Haunting Eyes Ian Kydd'Miller © 2010

 One of my personal favorite pictures. Taken in Cambodia 2010. It’s an image I just keep returning to, reprocessing, looking at and printing. The eyes just draw you in I feel…

Do you have an image you keep returning to ??

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1. Transfer your images onto your computer. Most cameras come with a wire to connect your camera to your computer, a CD with a downloading program and an instruction booklet. Transferring the images is fast and simple. Once they are on the computer, you can delete the images from your memory card and start taking more photos.

2. Burn your images onto a CD. If you have a CD burner on your computer, you can make photo discs to store or share with others. When it comes to pictures, it is often best to use a CD that can’t be written over. This will save the heartache of losing precious photos. Label the CD and store it where it can be gotten easily when you need to see your pictures.

3. Store your images on a public web site. There are many photo-hosting sites on the internet. Some charge for the service, but many are completely free. You have the choice to password-protect your images or share them with the world. This option helps if your computer should crash. Your pictures are safe.

4. Use external hard drives, they are very cheap now and very reliable.

5. Print your images and place them in a photo album. Many people still like turning the pages of a photo album and reviewing the memories. This also makes it possible for those without a computer to view your pictures.

5. Create a photo gift. There are places out there that will take your digital image and place in on shirts, mouse pads, cups, calendars and numerous other items. These make wonderful gifts and provide a way to keep a cherished picture near at all times.

The images you take are irreplaceable so it is advisable to keep multiple copies of the RAW files of important images in separate places if you are serious about your photography.

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”When I saw the photograph of Munkacsi of the black kids running in a wave I couldn’t believe such a thing could be caught with the camera. I said damn it, I took my camera and went out into the street.” Henri Cartier-Bresson

Alternatively it is refered to as no rules photography. The plethora of equipment (tripods, lenses,filters,lights etc) associated with ”serious” photography is left at home, or better still in the camera store. It’s just too heavy and bulky to cart around, takes way too long to set up and by the time it is set up the moment is gone.

Street photography is shooting from the hip.

Likewise the rules of photograph, the f stops, the shutter speeds, the rule of thirds etc are left in their dust jackets on Amazon shelves. By the time all the technical considerations are taken into account, the birdy is in another country.

Thank Canon, Nikon, Fuji et al for point & shoots.

It is just the camera and the photographer with their enthusiasm, intuition and open mind.

Street photography can be and often is: Out of focus; a tilted horizon; a soft focus.

Street photographers are optimists, for them the glass is always half full. They go out on a photo shoot with no plan in mind secure in the knowledge that this wide world of ours will provide. A subject, a situation, a scene will present itself all they must have is the presence of mind to capture it when it does.

Street photography can be and often is: Odd things in the foreground; no central focus; odd crops.

Street photographers see the usual, the every day with fresh eyes. The reflection in a rain puddle, the colours in a crowd, the balance of a negative space. Their minds are open to all the stimuli that they see and they curse the days when they leave their camera at home.

Street photography can be and often is: very busy; a tilted perspective; upside down.

Street photographers are not only on the streets, they are at weddings,school concerts, next to you on the train. They look a lot like tourists, its their favourite cover but they are one without the big flash. It was left at home, the available light will do.

Street photography can be and often is: under exposed; blurred; suffering from vertigo.

Street photography is, what all photography is, a snap shot.

What shines through is the photographer, his/her interpretation of the scene, what they see in the situation, their reaction to the stimuli, the art they see in the every day.

Technicians take technically correct and often pretty pictures.

Visual artists, whatever their medium, create images that stimulate the mind, the heart and validate the human condition in all its guises. Because, after all, pretty is in the eye of the beholder and consequently very subjective, whereas art speaks to all who are prepared to listen.

Weather conditions can play a big part in setting the mood of your shot. Rather than waiting for the bright light of the midday sun, a misty morning in a forest can be the perfect time of day for that mood-shot.

Take your time to choose the subject

Take your time to choose the subject, then spend time walking around the subject looking for the best angle and lighting.

Take your time to set up the shot

Don’t be afraid to take your time to set up your shot. Although it can get a bit frustrating if you have your loved ones tagging along and they’re sitting and waiting impatiently for 20 minutes for you to take a single shot of a piece of driftwood on the beach!

Don’t always choose brightly coloured subjects

Subjects with muted colours can sometimes produce excellent results. A field of wheat of similar yellow-brown colour can produce striking results when accompanied by a low-sun and long shadows.

Movement diffusion

If you have a camera that allows you to shoot with a manual shutter speed – try slowing the speed and increasing the F-stop. Then move your camera when taking the shot. Some very effective arty-type images can be produced with blur effects.

Overexpose your subject

Not too good to do all the time, but experiment with results by over-exposing the subject.

Try macro photography

Grab a magnifying glass and see if you can focus your camera through the glass onto a small subject. It just may work! And may open up a whole new range of subjects for you!

Shoot through wet glass

Try spraying water onto a window, then take a shot through the window to a subject outside. (wet the outside of the window – not the inside of your home!)

Colour balance

Try balancing colour by having subject and the surrounding detail in similar colours.

Silhouettes

Silhouettes usually have a small range of colours, but can produce some of the most beautiful images. Shooting a silhouette involves having the background brighter than the subject in the foreground.

Experiment with patterns

We’ve all seen those amazing images of the red and orange leaves of maple trees in the fall/autumn. Thousands of leaves – all of a similar shape and colour – but very awe-inspiring and beautiful.

Compliment colours

Two strikingly different colours can be beautiful too. Picture an image of your girlfriend or wife in a red dress sitting on a field of green grass. Or your boyfriend or husband in a red shirt walking through a field of waist-high wheat stalks. Complimentary colours that will bring more attention to the subject.

Use a colour filter

If your camera can be fitted with coloured filters – try your hand. Although this effect can be made quite easily these days with photo and image-editing software.

Sunrise is better than sunset

Wake up before sunrise one day and go on a photography expedition. If you’ve not done it before you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the contrasting light and shadows. But remember you’ll only have a very short window of time in which to shoot (usually less than an hour) before the sun rises too high and you lose the light.

Use a flash in daylight

Use your flash during the daytime to fill a close subject with light. This will produce better results where the background is brighter than your subject and the automatic shutter speed on your camera shoots too fast to effectively show the detail of your subject.

That Fuji film DX-7 was upgraded with a bigger Memory-Card and the camera served me well for several years.

Anyway, over time, I was still more satisfied with the possibilities my collection of Pentax SLR cameras gave me. It started with using the best lenses for each picture or just using a Zoom (which offers a range from wide-angle to telephoto), changing the shutter speed to either stop or blur the motion of objects in the picture, use external flashlights, change the aperture openings to adjust the range of sharpness and lots more. Not forgetting the better picture quality I could get from a 35mm negative or slide. I was happy to use my heavy, solid metal camera.

The world changed for me when camera makers like Nikon and Canon introduced their Digital SLR Cameras. I went to my local camera shop every week and debated with the salesman about advantages and disadvantages of the models they had on sale. Also I checked with lots of users in online services to get first hand feedback on how these cameras performed. Finally, when Pentax introduced their Digital SLRs, I couldn’t wait much longer. I needed to have one of those.

With the Pentax 1st DS have a whole list of advantages over smaller Digital Cameras:

I can use the same lenses that fit my traditional camera
Have full control over speed and aperture
I can see the picture immediately after it is taken
I can shoot a series of pictures and choose the best (at no extra cost for film or paper)
A good resolution of 6 Megapixel which allows quite big prints
It weights more than a compact digital camera, so you can hold it steady more easily
Make use of all the filters, flashlights, lenses and accessories I have collected over the years.
Storing the pictures on the PC via a fast USB connection
Up to 1 GB storage on a SD Memory Card (about 380 jpg photos)
Selecting only the best photos for printing

With all these advantages of digital SLR Cameras, you may wonder why I still keep my old 35mm film cameras with me. First, it is emotional, and second, photographing the old fashioned way keeps me calm. You just need more time to produce an excellent, satisfying photograph (because you cannot see the result right after the shot).

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1. If using a tripod, compose your portrait and then take one step just to the side and forward from the camera. Do not look through the viewfinder as you capture your subject’s image. This allows you to make eye contact initially with your subject, and then direct her in mood, expression, position, and the angle of gaze you are aiming for. When your subject interacts with your camera, the result can be a cold or lifeless rendering, but when you engage your subject through eye contact, expression, gestures and words, the result can be a warm and candid reflection, charged with mood or emotion.

2. If you are not using a tripod, you really should redouble your effort to maintain constant interaction with your subject. Many photographers tend to keep their eyes in the viewfinder of the camera, but this leads to your subject interacting more with the front glass in your lens than with you. Again, you do not want the sterile and lifeless rendering that most often comes when the camera serves to isolate you the photographer from your subject. Interaction with an inanimate object (your camera) can never be a substitute for interaction with another human being (you), when your goal is to capture the essence of your subject, and reflect the attitude and emotion she was feeling at that moment in time.

3. Allow your subject to be herself. A little girl dressed up in fairy wings for a special picture is very cute, and I suppose there is a place in this world for cute. But, contrast this with the little girl who just loves to dance. You put her in her everyday clothes, stand her in front of a plain backdrop, put on her favorite music and say to her, “can you show me how to dance to this song?” You should have no difficulty in capturing timeless expressions there. Now imagine a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy whose true passion in all of life is sailing. You dress him up in a tailored suit; formerly pose him in front of a low-key backdrop, seated in a Chippendale chair, and use classic loop lighting. What would be said of this portrait years later? “Who was this guy, an executive?” But just suppose, you photographed this same guy in his favorite t-shirt and blue jeans, at the helm of his beloved sail boat, on a beautiful late afternoon, just as the boat was coming about? What would be said of this portrait years later? “This was Charlie, doing what he loved most! That was such a glorious day.” The point is, “keep it honest”. Fantasy can be cute, but your subject being herself, years later this will be much more meaningful.

4. Allow your subject’s expression to be honest. A frown or a grimace that is genuinely felt can be more interesting than a smile that is forced. I try to never just pose my subject and then say, “Okay, now smile for me.” If you want your subject to smile then tell a joke, put on a face, or perhaps merely smile at her and she will smile back at you. People generally tend to reflect in their face what they see in yours, but in my experience this is not always so. Nevertheless, interaction with your subject is the key. That being said, the next time you have a difficult subject ask him to tell you a joke, to bring out a smile, if that’s the expression you are after. If you are a professional, you know that smiles sell, but if you’re an amateur, you are under no pressure to sell, so make your portraits interesting. Not everything in the world is to smile about.

5. Direct your portraits. Take control of the composition of your portraits! Do not be afraid to tell or show your subject what you want. Sometimes showing is best. I often find that actually demonstrating a pose I have in mind, works better than trying to direct my subject through words alone. If you are photographing a group, your life will be easier, if you arrange and pose the adults first. Then, work your way from oldest (or more mature and settled) to youngest of the children. The point to remember is, as the photographer, you should take charge of the shot. The success or failure of the portrait will be your responsibility, so take charge.

Engage your subject to establish and build rapport with her, to take your photos to a higher level. Make your portraits more meaningful by keeping them honest, and natural. We all know a fantasy photo can be cute, and a formally posed portrait can be graceful and dignified, if that is your subject’s personality. But, a portrait that is true to the subject is always more meaningful. Allow your subject to be herself, and never force an expression. Learn to take charge and direct your portraits and you will move far ahead in your journey as a photographer. Practice your people skills with each portrait you take. People skills are the prerequisite to all else, if you want to take great portraits.

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Picasa is Google’s software application for organizing, editing and sharing photos. At first glance, it seems to contain only the most rudimentary functions. However, upon further exploration, it proves to be a robust application with a minimal learning curve.

Organizing

The first time Picasa opens, it scans your hard drive for photos, lists the system photos and displays thumbnails in a large adjacent window. It differentiates efficiently between “actual” photos and does not import system or temporary internet pictures.

The two basic organization options in the program work with existing Windows folders or with Picasa Albums. Working with Windows folders is much easier to use in Windows Explorer, so Albums work better in this instance. Picasa Albums are extremely easy to create and use, and they help to simplify the use of other options.

One outstanding feature is the Timeline option. It does exactly what it sounds like, sorting your folders by photo creation date. This is useful for chronicling a long family vacation or more easily organizing childhood photos.

Editing

There are three different sections to Picasa’s editing features: Basic Fixes, Tuning and Effects.

Picasa2′s Basic Fixes are basic, but one might consider them necessities. They include Crop, Straighten, Redeye, Auto Contrast, Auto Color, and Fill Light. One unique fix is the “I’m Feeling Lucky” option which optimizes the color and contrast levels and deepens bright and dark colors with just one click.

Tuning refers to Picasa’s lighting effects which allow you to manipulate the lighting in your photos by adjusting the Fill Light, Highlights, Shadows and Color Temperature.

The Effects section offers the most interesting editing options for your photos, containing Sharpen, Sepia, B&W, Film Grain, Tint, Saturation, Soft Focus & Glow. Some special effects include:

Filtered B&W. It turns your photo black and white as if you were using a colored lens filter. You choose what color filtered effect using the color picker and can see the differences in real time.
Focal B &W. It turns your photo black and white, while leaving a portion of your choice in color.
Warmify. It increases the warm tones, enhancing skintones.

Sharing

After you are done organizing and editing, you can put all that hard work to good use by sharing your photos. Picasa contains a wide array of choices, most of which integrate seamlessly with some of Google’s other products. You can email, print, save to a Web Album, order prints, upload it to a Blogger blog. It also has a nice feature called the Gift CD which not only saves your photos, but also includes a built-in slideshow on your CD for easy viewing.

Conclusion

Google provides Picasa for free, but it can be invaluable for the digital photographer who wishes for more control over his or her photos.

To download Picasa, please visit: http://picasa.google.com/

There are some great books to be had on AMAZON that will help you improve your photography. Using books to self teach and learn is a good way to go for those on a budget. Check them out.

1. The Challenge of Getting the Perfect Picture
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Sometimes a hundred shots have to be taken and you have to try for several days to get just the picture you want. An individual must have patience, but at the end of the day a great sense of accomplishment is felt from capturing the best part.

2. Tell A Story
From beginning to end of a snowball fight, with people throwing their first snowball and eventually rolling in the snow and then dusting off, you can see the event and it tells the story of friendship, fun and joy of life. Looking at pictures of an old family farm from its humble beginnings to the growth and increase over a hundred years it tells a story of family, hard work and sacrifice. Everyone has a story, photos can share that story and bring it to life.

3. Express Individuality
A photographer subject matter will reflect their interests, likes and preferences. A photo can also reflect the individuality of a subject. The clothes they choose to wear and the location they want the pictures shot all show who they are and their personality.

4. Joy and Laughter Increase
Anyone who looks at their first grade picture can attest to this fact. What is more fun than looking back at your younger years or seeing the awkwardness of adolescence? In your later years of life, seeing a picture of your family working or playing together warms your heart and lets you remember good times and better health. A photo lets us travel over the decades and brings back moments that make us laugh and carries us through the hard times.

5. See Things Truly As They Are
Somethings are so perfect the petals of a flower, the height of a Redwood, the still calm of the lake at dawn. They draw you in to the grace of nature and life in purity and simplicity. The sweet smile of a child reflects the goodness of life and all the hope for what we can become and achieve. This is what life is and who we are in it.

6. Solitude of the Dark Room
The magical atmosphere of the dark room leads you to discover the potential of the photograph. Lightness, darkness, shadows all are in the control of the photographer. It is a work done alone with your ideas and skills combined to bring out the story of the photo before you.

7. Understand the Emotions of Others
As you look over the events of history and witness the faces of those who endured the depression or see victims of the Holocaust you can see in their eyes what they have endured. Their faces portray their hearts and hurts and although you were not there, you understand what they carry with them a little more.

8. A Gift to Others of Their Most Precious Moments
After the couple returns from the honeymoon one of the first priorities is to get the wedding photos. One of the happiest days of their lives is recorded forever. When someone does something for you that you can’t do for yourself you feel indebted and forever grateful. It is a special gift to give someone their special memories and most cherished events.

9. Once You Capture a Moment You Can Display it
From the famous to the personal, photographs reveal lives of people. Some are placed in history books, some on the walls of a museum and some in the home. When they are displayed they are able to reach into the lives of others and stir emotion and thought. Photos are meant to be shared and seen.

10. The Only Way You Can Freeze Time
A photo is a moment frozen in time for a person to enjoy and remember whenever they want. The look, the expression, the emotion only happen for an instant. Although someone might carry it in their heart, with time the memory fades. If a photo is taken a child is able to see the happiness of their parents on their wedding day, a parent can see how small their child was the day they brought them home for the first time and all the years after as they grew to adulthood. All the birthdays, first days of school, vacations and friends can be captured and with you always. Time and space do not take a loved one from us when we can see them and the moments we share together, always.

About the Author:

Francesca Black enjoys photography as a hobby and manages content at Future Photo http://www.future-photo.com and Photo Wizard http://www.photo-wizard.net

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