Intro To Photography

Intro To Digital Photography
Intro to Digital Photography

by Michael Kitada 2010
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Disclaimers / Legal Mumbo Jumbo
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The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information herein. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors nor it's affiliates or distributors, will be held liable for any damages caused either directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book, or by the resources described herein.
Trademark Notice
Rather than indicating every occurrence of a trademarked name as such, this book uses the names only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
Copyright Information
All photographs and text copyright 2010 Michael Kitada Photography and Take Better Photos Now!
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Table of Contents
Introduction Chapter One - Learning to see a) your eyes b) a few basic technical principals c) creating a routine Chapter Two - 3 Building Blocks of a Great Photograph Light, Composition and Moments Chapter Three Light a) Seeing the different directions of light b ) Quality of Light c) Open shade d) The Cloudy Day e) Found Light Portrait f) Review & Self-assignment Chapter Four - Composition a) Rule of Thirds b) Landscape Rule c) Focus
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d) Depth of Field (DOF) e) Repetition g) Breaking the Rules Chapter Five - Capturing Moments a) Moments in portraits b) Events & Everyday stuff c) Anticipation d) Action & Anticipation Chapter Six - Photographing People Chapter Seven - Storing & Uploading Your Images
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Introduction
I love photography! When I was a kid, my parents always handed me the family camera to shoot photos that would document our family vacations and events. Sometimes, they were horrible images that couldn't be deciphered by anyone in the family, but at times I made magic. I loved it. As the years went by, I became the photographer at my girlfriend's home, too. My future father-in-law would hand me the camera and tell me to "shoot away." Finally, for my 19th birthday, my future wife gave me my first SLR. I was hooked. So much so, that I changed my major in college from music to photography.
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I have spent the next 20+ years as a photojournalist traveling around the world making images and learning the INS and outs of photography. During this time, I have shot everything from the Academy Awards to all the major sporting events to natural disasters. I have been fortunate and blessed. I have been able to make a living doing something I truly love and I look forward to sharing my passion with you. I created Intro to Digital Photography to help you see, think and shoot like a professional and to help you squeeze the most enjoyment out of your photographic experience. Come with me as I pass along some of my knowledge. In the end, I know that you will take better photos and come to love this process, too. So, "Be inspired."
Me, and my sisters Diane and Kim 1968
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Chapter 1: Learning to See

Our eyes and brain are so incredible that we need to point out a few things as we start our journey. We don't really look at things the way a camera does. Try this: look at something where you are and notice how the light is hitting the object. There is a direction to the light and an intensity. You know, it's bright or dim. Also, there's a quality to the light that you have never noticed, it's either harsh or soft. A camera sees this and just records whatever it sees. But, our brains compensate. For example, if there is too much light coming from behind, our brains will help our eyes to see into the shadow areas. A camera will just record a silhouette. We will revisit these ideas in some later chapters, for now let's move on.
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A Few Basic Technical Principals We do need to go over a few basic technical principals that will help you decipher some techniques and terms that we will be discussing. Read through this section, it will help you whether you are a novice, an amateur or a seasoned professional. First there are two variables that determine how cameras expose an image onto your CCD or in the old days film. A) Shutter speed - this determines how long light is allowed to enter onto the film or CCD through the lens (again, think of the CCD as the digital equivalent of film). B) f/stop - This determines how much light can enter through the lens when the shutter opens. Let's see if I can make this a bit clearer. The lens has an opening that can be adjusted, it makes the hole larger and smaller. This is called the f/stop. The camera determines how long a little door in the camera should open, this is called the shutter. So, the shutter opens very quickly, like 1/250 of a second while the opening in the lens might only be open a little bit or f/16. Get it a bit more? Point-and-shoot cameras have shutters and f/stops, you just can't manipulate most of them as easily as a DSLR or a Digital Single Lens Reflex ( which is a fancy way to say a camera the e lens are changeable ). But it will be good to know these terms and what they do. These two mechanisms allow for the manipulation of light exposure and a few other things that we will touch on later in the book. Let's begin.
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Creating A Routine
I need to teach you a routine that will help you to have a higher success rate for your photography. I still do this every time I pick up my camera and I know that other successful photographers that I look up to have their version of something I call the routine. A routine helps us silly humans to drastically reduce the number of mistakes that we can make as we use a camera. Lets face it, a camera can be a very technically daunting piece of machinery. All high-tech or even the latest point-and-shoot models have crazy space-age technology. Face recognition software? What? Are you kidding me? All that adds up to a lot of chances to mess things up. The more complex something is, chances are mistakes can and will be made. Learn, this technique and I guarantee that you will make a lot less mistakes and miss far fewer photo opportunities.
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The Routine
1. Batteries Every time, and I mean every time you pick up your camera, check the batteries. Are they old? How long ago did you charge or change them? The smartest thing you can do is to always carry extras. No batteries means no power. No power means camera no work. No pictures! So, unless you are a great sketch artist, you better bring extras. Buy your model's battery and charge them both. Target or WalMart probably carries the generic version of your battery for cheap. Remember, no batteries means no photos, carry extras!
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2. Media Cards Huh? You know, the thing your camera writes the information on? It once was film but that just makes me sound old. No moving parts, a wonder of technology! You may have a Compact Flash, Secure Digital (SD), or other proprietary media like Memory Sticks that only work with a specific brand of camera. Whichever your camera uses, one is not enough. Let me repeat that for emphasis, one is not enough! What happens when Elvis, Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster all show up in front of you and your card is full? The National Enquirer will not be interested in your sketch (see no batteries above). It will be just another story to tell your kids about the one that got away. Save yourself all the embarrassment and buy an extra card. They are very reasonable and available just about anywhere. To review: Buy another media card and make sure that one is always empty and available (for the Elvis photo).
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3. ISO Check your ISO setting (we will cover what this is in a later chapter). For now, you need to know that it tells you how much light needs to be allowed into the camera to make a correct exposure. A lot of you are wondering what? That's okay at this point. Don't worry, here's an easy rule of thumb for setting your ISO. Outdoors? ISO 200-400 will be great. Indoors? 800-1600 will do. Some of you will have point-and-shoot models that will set it for you. That can be good and bad. Some cameras will not let you adjust the ISO setting, which is not a good thing. Realistically, you want a camera that allows you to manipulate as many settings as possible to help you learn and grow. Automatic and Program modes are fine at first, but then Manual mode is a great way to evolve as a photographer. Which brings us to our next point.
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4. Automatic is good, for now. People a lot smarter than you or I spent years on manufacturing settings that will do most of the hard work for us. Automation is good-wait isn't that what they always say before the robots and computers take over and start doing very bad things? Well, unless your camera looks like Robocop, it should be okay, I think. Let's get back to our topic. For now, let's trust our camera and set it to automatic or program. Most cameras are so good now, that they do almost all the thinking for us. Almost! And thats where most beginning photographers get into trouble. I'm going to show you how to tell your camera what to do in situations where it gets fooled (covered in future chapters). Now I can't give you a college degree, but I can show you how to start thinking and seeing like a photographer. That's our goal. So, let's trust our cameras until we get to the next level.
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5. Border Patrol Don't worry, nothing about fences, Arizona or immigration, just another time-tested technique to ensure better pictures. Look through the viewfinder or at the LCD in "live view" mode ( when it looks like a tv monitor). Before you press the shutter, I want you to to look and see everything. For this technique, I want you to start at the top left hand corner and look along the perimeter or border, get it? Move along the top and down the right side, down he bottom and back up the left side back to where we started. Why? Because you are looking for distracting elements in e background that most beginning photographers miss. Most get tunnel vision and only notice the main subject. They don't see the branch jutting out for their subject's head. Or anything else that might take away from the main thing that you intended your viewers to see. So, check for poles, trees, sticks, branches even other people tahat might take away from the person or thing that you are photographing. Do this routine (all of it) every time and I guarantee that you will begin to make fewer and fewer mistakes, your teeth will become whiter and you will lose that last stubborn 20 pounds. Well, maybe just the first one. But really concentrate on learning the steps and you will find that things will be easier.
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Your camera will always have power. You will always have room on your media card to make another important photo.
You always have the correct settings to make photos. Lastly, you will be aware of what is in the viewfinder and ultimately you will make better photos. I might be using the word, "always," a bit too liberally, but you will find that you will make far fewer mistakes than without a set routine. Now let's start learning to see and think like a professional photographer! REVIEW Be able to recite the Routine and demonstrate each of the five steps.
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Chapter 2
THE 3 BUILDING BLOCKS OF A GREAT PHOTO
I have a theory/philosophy about photography that I have formulated over
the years and it has weathered the test of time. If you want to have interesting photographs that others will want to look at, you need to have some basic foundational supports that will be inherent in almost every great photograph. That's really what we are all shooting for when we press the shutter. We aspire to make an image that people will want to look at. Otherwise, our photos are going to be awfully lonely, sitting in a shoebox in the closet or in a dark and remote corner of our hard drive. No one calls, no one visits, it's a lonely life for boring photos.
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Here is the formula I call the 3 building blocks of a great photo. 1) Light 2) Composition 3) A Moment ( that defines the event ) If you have all of these contained in your image, wow! You have a photograph that everyone likes and wants to look at over and over and they remember it. Only have 2 of the 3? Well, it's probably an okay image that your friends will be polite about to you when they view it and mumble something like, "oh that's nice." What they really mean is let's move on to dessert or something else besides these photos. 1 of 3? Remember the slide shows that your Uncle Ed showed every time you went to visit? You get the idea, shoebox!
This is where most boring photos end up...in a box, gathering dust!
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Chapter 3
Light
It is the component most needed to even create a photograph. How it falls on your subject and how you as the photographer recognize and use it, will go a long way to determine if you've just made a great photo or another boring vacation photo. Again your eyes and brain are so sophisticated and better than any camera ever made. Unfortunately, we take this miracle of sight for granted and we fail to truly see light. What does this mean? Well, take a look around you. The sun, a lamp, or your computer are all illuminating something. The light is falling on some object and allowing our receptors in our eyes to see the object. Is this light coming from the side, or from the front or back?
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Is the light bright or barely there? Is it harsh like from a flash nor the sun at noon? Or is it soft like on a cloudy day? Learning to see and recognize this is the first component of a great photograph.
Let's try a simple set-up to help us see the light. I read a great article on practice and how great people practice more than your average person. That helps them to become great, better than the average person who doesnt put the time in to get better.
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Grab a friend or a stuffed toy. Set them or it on a chair by a window that is facing north. It will be helpful if there's only one window in the room like a living room. Don't have your subject so close to the window that direct sunlight falls on it. Have the subject placed so they are lit by the ambient light falling in the room. Ambient light is an important phrase to learn. It is indirect light falling on a subject. It can be found anywhere that direct light is not hitting a subject. For example, in the shade of a building is ambient light. But, this is important too, there is always and I mean always a direction to the light! It has to be coming from some direction, this is very important. I will refer to this term over and over so familiarize yourself with it. It can also be revered to as open shade which is a bit more descriptive. It is very flattering light for people especially.
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Now look at your subject with you in-between the window and the subject. But don't get too close or you will cast a shadow onto your subject, becoming an eclipse of the sun!
This light is called frontal light and depending on the intensity and time of day, should cast few shadows on your subject. It's not the most dramatic type of lighting but it is usually pretty flattering for most subjects. This type of lighting hides wrinkles and is the friend of everyone over the age of 30! Remember that when you want to photograph someone a bit older and you will be there friend for life!
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Now stand at a 90 degree angle to the window and the subject. This is called side lighting and is normally very complimentary lighting. It does accentuate wrinkles so be careful!
Notice how this light sculpts each of the subjects? This is very flattering light for most subjects.
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Finally, go stand with the subject between you and the window. A silhouette!
Heres a great example of how our eyes and brains dont work like our cameras. Our cameras see the window and assume that everything is great. Lots of light and we can see our subject fine. Problem is, the camera sees the bright light and assumes that is the dominate mass in the frame and exposes for it. The on-board computer lets in less light and voila, a silhouette! Most photographers run into this problem all the time. The ability to recognize a situation like this, separates the beginners from the serious-minded photographers. Practice recognizing these three main types of lighting scenarios. It will make you a better photographer.
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Here's another normal scenario you set your family/friends under a tree and snap away. Your camera sees the bright light in the background and underexposes your subjects and again, silhouette.
This is probably one of the most committed offenses against families and photography. Remember, your camera is just a machine. It can only do so much. You are its' master and now that you are beginning to understand light, you can avoid most of the common pitfalls of amateur photographers. Why does his happen? Lets try and explain this again. Your camera is calibrated to turn the brightest thing in the viewfinder into 18% gray. Thus, if the brightest thing is the background, the subjects will be darker and turned into silhouettes. What we need to do, is to learn to see these situations and identify the potential problems and overcome them.
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Heres the image correctly exposed.
A!!nd the incorrectly exposed photo again.
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!Front lighting The light is coming from directly behind the camera. It is a normally a very flattering type of light to photograph any subject. If the light source is directly behind you, be careful that your shadow doesnt fall on your subject.
!Side lighting Notice the shadow on the subjects right side of her face (camera-left). So, the light is coming from camera-right. Its actually a large bank of windows with ambient light illuminating a large wall across from the windows. This type of lighting is great for showing the contours of your subject, so be careful if you dont want to show your subjects wrinkles!
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Here's another example of side lighting: This frame has the same lighting set-up as the previous image. The subject is standing in front of a gray wall with the light coming from camera-right. !
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And our last example is of backlighting.
Our subject is not illuminated as strongly or as brightly as the background. So, our camera adjusts for the background and our subject is silhouetted! Great for the witness protection program, not so great if you want to identify your friends and family. The next frame is properly exposed for the subject and not the background.
Just like our assignment, recognizing this lighting situation is crucial to seeing light and understanding what it does in various situations.
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Learning to see Light (cont.)
Learning to really see light is one of the most important skills that you will need as a photographer. See if you can identify where the light is coming from in these next examples: Look at how the smallest childs face is illuminated as he tilts his head back and the other two kids have shadows on their faces as they have their faces tilted towards the camera. *Hint, look at the shadow on the middle girls face and at the smallest boy's red shirt under his arm. Train your eyes to start looking at the light and how it falls on your potential subjects. Identifying light is key to creating impactful images. Learn to see the light. Here are a few examples:
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For this portrait, I placed the girls against a door with a large window to their right and told them to get close, real close. !
*Heres a quick tip that photographers use to deconstruct the light in a photo. Our eyes reflect the light source in the iris. See the bright highlight in each of the girls eyes? That shows the large window is on their right side or camera-left which is how I will refer to directions throughout the book. Take a peek at any fashion magazine and you will see the photographers umbrellas, soft box or a beauty dish in the models' irises. *Hint, look at the shadow on the middle girls face. The light is coming from camera-left (theres a shadow on the left side of her face).
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Another example: The light is coming from outside the room through the large clock on the wall of the caf inside the Musee dOrsay. Thus, all of the patrons are silhouettes. ! *Quick history lesson. The Orsay was once a railway station that was built at the turn of the century and is home to an extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces including a selfportrait of Van Gogh.
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One morelook carefully at the shadows cast by the subjects. See the shadow behind the subjects? Also, it is falling on the front of the clouds, the face of the mountains and the front of the little stonewall. !See how there are no shadows on the wall (other than shadows of the kids)? This is just a quick portrait as we stopped to stretch our legs and to see the Yosemite Valley. I told my kids to jump on the count of three. I was across the road up on a hillside, too far away to yell. So, I put up one finger, two fingers and then three fingers. They jumped in unison and I had my memory. Again, practice looking at how light falls on your subjects. These kids have the light falling directly on their faces, to create a nice front light image.
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This image was taken from the top of an open-air tour bus in Paris. !* Tip: My strategy when I travel is to take a tour of the city and see all the sites from a bus or tram. Then, I can plan out the rest of my trip and go back to what looks interesting. This way I see everything, but only go to what looks interesting. No wasted time! The light was spectacular, as it broke through the clouds and illuminated the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is backlit with the sun being obscured by the clouds. So, in this image we have, backlighting, silhouette and drama from the shafts of sunlight streaming through the clouds. All of this from the top of a bus speeding down the street as three college girls on college break found out my wife and I were from the O.C. (just like on television)! I laughed and shot this photo over their shoulders as the sun broke through the clouds. Start to look, really look at the light that is falling and illuminating everything around you. Once you start to recognize the light, you will begin to be able to capture it.
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This was shot with the camera in my phone in a parking lot. I was waiting for a potential client and I looked at the sky. I couldnt believe the beauty of the light as it hit the clouds. The effect is from an application called, Hipstamatic, which I use all the time. Dramatic lighting makes for dramatic images. Look around and see the light!
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Quality of Light Light does not just have direction, it also has quality. Harsh, soft, bright and dim. Recognize the difference and you will start to capture light in different and dramatic ways.
This is an example of soft and dim light as the sun sets. The brightness of the sun is muted as the light passes through the various layers of dust and clouds in the atmosphere. Notice how you can look at the sunset longer than at high noon? Its the light rays passing through all of our pollution.
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Heres another example of soft lighting. Essentially, we just turned the camera around from the pier and now we have the same lighting scheme, but on people. Soft light is usually the best for photographing people. In the above photo, light is coming from camera right almost sideways. The light is very soft and due to the time of day it is very dim, too. It is very flattering to the subjects and makes for great portraits. Utilize this type of lighting whenever possible to take your portraits. Soft and either dim or bright.
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Lets look at another example.
Here is an example of soft light, but it is in a type of lighting that I will refer to as ambient light or open shade. Ambient light occurs where no direct light is falling on our subject. It is extremely flattering in portraits. See how the light is soft and dim and pleasing to our subject? One last thing, see the direction of the light? Its always good to identify where your light source is coming from. In this image the light is coming from above the subject. Theres a nice soft shadow on her right side of her face. Open shade is one of the most pleasing lighting situations for portraits of people. Remember to think, lighting quality and direction for the best possible portraits!
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Now we come to our example of bright light. Sunny day, and our subjects are outside in the direct light. We have bright light.
Next is harsh light. It starts to affect our subjects and their ability to look at the camera. It is usually bright. So, dont be thrown off by the fact that its bright, too. Also, notice the very defined and harsh shadows on the subjects face. This brings us to a good rule of thumb to remember: ***The smaller the light source, the harsher the light.
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For example, the sun in the sky is a tiny little orb that produces harsh light and shadows. Put some clouds in front of it and you have a nice diffused and soft light with less defined shadows. Cloudy days are the photographers friend! Heres an example:
A snowy, cloudy day with diffused light. There arent any well-defined shadows and the light is soft and beautiful. Just remember that the light still has a direction to it and all of the rules about light still are in place. Here the light is coming from above, just like the snowflakes my son is trying to catch!
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This is a hand-held image of Notre Dame, made just after sundown. The light on the building helps to contrast against the deep color of the sky.
It was just after sunset and I didnt have time to break out my tripod, so I braced myself, took a deep breath and squeezed the shutter slowly and firmly. This an example of harsh but dim lighting. It was very dark ( duh, it was night). But, you can also argue that the light on the buildings is harsh. It's a combo. Not everything slips neatly into a category. *Heres a tip: If you have a motor drive or power winder on your camera, try this shoot three frames after exhaling slowly, and holding as still as possible. Normally, you will get one frame steady and in-focus out of the three images. Ive been able to achieve some great in-focus images at very slow shutter speeds using this technique when a tripod wasnt handy. **Heres another one of my tips. Whenever possible, try to photograph your subject in different light or at different times of the day. Especially, when you are traveling.
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This is the Notre Dame cathedral about an hour before the previous photograph. Its the same scene, just different lighting. Sometimes you get really really lucky.
It seems that God favors the prepared. Think and look. You might be rewarded well.
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Okay, you are thinking, I could make beautiful photos if I were in Paris. Well, my daughter and I were talking and she was showing me photos she took on her little point-and-shoot camera when I saw the light streaming through the window and onto our wall. Shes been trained well, over the years, to pose at a moment's notice for her crazy photographer father, so, she leaned up against the wall and point-andshoot heaven! Beautiful light and a beautiful portrait to boot!
!See, beautiful light doesnt just exist in Paris, it is all around us, even inside your own home. This is an example of bright light. It was taken near sunset so it isn't harsh. Notice how even people with blue eyes can tolerate the sun late in the day? Remember, it's due to the sun traveling further through the atmosphere and through more dirt and smog, so the light is less intense and harsh.
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Open Shade Let's review Open Shade again.
It really is a photographers best friend. Lets review. Open shade can exist anywhere indirect or ambient light/shade does. For example, under overhangs, patios, behind large structures -- wherever the direct light of the sun is blocked. In this example, a large building provided open shade for this portrait. Remember that while the light may be soft and diffused, it still has directionality. It has to be coming from somewhere. The light is this image is coming from above, camera right. See the slight shadow under the jaw line? The rest of our subjects face is illuminated with soft beautiful light.
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Heres another example of ambient lighting. See the soft quality of light and the lack of strong or harsh shadows. Remember that even though you are in a lighting situation that is optimal, there will still be a direction to the light. Remember that and use it to your advantage and you will make great photographs.
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Wait! I can't tell where the light is coming from? Just like the portrait of the three girls, remember to look at the eyes.
!Look in the highlights in the eyes of the subject. They are very reflective, so the light source is usually seen there. In the above image, the light source covers most of the subject's eyes, and there is a slight shadow on the left side of the nose. The light is coming mostly from directly in front of the subject, slightly camera right. Inspect the highlights in the eyes and any shadows that might giveaway the direction of the light.
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The Cloudy Day I mentioned cloudy day earlier when I talked about snow. Heres an image made on a cloudy day. Remember it mimics open shade, but allows greater movement. Since you can move around with your subject and not have to worry so much about the lighting because it stays so constant. Again: The smaller the light source, the harsher the light. Place clouds in between the sun and the earth and you achieve a huge light source and very soft even lighting. For example, heres a couple on an engagement shoot in San Francisco (thats Alcatraz Island in the background). It was raining intermittently, but the light was perfect for faces. We stood at the top of Lombard Street (the crazy crooked street) and I told them to have fun! The light is even and the shadows are very soft which makes for a perfect portrait!
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The Found Light Portrait
We enter another type of portrait, I call it the found light portrait. It usually combines direct light and shadows for a dramatic and stylized image. This photograph was created by light from a sunset shining through a window blind against a plain wall. Look for this type of lighting where sunlight is shining through windows or openings for dramatic portraits. It takes practice, but the results make it worthwhile!
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Heres another example:
In this image the light is coming through a door and hitting a wall in an alley, creating interesting and dramatic shadows that compliment the overall look of the image and the light on the subject. Its just a dirty and smelly alley behind some nice stores. Props to my model for sitting in the unknown smell and looking cool, she only lasted for a bit, but it was worth it. Remember to check back at different times of the day, you never know when a seemingly boring situation can be turned into something wonderful. The light in this image only lasted a few minutes and then it was just another smelly alley again. Lighting and dramatic shadows can create all of that.
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Review
Learn to see and identify light Directionality of light / Where's it coming from? Quality of light (harsh, dim, bright or soft) Open shade / Ambient light is flattering for portraits The smaller the light source, the harsher the shadows & the larger the light source the softer the shadows. The Cloudy Day Found light portraits
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Self-assignment Look for open shade and identify which direction the light is coming. Place your subject (an inanimate object or a friend) in some ambient light and look at how it falls on them/it. Identify the direction of the light and see if it is a front, side or backlight situation. Then look through the viewfinder or the LCD in live view and shoot a frame. Look at the image on the back of your camera. Is the light pleasing? Does it dominate the image or support your subject? Take a few more frames and change your position and try it in a vertical and horizontal mode for variation. Shooting digitally is inexpensive, so shoot a lot. Really look at your image before and after pressing the shutter. The ambient light in this photo is very soft and almost shadow-less.
Look before you press the shutter, then fire away and make some great images. Then go look for some dramatic light and make a found light portrait, too.
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Chapter 4
!Composition
Composition is simply where the photographer places subjects, horizons and any other elements within the frame of the photograph. Our eyes tend to look at certain areas inside an image. Therefore, we want to learn the best areas to place our subjects. The first rule of composition is the Rule of Thirds. We need to carve up the canvas of the frame/viewfinder into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. Place your subject on these lines and especially where they connect. A viewers eyes naturally go to these areas. That is why some photos are so compelling and others are so boring. This should be an ah-ha moment for a lot of you. ***This is probably the single most important rule/tip of this entire book, so learn it well.
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Check out any images you see and most do not utilize this basic rule. It really is the difference between a memorable image and something you forget as soon as you look away.
Heres another example:
Do your subjects have to be in exactly the areas where the lines connect? No? Close is good enough. Your eye sees the point of Half Dome and follows the curve of the mountain down to the silhouetted figures who are near the intersection of the lower horizontal and the right vertical lines. Voila! A visually interesting image that helps the viewer to see, by having a strong compositional make-up that leads the eyes to the most important part of the image.
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Heres another example with the faces of the subjects all on the top
horizontal third and the faces of the two outside subjects in the areas of convergence. The viewers eye is lead directly the subjects, creating an interesting and compelling image. This was a vacation photo taken at the Bristol Speedway in Tennessee. People wait decades to score tickets to the NASCAR races, so my in-laws booked us on a tour that was very cool. We were able to go down on the track and mess around at the finish line.
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Heres a view from inside the Arc de Triumphe in Paris. The the spiral is near the upper right area of convergence and draws the viewers eyes to that space. Also, the staircase spirals down leading the viewers eye down the railing and then back up again to the top. Good composition keeps the viewers eyes occupied which keeps them looking at your image longer. The longer you can engage your viewer, the longer they will look at your image. That is the goal of every photograph.
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Back to the racetrack in Bristol, Tennessee. Ive placed my subject in the lower right area of convergence. See how your eye is drawn to him? Then you might look at the track as it leads away from him to the upper left area of convergence. Understand how that works? Ive composed the image to draw your eye to those two areas in the photograph. Unfortunately, most photographers would place the boy in the dead-center which leads us nowhere. Composition is so critical to photography, yet a lot of photographers just dont understand it and dont practice it enough. Good composition leads to great lasting images.
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This is the Rule for Landscapes Instead of carving the canvas into thirds both horizontally and vertically, just place the horizon on the 1/3rd or 2/3rds line. It emphasizes either the sky or the land. In cases where you want to really emphasize either sky or land make the fraction even larger. Now look at this example where the horizon is very low in the frame, which
accentuates our sky and the wonderful clouds. The viewers eye is drawn first to the pyramid and then to the sky. The most important thing is to not place the horizon anywhere near the middle. That is visually unappealing. Most of the time, symmetry is visually unappealing to the eye. There are exceptions, but that is later.
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Yosemite at sunset
I was in Yosemite for a wedding and was headed to a restaurant for dinner when I saw the moon start to rise above the ridge. The sunlight was still hitting the clouds on the right of the image. It was glorious! I stopped on the side of the rode and braced my camera on top of the roof of my car. I composed the image with the moon and the ridge at the very bottom of the frame to accentuate the sky and to place the blackness of the mountain at the bottom for its weight. The moon is near the convergence of the lower left and Id say I used the 1/8 vs. 7/8ths composition rule. Oh, also, this is an example of sidelight (see the moon)? I would say that is a great example of camera-right light.
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The textures of the ridge and the lighting made for an image that I thought stirred wildness in my heart. Always stop and shoot, you never know when you will get another chance to photograph a scene like this.
Just to be clear, heres an example of half and half with the horizon in the middle. Theres nothing for the viewer to look at after the initial scan.
So much stronger of an image with the sky emphasized.
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Here is one more version, in a vertical selection. I spotted this view of the Sacr-Cur Basilica through a window in the Louvre. The door was locked and I put one of my tips into action, always shoot now and dont wait. Lucky I did, since I was never able to make it to the church, so these photos were the best and only ones I was able to take. Lets look at the composition, I have placed the main buildings in the lower left area of convergence and placed the horizon about 1/5th of the way up the frame to emphasize the sky.
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Heres a similar composition, where I placed the subject in the lower right area of convergence and also put Half Domes point near the upper left area of convergence. The viewer looks at the main subject then the point and back and forth. Simple, right? It does take practice, so shoot a lot and be patient. At this point, a lot of my students ask, When I try to put my subject in an area of convergence, my camera focuses somewhere else. Great point. Lets look at how to overcome our cameras auto focus and make it work for us. In the photo below, overcoming the auto focus enables us to place the subjects head off center and not focus on the background.
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Heres a portrait that the subject is placed just off-center.
Learning how to defeat the center focus function is a huge skill that is a definite have to learn must. Lets take a look at that technique.
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Focus Wait! Are you having trouble placing the subject in an area of convergence and keeping the subject in focus? You need to learn to trick the camera into focusing on the subject that you want to control the composition of the image. Heres how: You will need to practice this step a lot to be able to achieve this in the heat of the moment. When you look inside the viewfinder of your DSLR or on the back of the LCD of your point-and-shoot you will see little boxes or circles that light up when you depress the shutter half way. These are the "focus points" and usually turn from red-to-green or turn from clear-to-red when they are locked in on a subject. Try this: Point your camera at a scene that contains a foreground, mid ground and a background. Press the shutter halfway and watch the boxes become active by changing color. Now heres the trick to practice. Move the camera slightly to the left or right (still depressing the shutter halfway) and recompose to place the highlighted subject into an area of convergence. Then press the shutter the rest of the way and voila! The subject you picked is in focus and in the correct area of composition. Now trust me, this takes practice to not press the shutter all the way and to not let go. Also, you need to realize that the cameras focus is locked so you cannot move forward or backward or everything will be out of focus. You can only move left or right now that the camera's focus is locked. What??? Imagine the zone of focus is a wall of glass. It moves back and forth depending on where the camera is pointed. When you lock it by pushing the shutter halfway, it is frozen and will not move. So, when you freeze it, you can move the camera sideways, just a bit and everything within the wall of focus (or glass) remains in focus.
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Got it? Probably not, but try the exercise below and you will see it is easier done than explained. With practice, it will become easier and quicker each time. Good Luck!
Step One
First, we have our LCD without any highlighted boxes and we have not depressed the shutter.
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Step Two We have pushed the shutter halfway and we are holding it. A small box becomes highlighted on the LCD screen and shows us what the camera is focusing on, which is the large letter K. At this stage, we have a typical center-focused subject. Now comes the fun part!
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Step Three Re-compose to put the subject into an area of convergence, continue to hold the shutter halfway down (you will have to practice this and you will know it is still locked in since the box is still highlighted). See how we re-composed the letter K into the left vertical third? Important, you can only move our camera slightly to the left or the right and still maintain focus. If you move it forward or backward, the area that is locked into focus will move from the zone of focus and will ruin the shot. So, practice and remember only slight moves to re-compose.
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Depth of Field and Focusing We need to cover a few things before we move on that will help make your photos even better. The first is something called depth of field (DOF). In laymans terms it is how much focus exists in your photograph. A "shallow" depth of field refers to a limited zone of focus a "large" depth of field refers to a broad zone of focus within the frame. How large it is depends on your f/stops. With DSLRs, you can manipulate this with the f/stops. A shallow depth of field is accomplished with a small f stop and a large depth of field is accomplished with a large f/stop. For example f/2.8 f/4.5 will result in a small or shallow depth of field and f/11 f/32 will result in a large or broad depth of field. With point-andshoot, this effect is a bit harder to achieve. The best way is to increase the ISO to bring more light into the CCD and therefore increase the f/stop for a broad depth of field and lower the ISO for a smaller or shallower depth of field. With a Point-and-shoot its a little bit tougher to manipulate the depth of field, but it can be done. Try this: Compose a photo of a person and place their head in the upper right convergence area, then put your hand into the frame, maybe in the left vertical third (do this inside so there will be less light and a the result will be more pronounced). The resulting image is an out of focus hand and an in focus persons face. You have just produced a shallow depth of field if you were inside. If you do this outside, there will be more light and a greater depth of field. The hand will be more in focus than the photo inside. This is due to a larger f/stop and more depth of field. Try it with a few variations like, more people, your hand closer and further away from your camera and you will see the differences in the depth of field. Lets look at some examples:
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Shallow depth of field
!Shallow depth of field with the far girl in focus and the other two out of focus.
Large depth of field
!With a large depth of field, the three subjects are in focus for a maximum depth of field effect. You can utilize this for larger groups of people to keep the maximum zone of focus from front-to-back.
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Breaking the Rules Does every image you ever take have to be in one of these areas? NO! Rules were made to be broken, but if you dont learn them, you probably will not know when to break them, right? Heres an example that breaks the rules. The subject is in the center of our composition, but, look closer. The top of the clouds run through the top horizontal line and our horizon leaves a 1/5 land to 4/5ths sky ratio that we will learn more about later. What matters is that we have a moving image of a young boy that captures a moment in time that is compelling. That is what really matters! Sometimes rules are made to be broken or at least bent a bit. Learn the rules well, use them and then bend them a bit. Have fun and make some great photos. !Composition drives how our viewers look at our images. We want to engage our viewers as long as possible, so a well-composed image causes our viewers to continue to look at and into the image.
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Heres another rule-breaker. The main subject is the silhouetted people in the center of the frame and then the rays of sunlight behind them. Not your typical, rule of thirds image, but a visually interesting rule breaking photograph. One of the best things to remember is to be able to defend and articulate why you decided to place the subject in a different part of the frame. You as the artist need to explain, at least to yourself, why you did what you did. After that, let the viewer decide if your effort was worthy.
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Repetition
Here is another compositional tool, called repetition. It calls attention to your subject by emphasizing it or by breaking a pattern to bring attention to it.
In this example, the red bars repetition is broken by the childs face. The bars draw attention to our subject and then the change in the repetition draws our viewers eye into the main subject. Also, the subject is placed in the upper right area of convergence, too. Utilizing more than one tool helps our viewers to be drawn into what we the photographer wants.
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Lets look at another example.
Repetition is a tough concept to grasp. Heres a simple example of repetition with chairs. The chairs create a nice pattern both horizontally and diagonally throughout the frame. Simple, Right?
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Chapter 5
Moments
Our last building block deals with what is happening in the frame the instant we press the shutter. One of the fathers of photojournalism, Henri CartierBresson, coined the phrase, The decisive moment, and claimed that every scene contained this moment in time when all the elements best told the story. As a visual storyteller, this is our holy grail! If a picture tells a thousand words, what is your photo saying?
Without the capturing of moments, pictures are lifeless and posed. Our goal is to capture moments that freeze an instant in time that informs, delights and or enlightens, hopefully all at the same time. Training your eye to capture these moments is a life-long goal. Keep practicing and looking for moments. Soon you will be making images capturing great moments all the time.
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Here we have a mom playing peek-a-boo with her son. We combine everything we have learned so far and with good lighting, composition and a moment we are able to document a time in a familys life with a great photo. Easy, right?
Heres a moment from the same shoot. The mom was taking a favorite toy and showing it to the baby to get him to smile, when she took it away, he started crying. I got the moment and reminded her to keep shooting, too. Good light, composition and the moment.
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My dogs play a rough game of, jump on anyones head who is in the pool, which is fun to watch. Just not fun if you are in the pool first.
Heres my moment. I backed off to keep my camera dry and waited for the games to begin. I followed the yellow dog, and as he took off, I pressed my shutter. Oh BTW, no dogs were harmed in the making of this moment. ;)
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Heres an example of one of my favorite moments of my oldest sons
childhood. His favorite thing for a while was to be pulled around in his wagon. One day he wanted his mom to ride along and dad had his camerathe rest is a photograph that I will always treasure. Let us break down the image a bit: The subjects heads are in the convergence of the top horizontal and the two vertical lines. The wagon is occupying the bottom horizontal third and the light is soft with pleasing soft shadows, too (cloudy day). What about our moment? Mom is watching her baby and he is having the time of his life. A very nice frame that freezes a moment in a familys life . Isnt that what photography is about?
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Capturing Moments Now isnt capturing moments the main reason you bought a camera? Documenting the lives of your family is one of the most treasured memories that we possess. Lets get this part right so we can keep those images of our children and our friends in a tangible way. How to capture moments is an art in itself. How do you photograph / capture a moment? You have to know a little about your subject. Ever watch a sport like basketball on television? All the photographers are sitting at the ends of the court. They are anticipating certain plays during the game. They might only be allowed to sit in one area, but they also have experience of where to be to obtain the best shots. Insider knowledge can benefit your photography. Know your subject. If your child always throws his arms in the air when he gets to the top of the stairs and lets out a yell. Thats insider information that can help you capture that moment. Lets take a look and learn a few tips about capturing moments.
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Heres my example: My youngest is a ham. I always try to be ready for a great moment. We were on a trip to Bristol, Tennessee and visited the racetrack. We were able to stand in the winners circle and my son decided to act out his racing/winning fantasy. I was ready and was following him around when he suddenly spread his arms wide, threw his head back and proclaimed that he was number one!
Nice moment for the family vacation memory album. Nice capture dad! Some of the best photographers I have known always had that sixth sense about great moments. Ask yourself, Whats the best photo that I could get, and Where would I need to be to capture that? Then get there and wait.
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How does that translate for you? How about a one-year-olds birthday party? It doesnt really make sense for you to run around your childs birthday party with a camera glued to your eye socket. But, your knowledge of the day gives
you an edge on when to wait and be ready to press the shutter. In our culture, we all know what happens after the cake is placed in front of the person of honor. They smash that beautiful cake all over their faces, right? Wait for that moment and you will have captured the moment that encapsulates the entire event. This is the kind of planning and pre-thinking that will enable you to capture great moments.
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Capturing a Moment in a Portrait When shooting a portrait, its important to capture the essence of that subject. Otherwise, you end up with a posed and stiff looking image. Certain peoples believe that having their photograph taken, was akin to having a bit of their soul stolen. I want that to be your goal. To let the viewer peer so deeply into the soul of the subject, that a piece of them is stolen away.
In this portrait, we see a genuine smile from the subject. A truthful moment that reveals something of the subject. That is our goal.
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Same subject, different setting. The goal is the same. To capture a bit of our subjects soul. To reveal something to the viewer. The next image shows a truthful moment during a senior portrait session. I talked to the subject about feeling like a model. She started skipping and feeling and looking like a model. A bit of her soul was revealed.
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Anticipation Now that you are utilizing knowledge about your subject, we come to the next step in capturing moments. Anticipation. One of the biggest complaints about point and shoot cameras is the time lag between the act of pushing the shutter and actually taking the photo. Unfortunately, it is price that dictates this feature. The more expensive your camera, the shorter the delay. So, how do you capture moments if it takes forever for your camera to take a photo? Anticipation. Since we are learning to shoot a lot, we can practice that by anticipating the actions of our subjects. We sometimes need to guess what our subject will do to capture the moment. For example, how about our old friend the birthday? The birthday boy starts to blow out the candles and? If we wait for a great moment, we might miss it. So, take a chance and hope for great images and you will start to capture more. We will revisit this topic when we talk about timing.
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Action and Anticipation Lets use an example of shooting tennis. There is a saying in sports photography and it goes like this, If you see it, you missed it. What does that mean? Well, sometimes the action happens so fast that if you see it through the viewfinder or on the LCD, that means when the shutter
opens, you probably missed the action. Look at our example: The ball is just about to be struck by the racket. But when you look at the next frame The ball is already long gone. The only thing left is the shadow. How did that happen and how can you capture the ball being struck? Anticipation!
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The photographer, you, has to anticipate the ball being struck and push the shutter the moment before the ball gets there to really capture it being struck. It isnt a natural skill, it is something that you will definitely need to practice. At first, you will miss a lot. A lot! Soon, is will become second nature and you will be capturing all the elements in the same image. All by anticipating.
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Look heres the ball being struck and .
In this photo, the ball is gone. This tip works for just about any fast moving action. Just anticipate and practice, practice and practice.
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Chapter 6
People Photography
Now, unless you live in a cave or are an extreme loner, the majority of your photos will contain people. Facebook alone is responsible for about a billion photos a month! Documenting our lives has become an obsession especially with the younger generation. Smart phones that capture photos and video are ubiquitous. Heres a chapter dedicated to helping everyone take better people photos. I want to look again at the best types of lighting, some composition tips and also posing and props to help us all take better photos of people!
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First off, you can almost always improve your photos by getting closer and filling the frame with your subject. By cropping into our subjects the eyes !naturally are closer to the area of convergence as seen in this example below.
And in this example, too. See how cropping into the head of the subject places the eyes in the areas of convergence? It helps make our composition stronger and fills the frame more effectively. Lets take a look at posing and how it can help to take better photos.
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One of the most important tips in posing is to never let your subjects directly face the camera. It makes peoples hips look larger and creates awkward poses.
Instead, turn them one way or the other. It puts the hips and shoulders in a pleasing a manner and makes the hips look smaller. A bonus, since I dont know any woman that wants her hips to look bigger.
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Heres another tip. Have your subjects place their hands on their hips to make the illusion of slimming their hips since you dont see where they end. It creates long lines and again hides where the hips start and end, for a sliming effect.
Heres another example.
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How about when you dont know what to do? Wait. Things usually have a way of working out. Here is our group of teenagers not knowing what to do and directly facing the camera.
Wait for them to start talking and then quickly forget about the camera and start acting natural and become much better subjects. My motto is to relax and wait for them to forget about you. It works on reality shows, let it work for you.
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Heres a similar situation, but in real life, where we were on vacation and I wanted to photograph the kids against the huge redwood trees. After about a minute the boys started messing with their sister and I had my moment.
Another vacation, this time in Tennessee at the Bristol Racetrack. The kids wanted to see how steep the curve of the track was and I had my photo! Waiting and watching are as effective tools as some of the other techniques that I have been talking about.
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Or just taking a photo of two sisters. Wait for their natural instincts to take over and they will usually do something worthy of being photographed. The sister on the right has been a challenge for me, photographically. She usually gets very self-conscience whenever I pick up my camera around her. Now Ive learned to snap quickly and let her be herself! In this situation, we
were photographing her sister and she jumped into the frame and looked at the camera for just a moment. It was all I needed. The less you pose most people, the better image you will capture. Just let people be themselves and you will normally get more relaxed and more spontaneous image. Learn to wait and watch.
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Kids forgetting about the camera is one hurdle to overcome. How about adults and camera shy people in general? Thats why props were invented! Most folks dont look like Heidi Klum. The typical scenario is the photographer barks out an order for everyone to say cheese! Or smile! Thats where props come to the rescue. Props help people take their mind off of the camera and get involved with whatever is on hand. Lets look. The subject is a guitar player and wanted a few shots with her instrument. The guitar gave her something to focus on rather than just a straight photo of her. The result is a pleasing image that shows off her hobby and the subject, too! It can be a simple as handing the subject a flower or a book. Anything to distract them from the fact that you are pointing a camera at them. It helps to forget and to focus on something else. Be creative and enjoy the process.
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Patience If you noticed, included in almost every one of the categories is waiting. Waiting is part of the territory for photographers. Great photographers all have their stories about how they waited for their fantastic photo. I have a friend who waited for two hours to make an image of a woman hurrying along a sidewalk framed through the spokes of a passing bicycle. It was part of a news story that won a Pulitzer Prize. Do you think it was worth it? This same photographer waited 30 minutes for a pedestrian to cross a bridge so she could accomplish the perfect composition in a travel photo. Was that worth it? It is to the photographer and maybe to every viewer of that photograph. Just like professionals anticipate great action in sports photography, you will need to anticipate action in everyday life as you make your photos. Is it worth it to you? You bet. Instead of static images of people with fake smiles, you will create photos that capture life. How can you do that? Learning to watch and wait is one way. For example, you head out to a BBQ with friends. Take your camera and learn to make some images. Whats going to happen? Probably a bunch of people will protest that you cant take any photos of them. Just hang around and watch. Soon, everyone will forget about the camera or better yet, be used to you having a camera in hand. They will start acting normal and if you have the patience, you can start making great images of real life.
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I did this session with a couple in San Francisco. I told them to walk up this pathway and talk and do whatever felt natural. I waited about 30 seconds for this image to materialize. Sometimes it is so easy.
Sometimes you have to really work. Either way, its worth it. Take a little time and plan out your sessions. In football, some teams are famous for scripting out the first 15 plays. They never deviate from their plan. You can script out the first 10 poses that you want and then start to let loose. That way you will always know where to start and what to do. You will look confident and that breeds confidence in your subjects, too!
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What about small groups of people? Heres another great insider secret. Odd numbers work best for small groups. Three is better than four and five is better than six. Our viewers eyes are drawn to odd numbers so use that to your advantage. Also, we need to arrange our odd numbered groups with the eyes at different heights. This accomplishes visual contrast and makes our images look more complex than a !straight line of people with their eyes at the same height.
The eyes need to be at different levels. You can even use books, rocks or anything else handy to accomplish this by having your subjects stand on them. The result is a visually interesting image that keeps the viewers engaged within the image looking at the different eyes at the various levels. This technique is especially important with groups of people. With the eyes at different levels the viewer is lead around the image. A bit like triangulation. You know, when they try to track down a telephone call they use different points to finally figure out where the call is coming from? In this image the triangulation comes from the eyes and the viewer looks from eye to eye to eye, it keeps them visually occupied within the image.
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What time of day should I shoot to get the best results? Have you ever seen a National Geographic magazine? Great photography. These photographers spend months shooting thousands of images to see only a few of their images ever published in the magazine. And 99.99% of their images are shot in early morning light or late evening light. Why? Because thats when the light is beautiful! Its as easy as that. Sunlight is beautiful when it goes through our atmosphere from the side. It has to go through more of the yucky smog and dust to get to us when its early or late and voila! Beautiful gorgeous light, and thus, beautiful gorgeous photographs taken in that light. This image was taken near sunset.
What about when the event happens at different times of the day? Well, short of bribing all team sports to play games at dusk and dawn, you will be stuck photographing at less the optimal times. Try to use the less than optimal light to your advantage.
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For example, this image was shot around sunset as the light streamed almost horizontally.
Late afternoon light is pleasing to most faces and creates great sidelight. Utilize the awesome shadows that this type of lighting creates, too. *People portraits are the majority of the images that people shoot.
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Lets review again lighting for people. Open shade / ambient light is one of our best friends for photographing people and making them look their absolute best.
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Look for this light anywhere the direct light isnt, but remember to look for the direction to create great pop in your images. Great light is one of our 3 main building blocks and open shade is so flattering that it almost always makes people look good. Look for it and practice putting your subjects in this fine light and making better photos.
Making beautiful portraits is so much easier when the components are all in place. Here the light is coming from camera right. See the slight shadow under the subjects nose? See the light and put your subjects in the right light to make beautiful portraits.
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Found light portraits
Lets review another great light source. The found light portrait. Direct light can make dramatic lighting usually accompanied with great shadows. This is a bit more advanced since the photographer has to be very careful to place the subject in an area that the light will still be flattering. In the above example, our subject is lit with direct afternoon sunlight that is creating some dramatic shadows above her head, notice the shadow under her nose.
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Heres our last example before we move on. A simple shaft of light, illuminating a brick wall makes a perfect dramatic lighting scheme for our subject. It really makes her stand out and pop against a neutral background.
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To review: Look for ambient light / open shade but remember to identify the direction of the light and also look for dramatic light and shadows to place your subjects into to create drama and allow your subjects to stand out.
Composition
A couple of compositional tips to go over that will add to your skill set to help you make take better photos. Negative space If we keep placing our subjects in areas of convergence it can leave a lot of empty space on our photographic canvas. This we can use to balance off the fact that we need to place our subjects off-center.
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Take a look: The empty or negative space is utilized to balance the subjects placement within the frame. A clean background will also not take away or distract from the main subject.
Heres a great example that places our subject, the leaf, in the upper right area of convergence, but utilizes negative space to balance and create a mood for the image. Shooting emotions is a great way to inspire your photography and put your creativity to the test. In the above example, you can attach the emotion of loneliness, isolation and or depression. All this from an image of a leaf in a pool of water. Its all in your hands to direct the emotions of the viewer.
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This image uses a blank wall to balance off our subject. Point of View or POV Point of view is literally where you place your camera when you are taking the photograph. It affects how the viewer sees and feels about the image.
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See how you can tell where the camera was placed? And how it affects the viewers perception of the image? In this example the camera is about head level. I love to remind my college age students, You have knees, bend them. Utilize different angles to give the viewer a different point of view. Low and high should be explored.
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Layering Layering creates a visual complexity that gives depth and a dimensionality to your images that takes a 2 dimensional format and gives the illusion of 3 dimensions. Giving a photograph a foreground, mid-ground and a background gives the
viewer another element to explore. Shooting through the plants gives our image a foreground of out-of-focus leaves, a mid-ground of flowers and the girl and a background of out of focus plants behind the girls head. A visually complex image with three different layers to attract our viewers eyes which draws them deeper into our image. Combine that with nice lighting and a sweet moment, creates a strong and interesting image.
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Heres a very simple example of layering where the subjects hand serves as our foreground with his face as the mid and background. Layering that draws the viewers eyes to different parts of the image to create a complex photograph.
The image below shows clearly a fore/mid & back ground.
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Chapter 7: Storing & Uploading Your Images

Question? What did they call the photographer who didnt back up his photos? Answer: A sad photographer who lost all of his photos. I know, dont quit my day job for stand-up comedy, right? But my point is well made. Everyone will have their hard drive fail at one point or another. It is a fact of life. Mechanical things breakdown. The third law of thermo dynamics states that everything is in a state of entropy. Huh? Everything, including your hard drive, is going from a state of organization to a state of disorganization or chaos. So, if you dont back up your photos and anything else on your hard drive you will lose them forever or spend thousands of dollars to possibly get them back. How? Very rich people charge thousands of dollars to salvage data off of crashed drives. So, buy an inexpensive external hard drive and back things up. If not everything, at least your photos and important documents. Also, look into an online service that charges a nominal fee for you to upload your images. For example, check out http://www.zenfolio.com, it costs as little as $25 a year to upload your images for safekeeping. Just do it.
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Organization of your images is probably one of the most daunting tasks now that file sizes are getting so large. A larger Compact Flash card can easily hold a thousand images. For you Mac users, I recommend using iPhoto. It automatically helps you organize by date, place, time or even people with face recognition software. For PC users, there are many programs available. One that seems to be used quite a bit is ACDSee. Whichever works best for you, remember to stick with your method. For example, by date, is a great way to categorize photos, but what about finding an individual image when you cant seem to remember when you shot it? Having to look through dozens of folders, does not seem very productive every time you need an image. So, try a method that utilizes at least two different ways to categorize an image. By date, by name or by place.
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That way you can narrow down your search if you get forgetful. Like July2009Vacation or Dec2008Christmas, be careful about dots and slashes, some operating systems will not recognize them. So, be wary. What if you wanted to find this image that you made 4 years ago and you didnt list it under any system. You just assumed you could always find it. But, after uploading countless images, its now buried in a huge folder with thousands of other images. You waste countless hours looking for a single image and that starts to add up to a lot of time that you could spend out shooting more family photos. I placed this in a folder titled familyeaster2007. I know it is not a shoot that I did for my business, and that it was taken in Easter of 2007. I look through one folder that has a couple dozen images and Im on my way.
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Final Thoughts
There are so many things to learn about and apply as a photographer. Its the journey that can be so exciting and fulfilling as you become more experienced and talented in capturing and documenting the world around you. My goal for this book is that you have learned some new skills that will help you on your photographic journey. Most of all, my hope for each of you is that you shoot with a passion for photography that will lead you to become the best visual storyteller that you can be.
I invite you to visit my website for more books and my blog where I share more tips on taking better photos now.
www.i365project.com www.takebetterphotosnow.com Michael

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Intro To Digital Photography

Intro to Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Disclaimers / Legal Mumbo Jumbo

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Me, and my sisters Diane and Kim 1968

Intro To Digital Photography

Chapter 1: Learning to See

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Heres the image correctly exposed.

A!!nd the incorrectly exposed photo again.

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

And our last example is of backlighting.

Intro To Digital Photography

Learning to see Light (cont.)

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Lets look at another example.

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Open Shade Let's review Open Shade again.

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography

The Found Light Portrait

Intro To Digital Photography

Heres another example:

Intro To Digital Photography

Intro To Digital Photography