Stopping Time: How to Create Powerful Photography |  |
- Stopping Time: How to Create Powerful Photography
- When to Use Butterfly Lighting In Portrait Photography
- 5 Photography Tips for Engagement Shoots
| Stopping Time: How to Create Powerful Photography Posted: 22 Oct 2013 04:40 PM PDT In the digital age, anyone with a smartphone or a mediocre DSLR can take a decent picture—even striking images with lovely composition, content, and exposure. It seems that everyone is a photographer these days, and the ever-increasing number of photographers producing competitive content leaves many photographers wondering how in the world they could ever set themselves and their work apart. In this video, 24 National Geographic photographers reveal the difference between that ceaseless flood of average pictures and those standout photographs that deeply move the viewer and ignite powerful change in their wake (for those of you reading this by email, the video can be seen here): Besides knowing one's own camera inside and out, these distinguished photographers identify the following three principles for aspiring greats to follow in their work. 1. Find interesting subjects. If a particular subject doesn’t enthrall and grip the photographer with the desire to understand, why would it intrigue a viewer? Find those things worth shooting.
 Lynn Johnson, National Geographic. 2. Practice with patience. It's the photographer who has spent years behind lenses honing his or her technical skills and artistic vision that will succeed.
 William Albert Allard, National Geographic. 3. Care about your subjects. It’s that old adage: “Do what you love.” As with all art, photographers’ emotions bleed into their photographs, even if they can’t be explained outright. And so, a dispassionate photographer will produce bland photographs—the kind that just sit there, fading.
 Michael Nichols, National Geographic. The photographer who incorporates all three of these principles into his or her work, in addition to mastering all of the technical details of the craft, can produce photographs of similar or higher caliber as these 24 National Geographic photographers who spend their days creating powerful images and changing the world one photograph at a time. Go to full article: Stopping Time: How to Create Powerful Photography |
| When to Use Butterfly Lighting In Portrait Photography Posted: 22 Oct 2013 02:49 PM PDT In previous articles, we’ve discussed photo lighting patterns where we place the light source to the side of the subject–split lighting, loop lighting and Rembrandt lighting–and create shadows that go off to the side. Continuing with our series of portrait photography lighting patterns, today’s photo tip discusses “butterfly lighting”.  “Tammy” captured by Tracy DePaola. (Click image to see more from Tracy DePaola.) Keeping in mind that it’s shadows that create 3D depth and form in our photos. These lighting patterns are good ones to make subjects come to life and “pop”. But, the downside of shadows showing form is that they sometimes show things we may not want shown. For example, what if we are taking a portrait of an elderly lady? I’m not talking about some moody character study; I’m talking about a nice photo of Grandma. Everyone over a certain age wants to look younger. As an old dude myself, I can tell you that my outward appearance has absolutely no relationship with the way I feel inside and the way I wish I looked. In other words, I’m a 23 year old trapped in a 63-year-old body. But what makes us look older? It’s sagging skin and wrinkles that visually age us. The older we get the more–and deeper–wrinkles we get. If we could tone down the wrinkles, we would appear much younger. Since it is the shadows that show form, it is the shadows that visually create wrinkles. The darker the shadow, the deeper the wrinkle–and vice versa. So, to visually eliminate or tone down wrinkles, all we need to do is lighten the shadows that visually created them. Obviously, the way to do that is by shining a light into the wrinkles. To do that means we have to have the light coming from straight in front of the subject–at the camera angle. A ring flash (a ring light is an on-camera flash that completely circles the lens) can work. In fact, we most often see ring lights used in modeling shots where absolutely flawless skin is necessary. This is the ideal light for removing any sort of blemish or wrinkle, but it is a very flat light and really isn’t ideal for portrait photography. It leaves an odd-looking, unappealing catch light in the eyes, too. Slightly better is the on-camera flash that is normally attached to the top of the camera. But that still produces flat light–and with both ring and regular on-camera flashes we have problems with red eye. So, we take the light off the camera and raise it up. With the light above our head, we will actually be shooting from under the light. This creates the “butterfly lighting” pattern because it casts a small butterfly-shaped shadow under the nose. It can be tiny and almost unnoticeable or slightly larger depending on how high you position the light. But, it is enough to add some depth and life to the photo. The butterfly lighting pattern fills in and lightens a lot of the shadows in the wrinkles–but not so much that it looks phony– and it creates a shadowed area under the chin, too. True, this can be done in Photoshop–if you want to spend hour after hour retouching. Or you could spend five minutes setting up a butterfly lighting pattern. Your choice! Grab your favorite model and a flash, and experiment with this photo tip. Learn how to create a butterfly lighting pattern in your portrait photography. Your older subjects will thank you. About the Author: Go to full article: When to Use Butterfly Lighting In Portrait Photography |
| 5 Photography Tips for Engagement Shoots Posted: 22 Oct 2013 12:34 PM PDT Do you ever go to an engagement shoot location, but feel unprepared once you arrive? Have you spent several agonizing minutes looking around at your surroundings, trying to compose a creative shot in your mind, while your clients looked on uncomfortably? Photographer Jasmine Star says you’re not alone. She fields the “what should I do before I go out on a shoot” question from other photographers quite often. To help you out, Star put together these five tips to help you prepare for your next engagement photo shoot before you go out in the field (for those of you reading this by email, the video tutorial can be seen here): Jasmine Star’s 5 Tips for Engagement Photo Shoots
Remember, you’re giving your clients an experience. It’s up to you to make that experience fun and memorable.
Go to full article: 5 Photography Tips for Engagement Shoots |
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