How to become a better photographer in one day!

I take it as a compliment that people ask me how to become better photographers.  The question assumes that I know how to get a picture, which is nice.  I'm not always so confident myself.

My answer, and I see this a lot from other photogs much better than myself, is to shoot a lot of pictures and change the way you look at light and composition.

Want to get better fast?

Find a day-long event with a lot of people in a lot of situations and make pictures.  Go indoors, outdoors, bright sun, shade... all over the place.  Then think about each place you are shooting and how to make something good there.  It won't always happen, but it makes you think differently.

I shoot a lot of photos for my church.  I see my abilities and equipment as a gift from God, and something to share, so it affords me the opportunity to give back while also honing skills.  And that is good.

One caveat... If you do this with the purpose of thinking photographically, you will also not be participating as much in the event you are photographing.  Rather, you are participating, but not directly.  Two years from now, much of what people will remember from the event will be the photos that remain.

Here is a quick set of my favorites from an event we held last weekend, as an example.

The setup is an outdoor church service, a giant meal, followed by indoor and outdoor activities for all ages including sports, games, music, etc. etc.

For me.. one camera (6D) two lenses (24-70 and 70-200) and several bottles of water.

Early morning, partly cloudy, cold, set-up and practice by the band.  Layers.  Trees.  Sun. Expression... Push the button.

Good shady light?  Isolate the subject on a darker background.  Push button.


Now get closer.  Invade people's space a little bit.  Follow the advice of Robert Capa.  "If your photos aren't good enough, you aren't close enough."


And what's going on indoors?  Introduction of a new youth pastor and his family?  OK, change all of the camera settings, wait for an expression.  Push button.


Think documentary purposes... and unique angles.  Climb stairs.  Shoot wide...


Did I mention puffy clouds on blue sky?  Push button.


Lunch is served.  Giant window light, Yay!  Change camera settings.  Try to get some unique angle and an expression.  Push button.


Back outside.  Occasional bright sun followed by cloud cover.  Ride the shutter speed.  Basketball, volleyball.  Don't forget to change to continuous autofocus.  Timing.  Push the button.


Move around a lot but on purpose.  Stop dead in your tracks because one of the most wonderful old guys you know has paused for a reflective moment on the sidewalk.  Push the button.  I wish for all the world Mr. Lyons was standing out on the grass with trees in the background.


Think up a challenge like: Can I take a picture of a person flying a kite that includes the kite and the persons face?  Then wait for it...  push the button.


Back inside.  Change settings.  Dominoes going on.  Expression.  Push the button.  Don't give in to the players who want to see pictures of the other players' dominoes.


Back outside.. it's basketball.  Harsh shadows making silhouettes on the ground?  Cool.  Put them in the picture.  Or just take pictures of the silhouettes.. whatever.  Push the button.




Those shadows are good elsewhere too...


Busy backgrounds all around..  oh wait, we still have nifty clouds.  Throw horseshoe.  Push button.


Now keep doing that for a while and just wear yourself out.  That should do it.
Get permission from your significant other first.  Especially if taking all of these pictures means you won't be helping out much with a toddler or, say, eating together.

Seriously, it changes the way you look at situations and forces you to pay attention to camera settings, people's faces and everything that is going into your pictures.

All told, with a few breaks worked in throughout the day, I shot for about 10 hours in just about every situation imaginable (except studio lighting etc).  That is good practice!

Pick an event.  Let people know you will be there with a camera.  And shoot away.

Putting light in a (very) dark corner

As is often the case, even proper planning can get thrown out the door on the morning of a shoot.  We had planned to use a nice open spot in a hotel breakfast area for quick portraits of ladies attending the first "Treasure the Moments Tea" put on by the Sharing the Love Foundation in Forney.  I had planned a simple clamshell type setup... beauty light that would work for all of the lovely ladies who would be coming through.

Upon arrival, however, I was told that that space would not be available and we were instead using a boardroom with a giant table that could not be moved, dark wallpaper and carpet, and about four feet of space to both light and provide access to the giant wicker chair we would be posing with.  Hmmmm....

The only real goal was to give the ladies a decent photo to remember the occasion with.  There were also a lot of hats to be used as props, so the light would have to get under those...  just basic portrait stuff, but stuck in a dark corner.

Here is what I worked out..  The space is tighter than it looks.


The key light is on the right...the big softbox closest to the chair.  The smaller softbox is actually aimed toward the reflector on the left.  It served as fill from the front and the left side, and under the chin.  I added another light (barely visible by the window) as a hair/separation light.

I initially tried to put the smaller softbox on the left side, but there was not enough room to walk past comfortably.  I wasn't sure if we would have anyone with mobility issues or possibly a wheelchair etc.

The view from the chair...


And, it worked reasonably well I thought...  The dark striped wallpaper was nice as a backdrop, even if the flower arrangement got distracting.  I probably should have removed them from the vase, but decided against it.  Did I mention I have a tendency to break things?



Tighter shots were generally better.


This was true with multiple people in the photo as well.  Not only was it a small space, the groovy chair's low seat and wide back and arms made posing around it a bit awkward.


Lessons learned... when you are stuck against a dark wall, you can bounce a softbox off of a reflector to make it work.  Also, don't be afraid of tight spaces.  It forces closeness in your subjects, which is generally good.

Thanks again to all of the lovely ladies for being great models and letting me be a part of the event!

A big thank you ...

Big Thank You! to R&R Construction and Remodeling in Mesquite for making the photo booth possible at this weekend's "Treasure the Moments" tea time by the Sharing the Love Foundation in Forney.

It is going to be a great time of fellowship for some great single moms, widows and everyone will get photos to remember by!

Monday Photo Roundup - April 29

The Terrell High School Tigerettes put on a great show this weekend.  It is always nice to see great students doing good stuff.  Nice job, ladies.

Now this would be a fun gig.. shooting 'official' sportraits for a big college football team.  Great behind-the scenes video of how that works.

On the sports theme.. here is another great look at high quality work.  If any of you crazy motocross guys want to try for some photos like this, let me know. (via @fstoppers)

How about shooting in space?  I'd like to try that too, but... well... you have to be an astronaut.



Or.. maybe you don't really have to be an astronaut.  Chase Jarvis talks about false barriers and a guy flies a camera (almost) to space and back.

Digital darkroom - Figuring out how layer blend modes work can be a life changing experience ... I have only scratched the surface but it really changes how you can use the program.  Here is a great post explaining it. (via @thomasshue)

OK, one more from me.  Like journalism, being a photographer puts you all over the place.  With all kinds of subjects.  From beauty, as at the top, to...  not beauty, below.


Have a great week.

Monday Photo Roundup - April 22

The good news is that I've been busy... of course, that leads to less blogging, but thanks for stopping by to read this :)

The photo above is for the good folks at the Terrell ISD Excellence Foundation.  They do a great job of supplementing the school district in Terrell with grants for equipment, teacher training, and other things that regular school budgets do not cover.

Of course the big news stories of last week were the West, Texas explosion and the bombing at the Boston Marathon.

This slideshow includes some amazing images, including several from east Texas photog ace Mike Stone who went down to West the night of the explosion.

At an $800/day rate (plus expenses, of course) I gotta wonder if anyone is paying for a personal vacation photographer.  On second thought, it could be a pretty fun gig for a single guy or gal who likes to travel.  Come to think of it, for the right price you can hire me to go on vacation with you.  The joys of traveling with a two-year-old will just be a bonus for you :)

If you have some time to burn, the "learning to see" series of posts at Digital Photo School is an interesting read.

Good post on getting better color balance at night.   (and why some light sources look way off ... hint, they are way off.)

Very cool project - lights on wakeboards for long-exposure light trails.

In the market for a new camera strap?

Have a great week everyone ...