DigaPixBlog

Photographing the unexpected can result in interesting concepts or junk depending on the eye of the beholder.  Some may say “WOW I never thought of seeing that way before” while others will say “why did you take that?” 

I love the concept of this image.  It captures the feeling of a relaxed cruise with your partner.  The way the feet come together and point in the direction of the ship’s wake adds a strong graphic element.  The shades of blue from the sky to the sea to the chair work as unifying layers of color.

There are a couple of items the photo-artist may want to consider.  First the horizon is tilted.  We are not used to seeing the surface of the sea at an angle.  So either tilt it more to make it look deliberate or crop it horizontal.  The second distraction is the red finger nails of the person on the right hand side of the composition.  The red keeps pulling the eye to that side.

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You can’t always trust your SLR camera’s light meatier to make the best decision for the exposure.  If the scene has a lot of white in it the meter says to itself “this is a bright exposure I have to stop down”, this results in a under exposed image.  The reverse is true of an image that has a lot of dark tones.  The photographer needs to be aware is this and override the cameras exposure selection in these extreme situations.

The composition presented here is a study in line and color.  I like the way the photo-artist has managed to crop out almost all the extraneous information.  The trick here is to boil the graphics down to the minimum essentials. 

I would suggest working with the exposure.  It looks like the camera has underexposed the image by about one stop.  This can be compensated for on the computer or in the dark room if you age shooting film.  The photographer may want to do a little experimenting with even a tighter corp.

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The ghost town of Bodie California in the hills of the western Sierra Nevada Mountains is today a state park and National Historic Landmark.  It was named after W. S. Bodie when gold was discovered there in 1859.  In its hay days in the 1880’s it had a population of nearly 8,000.  During this period it was a fully functioning town with a railroad, banks, several newspapers, a jail and 65 saloons along it one mile main street.  Today the remaining buildings are in a state of arrested decay.

This photograph was taken about 8:00 in the morning with the best light possible.  I like the photographer’s attempt to layer the composition with the vegetation in the foreground and the hills acting as a backdrop to the cluster of buildings.

Perhaps the photographer would consider a few suggestions.  The light on the foreground and buildings appears to be a little overexposed.  A some modification of the saturation controls on the computer may bring out wormer and richer tones.  Perhaps a little less out of focus foreground would be easier for the viewer to get past before encountering the subject.

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                                                                     One of the hardest things about shooting zoo photography is getting the man make items out of the picture.  In some situations you just can’t help it; they are there in the view finder.  But with cropping and cloning on the computer some of these unnatural distractions can be eliminated.

This shot starts with one of the most photogenic birds in existence.  Nature painted this creature with a rainbow.  I like the pose of the primary subject and jungle background.  This was taken in the shade but there does not appear to be any color cast due to the shadows.  The branch he is sitting on is sloped at thirty degrees and makes an interesting graphic element.

There are two distracting elements in this image that could be removed on the computer if the photographer wished.  Next to the left frame is what appears to be a man made wall.  This could be cropped out by making the composition a vertical.  The second distraction is the bird behind our subject.  This is a little more difficult but it could be judicially cloned out.  I have attempted to do so in the example below, but I have not devoted the time required to do it properly, this is just a rough example.

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There are some photographs that tell stories based on the viewer’s experiences and memories.  The stories they tell are not universal but unique to the person seeing a story as it relates to their past.

This photograph puts me in the mind of Leopold Bloom in the novel Ulysses that takes place in the 1904 Dublin of James Joyce.  To others it may bring up memories of other experiences or stories but for me it brings this work of grand literature to mind.

As an image I like the placement of the man in the lower left hand corner with plenty of space to move into the composition.  The stone wall on the right acts as a natural frame and sets the scale for the rest of the photograph.

I would like to suggest removing the white stripes and arrows in the street as well as the sigh on the door in the wall.  They are the only things in this illustration that add a modern touch to this timeless image.

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One of the most important days is a person’s life is the wedding and we all want it recorded for the future.  As a photographer it is becoming more and more difficult to find new ways of photographing weddings in fresh and interpretive compositions.  I had a person at a photo lab tell me just yesterday that with digital photography, people’s expectations have risen and they are no longer satisfied with the traditional images.

This photograph is a nice attempt at setting up the traditional bride and groom shot in a new way.  The bride who is the centerpiece of all weddings is shown in the foreground in focus while the groom looks on in the background and is deliberately soft.  This is an effective composition and should make the young woman quite happy.

There are a few things you may want to watch out for.  You could consider cloning out the trees behind the head of the man.  This will help separate him from the background.  Unfortunately the sky was overcast and burnt out in the exposure.  You may want to try this same layout with a different background that has less visible sky.  The one remaining thing you should consider is modifying the hue and saturation on the computer to bring more color to the bride’s complication, the overcast day has caused it to go a little to the cool side.

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When converting an image thorough the use of filters the photo-artist normally needs to start with a strong image if they intend to finish with a photograph that will attract the viewer’s attention.  Applying filters to weak compositions will more often than not result in a weak composition with a filter applied to it.

This photograph has the feeling of an old snapshot lifted out of your grandmother’s scrapbook.  It had meaning to grandma but without an inscription on the back we don’t know why she kept it all these years.  It may have been taken on a beloved vacation many years ago or could have been the view off her front porch when she was a child, but the story was lost.

I would like to suggest starting with a stronger composition.  This landscape needs a robust center of interest, a subject to bring the viewer to the image.

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Water reflections can be quite interesting in their effect of mirroring the distant scenery creating a double image.  If you take a straight shot you will note that the image on the water is about one and a half stops darker than the real world they reflect.  If the photographer wants to balance the exposure so they are both the same you will need a split neutral density filter.  With this filter the top half is dark and the lower portion clear.  This will change your exposure so that both the water and the sky will match.

In this landscape you will note that the photo-artist has placed the horizon, in this case the edge of the water, on the center line of the composition.  This is intended to dramatize the mirror effect of the lake.  I like the grass in the foreground this gives the viewer a reference point and helps to add depth to the image.

I have checked the levels and find the entire gray scale to be perfectly balanced in this photograph.  But it does appear to lack a certain snap to the colors.  Perhaps the photographer would consider a very little color enhancement.

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When photographing wild animals the photographer often has to make do with what opportunities are available.  The critters don’t wait for us to get set up or stay in place until the lighting is just right.  So it takes perchance, luck and skill to get great shots of nature’s finest but it can be done, you just have to take lots of shots and edit, edit , edit.

This butterfly photograph is a good example for a field book on insects.  It shows enough detail for the observer to identify this species without any distractions form the environment it the shot.  I like the way the body is at a thirty degree angle to the frame of the image.

As an art image it needs better light and more visual impact.  The background is simple but so consistent in color it gives the appearance of a mat board.   The photographer did not have much time to grab this shot but more care could have been taken to increase the focus depth so that the near wing was more in focus.

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When photographing flowers the photographer has to keep in mind that the viewer has seen hundreds of flower shots in the past and after a while no matter how pretty the photo may be it will take something outstanding to capture their attention.  Coming up with new and interpretive ways of shooting this old favorite of photographers is a challenge.

I particularly like the soft background of green and gold shapes that offsets the purple of the foreground flowers in this photograph.  The photographer has managed to take this shot early in the morning with nice low light which gives good detail in the shadows while keeping the highlights. 

I would like the photographer to consider the condition of the flowers being photographed.  The viewer expects pristine specimens, perfect examples of the subjects being captured for display.  Unfortunately there are a couple of questionable areas in this bouquet.

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Seasonal shots are fun to do, particularly studio setup photos.  They give us an opportunity to play with different props and come up with delightful scenes.  One thing the table top or studio photographer always has to keep in mind is that they are in control of the setup and they are responsible for any small imperfections in their work.

This is a delightful image with a wonderful model.  He has all the expression one could hope for to make this a hart meatier.  The colors and props are perfect for the fall season without going over the top.  The two light setup works well to shape the sphere of the pumpkin and adds highlights to the eyes of our friend.  The dog has an alert natural look that captures the viewer’s attention and holds it.

There is only one very, very small detail that could be eliminated.  In the background just above the dog there is a twig sticking up out of the foliage against the backdrop.  This could be removed before the photo is taken or after on the computer.

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Photographs are used for more than just pleasure and art; they are an essential part of news and advertising.  All of these have different audiences and require specialized skills.  The photo-artist is concerned with the viewer’s since of graphics and design but the news photographer wants to capture the feeling of the story and the commercial shooter wants to show the product at its most appealing.

This image could be used two ways; as a news image relating a story about a house fire or as a catalog shot for the fire engine manufacturer.  Of the two I think it works best as an advertising photograph.  The lighting on the truck is excellent while showing this piece of equipment in action. The one firefighter in the scene is off to the side and indicates that the engine is part of the action without obstructing the view of the equipment.

As a news image it does not tell the viewer very much about human interest in the story with the fire truck in front of the action.   The fire has become a backdrop for the equipment in the foreground.

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I have written a number of times about the three distances in landscape photography that gives an outdoor scene depth; foreground, middle ground and distance.  There are very few landscapes that work without these three planes. 

This image has all three with the foreground taking the form of an extension of the middle ground into the front of the layout.  The low light has illuminated the scene like a golden torch.  This light has given the rocks and water surface excellent texture.

There are a couple of items the photographer may wish to consider.  The photograph appears to be a little over saturated.  This may be the way the light actually lit the scene but if the photo-artist added saturation on the computer he may want to cut it back a little.  Another item of concern is the tip of the land mass in the distance is very close to the edge of the frame.  It would be nice to have left a little more room for water or copped out the end of the peninsula entirely and leave it to our imagination just how far the land extends into the water.

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Perspective is one of the optical tools the photographer has to give a two dimensional image appear to have three dimensional depth.  One of the elements of perspective is foreshortening.  This optical illusion occurs when an object appears shorter along the more distant edge than it actually is because of its angle toward the viewer.

This photograph is an excellent example of single point perspective foreshortening.  You will note that the wall plaques appear to be getting smaller as they recede away from the viewer even though we know they are all the same size.  This forced perspective takes the eye in the direction of the subject; the alter on the right. 

It would have been interesting to see different lighting of this scene.  The photographer had little control over the environment and illumination in this situation but more dramatic lighting would have help add interest to this composition.

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Fall color can be trickier to shot than it at first appears.  The colors can be dazzling and seductive.  But color alone seldom makes a statement strong enough to hold the viewer’s attention for more than a moment.  Composition, story, lighting, strong subject are generally all required in one way or another to make strong image.

The image presented here was taken at the early morning golden hour when the light was low on the horizon and soft enough to allow exposures that are able to bridge the gap between highlight and shadow.  I like the low hanging clouds reflected on the water.  This would make a nice image for a seasonal calendar.

I would like to see a more interpretation in this photograph.  Technically everything in this composition is well done but there is not much to hold the viewer’s attention very long.  I feel the image is nice but not particularly strong.

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Family photos are fun to take and save in the old scrap book on box in the closet.  Some even get framed and hung on the wall.  But not many are of any real interest to people outside friends and family.  The trick is to take photographs that are interesting to people who were not there or don’t personally know the subjects in the snap shot.

This is a nice shot of the kids all dressed up for Halloween, ready to go out and get some of that free candy.  I’m sure they are having fun putting on their new costumes for the first time.  I like the fact their sheets are all overlapping tying them one to the other rather than three separate figures.  The back ground is simple and does not distract from the three white figures.

I would suggest cropping out some of the foreground grass which would make this more of a long horizontal composition; the empty space is not adding anything to the picture.

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When photographing plants and flowers in particular one thing we generally try to avoid is taking a shot that describes too much about the subject.  That is to say we normally don’t want a photograph that could be used in a text book for the purpose of an intellectual discussion.  Rather the photo-artist is more after the interpretive composition.

The photographer here has found an interesting example of this Southern California gardener’s mainstay, bougainvillea glabra.  I like the way the photographer has framed the top of the layout with the horizontal row of bricks.

I would suggest more interpretation, perhaps a closer shot of some of the flower detail.  This was apparently taken in the shade or on an overcast day.  This type of shadow light leaves a blue cast to the colors which can be corrected with a worming filter on the camera at the time of shooting or a little color correction with the aid of the computer.

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We often see night photographs taken just after the sun sets but very seldom an image taken at night just before sunrise.  Perhaps because it takes a little more dedication to be up at 4:00am to shoot the moon as it sets.

This image has nice exposure balance.  The buildings and the surface of the water have just enough light to give detail while appearing to be taken at night.  The moon has left its foot print on the surface of the sea as it passes over the natural quay of stone jutting into the water.  There is a pleasant quietness about this image.

I am fond of the semi panoramic format of the composition however I would have liked to see the moon and its light track a little more to the right to take it further off the center line.

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One of the goals of photography is to make the viewer see a familiar subject in a new way.  We have all seen images of some subjects many, many times and after a while no matter how well they are done they start to look alike, they are so familiar they become ordinary.  The trick is to find a new perspective on the well-known.

This photo-artist has converted, with the aid of computer filters, this image of Mono Lake into a sepia toned line drawing.  It has the feel of a rotogravure plate from the turn of the nineteenth century.  With this technique a lot of the detail on the surface of the stone has been accentuated.  I like the genital fadeout along the edges.

There are only a couple small things that draws my eye away from the center of the image.  Alone the bottom and left edge there are small dark shadows that are tangent to the border that could be removed with a little cloning.  Also I would like to see the tall spire with less fade at the top.

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Scenes of beauty are difficult to photograph because often our eye is captivated by the splendor of the view and we forget that we are lacking a unifying subject, one thing the viewer will focus on and the eye will use as a visual anchor.  That is not to say that sometimes the chaos of color or pattern may not be a strong subject, but it is difficult to pull off.

This photograph of the gardens of Capistrano is one of those images that have a great deal of color and detail but no strong subject.  Rather there are many possible subject; the bells in the background, the texture of the adobe walls, the patterns of color in the garden.  This scene has a lot going on and potential.

I would like to make a couple obervations.  The vertical lines of the walls appear to be sloped to the right.  In this photo you may want to do a little cropping and rotating to bring these edges perpendicular.  The image was taken on an overcast day and the garden colors lack snap.  Perhaps a little increase in saturation on the computer would make the flowers more brilliant.

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It takes a certain amount of pre-visualization when converting a striate image to a different format through the use of computer filters.  The photo-artist needs to know which photograph has the qualities that will make a good conversion.  Among these could be the subject matter, the graphics and the lighting.

This image has a nice feeling of an old tintype.  The subject matter does not place it at any particular time in the past hundred years.  There is nothing like autos or people’s close that tells us what era this shot was taken in, only a couple of the boats in the back ground appear to be from a more recent vintage.  The graphics are interesting with the small water craft in the foreground along a horizontal row with the buildings as a backdrop.  Also note that all the buildings are tilted to the right which is repeated in the prows of the boats in the foreground.

I find the lighting interesting with the buildings being in high key and the water and boats in a mid range of tones.  This gives a feeling of separation and depth to the scene.

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In photography there are a number of “rules” that people point out when reviewing images.  And most of the time these rules help to describe why one photo works and another does not.  But occasionally a photograph can break some of the rules and work very well as a satisfactory or even an outstanding image.

This photograph has broken one of the most fundamental rules; don’t place the subject on the bull’s eye of the composition.  The pumpkin the photo-artist wants our attention to be drawn to is right in the center of the layout, but it works very well.  This is perhaps because the other two pumpkins are also on the vertical center line and overlap each other to form a continuous line of orange up through the image.

You should also note the nice low light used to give texture and shape to the scene.  The light also has a golden glow that adds to the color of the top most pumpkin and the foliage.

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Does a horizon always have to be straight?  That depends on the intent of the photographer.  It is the viewer’s natural tendency to want to see things in an orderly and expected composition.  But when the photo-artist wants to add tension and drama to an image tilting the point of view is one way of forcing us to accept the unexpected and add interest to a scene.

This photographer has indeed slanted our view of this set of architectural details.  By tilting the frame forty five degrees we are thrown off balance and are forced to look at a recognizable subject in a new way.  The light falling on the structure is excellent; there is detail in all the shadow areas without burnout in the highlights.  This is a nice simple and clean shot with added interest supplied by the viewer’s perspective.

The colors used in this composition are the complementary colors of blue and yellow.  You will note that these two colors fall on the direct opposite sides of the color wheel and always work well together.  If there were one thing I could change it would be to add a little more saturation to the blue sky to balance with the rich hues of the mid-tones in the columns. 

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Computer software used to manipulate digital photographs has opened up a whole new world to the photographer.  We are limited only by our imaginations.  Some experiments are successful while others may not yield the results a viewer could appreciate.  But learning how to use the software tools and experimenting is the only way I know of to advance our skills.

This young girl’s image has been altered with the use of a computer filter which has resulted in an interesting effect, almost like a zoom lens in motion.  The photo-artist has placed the terminus of the rays at the young ladies face which naturally takes our eye to it.  Also note her face is located at the upper left hand one third intersection of the composition.

There are a couple of distractions I would like to make the photographer aware of.  First; the top of the girl’s head is tangent to the edge of the frame.  In this image it is not excessively noticeable but edge tangents should be avoided.  The second item to consider is her strong shadow on the background.  This can be eliminated by increasing the distance of the subject to the background.

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Looking for detail in found objects can lead to some interesting results.  Rather than photographing the entire object look for hidden subjects that can tell the story without exposing the viewer to the entire scene.  This will add a little mystery to the image and let the viewer add their own experience and imagination to the photograph.

Our photographer found this detail on the surface of an old weight.  The surface is pitted with time and has a promising texture that can be exploited with a strong cross light.  The photo-artist has placed the numeral high in the composition to give the graphic more interest. 

I would suggest that the photographer try to get a stronger light to skim across the surface when photographing textured surfaces.  This can be bumped up a little on the computer to bring the ends of the levels curve closer to the center which will give more contrast to the surface patterns.

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Man in nature is an important theme.  This sort of subject is generally best carried out when man is interacting with nature, has a purpose in the composition.  Too often we see people placed in photographs of this type that have no animation, no particular relationship to their surroundings.

The image we see here is a good example of how to use a human subject in a man in nature photograph.  The subject has a direct relationship to the stone arch.  There is an invisible, yet prominent, line leading from the lens of the subject’s camera to and through the hole in the rock.  The viewer can imagine that they can see what our subject photographer is seeing through his view finder.

The late afternoon light is spectacular.  This low golden light brings out the texture of the sandstone arch while the shadows give natures sculpture shape and contoure.  I like the fact that the subject is in total shadow and silhouetted against the graduated blue sky.

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Leading lines are an important element in guiding the viewer through a composition.  Sometimes they are subtle and other times they hit you over the head and say this is how I want you to see this subject.  They are also useful to tie elements of a layout together.

With the bold white line cutting across the tarmac to the feet of the walker I don’t think you could call this leading line subtle.  It is bold and in your face.  Without it there would be no composition.  I like the early morning light and the way the photo-artist had limited our field of view so we have to use our imagination about the pedestrian in the shot. 

Notice that the horizon, in this case the sidewalk edge, is nice and striate.  This line is located at the feet of the subject thou we can see they have not reached the curb.  With the horizon one fourth of the way down from the top of the frame the viewer has a feeling of being insignificant, almost a hidden voyeur.

My only complaint is that I wish the person in the composition were more interesting.  This would give our imagination more to work with when creating a story about the subject.

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Most people with a camera are drawn to taking pictures of animals, particularly when they have the opportunity of shooting wild animals.  These subjects are exotic, hard to come by and something you don’t see every day.  Unfortunately almost all of us don’t have  the time or we don’t take the time to study the subject and find unique ways of capturing the image.

This little fellow is accustomed to people being around and posing for the visitors.  The large wood beam he is resting on makes a good contrast to the textured rock all around.  This image does not have the look of a zoo shot even with the manmade objects in the composition.

I would like to suggest taking this shot as the photographer has done and then look for other possibilities for images that are more interesting and have stronger graphic elements.  This may be difficult if not impossible but the goal when photographing is to get compositions that are different from the norm and capture the imagination of the viewer.

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Patterns can make an interesting subject but they often work best when they are used as a backdrop or a primary subject.  This allows the subject to standout amongst the repartition of their surroundings.

This photo-artist has found the ultimate pattern of waves and color.  The primary subject is placed far to the right allowing room for them to move through the frame, in this cast at high speed.  The expressions of joy on their faces add to the feeling of the fun on the ride down an exhilarating slide.  I particularly like the way the photographer has tilted the graphic to add even more tension and movement to the composition.

I played a little with the color saturation and when I increased it by 100% there was no discernable change in the hues of this rainbow of color.  The artist could have named this image ‘Riding a Wild Rainbow’.

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Some images give us joy the moment we see them.  This masterpiece has done that for me.  The moment I saw the fantastic subject and the extraordinary light my heart was lifted and I wanted to hear his music.

The single source light skims across the subject picking up key points of interest from his eye to his arm to the fingers.  The flute itself carries the light like an arrow along its shaft.  There is just enough subtle detail in the shadows so the viewer can peer deeply into the darkness. 

This image has captured my imagination.

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