Light - The Main Element in Every Photograph

My latest Kelby Training class - Light, the main element in every photograph, is here.

This class is a follow-up to my class: Composition - the strongest way of seeing. Put exposure and composition together, and you have a good image!

I chose that title because every photograph you have ever taken and every photograph you will ever take has the same main element: Light.

I did, however, have alternate titles:
- Get the Very Best In-Camera Exposure
- Get a Creative Exposure (as opposed to a good exposure)

The class covers seeing the light and controlling the light in the studio and while traveling (in the city or in the great outdoors). I also touch upon black and white and a a couple of CS6/LR4 enhancements.

As you may know, I like to make learning fun. In the class I talk about why a good exposure is like a slice of pizza. I also talk about how lenses see light and how cameras see light compared to how we see light.

I talk about shooting in bright light and in low light; shooting indoors and outdoors; using a reflector, diffuser and a flash; and envisioning the end result.

I also talk about seeing the light: the contrast range in a scene, the direction of light, the intensity of light, the color of light and the movement of light.

I use my latest photographs to illustrate the topics. Below: the only difference in the photographs is the light.

If you learn how to see the light and control the light, you'll get the very best in-camera exposure.

Explore the light,
Rick

Heavy Metal in Hot'Lanta Workshop

All photographs © Glenn Taylor

My friend Glenn Taylor and I are running an HDR/Model photography workshop in and around Atlanta, GA March 1st to 3rd, 2013. Here's the basic info on the workshop. We are only taking a small group, so space is limited.

For now, Glenn, who as been to all the sites on the workshop, is today's guest blogger. Take it away Glenn.

In my work as a Creative Director for a business-to-business ad agency, I’m often contracted to shoot industrial-style photography of our client’s equipment, employees and locations all over the country. It’s not for everyone, but I love bringing these working environments to life.

In my off-time I shoot with several groups and friends in Atlanta and the surrounding area. Two of my favorite locations to shoot HDR and detail images are The Southeast Railway Museum in Duluth, GA and Old Car City in White, GA. Both locations are a treasure trove of heavy metal grunge images. The colors, textures and little details are just amazing!

Opening image: Sightseeing/cocktail car at the SE Railway Museum. I can always picture a scene from Mad Men taking place right in this car. This is a 5 exposure HDR, merged in Photamatix Pro and finished in Lightroom - taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 24-70mm L series lens. This is shot wide (around 34mm) while mounted on a Gitzo tripod with a RRS bullhead.

Rusted boxcar detail at the SE Railway Museum. I am drawn to detail and old paint textures. Here the multiple sixes and the row of rusty rivets built an interesting composition. This is a single exposure processed in Lightroom, taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 24-70mm L series lens. This was shot medium length (70mm) handheld in the outside yard area with natural light.

Kitchen car at the SE Railway Museum. The patina of the metal surfaces adds interest to all the geometric shapes in the composition. This is a 5 exposure HDR, merged in Photamatix Pro and finished in Lightroom - taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 24-70mm L series lens. This is shot wide (24mm) while mounted on a Gitzo tripod with a RRS ballhead.

Old Car City is a similar location with a completely different set of subjects: classic cars that are weathered, rusty and full of character. Just like the trains at SE Railway, HDR and details are everywhere you look.

The “office” at Old Car City. The texture around this part of the facility just jumps out at you. This is a 3 exposure HDR, merged in NIK HDR Efex Pro and finished in Lightroom - taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 24-70mm L series lens. This is shot wide (34mm) while mounted on a Gitzo tripod with a RRS bullhead.

Hood ornament detail at Old Car City. I shot this with backlighting from the morning sun that would emphasize the selective focus feature of the lens. This is a single exposure, processed in Lightroom, taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 90mm Tilt/Shift lens on a Gitzo tripod with a RRS bullhead.

Ladies in waiting at Old Car City. I liked the way this group looked like a beaten down car lot. This is a 3 exposure HDR, merged in Photomatix Pro and finished in Lightroom - taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 35mm lens. This is shot wide while mounted on a Gitzo tripod with a RRS bullhead.

Ford emblem fender detail at Old Car City. I captured this handheld at f2.8 to bring focus on just the emblem detail and let the rest of the fender fade into the background.

This is a single exposure, processed in Lightroom, taken with a Canon 5D Mk II and Canon 35mm lens.

Thanks Glenn for a great post.

Follow Glenn:

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flickr
Facebook

Glenn and I hope to see you on our workshop! Shoot me an email for info.

Check out my iHDR app to learn more about HDR.

Explore the light,

Rick

Are You Type A or Type B - When it comes to a tripod?

Basically, there are two types of tripods:

Type A: The type that is very affordable and very easy to carry.

Type B: The type that is a bit more expensive and a bit harder to carry.

The photographers who participate on my workshops show up with both types, but the photographers who show up with Type A leave the workshop knowing that as soon as they home they will purchase a Type B tripod. Here’s why.

Type A tripods are not as sturdy as Type B tripods. When shooting on a windy day at slow shutter speeds, Type A tripods might shake and you might get a blurry picture.

Type A tripods may actually blow over on a windy day, especially the light ones.

Type A tripods don’t offer the flexibility and height as more expensive tripods.

Type A tripods usually don’t support telephoto lenses as well as Type B tripods.

The legs of Type A tripods don’t lock as securely as the legs on Type B tripods.

Heads and release plates on Type A tripods don’t hold your camera as securely as those found on Type B tripods. Camera movement is sometimes also limited.

Type A tripods don’t hold up to weather and salt spray as well as Type B tripods.

The end of story: Spend a few extra bucks on a tripod and you will not regret your purchase.  Also, you may want to purchase two Type B tripods: one for your light lens shooting and one for your “big guns” shooting. 

If you are serious about landscape and wildlife photography, a Type B tripod is the only choice.

As an aside, the same goes for tele-converters: Go for the camera band name, and not an off-brand name.

My tripods and tele-converters, as well as well as all my camera gear, are listed on my Gear page.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. All the photographs in this post were taken on my recent Iceland Adventure with my Canon 5D Mark III.

Today's Guest Blogger: Lou Jones

Today's guest blogger is Lou Jones.

I met Lou Jones in 1973 while attending Berklee College of Music in Boston. We've been good friends ever since. Take it way Lou.

Wood: A Dream Assignment?

I spend about forty percent of my time traveling and taking pictures and ninety percent of that is for various advertising and corporate clients. In today’s uncertain economy, it is harder to engage assignments that take you on the road for extended periods of time. To better manage the changing marketplace, my studio developed a division called CIRCUMNAVIGATION. We have been traveling for companies for years, but felt it was necessary to adopt many new techniques and technologies to make it easier for them to justify the expenditures. We also streamlined the onerous aspects of travel like logistics, visas, research, time management and access in order to better service magazines, designers, and businesses that want personalized international imagery.

"The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth." - Frank Lloyd Wright

My latest endeavor was in China to document the supply chain of growing trees, making plywood, and exporting the highly engineered wood to the USA. This may sound like a boring story, but it is the preamble to future globalization and cooperation between nations.  Many of the working environments had never been visited and recorded by "outsiders" before. But my clients have spent the last decade pioneering this lucrative, new market and its intricacies.  

Wood is one of the most basic and essential materials in the world. It is used for construction, fuel, warmth, cooking, food, art and has paralleled civilization's progress since the beginning of time. It is a sustainable resource that has been grown, used and traded for millennia. Trees are essential to humanity; we breathe their byproducts of oxygen and could not survive without their chemical/biological contributions.

Even though I do a lot of research before I take on these jobs, I knew only the basics about this worldwide biomass. China was my graduate school. I traveled half way around the globe to document the various steps in making plywood (one of the marvels of modern technology). We visited the nurseries where the seedlings were nurtured and the vast forests, most of which were state owned and planted years ago.  We also visited the logging camps where migrant workers were clearing enormous mountainsides of eucalyptus and poplar trees, the mills in which the plywood layers were laminated together, and the seaports from which the next stop was the USA. Access was unprecedented.

As a photographer, my primary objective was to make wood look good.  The public relations task was to make something we all think we know everything about interesting, different, maybe even amazing. The stewardship of one of the earth’s most ubiquitous natural resources needed a new face. Primitive and organic elements needed to be emphasized, like the exotic mystique of early and traditional professions being done manually.  Since China has been maligned in the news for its human rights violations and shoddy labor practices, the dangerous and macho practices needed to be downplayed.

When my clients ventured into the forests of southern, central and eastern China there were few roads to transport large convoys of lumber. Their first visits to the mills revealed facilities with substandard working conditions. Today I drove across six lane highways built to handle the enormous influx of cars and trucks that are the backbone of the burgeoning economy. To elevate the quality of the products much has to be handcrafted and China has the manpower to do it. Due to my clients' efforts, factory conditions have been improved with better air quality and lighting, and toxic chemicals have been removed from most of the processes.

The local factory owners and managers were proud of their new machinery and efficiency whereas I was fascinated with the human work force in each step along the supply chain. Cultural, racial and protocol barriers have been overcome at lightning speed. Generations of traditions and obstacles on both sides of the Pacific Ocean have been leapfrogged by the combination of labor and capital. Meeting and photographing the officials who take up the front pages of our newspapers was a huge responsibility, not only for my clients but for the historical import of the project.

 "Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does." - George Bernard Shaw

We traveled thousands of miles to visit the handful of major species of trees used in plywood fabrication. As a result we used every form of conveyance to cover the vast distances: domestic airlines, high speed railroad and, of course, cargo vans. But to reach the most remote locations, we rode bone chattering four-wheel drive vehicles and hiked the rest of the way on foot. Despite the rigors this was a dream assignment.

– lou jones

   july 2012

   www.fotojones.com

   http://fotojonesblog.blogspot.com/

Lou Jones is one of Boston’s most eclectic photographers, specializing in photoillustration and location photography. His client list includes FedEx, American Express, Aetna, Museum of Fine Arts, and National Geographic.  Over the past two years he has traveled to all emerging B.R.I.C. countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and most recently China) culminating in an eBook titled "Marketing Travel Photography”.

           

July Oregon Coast Photo Caravan: Pix and Tips

All this week here on my blog (among some other stuff): My favorite photographs and quick tips from my Oregon Coast Photo Caravan, which I am co-leading with my friend Alex Morley. I'll try to update daily as we move from location to location.

Here's the link to the facebook page for my workshop students.

Bandon (Day 8)

Here's my last shot from trip - taken at sunrise. Walking along the beach, I was reflecting on the workshop and the wonderful photographers with whom I sharped the experience, so I guess a reflection shot was appropriate.

Bandon (Day 7)

Today we talked about Composition - the strongest way of seeing at Minor White's wall.

We also talked about telling the whole story, with is important because photographers are storytellers.

I think this fun group photo sums up our fun group! I hope you can join one of my workshops someday. Soon.

Florence (Day 6)

Tide pool shot from this morning. Just a few yards away from where I took the picture below.

A group hug on the beach this morning at sunrise. Canon 15mm lens on Canon 5D Mark III. Built-in HDR!

Getting my starfish shot required kneeling in a tide pool, and getting my boots filled with cold water. Brrrrrr.


Florence (Day 5)

A lucky shot on the way to our sunrise shoot. Yes, dead center is deadly when it comes to composition, except when it comes to working with reflections.

When you think you are close, get closer! Here I used my Canon 15mm fisheye lens to get up-close and personal with a cool starfish!

Newport (Day 4)

Had time to shoot a quick HDR pano (hand-held) with my Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 14mm lens before we dashed off to the next location.

Here's another in-camera HDR Canon 5D Mark III image.

Newport (Day 3)

We had some HDR fun tonight . . . on the beach and in a cave at sunset. Good HDR fun. If you are new to HDR, this post may help.

Here's the last shot, or should I say shots, of the night. A pano created with a set of Canon 5D Mark III in-camera HDR images.

Newport (Day 2)

Here's my favorite shot from the Newport Aquarium. Tip: The name of the game is to fill the frame.

Composition is the strongest way of seeing, and Light is the main element in every photograph (my next Kelby Training class.

At Devil's Punch Bowl this morning at sunrise, we had beautiful, soft light, created by an overcast sky. Perhaps it was not the sky the group expected, but it was a nice, moody sky indeed. I composed the scene with a foreground subject, a mid-ground subject and a background subject – looking for separation between each subject. I used the Detail Extractor in Nik Color Efex Pro to pull out some of the details in the rocks.

Above: After creating my HDR image in Nik Software's HDR Effex Pro, I used the Detail Extractor in Nik's Color Efex Pro to bring out some of the detail in the rocks.

Speaking of Nik Color Efex Pro: Top, straight shot. Bottom, Nik Bicolor User Defined plus Polaroid Transfer filters. Get a discount on Nik on my Creative Plug-ins page.

Newport (Day 1)

Use a foreground element to add a sense of depth to a scene. For great depth of field, I used my Canon 14mm lens on my Canon 5D Mark III.

Shoot HDR when shooting into the sun if you want to see into the shadows. This is a 5D Mark III in-camera HDR image. With HDR make sure you capture the entire dynamic range of the image . . . in camera.

I hope to see you on one of my workshops or in my seminars.

Explore the light,
Rick