Photographer Clay

Tag: Photography

  • Photography as art

    Photography as art

    It has been debated and it is still somewhat of a debate whether or not photography is an art form. To me, it is definitely an art form, but many others claim it is not the same as painting and sculpture. Those who claim photography isn’t art often cite things like it isn’t creative, it doesn’t take skill, anyone can do it, blah blah blah. Much the same could be said for any art form. Anyone can splash paint on a canvas, anyone can create a sculpture. Given the trends in the traditional art forms with abstract art forms, ready-mades, etc.

    Those of us who are photographers know none of those comments are true. Photography done properly is creative and takes a lot of skill. Photography is different than painting just as painting is different from sculpting which is different than dance. Will this end the debate? I doubt it. It won’t end because there are those who believe their art form is above and beyond that of other forms of art. I don’t care what those naysayers believe, not in the least. All I can do is to do my photographic art and promote it as best as I can. Let’s get out there and create some photographic art.

  • Five simple tips to great photography

    Five simple tips to great photography

    Five simple tips to take great photographs. I see these types of headlines, or something very similar to the every single day. Then you get into the article and they say the same things every other article says about photography. Learn exposure, get closer, blah, blah blah. Simple right? Well maybe but maybe not. I’ve taught people just beginning photography. When I teach a beginner, I go out with them to help guide them. What sounds simple isn’t always so simple. I read a lot of these articles, or watch online videos that are similar, just to see if they have some “magic” technique. I haven’t found one yet. To me, this is becoming the problem I see with photography. This has become the way to learn photography and what we’re getting is everyone is taking the same photographs. They all look like everyone else’s photographs.

    When I have taught beginner photography the first thing I mention is that I don’t want to make them a copy of me. I want them to find their own style(s). I’ll teach the concepts and let them explore. Online instruction is fine in some cases, but to depend upon a video to teach as the only source often leads to confusion and failure. What if you have a question? You don’t have an instructor, if you send an email or post a comment you may, eventually, get an answer.

    If you really want to get better at photography find a real class or mentor that you can have real interactions with and help guide you personally. I feel like today we are losing personal interactions in hopes of fast and easy. Fast and easy is rarely good and far more often not even close the great.

  • Vision vs sight

    Vision vs sight

    To most people the two words are synonymous but to an artist, the two terms are very different. I know we hear photographers and artists talk about visualizing a work. A photographic artist can see a subject or scene and visualize a final piece of work. New photographers often struggle with this concept especially those who were not trained in art. Experienced photographers who can visualize a piece from a subject or scene often have difficulty explaining how to achieve the ability to visualize. I get it. Being able to teach someone how to use their mind and eyes to create a view of a work of art is at best a fuzzy concept. My photography school wasn’t particularly good at teaching this concept either.

    One way I was able to teach myself how to visualize was through experimentation in post-processing and in using my camera and photography tools in manual mode. In the beginning, there were some horrible results. I won’t call them failures because it was a matter of learning. Another technique I used was watching movies, particularly old black and white classics. Many of the old directors of photography and gaffers were masters of lighting. Lighting effects had to be created at the time and not through the use of special effects. Today, we see many movies made that employ the use of color grading, one of my favorite techniques.

    The entire point of this post is to get us to consider experimentation with our gear and software. Even if the experiment results in a horrible failure, it isn’t a failure. When we work with our digital assets we can work with copies and we can always start again. Don’t look at a horrible experiment as a failure but as part of a learning process. Take it further than you normally do you just may surprise yourself with your art.

  • Sometimes less is more

    Sometimes less is more

    I see this more often with wedding and portrait photographers but it exists in all genres where we or our clients believe the photographer must take hundreds or thousands of photographs during a session. Once those hundreds or thousands are taken the vast majority must be great. I have tried to understand when, why, and how this trend began. At the same time, I photographers say to go back to film to learn to be a better photographer because you’re limited in the number of photographs you can take, yet many of these same photographers provide massive numbers of photographs for their sessions.

    I used to loath the term, less is more. I have always thought to deliver a finished product that is better than expected but I have come to better understand what often the expression means, at least to me. It’s not always the quantity of delivering more but delivering less of a higher quality. When we attempt to pack too much into a session, we often become sloppy and careless. This can include any photography we are doing. By setting a goal of coming away with hundreds or thousands of photographs maybe we would be better served by slowing down, limiting our numbers, working to obtain the best exposure, best composition, best subject. As an artist, we shouldn’t be concerned with mass production but quality art.

  • If you could have anything

    If you could have anything

    Photo by Eva Elijas on Pexels.com

    I heard this question posed in a podcast I listen to a week or so ago and I have been thinking about it ever since. The question that was posed was, “If I could grant you anything you wanted for your photography what would it be? Would you want a new camera? A new lens? To travel more?” The podcaster went on to say nothing was out of the question. But, this was a three-part question. The next question was, “why did you choose that?” and the third was, “what have you done to achieve that?” I’ve thought about those three questions since I have heard this podcast and decided it was time to talk about it.

    While I began writing this I was able to answer those questions. My answer to the first question is, I want more artistic motivation. I let my motivation falter in the winter of 2020. The world camera came under attack by a global virus. One that, at the time, there was no cure for, no known treatment, or vaccination. It became easy to sit inside and watch the world go by. Just like an exercise program the more you skip the workout the easier it becomes to skip. Motivation, once lost, is difficult to bring back as I am finding out. I still see fantastic scenes, subjects, and light. I still have creative ideas I want to work on. It’s just getting it flowing again. I suspect many of you have had a similar experience. I can even answer the third question today. I started writing this blog about my thoughts and ramblings. I recently started taking a camera with me wherever I go. The artistic motivation is coming back, slowly but it is getting there.

    Spend some time to think of what it is that you want to further your photography. Then, answer the final two questions, why did you choose that thing and what have you done to accomplish it. Let’s further our artistic journey together!

  • The beauty of the ordinary

    The beauty of the ordinary

    So many times we look for exotic locations or spectacular subjects when we can easily find beauty in ordinary things if we just look. We don’t just have to limit it to nature but we can include people and man-made objects. Beauty surrounds us every day we just often pass it by as ordinary and uninteresting. Spend time looking at the world around you rather than thinking you have to travel to far-off exotic locations or find supermodels.

    I think back to some of the exercises I did from my photography school, such as 10 different photographs of one subject. This doesn’t sound like much until you start doing the exercise. The first few you can get done quickly but as you approach the last few you may find yourself really thinking about angles, composition, light, perspective. When I performed this exercise I often found the photographs I took towards the end were the most compelling.

    Look for the beauty of the world around you and photograph it to share with the rest of the world.

  • Obsess over results not gear

    Obsess over results not gear

    We all love our camera gear and high-quality cameras and lenses. I see so many social media posts about photographers obsessing over gear when we should be obsessing over high-quality photographs. Gear can be important but we can get high-quality photographs with virtually any gear. I like fancy camera stuff just like many but I love great photographs more and could care less about what equipment was used to create the great images.

    A few years ago I had a conversation with a beginning photographer about using a so-called kit lens. The new photographer was asking about getting a better lens because they were unable to get sharply focused photographs with their kit lens. I explained that it was possible to get good photographs with their lens and used a kit lens to show them examples. We even did the pixel-peeping on the resulting images. We talked that it was technique and knowledge of how to use their camera settings to ensure sharply focused photographs. I mentioned that while the so-called kit lenses may not be as fast or have as robust of a build as the professional-grade lenses modern consumer-grade (kit lenses) were very good with modern glass elements and coatings.

    The advice I give photographers, especially new photographers, who are looking to get new equipment is to decide how your current camera or other equipment is limiting your creativity. Learn to use your camera equipment to the fullest and then push it further. You just may learn that it truly isn’t the gear that gets great photographs but rather the person operating the gear.

  • What is reality?

    What is reality?

    We often hear something like, “I like to take photographs that capture the scene as it exists in reality” and this is often from the so-called photographic purists. But exactly what is reality? Whose reality? There is a saying, “perception is reality”. While perception isn’t exactly reality, perception can become reality, but does it make any difference to us as artists? Yes and no.

    First of all, let me clarify something, I believe I am an artist who uses a camera to create my works. I can also be a documentary photographer when the need arises. So when I am wearing my artist who uses a camera hat, which is most of the time by the way, how I perceive a scene of the photograph is most important. I want to record how I perceived a particular scene or subject. Let’s face it, a large percentage of actual reality is boring and uninteresting. To me, reality in my photographs is what I want to make of it not what someone else perceives as reality.

    One of the masters of photography has three quotes that come to mind, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”, “dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”, and “when I’m ready to make a photograph, I think I quite obviously see in my mind’s eye something that is not literally there in the true meaning of the word. I’m interested in something which is built up from within, rather than just extracted from without.” So, when it’s time to create remember those three phrases.

  • Do you need a photo website?

    Do you need a photo website?

    Do you really need a photography website? I have one and over the years I have moved from service to service but do we really need one? If you have a site how much traffic does it get? Do you even know or care? The service I currently use is part of my Adobe Creative Cloud subscription except that I pay for a custom domain name. It’s been a long time since I have run analytics on my photography website so I also don’t know the answer to the questions I just asked about my own site.

    For me, I may not need a photography website but rather I want one. It allows me the ability to quickly direct people who may ask about my photography. I’ve been approached by strangers on the street while I have been out with cameras and asked about my photography so I keep a personal business card with my website address. I also have acquired somewhat of a following albeit not large. I believe a website is important because it is the whole point of photography to show others the world around us and how we see it. If you don’t have a website you may consider getting one. Showcase your work you may find there are those out there who want to see what you do and you just may inspire someone.