Put some textures
Observe the picture above. There are layers of textures there – the powdery sand that has seen its share of hundreds of footsteps (or sandal marks), the white strip of surf crashing on shore, the tips of aqua green waves readying their final trip towards land, those fluffy pieces of clouds on their heavenly sojourn, the rocky outcrop of mountains and islands on the horizon. Does this add clutter and confusion to the picture? No, because texture is not the first thing you’ll notice but the blue banca (outrigger canoe) that sits quietly in contrast to its surrounding. The textures here provide an interesting menagerie of patterns, colors, shadows and highlights. Though texture can be a central subject, they can be effective secondary pieces in support of the point of interest. Look out for texture. Designers and graphic artists use them for backgrounds and to fill spaces. But photographers can use texture as a more powerful element – much like shape, patterns, color and light – for subject or composition.
All about light and shadow
Article Excerpt:
Black and white photography can seem dull next to the burst of colours emitted by colour photography, which creates a feeling of optimism and joy. Today, however, people are rediscovering the purity, beauty and power of black and white photography, which strips the image of the interpretive colours and has the ability to portray the timelessness, deep human emotions of pain, loss or despair.
Although the subject you are photographing is an important element of the picture, there are some other important factors to consider when shooting black and white photography. Basically, black and white photography is all about light and shadow. If you want to create stunning images, you need to learn to use these elements to compose your photos effectively and correctly. Experiment with the quality and intensity of light and try to take pictures of a subject at different times of the day and notice how light and shadow can affect the mood of the photo. For example, take a picture of a subject on a cloudy day, and then photograph the same subject on a bright day.
~The Art of Black and White Photography from fotoLARKO.com
The essential ingredient in sunset shots
Article Excerpt:
Ok, but there’s more to picking the right spot than just the location. As important as location is, your sunset will almost always be lacking the one essential ingredient that will make it special – a dominant point of interest. And just what might that be? It’s that extra element that gives your sunset an anchor, a sense of scale, a point which will draw the viewer inevitably into the picture.
A photograph of a sunset by itself just doesn’t work. After all, one setting sun is much like any other. Even if you manage to capture the gorgeous color, without a dominant point of interest the image will still end up looking rather boring. Now, having said that I should tell you that, without some forward planning, a dominant point of interest is not an easy thing to include. It might be the silhouette of a sailboat on a glittering, backlit ocean, a barn, a horse, a cow, a tractor, or even a lone tree in the foreground. It could be the silhouette of two lovers walking hand-in-hand down a country lane, a little girl with a small dog on a leash – I’ve used both of those – and I’m sure you can come up with many more ideas of your own.
~Blair Howard fron his article How To Photograph Sunsets
Weekend Inspiration 22
Wishing everyone a lovely and inspiring weekend! Keep on clicking my friends!
Image + Music 1
In this visual odyssey I have been pairing off my images with quotes (Photo Quotes series numbering over 130 so far), with poems (Poetry & Photography in collaboration with poet bloggers) and with inspirational messages (Weekend Inspiration series with over 20 as of last count). I’d like to start another pairing, this time with the power of music. You all know I’m partial to jazz, its in my long-time Web name plus I have an internet jazz radio and a blog – Junsjazz Cool & Smooth – dedicated to jazz music. Images themselves have character and mood, but they can be enhanced with the appropriate music, sort of putting a musical score in your picture. If you have noticed, I have done this in Junsjazz Digital Magazine. For this new series I utilize SoundCloud as music source. The music player is set not to automatically play when you view the image. It’s your choice to click the “Play” button to experience the mood that comes when you combine music and imagery. Enjoy!
David Lanz (pianist) – Water From The Moon (from his 1985 album Nightfall)
An image must communicate
Article Excerpt:
Let’s talk a little bit about pictures and why we love them.
Pictures can be beautiful. They can decorate a home or an office; be published in books, magazines and calendars; they can even win ribbons or prizes in contests. A breathtaking landscape can transport the viewer to another time and place, if only for a moment. A beautiful still life can capture a mood of serenity, warmth, even magic. A great portrait of a person can look into their soul, and let you share their smiles or tears. A great picture communicates. Think about it. There is a huge market out there for photographs because publishers know that the people who buy their materials will be drawn to good photographs that reach out to them. Visual communication is something that we’re all born being able to relate to. The subjects out there to take pictures of are limitless. The only boundaries are within your mind.
But what makes a photograph successful? The answer is a fairly simple one, and you can improve your photography today by learning a few very basic rules.
One caveat, however. As the old saying goes, rules are meant to be broken. Some of my favorite photographs very purposely break a lot of the basic “rules” of photography. But to break the rules in a way that enhances a photograph and effectively turns it into a great photo, you first have to know the rules and have a reason for wanting to break them…
~from the article Composition and Impact
Photo Quotes 131
It’s just seeing – at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don’t see. The rest is academic…It’s how you organize what you see into a picture.~Elliott Erwitt
Tropical paradise
I don’t know how you imagine an Eden on earth should look like, but if you ask me it should be something like the above.~JJ
Blue in bright light
Article Excerpt:
Natural light in photography is not as consistent as you may think. At different times of the day, different shades of the color spectrum dominate natural light. For instance, at midday, the blue portion of the color spectrum is dominant, producing a “cool” light. Color photography taken at midday produces the clearest, sharpest pictures in bright light.
In contrast, natural light at sunrise and sunset emphasizes the red portion of the color spectrum. Known as warm light in photography, sunrise and sunset light produces warmer pictures with a softer contrast.
~From the article Light and Color in Photography
Shooting the summer scene
April and May are the summer months in the Philippines. It is hot and humid, and people flock to their favorite weekend getaway – the beach. With 7,100 islands and a combined coastline that stretches 23,000 kilometers, the beach is a perennial sight. And we’ve got some of the best beaches in the world. You’ve probably heard, seen or been to some of these – Boracay, Panglao, El Nido, Bohol, Cebu, Subic Bay and Siargao. Now these are just the more popular ones. Numerous other beaches, some still undeveloped in their natural pristine beauty, litter the country’s coast. The beach scene is one of my favorite subjects. I’ve shared some tips on shooting the beach in a previous post. This time let’s explore with more tips on capturing the bright summer scene.
When we talk about outdoor summer scenes, we mean bright intense light, which results in harsh shadows, glare, lens flare and high contrast, especially during midday hours. Here are what I’ve searched and gathered:
1. Use Lens Filters. In the same way that we wear sunglasses to protect our eyes from harmful UV rays, dust and dirt, filters do they same for the lens. There are many kinds of filters and with different purposes – protection from the elements, reduction in the amount of light and reflection, and enhancement of colors. For a better understanding about filters, what they do and how they function I refer you to this article Lens Filter Explained.
2. Underexpose. If you don’t have neutral density filters and the outside scene is quite bright, you may have to underexpose the image by 2 stops in order to properly get the highlights and shadows. This is called exposure compensation, a standard manual feature in DSLRs represented by the plus and minus signs (+/-). Some high-end point and shoots also carry this feature, providing for more flexible manual exposure controls. These Exposure Tips will guide you on where, how and when to use exposure compensation.
3. Use A Lens Hood. This lens attachment is meant to reduce flare which is caused when light bounces into the lens from the side. Know why it is important to use this with this article What Does A Lens Hood Do?
4. The Sunny 16 Rule. It states that: “On a sunny day, you should set your aperture to f16 and your shutter speed to the reciprocal of your ISO value…This means that, for an ISO value of 100, your shutter speed should be near 1/100 seconds (most of the time cameras will offer a value of 1/125 seconds). An ISO value of 200 calls for a shutter speed around 1/200 seconds.” Head over to the article to see the suggested f-stop settings for various lighting conditions.
5. Use Fill Flash. Your subject may be in a deep shade or shadow caused by the harsh light, or the sun is in the back of the subject making it a “backlighted” image. In any case, the camera will not recognize or retain the subject’s image, it will just be a dark mass or silhouette. Time to engage the flash to fill in the dark areas. Ken Rockwell explains it all in his article Fill Flash.
6. Adjust In Post-Processing. Most image editing programs have controls to adjust brightness and contrast. The one I use, the free but feature-filled software PhotoScape, even has special options for adjusting luminance, brightening foregrounds and backgrounds, and lighting particular shadow areas in a photo.
This is not a complete listing. There are many other tips like moving into a shade, using natural reflectors in the environment, tweaking camera settings like ISO and white balance and many others. The point is to be knowledgeable and prepared when we go outdoors in bright, summer, sunny days. The picture above was taken at Tambuli Beach Resort in Mactan Island (accessible by two modern bridges from across Cebu City) while the image below was taken at Subic Bay.
A seeker of silence
A photographer is a seeker of silence, both in the literal and symbolical sense. He will photograph festivals, concerts, sports action, rallies, scenes of war and destruction, but he will find order in chaos. He will take pictures of solitary ponds, placid lakes, still mountains, pastoral fields and primeval forests, yet his perception will be so concentrated that he will sense and hear nothing but the snap of the shutter button. He will be at a standstill, focused and unruffled, as he points his camera to capture a moment.
The photographer’s energy, heart and soul are all fixed and engaged into that second, that fraction of time, when he has decided to press the shutter. He is the epitome of peace and solitude, the disciple of stillness and quiet. He doesn’t want to be bothered and divided in his attention. Far from being solitary creatures, photographers like all artists need some quiet time especially at that crucial instance of capture. He is all wrapped up and even holds his breath a few seconds both to gather composure and to steady his shot, not wanting to be disturbed by the slightest body movement of breathing. That is so much like suspending his life for a while just to get that shot! It is in the sanctity of silence the photographer excels.
Photo Quotes 113
You are the conductor – your orchestra are shapes, textures, stories, objects, patterns, emotions, design, moments, depth, focus, rhythm, shades, colour, movement and light. It is your performance. It is your vision.~Steve Coleman
I could zoom in, but…
…there’s just something to it when you present people in relation to their surrounding. How insignificant we all become when compared to the vastness of this earth we live in. The picture is one example where the photographer relies on a judgment call – zoom in on the two dock workers or take in the whole scenery. I chose the latter, seeing how the barren environment of just sea and sky presented the immense scale of nature compared to its inhabitants. Of course, that shapely, orange cloud (it was late afternoon) and its colored reflection on the sea, was a bonus.
Appealing elements and alluring details
Article Excerpt: “When we look at a landscape, our eyes travel over it and selectively focus on the elements that we find appealing. Our field of vision encompasses a great deal of the scene, but our eyes and brains have the ability to ignore all except the most alluring details. Lenses and sensors or film cannot do this by themselves. They need help…Time is the most important investment you can make in getting good landscape pictures. When you arrive in a place you’ve never visited before, spend time scouting—driving or hiking to different locations, finding different vantage points.”~Robert Caputo from his article Landscape Photography Tips
Photo Quotes 106
The beauty of nature motivates and inspires my photography. It nourishes my artistic sensibility and restores my spiritual balance…These are landscapes of, and for, my spirit.~William Neill
Weekend Inspiration 14
Happy weekend my blogger peers! Believe in your abilities and talents, and keep on clicking!
From sky to earth
Article Excerpt: “Determining the ratio of sky to earth is a key concern in composing dynamic photos. Regardless of whether it’s a sweeping landscape or seascape, or a more intimate scene, the amount of sky you choose to include in the composition can make a huge impact on your photo…Too often, though, photographers automatically split landscape or seascape images into equal halves, with the horizon line or maybe a distant shoreline extending right across the middle of the frame. The viewer, then, is left to decide which half of the scene is most important. But that’s for you – the photographer – to decide when composing your image!”~Kerry Drager from his article Dynamic Photo Composition: How Much Sky – How Little
Photo Quotes 93
In a still photograph you basically have two variables, where you stand and when you press the shutter. That’s all you have.~Henry Wessel
Photo Quotes 89
It is a little detail that can ruin a fabulous image. The lack of a straight horizon in a photo can wreak havoc on the viewer of your photos. Because our bodies are designed to keep our view level, looking at a photo with a tilted horizon causes a disquieting confusion between the inner ear and the brain. The brain wants to tilt to straighten the appearance of the horizon while the inner ear says the person is already level.~Liz Masoner
Photo Quotes 88
Pure thinking or pure seeing? In truth, neither alone is sufficient. We are creatures of both realms. One prepares us for the other. Together they somehow bring us to creativity.~Jim Richardson
Photo Quotes 84
The telephoto lens provides a new visual sensation for people: it widens their horizons.~Andreas Feininger
Color harmony
Love the sea, sand, surf, sky. For a country like mine with over 23,000 kilometers of coastline, the sea is a favorite scene, a postcard staple, a weekend getaway, a summer fixture, a representational image of a tropical eden. I took this shot at a resort in the town of San Juan, province of La Union. I was waiting for a wave or for the surf to splash on shore, all the while observing the surrounding colors. There was so much tonal and color contrast in the scene – the brown sand, the white crest, the emerald sea, patches of smoky clouds and the blue sky. It dawned upon me that photography is a successful synthesis of colors. Though the art of black and white photography is deeply moving and inspiring, an image of compositional colors is likewise visually celebrated and felt, probably even more because we see in color, not in monotones. If there is order and organization in black and white, there is balance and harmony in color. Nature consistently set things in agreement and affinity.
Junsjazz Images & Inspiration 