BetterPhoto Instructor Insights

BetterPhoto.com: Online Photo Courses & How-to Articles on Photography

© Brenda Tharp

Hi Everyone,
If you are ready to take the next step in your photography, then check out BetterPhoto.com's™ online school of photography. All of our instructors are experienced professionals who are well-published, have extensive teaching backgrounds, and love sharing their expertise. And our Spring lineup of classes is shaping up to be our best session ever.

Incidentally, our talented instructors also have writing backgrounds. In books and articles, they have shared tips and techniques for getting perfect pictures. At BetterPhoto, we have so many articles on photography written by instructor/photographers. Here are a couple of them related to travel photography:

Photographing Those Special Candid Moments in Your Travels ... by Brenda Tharp: Candid moments, says Brenda, are the little gems in the travel photo album, those special slices of life that tell stories of travels to Europe or anywhere around the globe. Catching these candid moments is often a challenge for many photographers but this doesn't have to be this way. With a little thought and the tips in this article, you can be ready for them!

© Jim Zuckerman

"Marketing Travel Photos - Using Photoshop to Your Advantage ... by Jim Zuckerman: Long after Jim returns from a trip – sometimes years later – he is still using Photoshop to come up with new images based on the original pictures taken during his travels. One of the best ways to market your work is to focus on the icons that represent a country or a city. In his excellent article, Jim provides lots of tricks and techniques to give new life to original photos and makes them saleable in very different markets.

That's it for now. Enjoy your photography!
Kerry Drager

Wildlife Workshop in Montana

by Jim Zuckerman

I am currently in Montana where I’m conducting a workshop to photograph wildlife models at Triple D game farm. It’s so exciting to see these beautiful animals in a natural environment, and my students and I are having a great time photographing them.

Even though the animals are in captivity, it is still a serious challenge to get good shots. They are released into a large area – some of the fenced compounds are as large as an acre – and they are very fast. The canines, especially, seem like they never stop moving. Wolves and foxes run around the area so fast and they play with enthusiasm and vigor. The photo of a cross fox I uploaded here (this is a naturally occurring color variation of red fox) was one of the fastest moving animals I’ve ever seen. Constantly moving every second, it was impossible to think about composition or any other photographic principle. I was lucky just to keep him in focus. And every time I took a picture, I had no idea if I got it until I saw the results on my laptop.

This shot seems like the fox is posing for us, but it wasn’t. It probably held this stance for a few milliseconds and then instantly it was somewhere else. The wolves, on the other hand, were obviously not posing. They were having a lot of fun, but at breakneck speed.

The mountain lion shot was much easier to get, but even so, you have to watch the cat through the viewfinder every moment so you don’t miss a compelling expression or dynamic pose.

Cool Blue & the Color of Natural Light

Frosty Morning © Kerry Drager

Hi Everyone,

I've always loved warm tones in my photography. For instance, I've often sought out the beautifully warm light of early or late day. But when shooting in the shade on a sunny day, things take on a bluish cast. Our eyes tend to compensate for it, so we don't notice ... but not so with the camera. Thus, I frequently use a warming filter with slide film or a Cloudy or Shade White Balance setting with digital to counteract the blue in shadow areas.

But one day in a mountain canyon, I woke up to a very chilly morning. The sun had not risen high enough to hit this little "Frosty Morning" scene, with the frost-rimmed plants. I decided to capture the view in a natural way ... with the bluish cast. Why? The cool blue tone offered the same look that I felt ... verrrrry cold!

The color-of-light issue comes up regularly in my Creative Light and Composition online class. And while I frequently seek to warm up scenes in order to get the perfect picture, sometimes I like to go for the blue ... just as nature intended it!

That's it for now. Enjoy your photography!
Kerry Drager

Stock submissions

by Jim Zuckerman

When initially submitting to a stock photo agency, it’s best to concentrate on a theme. Photos should be related to each other in a general way. For example, all of the pictures don’t have to be landscapes, but they could be images of various aspects of nature, including wildlife, flowers, landscapes, insects, etc.. Or, they don’t have to be limited to shots of Europe, they could be travel from all over the world. Of course, if you had extensive coverage of just Italy, that would be fine, too.

To combine shots of India with pictures of businessmen in the U.S., for example, will confuse an editor as to who you are as a photographer and what you want to contribute to the agency in the future.

However, once you’re accepted, you can submit other types of images that have nothing to do with each other. Just last week, I submitted a group of photos and I wanted to share with you a few of the ones they accepted into their files. It’s always interesting to me what they want and what sells at an agency, and I thought you’d find this informative. I’m not suggesting you shoot the same thing, or even similar, but it allows you to see that once you are in, you don’t have to limit yourself to a style or subject matter.

How do I know what to shoot? Stock agencies will guide you as to what they want, what sells the most, and what the latest trends are in color, fashion, shooting styles, and so on. But ultimately you never know for sure. It’s largely a series of educated guesses. Sometimes you guess very well and sometimes you don’t. But the more submissions you make, the more pictures end up in the website of your agency. Over time, this turns into a very good income.

In my Making Money with Your Photography course at Betterphoto, stock photography is one of the subjects I address because it’s a wonderful way to market you work – actually, the agencies market your work for you – and if you have patience and long term thinking, the royalties from stock can free you from being dependent on your day job.

More Articles on Photography
Also, check out this great BetterPhoto page of free articles on photography.

Combining Techniques

By Jim Zuckerman

One of my favorite things to do in Photoshop is to combine techniques. I used to do this in the darkroom many years ago, but now it’s so easy to do because you can see the results immediately on the monitor. If you don’t like what you’ve done, just go back one step (Control or Command Z) and try again. Combining techniques usually produces images that are very far from the original. Sometimes they end up being surreal, sometimes painterly, and almost always you end up with something completely unexpected.

You don’t need great powers of precognition. You don’t need to pre-visualize the end result after you’ve moved 10 creative steps away from the original. It’s just a matter of trial and error. If you like an effect, save it and then go on to add more effects. When do you stop? Whenever you like.

This photo consists of three images: My wife modeling a costume as if she were in Venice, Italy during Carnival, a famous building in Venice for the background, and a Mardi Gras mask that was digitally pasted over my wife’s face. I used Photoshop to cut and paste these components together. Then, I applied the Buzz.X filter and that turned the image into an abstraction of the original composite. It looks like a painting.

Finally, I exaggerated the colors with hue and saturation and then increased the contrast using levels.

The Beauty and Mood of Soft Light

Boat, Pond, and Fog © Kerry Drager

Hi Everyone,

I live in California's Central Valley, which often gets socked in by thick fog in the winter. For many photographers, a gray day means dull pictures. But the soft light is just right for capturing color and mood.

The key to success when working in the mist: Find a good foreground subject, and then let the background fade moodily into the distance.

That was my goal early one day as I explored a colorless, misty pond scene. An old boat with patches of bright red provided just the foreground accent that I wanted. The close-up subject, the distant scenery, and a wide-angle zoom (12-24mm) allowed me to create a front-to-back composition.

Have fun shooting!
Kerry Drager

Four Simple Steps to Better Photographs

© Brenda Tharp.

In the beginning of the year, it’s common practice for people to set resolutions, right? We’re gonna lose that weight, read more, sweep out the bad habits and invite in the good ones, play with our kids more, make better pictures. So here’s a few ideas that will help you make better photographs, with the equipment you have right now. No need to buy more gear. What a treat!

© Brenda Tharp.

1. Look for the light.

Learn to see what light would be best for your subject. Sidelight? Backlight? Soft or diffused light? Strong, direct light? Each subject has qualities that would be best expressed by a certain type of light. If it’s stairs with shadows you want, you’ll need strong light. If you want the details of something macro, it’s usually diffused light. Side light makes texture stand out; backlight defines the shape of something. So walk around your subject, and study it, or go out looking for subjects that will work under the light you have right now.

2. Simplify, simplify.

If you have too much in your composition, the main point of the picture may be lost. Learn to eliminate or minimize everything that isn’t essential to the story you are trying to tell and the picture will be stronger. Less really IS more.

3. Give your pictures depth.

Use foreground and background relationships to define depth in your pictures. Whether it’s an intimate scene or large landscape, depth gives a picture more dimension, and therefore more impact.

4. Choose an interesting position.

Why stand at normal height to photograph most things? Get down, get under, get over it! Your images will be stronger when you find a position, and an angle of view, that emphasizes your subject and expresses your vision.

If you get out and practice with just these four simple ideas, you will make better pictures. So have a great week, and get out there and play.

Whiteout

By Jim Zuckerman

I had to go to St. Louis yesterday, and I checked the temperature the day before – 60 degrees. I wore a flannel shirt, thinking I might be too warm, but when I arrived I found myself in the middle of a blizzard. I love shooting white on white, and I’d never seen the Gateway Arch along the river. Freezing and squinting because of the wind-blown snow, I walked around the huge structure and took a series of pictures using the bare, graphic trees as foreground elements. It was a beautiful site.

In my Perfect Digital Exposure course at BetterPhoto™, I discuss the challenges of exposing for snow and specifically for whiteout conditions. The main danger is losing detail in the highlights. In the days when we shot film, underexposure was the biggest problem because it made the snow look gray, but with the ability to adjust exposure (especially underexposures) in the RAW converter, this didn’t concern me. I was paying special attention to the highlights, so I made sure I shot in RAW and I took the meter reading without any exposure compensation. I knew that I’d get underexposed pictures because the meter was attempting to turn the whiteness into middle gray. But the underexposure was my insurance policy. If the highlights are blown out with no texture or detail, the photo will be pretty much worthless. In the RAW converter, I could increase the exposure until I was satisfied, all the while watching the detail in those highlights.

The biggest problem was the snow melting on my lens. I had to keep cleaning it off with lens tissue every time I angled the camera upward.

Photo of the Day at BetterPhoto.com

Maybe It's Time to Hibernate - POTD for January 1st, 2006 © Wally Orlowsky

Hi Everybody,

If you aren't a subscriber to the BetterPhoto.com™ Photo of the Day newsletter, you are missing out on a fantastic burst of visual creativity ... every single day!

All images for the free Photo of the Day newsletter are chosen from contest entries. The Judges at BetterPhoto make the selections, but a POTD selection doesn't necessarily guarantee contest success. To put it very simply, the Photo of the Day is BetterPhoto's way of saying: "Hey ... that's really a terrific shot!the pictures are sooooo awesome.

Here's more on the selection process: jA POTD image is rarely a recent contest entry - i.e., from the day before or even from the past week. Rather, in order to get a good variety of images over a period of days and weeks - i.e., "traditional" vs. digital art, landscapes vs. details, animals vs. people, etc. - some of the pictures are "held over" into the next month or two. Thus, although some photos may have a "contest finalist/winner" award attached to it, those particular images were actually chosen for POTD status before the final contest judging.

If you aren't already a subscriber, check out the Photo of the Day archives:
http://www.betterphoto.com/Photo-of-the-Day.asp

To subscribe to POTD or any other e-newsletter (all free), go to:
http://www.betterphoto.com/subscribe.asp

That's it for now. Enjoy your photography!
Kerry Drager

Using Local Resources when Traveling

Phaleonpsis "Moth" Orchid. © Brenda Tharp

It’s almost time for me to leave town again - for a month this time. Seems like I was just coming home not to long ago...yet I’m excited about the two main destinations I am going to - Delray Beach, Florida, and Egypt. I’ve been to both places now, and the first time in both areas I was not aware of the possibilities, nor where to go to find those photo opps. But in both cases, I simply opened my mouth and started asking questions, lots of them. I told people what I was interested in, and the feedback I received was very helpful. Delray Beach in Florida is just such an example; I had never been there before January of 2005. I was attending Fotofusion as a presenter, and a month later I’d be teaching a 5-day workshop. I asked everyone there where some great outdoor/nature spots were. I also asked about colorful ‘art deco’ buildings, nature spots, murals, interesting beach locations, arboretums, flower gardens, tropical plant nurseries. The information I received was invaluable - and it saved me a lot of research time. Not everything panned out to be great, but fortunately, by asking enough people, I got a sense of what would be really terrific, and what I might skip.

Walls and Pink Steps. © Brenda Tharp

If you are ever in a situation where you don’t have time to research before arriving in a place, don’t despair. Check out the local postcard stands for popular picture spots - then go photograph them in your style. Take a local 1/2 day tour if that’s appropriate, and using a compass, determine when a better time of day might be to return for pictures. Ask shop owners about their favorite ‘secret’ spots in the city/village or environment. Your use head, your instincts, and your mouth and you’ll find yourself with a focus, a plan, to photograph no matter where you ‘land.’ The American Orchid Society was a great find - after telling people I wanted to photograph orchids and other flowers, with diffused light - I was lead to this great spot and spent two 1/2 days there making pictures. I then brought my class back and they had a great time, too. The artful colors of the other image came from a 5 minute walk away from the touristy main drag in Delray Beach, an off the beaten path find for me and my students.

The moral of this story is to use the resources available to you to get the most out of a location that you can. And be willing to do some footwork once you get there to find special places of your own. It pays off, and the people you meet in the process can become photo subjects themselves!

I’ll be posting my next blog from D.C., then it’s on to Florida and off to Egypt. Warm sun, here I come!

All the best, Brenda