotion

    Photographing emotion

    I love being able to photograph emotions, especially in people. It gives the viewer a sense of a story. As I looked at this photograph this morning only three days past another huge tragedy I felt a huge wave of emotions. Of course, this was a staged photograph with a model and it was not taken with any particular event in mind. Drama and emotion in photographs are powerful.

    Drama and emotion can even be captured in landscape photography. The beauty of flowers against the dramatic stormy sky is much more interesting to me than a cloudless blue sky.

    We are emotional beings. We are surrounded by emotions every day. Some are happy, and some are unhappy. Some emotions are contemplative.

    I even look for these moments when doing portrait sessions. Capturing a real-life moment is my favorite. It says much more to me than people just standing or sitting and smiling.

    Even if the session is in a studio environment, I work to set up emotion and drama with lighting.

    Look for these moments when photographing your next subject. Create some emotion and capture the drama of life. This is where we live and what we experience.

  • A professional photographer vs an amateur photographer

    A professional photographer vs an amateur photographer

    When we hear the word professional in front of occupation or item we believe it to be higher quality. For example, a professional photographer is believed to be a better photographer than an amateur photographer. That is not necessarily the truth. I know some amateur photographers who create fantastic work and have seen some professional photographers do mediocre work. The difference isn’t the quality of work, but how the person makes a living.

    We put far too much emphasis on what people do for a profession or job. We measure success far too often by how much money someone makes. I don’t have to be a professional photographer to be successful. I don’t even have to make money as a photographer to be successful.

    A while back, I used the term “photographic artist” to describe myself. That doesn’t mean everything I make is art. That doesn’t mean everything I make is even good. I create what I like, if others like it that is even better. If I tell people I’m a photographer the next question is often, “Oh do you do weddings?”. By telling people I’m a photographic artist rather than an amateur they believe that I am creating artwork rather than just photographs. Although, it doesn’t really matter because the quality of my work isn’t any different. I just don’t believe that a professional photographer is any better than anyone else. I let my work speak for myself. Call yourself whatever you wish, just let your work display your ability. Let’s show the world that a non-professional photographer can be as good or better than a professional.

  • Photography is like golf

    Photography is like golf

    For me, photography is a bit like golf. The goal of my photography is to create a strong photograph that fulfills my vision, like the goal of golf is to complete the hole and course in without exceeding a certain number of swings at the ball. You must focus on the pin in golf and drive towards it. In photography, you focus on the goal of a strong image and drive towards that. In photography, just like golf, we can make a mistake and end up in the rough or some other hazard, and now we must work a bit harder to get back onto the course and our ultimate goal.

    Photography, like golf, also requires a bit of practice and the honing of our skills. It is important to keep our gear in working good condition. Sometimes, it is important to practice our photography skills just like a golfer may go to the driving range to practice their swing.

    Don’t be afraid to practice and exercise your photography skills. Take your camera gear to the photography driving range and practice without having to worry about creating a magical image.

  • I didn’t become a photographer for fame, glory, or riches

    I didn’t become a photographer for fame, glory, or riches

    I didn’t become a photographer for fame, glory, or riches. While any of the three would be an awesome accomplishment any one of the three could be a scrouge as well. Let’s face it if you become any of the three the expectation is that anything you produce must be excellent.

    I love creating work that achieves some level of excellence. I mean isn’t that the goal we all want to strive for? I’m just not sure I want to have my audience or the public expect that everything I generate is excellent. I know we can control what gets released to the wild and we should only release our best work. If you’re anything like me though having achieved fame, glory, and riches would cause me to put the pressure on myself.

    As I write this I also realize, that while becoming famous, receiving glory, or becoming rich wasn’t one of my goals when I started I would take any of the three. I would deal with my internal pressure to generate excellent work. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but isn’t it important to have a dream?

    Now, to start down that road to fame and fortune. I can only achieve this by getting out there and creating the best photographic art I can. Join me, let’s create beautiful art, and if you become famous and rich before me, congratulations I’m proud of you.

  • Photographing in an instant

    Photographing in an instant

    There are times when you can’t prepare in advance. I was sitting around going through some photographs in Lightroom on a Sunday morning when I started to see warnings of a strong storm approaching. There had previously only been a fairly slight chance of strong storms. I grabbed a camera, tripod, and my lightning trigger and headed out a short distance in hopes of getting some shots of lightning bolts. Fortunately, I had recently charged the lightning trigger. I got to a location where I had a fairly decent view of the storm coming in. The warnings listed 50+ MPH winds, hail, and heavy rain.

    As you can see in the photograph there was lightning, and lots of it, just not the lightning bolts I had hoped to be able to photograph.

    This photo was only 4 minutes after the first. At this point, I’m almost running back to the car to load my stuff inside and get back to the garage where I park.

    It’s always good to have a plan in advance because sometimes you don’t have time to prepare. About 2 minutes later, the 50+ MPH wind, hail, and heavy rain hit.

    I came away empty-handed for cool lightning photographs but was able to photograph a very photogenic storm.

  • Black and white photography

    Black and white photography

    There are times I believe black and white photography is the best choice to evoke emotions in the photograph. Often, in my mind, the color gets in the way.

    Since I shoot strictly digital at the moment everything is captured in color. For me, it is more than just applying a preset or one-click black and white conversion. When I convert a digital image to black and white, I may adjust exposure, contrast, highlights, and shadows.

    If you always work in color, study black and white photographs and experiment with conversions. See how the mood and emotion change with using black and white.