How to Take Better PhotographsGood Photography is the product of a curious, active and engaged mind. It requires good observational, problem solving and pattern making skills.

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Member: American Society of Media Photographers, Graphic Artists Guild

• Canon 7D• Canon Zoom 17-85• Canon Zoom Telephoto 70-300• Tamrac Photo Backpack• Camera Holster Tele-Zoom Packs• Manfrotto Monopod• Manfrotto Tripod with Giottos Ballhead

Recommended Entry Level

• Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital Camera with EF-S 18-55mm IS II Lens Kit - $699

• Canon EOS Rebel T3i Digital Camera W/EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens - $899

Software• Photoshop Elements $99

Camera Gear

Three technical elements to consider in photography

The relationship between:

• ISO- Film speed

• Aperture

• Shutter Speed

Capturing a photo, is really nothing more than capturing and manipulating light.

Recommended Reading: Understanding Exposure, 3rd Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera - Bryan Peterson

•Hieronymus Bosch, Dutch painter

•Jerry N. Uelsmann, American photographer

•Thomas Cole, American landscape artist

•Frederic Edwin Church, American landscape painter

•The Hudson River School- Mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism.

•Düsseldorf school of painting- A group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy in the 1830’s and 1840’s. The work of the Düsseldorf School is characterized by finely detailed yet still fanciful landscapes, often with religious or allegorical stories set in the landscapes.

•René Magritte, Belgian surrealist artist

•Joel-Peter Witkin, American photographer

•Thomas Percevel Rockwell, American painter

•Paul Strand, American photographer

•Maurits Cornelis Escher, Dutch graphic artist

•Matthias Grunewald, German Renaissance painter

•Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali, Spanish artist

•Joachim Patinir, Flemish landscape and religious painter

Artistic Influences

• Landscape

• Architectural

• Advertising

• Legal

• Photojournalism

• Documentary

• Nature

• Travel

• Wedding

• Portraiture

• Sports

• Macrophotography

• Microphotography

• Glamour

• Forensic

• Aerial

• Underwater

• Artistic

Photography is an expansive art form that includes many different types. Some are more challenging then others.

• Center of interest• Subject placement• Simplicity• Contrast• Tone• Repetition• Lighting• Pattern• Symmetry/Asymmetry• Shape• Lines/Leading Lines

• Space• Volume• Balance• Texture• Viewpoint and camera angle• Background• Foreground• Framing• Perspective• Depth of Field • Cropping

Elements of Composition in Photography

THE ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

• Point• Line• Form, shape and space• Size• Texture• Color• Value

THE PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

• Contrast• Balance• Emphasis• Movement• Pattern• Repetition• Proportion• Rhythm• Variety• Unity

Elements & Principles of Design

Recommended Reading: THE LANGUAGE OF VISUAL ARTPerception as a basis for designJack Fredrick Myers. Currently out of print.

Q. Is your photography spontaneous or calculated and which method gives you the best results?

A. Both, and most often at the same time. No one method gives better results then the other because they are more frequently than not interdependent on each other.

Taste for Makers (condensed)Paul Graham

If you mention taste nowadays, a lot of people will tell you that "taste is subjective." They believe this because it really feels that way to them. When they like something, they have no idea why. It could be because it's beautiful, or because their mother had one, or because they saw a movie star with one in a magazine, or because they know it's expensive. Their thoughts are a tangle of unexamined impulses.

Saying that taste is just personal preference is a good way to prevent disputes. The trouble is, it's not true. You feel this when you start to design things.

Good design is simple. You hear this from math to painting. In math it means that a shorter proof tends to be a better one. Where axioms are concerned, especially, less is more. It means much the same thing in programming. For architects and designers it means that beauty should depend on a few carefully chosen structural elements rather than a profusion of superficial ornament.

When you're forced to be simple, you're forced to face the real problem. When you can't deliver ornament, you have to deliver substance.

Good design resembles nature. It's not so much that resembling nature is intrinsically good as that nature has had a long time to work on the problem. It's a good sign when your answer resembles nature's.

There is a relatively recent phenomenon out in the world of art. It is a thing called an Artist's Statement. Of late, this statement has become a necessary component of an artist's portfolio or promotional package, because...? Your art cannot speak for itself? This is especially important if you produce bad art. If your art looks as if it were produced by your children, you must write an artist statement. This is crucial. Don't worry, when writing your artist statement you can use words that are so vague they can make it sound like what you produce is art, without having to actually say it is art. After all, you don't want to be called a liar AND an artist.

Now you know what an artist has to do to justify calling whatever it is they produce, art. I have a gift for you. Here is a tool to use when visiting art centers or art shows or art fest or even an actual gallery. I found an art critique site. All you have to do is plug in any five digits and a phrase will appear for your use in communicating with an artist in their own language. This is a great tool for those of us with the idea that art should be able to speak for itself and we don't want to embarrass the artist when they ask us what we think.

http://www.pixmaven.com/phrase_generator.html

Artist’s Statement

CompositionThis is the most important single consideration in photography. Good Composition is a key element of good photographs yet is something that is hard to define. Instead of looking at composition as a set of ‘rules’ to follow – view it as a set of ingredients. Train yourself to look through the viewfinder just like the camera does. Sounds simple, but our brains "edit" scenes in front of us, ignoring extraneous details in favor of our visual target.

Pay careful attention to where the edges of the frame are. Develop an eye pattern to constantly analyze what you are seeing and where it is within the frame.

The middle of your picture is not the best place for your subject. Symmetry might be comfortable to many, but it generally isn’t as interesting as some alternatives. Bring your picture to life by simply moving your subject away from the middle of your picture. Imagine that your image is divided into 9 equal segments by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines. The rule of thirds says that you should position the most important elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points where they intersect. This can be one-third from the top or bottom, or from the left- or right-hand side of your frame. Placing your subject in such a fashion makes the image more dynamic.

Rule of Thirds - Move It From the Middle

Placing your main subject off-centre, as with the rule of thirds, creates a more interesting photo, but it can leave a void in the scene which can make it feel empty. You should balance the "weight" of your subject by including another object of lesser importance to fill the space.

*Lock the Focus- If your subject is not in the center of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the center of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the center of the picture. If you don’t want a blurred picture, you’ll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle.

Balancing Elements

*Cannot be achieved with many point and shoot and most digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and ipods.

When we look at a photo our eye is naturally drawn along lines. By thinking about how you place lines in your composition, you can affect the way we view the image, pulling us into the picture, towards the subject, or on a journey "through" the scene. There are many different types of line - straight, diagonal, curvy, zigzag, radial etc - and each can be used to enhance our photo's composition.

Leading Lines

One way to create an interesting picture is to shoot subjects that offer strong lines or shapes. Strong geometry attracts attention.

Look for Strong Geometry

Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on. Try shooting a few pictures with your camera as low to the ground as you can get it--almost at a worm’s-eye level. Walk around your subject and experiment with different compositions.

The perspective that a shot is taken from is another element that can have a big impact upon an image. Shooting from up high and looking down on a subject or shooting from below looking up on the same subject drastically impact not only the ‘look’ of the image, emphasizing different points of interest, angles, textures, shapes etc – but it also impacts the ’story’ of an image.

Viewpoint/ Perspective

How many times have you taken what you thought would be a great shot, only to find that the final image lacks impact because the subject blends into a busy background? The human eye is excellent at distinguishing between different elements in a scene, whereas a camera has a tendency to flatten the foreground and background, and this can often ruin an otherwise great photo. Try to include some interesting foreground or background elements to help set your subjects in the context of their environment. Use a plain background. A plain background shows off the subject you are photographing. When you look through the camera viewfinder, force yourself to study the area surrounding your subject.

Include Appropriate Foreground or Background

Because photography is a two-dimensional medium, we have to choose our composition carefully to conveys the sense of depth that was present in the actual scene. You can create depth in a photo by including objects in the foreground, middle ground and background. Another useful composition technique is overlapping, where you deliberately partially obscure one object with another.

Depth

Controlling the depth of field, or the area of the picture that is in focus, is another valuable technique. It takes practice and a good understanding of your equipment to be able to get the pictures you want. The results often can be outstanding.

*Cannot be achieved with many point and shoot and most digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and ipods.

*Reduce Depth of Field

The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames, such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world. The result is a more focused image which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest.

Framing

You do not have to shoot your entire subject to make an interesting image. Often, you can compose a picture that includes only a small portion of the subject, and the picture will be more interesting than if you had shot the entire subject.

In post production (Traditional Darkroom, Photoshop) you can crop tight around the subject to eliminate the background "noise", ensuring the subject gets the viewer's undivided attention.

Shoot or Crop or for “Partial Images”

Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person’s eye level. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.

Look Your Subject in the Eye

If your subject is smaller than a car, take a step or two closer before taking the picture and zoom in on your subject. Your goal is to fill the picture area with the subject you are photographing. Up close you can reveal telling details, like a sprinkle of freckles or an arched eyebrow. But don’t get too close or your pictures will be blurry. The closest focusing distance for most cameras is about three feet, or about one step away from your camera. If you get closer than the closest focusing distance of your camera (see your manual to be sure), your pictures will be blurry.

Move in Close

Next to the subject, the most important part of every picture is the light. It affects the appearance of everything you photograph. Generally, if you are shooting pictures outdoors, there are good times and not-so-good times to take pictures. Early morning and late afternoon offer the most dramatic lighting effects. Those times of day not only allow the sun to come in at a low angle, providing the best angle of light to ensure both highlights and shadows, but also can offer exceptionally warm and colorful light, which rarely exists at other times of day. The twenty minutes before sunset and the twenty minutes around sunrise are “golden” times for taking outstanding photographs.

*Decrease Exposure- Decreasing the exposure the amount of time the aperture is open can prevent images from washing out and in certain situations provides for better color saturation.

Shoot With the Best Possible Light

*Cannot be achieved with many point and shoot and most digital devices such as smartphones, tablets and ipods.

One of the more difficult techniques to master is the silhouette shot. To shoot a silhouette, you need to shoot at an object that has a strong light source coming from behind. If you set your exposure to the light source, the object that you wish to silhouette will become black, or silhouetted.

Silhouette a Backlit Subject

This technique is the opposite of the preceding technique. Instead of shooting a backlit subject and making the object in front turn into a black silhouette, you make the subject bright and colorful and the background completely black. Obviously, you need the light source in front of the subject instead of behind it.

Bright Subject on Black Background

Bright sun can create unattractive deep facial shadows. Eliminate the shadows by using your flash to lighten the face. When taking people pictures on sunny days, turn your flash on. You may have a choice of fill-flash mode or full-flash mode. If the person is within five feet, use the fill-flash mode, beyond five feet the full-power mode may be required.

Know Your Flash’s Range- Pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark. For many cameras, the maximum flash range is less than fifteen feet - about five steps away. What is your camera’s flash range? Look it up in your camera manual. Can’t find it? Then don’t take a chance. Position yourself so subjects are no farther than ten feet away.

Use Flash Outdoors

Is your camera vertically challenged? It is if you never turn it sideways to take a vertical picture. All sorts of things look better in a vertical picture. From a lighthouse near a cliff to the Eiffel Tower to your four-year-old niece jumping in a puddle. So next time out, make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical pictures.

Take Some Vertical Pictures

We are surrounded by symmetry and patterns, both natural and man-made., They can make for very eye-catching compositions, particularly in situations where they are not expected. Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal point to the scene.

Symmetry and Patterns

Color

Color is one of the most powerful elements in photography. In fact color is often powerful enough to be the entire subject of a photograph, especially the interplay of different colors. As you look at a scene consider the color carefully and think about how you can best use them to make a great image. Manually white balance your camera to take more control over the color of your images.

Take control of your picture-taking and watch your pictures dramatically improve. Become a picture director, not just a passive picture-taker. A picture director takes charge. A picture director picks the location.

Be a Picture Director

With the dawn of the digital age in photography we no longer have to worry about film processing costs or running out of shots. As a result, experimenting with our photos' composition has become a real possibility; we can fire off tons of shots and delete the unwanted ones later at absolutely no extra cost. Take advantage of this fact and experiment with your composition - you never know whether an idea will work until you try it.

Experimentation

• Rule of Thirds - Move It From the Middle• Balancing Elements• Leading Lines• Look for Strong Geometry• Viewpoint/ Perspective• Include Appropriate Foreground or Background• Depth• Depth of Field• Framing• Shoot or Crop or for “Partial Images”• Look Your Subject in the Eye• Move in Close• Shoot With the Best Possible Light• Silhouette a Backlit Subject• Bright Subject on Black Background• Use Flash Outdoors• Take Some Vertical Pictures• Symmetry and Patterns• Color• Be a Picture Director• Experimentation

Summary

• Height and Width• DPI• Exposure• Contrast• Color Saturation• Layer Masks

• Dodge and Burn• Cloning• Sharpness• Cropping

Post Processing of Photographs (Demonstration)Traditional darkroom techniques translated for digital photography