Learning to Taste

A few weeks ago, I caught a segment with Jimmy Kimmel.  His guest was Gordon Ramsey, renowned chef and restaurant owner. Jimmy asked him how he teaches new chefs and his reply was he first teaches them how to taste.  He didn't say he teaches them a complicated cooking technique like how to sous vide a duck leg.  He says to be a good chef you have to know how to taste.  

The same is true with photography.  You have to learn how to see.  What a minute...I've been seeing all my life.  Yes, you've also been tasting too, but for a chef it's different kind of tasting, and for photographers it's a different kind of seeing.    Let's breakdown a shot of mine, and how I saw it.  

 

 

I was out this past weekend during the Spring Snow, and I spotted these flowers planted by the mailbox in front of a house.  It's a classic shot of contrasting colors, seasons, temperature, and textures.   So, I had to turn around and shoot it.  I knew I wanted a blurred background so I set a wide aperture on my lens.  I was only interested in isolating one of the bloom clusters, and a cluster of an odd number is more pleasing than even ones so I picked a cluster of three.  I created a subtle diagonal line with the in focus bloom and the out of focus ones in the background to help move you thru the image.  Overall, its a pleasing image.  

This is seeing with a photographer's eye.  First, you see.  Then, you decide what settings to use on the camera to recreate what you saw, and how you want to present it to the viewer.

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Troy is a Landscape and Portrait Photographer.  He lives in Lancaster, PA with his wife and cats.  He is a member of the Professional Photographers Association.  He can be reached at tsniderphotography@icloud.com or 717-808-2384

 

Three Photographers whose work has inspired and shaped mine.

As I continue my journey into photography, I have studied a lot of other photographers work.  I've read books and watched online tutorials.  This weeks post I wanted to talk about three photographers whose work and teachings have really guided and shaped me as I develop my visual style. 

Jay Maisel (www.jaymaisel.com) is a NYC based street photographer whose work spans decades.  His accolades are numerous and he has amassed a vast portfolio of commercial work for national companies.  Chances are you have seen Jay's work.  I love street photography.  It's not scripted or planned.  It's visceral.  I love the challenge of making order out of chaos, of capturing those moments that most people miss or don't even see.   Jay's most recent book 'Light, Color, and Gesture' changed me as a photographer.   I took away two major things from his book,  First, there is no such thing as bad light.  We have good light and challenging light but in the end it is all light.  Secondly, his quote, "Always wait for the trigger. The trigger is the final part of the puzzle, the reason you want to shoot."  To me that trigger could be anything, the expression of a person, the light, the shadow, the color, or the addition of something to a scene which a second ago was not there.  Trigger moments as I call them are everywhere we just need to learn to wait for them.  

 

I shot this in Lancaster City.  This is one of a half dozen of this woman but this one had the tigger moment which was the warm light falling onto her bright clothing.  Her posture or gesture as Jay would say is also interesting.  

 

Jerry Ghionis (www.jerryghionis.com) Jerry is a wedding photographer based in Australia, but he shoots weddings all over the world.  I recently watched a presentation of his and was blown away by how he uses found light to create stunning images.  A simple shaft of light coming in from a window will catch his eye and he will use that to create a masterful image. His posing of subjects in that light is also magical.  He creates stunning dramatic images in the worst light and conditions possible.  

 This was a shot from a friend's wedding.  I spotted this women who was framed in the overhang.  The light was soft and even and her gaze out created the feeling of wonder.  

 

Rick Sammon (www.ricksammon.com) is a landscape photographer who has traveled all over the world.  He is also a Canon Explorer of Light.  I started photography with landscapes; it is what I cut my teeth on.  It still is a large part of what I shoot and my portfolio.  I watched a presentation of Rick's and his concept of thinking like a painter has always stuck with me.  Often times, in landscape photography we have these vast marvelous scenes which present a challenge to compose and capture.  How much sky do I include?  Should I put the creek in the center of the frame or off to the left?  Rick's tool to think like a painter has always helped me approach these landscape scenes.  I will often ask myself if I were painting this what would I include?  

 

This is a portion of Wigwam Falls along the Blue Ride Parkway in Virginia.  I used my think like a painter tool to compose this scene.  The large rocks on the left side frame the water as it rushes down the rocks.  The pool of water blow draws you up the rest of the waterflow and into the image.  

I could list several other photographers both present and past who have inspired.  The three above have really impacted my work and shaped me as a photographer.  Who inspires you in your life?  Let me know in the comments and make sure to subscribe to the blog.    

 

 

 

Seek the Light

The other day, I was watching my four cats fight over a tiny sliver of sunlight coming in thru the blinds to sun themselves and sleep.  I thought to myself there's a lesson in photography.  My cats have an the amazing ability to find the tiniest spot of sunlight and plant themselves in it.  As a photographer, I need to be equally obsessed with light.  After all photography is light.  My cats don't care if it's sidelight, front light, or backlight, to them it's just a warm place to sleep.  It could be harsh, diffuse or soft.  If it's warm and sunny they find it.  

A term photographers toss around a lot is 'bad light'.  Guess what...it doesn't exist.  We only have light.  Now, certainly the light at dawn and sunset is much easier to work with than the harsh light of noon. Does that mean you can't take good pictures at noon? No, it means you have to manipulate the camera and settings to compensate for the harsh noon light, or even better yet exploit the harsh quality of the light.  I'm obsessed with light no matter what time of day.  

 

Hailey.  

Equally important than the light can be the lack of light or the absence of it.  Shadows give depth to an image.  They let you see the contours and shape of a 3D object in a 2D picture.  

 

'Isolated' Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA

 

Don't fight the light.  Embrace it and seek it no matter the time of day.   

 

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The Camera is a tool, you are the artist.

 

As we move in to 2016, camera technology is getting better and better, and with the ever advancing technology the images that are being captured are better in terms of quality.  That being said, no matter how sharp or good the cameras are they are still a tool.  The tool doesn't make the picture anymore then the saw makes the chair.  No one has ever said, "Boy I'm glad I have these pots and pans they make me such a good cook."  The pots and pans are a tool, you are the cook.  

Certainly, the advancement of technology is to our advantage.  We can shoot handheld at much slower shutter speeds than ever before thanks to image stabilization systems.  We can shoot in the darkest of places thanks to the low light capabilities of today's digital sensors.  But, we have to control that.  And even more importantly we have to point the camera at something interesting, compose, frame and then capture it as we want you to see it, or we want to present it.  

 

A few weeks ago, I was in Atlantic City to shoot some long exposure sunrise images. When I'm out shootings I may have a plan, and a goal, but I'm always open to whatever may come along.  I keep my head on a swivel and look for what else might be going on.   This is one of those images below

 

I was setting up to shoot some long exposure of the waves crashing onto rocks when I turned and saw the paddler boarder backlit by the sun. The water was sparkling and the sky was full of orange light. I had to shoot it. I was set for long exposure so I quick took my filters off, spun my camera around, adjusted my exposure, focused, and snapped.  That took me three seconds, one second later and  he was gone. These are the fleeting moments we live to capture. 

Here's another

 

 

These are the forested glass doors at the entrance to the Borgata.  I saw them and thought it would make a great portrait backdrop so I was looking for someone to shoot when the door opened and the sun backlit the person walking in casting their shadow on the door and wall.   Amazing!  The shadow, the contrast, love it all.  Why is it blue?  I changed the white balance to make it blue.  

The camera is the tool, but you I have to control it and make it do what you want to capture the moments.  Jay Maisel, famed street photography, says, "Always wait for the trigger." The trigger could be the light, the color, or the action of anything around you.  The camera is your tool.  You are the artist.  

 

A toy car, flash and a piece of tile= Endless Photo Ops

I came across Dave Hobby's very popular photoblog Strobist a few days ago and have immersed myself in his approach to small flash lighting.  What he is able to create with one or two speedlight flashes is amazing.   Go check him out!!! at http://www.strobist.blogspot.com

Over the course of the past few days of reading his blog I've had so many a ha moments which have really changed my way of thinking about flash photography.  Perhaps the biggest was his concept of thinking of flash photography in conjunction with ambient light as creating 2 separate exposures superimposed on each other one for the flash, and one for the ambient light.  

WOW...REALLY!!! Its that simple!! Yes, it is that simple.  When you get that concept and start to apply it you have so much control over the light, and when you can control light you can also create light how you want it.  

Yesterday afternoon I started playing with some of these concepts and boy did I have fun!   I actually started out thinking of what I wanted to do and was inspired by a photo on the Strobist blog of a toy car.  So I went that route.  I made a quick trip to Home Depot for a 12x12 piece of shiny black, granite tile total cost $5.   Everything else I had at home.  

My vision was to make this toy car look as real as possible and capture the reflection of the car in the shiny tile.  I was wanted a completely black background and since I have no backdrop that was going to be my ambient exposure.  I had to kill the ambient light so it went completely black and have the flash as my light source.  I also knew that I needed to have the flash directed and concentrated over the toy car so the light would't spill into the background.   That required a snoot or basically a tube over the flash head to keep the light from spilling out into the background.  Well I didn't have a snoot so I made one out of a piece of cardboard I cut of of the cat food box.  I also knew with the flash so concentrated over the car that it wouldn't need much power so I dialed it all the way down.  Here is the first shot. 

I liked it and was pleased with the result but wasn't really what I wanted.  It still looked too much like a toy car.  So, I made a quick decision to change my white balance to tungsten which would give more of a blue glow to everything.  

Ahh...much better!  It really looks like a real car parked on the road after its just rained.   Perhaps the blue glow is from the neon bar sign where the hipster driving it is having a gin and tonic.  Ok, that was too much, but you get the idea.  

So for me this was a huge deal.  I was able to have a vision, set it up, light it and get the result I wanted in less than an hour.  WOW!  So much fun an so cool!  

The Shot Where It All Came Together

     It's been several years since I grabbed my first camera and starting venturing out and taking pictures.  When I first started, I was online all the time watching videos, reading articles, gear reviews, really anything I could get my hands on.  It was last week, when Facebook reminded me of a photo I posted a while back where I really felt everything had come together for me and I had really created a photograph.  In the paragraphs below, I'm going to touch very briefly on the two major components of what makes a great photography and share the one shot where it came together for me. 

   At is core photography is all about exposure.  When you take a picture you are making an exposure of the light coming into the lens. Thus, exposure is governed by light so photography is all about light.  This is nothing new or earth shattering.  Making an exposure is drastically different than creating a great photograph, but I'll get to that in a minute.  Exposure is governed by three things, the aperture, or hole in the lens, the time the shutter stays open, and the ISO, or sensitivity of the sensor or film to that light.  The best book I've encountered on exposure is 'Understanding Exposure' by Bryan Peterson.  Bryan does a masterful job of explaining what I've mentioned above.  

     Here is my first exposure tip;  Set and forget your ISO.  You need to train yourself to read the light of a scene. If its bright and sunny set it to the lowest ISO you can, for me thats 100.   Overcast days is probably ISO of 400, and indoors or near dusk it can go to 800 or 1600.  ISO is very important part of the exposure but it is also the most damaging to the quality of the photos you can take as it introduces noise or grain. This is especially important if you have a cropped sensor camera like a Canon T5i or a Nikon D3200.  The smaller sensors get noisier and grainy at lower ISOs than a full frame sensor like that in a Canon 6D.  

     Now we made an exposure but guess what, our pictures are still uninspiring and not very good.  Remember, I said that making an exposure was not going to ensure a great photograph.        

     Now we move on to the 64,000 pound gorilla in the room and that is composition.  One of the greatest photographers in history, Henri Cartier-Bresson said "Composition is the strongest way of seeing."  I am 3000% convinced that you could leave your camera in Auto mode, please don't email me about how auto mode is bad, and you are correct, I seldom shoot in auto mode anymore.  I'm highlighting how many get caught up in the technical aspects of photography, I did too, and never really ask themselves what am I trying to say with this photo, what is important here.  Again, I refer to Bryan Peterson's book 'Understand Composition'.

     Oh, and before someone asks.  No, I am not getting a kickback from Bryan Peterson for promoting his books. But if he should happen to come across this post and feature it on his site, or offer me a free pass to one of his workshops I wouldn't say no.

 Composition Tip: 

     The more stuff you have in your photograph the less compelling it will be.  In other words, keep it simple.  Our brains are amazing, and they immediately cull out what isn't important. However, when they are looking at a photograph they see everything.  Our goal as photographers is to place items in the frame that keep the viewers eyes on what we felt was important.  

     As I mentioned above what really got me thinking about this was Facebook reminding me about a photo I posted a while back.  It was the first photo where I really felt it had all come together.  The location was great, the timing was perfect, the exposure was spot on and the composition strong.  

As I look at that shot again it still for me is where I felt it really all came together.  Of course, I think I could have made it better perhaps by shooting a bit lower to the ground thus getting more foreground in the image. 

I recently read a quote that applies well to photography.  

"The Master has failed more times then the beginner has even tried." 

Stephen McCraine

Our society has become so afraid of failure, we protect ourselves from it at all costs, we shelter our children from it, we don't keep score so someone doesn't feel bad when their team lost.  In photography, and probably in most anything, it's our failures that teach us the most.  I failed so many times before getting the 'money' shots.  Guess what, I still fail and still will.  That's what makes the hits so sweet 'cause you earned it. 

One final quote to leave to leave you with.  

"Your first 10,000 photographs will be your worst." 

Henri Cartier-Bresson

I don't know exactly but I pretty sure I am over that 10,000 mark so I'm hoping for many more hits as I work towards 20,000.  

 

Inspiration

     Yesterday, I was out running errands and was in a home decor store.  I was looking for vases for my flower work and I came across a piece of glass sculpture.  I was strangely drawn to it.  The shape, lines, color and style were so interesting to me.  I picked it up and checked the price, less than $20 bucks, in the cart it went.  Brought it home and the wife was not as inspired as I was. How fitting, art inspiring one, but not the other.  Oh well, I liked it and on the mantle it went.  

    Fast forward to this morning and I was setup doing some flower shots, and the vase caught my attention.  I grabbed it and set it down and spent 10 minutes getting some shots.  


MiddleCreek Wildlife Management Area

     Nestled between Lancaster and Lebanon Counties, MiddleCreek is a 6,200 acre wildlife preserve which includes a 360 acre lake.  The area was developed in the 1970s and has become a stop for various waterfowl migrating back north each spring.  Bird numbers range from a few thousand ducks, Canadian Geese, to over 100,000 snow geese.  

     I arrive before dawn and make my way to an observation point.  Its early and yesterday's snow and the ice on the lake have caused a low fog to form.  The skies are cloudy but I do see breaks forming.  I am joined by dozens of others, some sporting 600mm telephoto lenses to get close ups of the birds.  I find a spot and get setup.   Now all to do is wait for the show.  

  

 

 


Sunrise Lake Clarke, Wrightsville, PA

     Finally...a morning that isn't single digits with sub zero wind chills.  My day started early Sunday at 600am.  I'm on my way to Lake Clarke in Wrightsville, PA to catch the sunrise.  As a nature and landscape photographer my shooting is usually confined to an hour before and after sunrise and sunset.  It is also governed by the weather and the first thing I do before heading out is check the weather on my phone.  Ok, actually an expresso is the first thing, then the weather.  The skies are just starting to brighten and are an inky deep blue.  I see the cloud cover isn't too dense and I'm hoping for a dramatic sunrise.  

     I've been to this location before and have a place in mind that I want to setup.  Its cold, but bearable.  Deep snow covers the ground, and the lake, which is actually the result of the Safe Harbour Dam along the Susquehanna River, is also iced over with some channels of open water.  It's about 45 minutes before sunrise and I'm set a ready to go.  I stay and shoot for close to two hours watching the light change as the sunrises.