Tips to Stay Photographically Focused when Visiting a Large City

Have you ever found yourself in a large city  with the overwhelming feeling that you don’t know what to start shooting?  This is especially true if you only have two or three days to work with. It has happened to me, many times. You try to see and capture it all and you end up with mediocre shots of random things, most of them a bit cliché and without much interest. I believe there's a cure for that! Whether you shoot a specific genre or not, give yourself an assignment, a theme for the day. It doesn’t mean that you will ignore everything else around you but you will stay focused and end up with a lot more keepers and interesting images than if you tried to capture it all.

Paris

When doing street photography it helps to pick a theme or two for your photo walk. Such as people with umbrellas for example.You like street photography? Photograph people riding scooters in Paris or old buildings in Scotland! You won’t miss any other great action happening in the streets while you’re on your photo walk, but looking for something specific will sure make your day more fun and challenging!

Let’s say you like to shoot architecture. Pick an architectural detail, a repetitive pattern, look for reflections in buildings or contrasting architecture styles. It doesn’t mean that you can’t photograph the Eiffel Tower in its entirety when you are visiting Paris, but your photo album will be a lot more interesting if it includes close ups of the bolts or rivets that hold it together and the repetitive patterns of the steel beams.

Eiffel Tower

The list could go on and on depending on what your interests are. Pick a color, photograph dogs only, people with cool shoes or hats, etc. Think outside the box, try something you would not normally feel comfortable shooting for a day. Your skills will improve and your passion for your craft will get a boost.

Biker on the streets of Paris

To add to the challenge, you can also pick one lens and shoot all day with it. You will save your back and it will force you to look at your environment from a different perspective. My go-to lens is my 24-70 mm but there are days when I don’t want to carry anything heavier than my nifty 50 mil!

Helpful Resources to Lightroom

Quite a few people have been asking me recently what do I use for my workflow in terms of software. Well I'm a Lightroom guy mostly and any heavy editing I need to do I use Photoshop. So i've posted a few links to get you guys started on using Lightroom effectively.

Lightroom is used by so many photographers out there and most of them are more than willing to help.

In the event you want to give LR4 a try – it’s free. Go to https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_lightroom and download your free 30 day trial.

Below you’ll find a list of places that offer free or paid training in Lightroom…

1. Some of the best starting points if you want Adobe’s help with Lightroom:

a. http://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom.html b. http://tv.adobe.com/product/lightroom/ c. http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/lightroom-training-videos d. http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal/2012/03/lightroom-4-0-resources.html e. http://tv.adobe.com/show/whats-new-in-lightroom-4?PID=2159997

2. http://lightroomkillertips.com/ - This guy Matt K is awesome.

3. http://kelbytraining.com/tours/adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4-live 4. http://kelbytraining.com/ is the real-time streaming site where you can learn LR. and so many other things on photography.

5. http://www.photoshopcafe.com/video/products/Lightroom_4.htm Photoshop Cafe is a DVD-based training site with plenty of LR4 info.

6. http://lightroomers.com/ Lightroomers from Rob Sylvan is another great place to learn from a great guy.

7. http://www.pixiq.com/contributors/4399 Sean McCormack (Lightroom Blog)

8. The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

This is a good starting point. Enjoy.

 Here's one more.
“100 Ways Lightroom Kicks Bridge’s (and camera raw) Ass”. It’s at http://www.photoshopuser.com/lightroom.

Here are 20 tips from various pro photographers.

 

  1. “You can’t please everyone all the time!”
  2. “Learn your exposure triangle (Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO) first. Stay on Manual. Shoot Raw.”
  3. “Don’t Buy the Kit Lens!”
  4. “Don’t be afraid of taking bad pictures, because that's how you get good ones.”
  5. “Practice, practice, practice. You can never practice too much.Have fun while you're doing it!”
  6. “Don’t think you need the best camera or equipment. You only need inspiration and a dream”
  7. “Practice until using the various settings becomes an automatic skill and then relax into the ‘art’ of photography. Lighting is your friend and your enemy, stay on its good side at all times.”
  8. “Take a film class so you have to learn iso, shutter speed, and aperture really well! Practice, practice, practice! Change your perspective. When looking at other people’s work don’t just think “that’s a cool shot!” Ask yourself WHY you like it and then try to apply that to your own shots.”
  9. “That nifty fifty (50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 lens) will change your life.”
  10. “Take your camera with you. Everywhere. “Almost” all the time.”
  11. “Just because a particular effect looks “nice,” doesn’t mean you have to use it on every. Single. Picture.”
  12. “Take a picture everday, challenge yourself. Read your manual. Learn your camera settings.”
  13. “They are not all keepers, and just as a hammer doesn’t build an amazing house a camera doesn’t take an amazing photo. They are tools. Think outside the box.”
  14. “You can’t fix everything in Photoshop. Pay attention to the background.”
  15. “Don’t show people the bad stuff. Shoot 300, show 1.”
  16. “Just because you love photography, doesn’t mean you have to make it your PROFESSION. If it’s your passion + you are ready to dedicate yourself to the art, never give up and go for it!”
  17. “When you see Action, Turn around. Meaning watch the people who are watching a event happen.”
  18. “Find the light, but don’t be afraid of shadows.”
  19. “Get inspiration from other photographers work but never copy. Make your photos a reflection of what’s in your heart.”
  20. “Anytime you feel that your equipment is inadequate, it just means you need to master the basics better. The master photographers from 50-100 years ago didn’t have anything as fancy as you are holding in your hot little paws, so claiming inadequate equipment isn’t a good excuse. Work on your skills."

 

 

 

My Joel Brooks Classes Video

My very good friend and fellow photographer (Joel Brooks) asked if I'd be interested in doing a video for his photography classes. Without a doubt I said absolutely YES! So here's the result from that request.

Ten (10) Tips To Better Yourself As A Photographer

[gallery] 1. Don't leave the area when the sun goes down. Some of your best light still remains and any subject you photograph 10 - 15 minutes after sunset will look great.

2. Taking your tripod on your photo walks a bit more is one of the single best things you can do to improve your images.

3. Using your flash more outside during the day – a flash can give your images that extra ingredient needed. Available light is fine – I consider a flash in my bag to be available light because it’s available to use!

4. Pay attention to your surroundings and conditions. For instance – Don’t shoot flowers on a windy day – they will be moving and impossible to isolate.

5. If you must shoot in JPG mode then don’t rely on auto white balance. You can always correct the white balance of a RAW image but when shooting JPG it’s baked in. So make sure it’s right from the start.

6. Don’t be afraid to shoot in the rain. Rain is nature’s cleansing agent. Shooting right after it rains can bring some of the most rewarding images.

7. Control what the viewer of your photos sees first. Decide what’s important by making your subject prominent in the scene and remember the eye is always drawn to the brightest, whitest thing in the photo first. If that’s not your subject. Start over.

8. On days when the sun is high and harsh, place your subject in the shade. Make sure it’s even shade. The open sky will act as a main light and the results will be better than if you leave them in the sun.

9. Don’t shoot in mixed or dappled light. Put the subject 100% in the shade or 100% in the sun. Don’t let them overlap because it’s distracting.

10. Remember the three basics to getting a good shot. SAS – concentrate on the SUBJECT then see how you can draw ATTENTION to that subject then SIMPLIFY by making sure nothing is in the shot that will distract – SAS.

Special thanks to Scott Bourne for his constant and informative teachings.

Louve

Local Pastry Shop

Earlier this week I visited a local pastry shop around 8pm to discuss some photography services I'll be doing for them. It was my wife's birthday, and the kids and I were suppose to be taking her our for dinner. Anyway such is life. It turned out quite lovely in the end anyway. The owner of the pastry shop made us dinner and it was quite lovely, we all enjoyed it. The kids had some gelato ice cream and italian pastry afterwards.Hopefully I'll be able to post many more images from this pastry shop in the near future.

Chocolate Dome

Gelato

Trudi B with Wire Mesh

Aspiring model Trudi Brathwaite graced me with her presence and allowed me to do a photo shoot that was playing around in my mind for quite some time. Head shot of a model behind some wire mesh. The makeup job needed to 'POP' through this wire mesh and makeup artist Natasha Fields made sure that happened for me.

We also did some beauty shots and boy did she do well.

I purchased the wire mesh from home depot. When I made the purchase I though maybe I should buy a number of rolls and I have some more ideas for this stuff. Hope to post those ideas here on my blog sometime in the near future.

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Vanessa Mel

Last week we received a call from a potential model and she and inquired as to our ability to do body art. It's not something we've done many times before, however we thought we'd give it a shot. My wife being an artist, how hard can it be? We told the client sure, we can do it!

Well Lisa said I can do the body art but Natasha (my sister) and regular Make-up artist will have to deal with the make-up side of things. It so happened Natasha was unavailable and Lisa was tasked with the entire job.

She did pretty good and she's now looking forward to a bigger challenge. You go Lisa!

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Ryan and Chantal

Thanks to my buddy Mark Atkins, recently I had the pleasure of assisting him on one of his many Wedding Shoots. We had the most amazing sky to work with that evening and I just had to post one of the photos I was able to capture here. Photo above compliments of Mark Atkins.  

St. Cyprian's Church Harvest 2012

My mom asked if I could take a few photos at her church harvest last Sunday, how can I possibly say no to that.  When she asked me somewhere along the line we had a bit of mis-communications. I somehow didn't realize she wanted coverage of the event. However here's a lesson learnt and I should know better. Always come prepared! Never the less as a photographer we need to be able to make the best with what ever equipment we have at the time, and so I did. My Camera body, a 24-70mm lens and my YN560 speed light. [gallery columns="4" orderby="post_date"]

 

Seven Things I Wish I’d Have Known When I First Became A Photographer

Thanks to Scott Bourne whose blog I read quite often I came across these words of wisdom from him this morning. These words are entirely from Scott's Blog.

1. Do not spend any time making serious photographs if you are not seriously passionate about it. Every bad photo I ever made started going bad because I wasn’t really into it. I was just going through the motions. It’s like kissing your sister so to speak. You have to care about what you are photographing, how it comes out and what story the image tells or you’re going to be disappointed.

2. Understanding how your camera REALLY works, as in every button, every switch, every menu and sub menu and sub, sub menu, will save your bacon over and over and over. The camera needs to be an extension of your eye – not something that gets between you and your subject. Learn how to use your camera and stop changing systems so often in the great hope that the NEXT big thing will make you better. It won’t. Learning how to get 100% out of what you have right now WILL!

3. Speaking of gear, focus as little as you can on gear and as much as you can on your subject, their story and how you’re going to share it. The “hey you take good pictures – you must have a good camera” line gets old. I guarantee you that it’s not the camera that makes the shot – it’s the photographer. It took me a VERY long time to figure this out. As a geek and a tech head I kept jumping into the science side of photography and the gear and the gadgets thinking THAT would save me. It didn’t. It sent me backwards. I now realize the gear is nothing more than the hammer looking for a naill.

4. Find the light first, the background second and the subject third. This statement will be controversial to many of you – some of you will yell at me because I said it. That’s because you haven’t made the 10,000 mistakes I had to make to understand it so go ahead and yell, but once you stop yelling pay attention and you’ll save yourself some pain. EVERYTHING starts with light. I can have the prettiest subject in ugly light and get no shot. And if the background is distracting, nobody notices the subject. So start with great light. Seek it out. Know it. Search for and yearn for it. Love it. Bathe in it. Dream about it. Then go find it in front of a nice clean background and THEN put your subject right there. You’ll win every time you do that.

5. If you photograph people or make pictures professionally understand that being nice is better than being good. When I listen to the people who primarily buy photographs (women are responsible for most portrait session purchases) they constantly refer to their photographer as nice. I rarely hear them say that he/she is good. My point is not that you don’t have to be good – you do. But concentrate on being nice. It took me far too long to realize how important this is and I am STILL working on it – as many of you can attest.

6. The best photographs in the world happen when the photographer or the subject or the viewer or some combination of the three are in a place where there is solid, real emotion and/or love. I know this sounds corny but if you can learn to love the subjects you photograph, you’ll take more care and make fewer mistakes. If you find real emotion in your work, you’ll cause others to feel those emotions. Thinking this doesn’t matter is the biggest photo-related mistake you can make. It took me 10 years of photography to understand this. Hopefully (and likely) you are smarter than me and you’ll get this right sooner than I did.

7. I have to stop this list somewhere so I’ll stop here with this. Understand that serious photography is about protecting memories, telling stories, keeping moments in time that have passed alive for the future and sharing all of the above. If you can think about that every time you press the shutter, you’ll make fewer mistakes and become a great photographer.

Thank you Scott Bourne for your continued advice in this photography field.

 

Pauline's Photo Shoot

Pleasantly surprised today, my friend Lana Agard-Maxwell asked me in passing, "hey did you know you were mentioned in the local papers on Friday?" My reply to her was "NO!" I didn't know that. Just my luck I hardly ever read the local Advocate. Guess I should start now yes? Well as luck would have it for me, one of my contented models (Pauline Rouiller from France) enjoyed her photo shoot experience with me and she also had the resources needed to write a brief article in the local newspaper.

Here's what she had to say verbatim.

"Third one, by Shawn Fields. Oh waw professional make up, clothes changing, this is another level! OH WAW there is actually a studio downstairs! I suddenly hope I understood well the purpose of the afternoon. I know what you think right now, going to a dark basement with a man you don't know is not to do. But, his wife and kids are assistants! Reassured?

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They are very nice and make me feel more relaxed. He gives precise instructions so I don't have to use my expressions and moves talent too much. Whew. After hundreds of 'clicks', 4 or 5 pictures look.....not bad."

Many thanks Pauline and looking forward to shooting with you very soon again. You were awesome to work with.

Your makeup artist (Natasha Fields-Gittens) says she enjoyed working with you as well and look forward to the next time.

As always thanks to my faithful assistants (Lisa, Shana and Joaquim).

AGROFEST 2012

My intention last weekend was to attend Agrofest 2012 and capture some of the many imagines I had flowing through my mind. However that was not to be. I've never been to the event before and therefore I made every effort to attend, but barely made it before it's finally. I was only able to grab a handful of shots. [gallery columns="5" orderby="post_date"]

 

How Great Portraits are made!

As I photograph more and more people, the more I’ve come to realize something: a great portrait is the co-operation between the photographer and his/her subject. When both are working together the result is far more than what comes from direction alone. Now, the tricky part is that wedding and portrait photographers are usually shooting “normal” people, rather than trained models. Our subjects often aren’t experienced in having their photo taken, and don’t know a lot about the process.

However you can do a LOT to help your clients prepare for having their photos taken, and hopefully get to that magical state of collaboration. And bonus, it’s not even that hard. Simply create a resource. Here's how to do that.

Making Your Resource

You have to remember that you know a lot about photography, and your clients probably know very little. They’re hiring you because you’re the expert! So you have to take all that fantastic knowledge, and break it down into useable and practical advice. In essence you are going to teach them how to have their photo taken by you! Teaching is fun!!

The contents of your resource will reflect your unique approach to photography, so it’s important to not just copy someone else! The more your clients can understand what it’s like to work with you, the better the results will be! So to get rolling on this, sit yourself down and think through your entire client process, step by step.Write it all out if you haven’t done so already. And then, at each step, see things from your client’s perspective. Put yourself into their shoes.

GENERAL PHILOSOPHY

The more you shoot the more you should start to develop a philosophy—the *why* you shoot and what you’re hoping to achieve with your work. This is important information to communicate to your clients! You’ll probably talk about this when they first inquire, so they should already have an idea of what you’re about, but we like to keep reiterating this so they keep it in their minds throughout the whole process. When we’re all on the same page with the reason for the shoot it’s a much more enjoyable and meaningful experience!

LOCATION

One of the most common questions we get is “Where will we shoot? Do you pick or do we?”. And these resources you’re creating are intended to answer all these questions for your clients before they even have to ask!

So the location question should be addressed right away, and the answer is going to be up to you! Do you have a studio? Do you work on location? Do you prefer natural or urban areas? Why? Tell them how you pick locations, and why. Share some of your favourite images in different types of locations. The resource should be as visual as possible, and feature lots of your images. It’s a great way to show off more photos, and get them excited about having images of their own soon!

KIDS

If you photograph kids you’ll want to provide parents with advice on getting their little ones ready for the session. We have tips like bringing multiple outfits, snacks, and a favourite toy in case the little one needs some comfort. We also discuss what we hope to capture when we photograph kids (their personality, not just a cheesy smile), and ways parents can encourage their kids to be themselves.

CLOTHES

The biggest challenge in getting ready for a photo session has to be choosing what to wear. So it's a must to help in that area.

We give tips on how to dress as a family or couple (i.e. you can coordinate, but don’t need to be matchy matchy), reminders to consider all parts of the outfit (like thinking about shoes and sock combinations, and not wearing hats at the beginning of the shoot). We also give some advice on hair and makeup, and encourage clients to bring an extra outfit or two if they want some feedback.

This section will definitely take some thought and work on your part, so don’t rush it. Look through your portfolio, and see if any clients stood out as having great clothing choices, then showcase them and point out what was great about their outfits!

THE SESSION

Then, of course, is the session. Give your clients tips on what to expect during the shoot, both in terms of what they’ll be doing, and what you’ll be doing. Again, you’re going to have to think about your own approach to shooting here. The more you can explain the *why* behind all this, the more your clients will appreciate your motivation, and trust you. Trust is massively important in getting to that state of collaboration we’ve talked about.

THEN WHAT?

Give your clients a peek at what happens after their session. This is where you will be doing a LOT of work behind-the-scenes, and they will appreciate knowing just what they’re paying you all this money for! If you do a lot of editing and retouching you could even show them some samples of how much enhancing you’ll be doing to ensure their images are looking top notch.

Also give them an idea of the timeline for their images. These are the kind of details that are worth repeating a few times, just so they don’t have that dreadful moment thinking “Shouldn’t our photos be ready by now?”, and you end up looking bad, even if you’re actually on schedule! Make it clear when they can expect to see the photos, and how that will happen (online, in person, delivery, etc.).

PRODUCTS

While you have your clients thinking about their session, you can also get them thinking about the ways they’ll display the awesome photos that will come out of it. Let them know about all your products, and why they are fantastic. Get them thinking about where in their house they want to put the images!

HERE TO HELP

Finally, we finish up by letting them know that we are here to help in any way, and they can contact us about anything! We genuinely want to make sure they are comfortable and prepared for the session. It will mean a better result for everyone!

Weddings

The critical thing to keep in mind is that you, as a wedding photographer, have vastly more experience with weddings than your client, who is generally going through the process for the first time!! So, the more information you can give them the better. They’ll really appreciate a helping hand, and you become much more than just the photographer. You become an essential part of their big day.

TIMELINE

The most important part of the wedding day was planning a smooth timeline. After shooting quite a few weddings we had a good idea of how the day generally ran, areas that always took longer than expected (hair and makeup!), places to add some padding, and the rough amount of time to set aside for photos. You should also have a final meeting before the wedding to go through it all again, and help them talk through their timeline, just to be sure everything was solid.

FAMILY PORTRAITS

Give your clients lots of tips on how to make the process go nice and smoothly. Please insist on a written list to make sure everything is nice and clear. Always firmly suggest doing the portraits immediately after the ceremony to avoid anyone running off!

VENDORS

Photographers are often one of the first vendors booked for the wedding, after the venue. From there on out the couple has to choose a TON of people to help with their big day. If you know of great vendors in your area, create a resource for your clients! You’ll save them a ton of time, and help ensure that you work with a great team on the wedding day!

Big Idea

The easier you can make the process, the more fun they’ll have, and the more they’ll enjoy working with you! Which is pretty much the goal isn’t it?

LIGHTROOM 4 is HERE!!!!

Adobe released Lightroom 4 Beta to the public yesterday. It's available for download. However please resist the urge to do and serious stuff with this release until the FINAL release is available. I've downloaded it and installed and right of the back noticed a few thing I absolutely love already.

  • Improved Video Support if you're into that.
  • The ability to do PHOTO BOOKS from within light room.
  • Absolutely wonderful Shadow and Highlight Controls. Stunning!
  • The ability to email directly from within Lightroom. So Cool!
  • You can now also publish videos directly to Facebook or Flickr.
  • Burn to disk archiving.
  • Much better White Balance tool.
  • Big improvement on the search filters, as if it wasn't good enough already.

Download the Public Beta of Lightroom 4 here.