How to Keep Your Creativity Fresh

One of the many challenges for photographers when starting out as well as experienced shooters is how to keep your creative juices flowing?

We often times get bogged down with other things, children, day jobs, home and car repairs, or just plain everyday life in general and we can lose our edge. You might be shooting portraits most of the time because it is your ‘bread and butter’ or how you pay the bills but then you get into this rut of shooting the same stuff over and over again and next thing you know, you’ve lost your creative edge.

One of the things I do to try to keep myself creative is I constantly look at things with a ‘photographer’s eye’. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t but it helps to keep me from hitting a creative rut. I’ll look at things in my surroundings at my day job and imagine how I could photograph them and make them look interesting. I even go as far as to keep my Sony NEX 6 in my backpack all the time, not only so I can shoot any one of the hundreds of accidents I see on my way to and from work but to keep my creative juices flowing.

How would my keyboard look shot from this angle or that? What can I use that I have at my desk to create an interesting effect in my photography? I even do this when I am out shooting for my personal project, ‘Forgotten Pieces of Georgia’, I am never just shooting my project. I love railroad stuff and it’s usually popular on sites like 500px.com, so I take 3 or 4 bodies with me in the car with different lenses so I don’t have to mess around changing lenses, I can just grab a different body and shoot something new along the way.

                                   Plain RR crossing sign, I shot it and made it more dramatic

I know many students will say, “well that’s all well and good but I only have one camera body, I cannot afford to have two or three of them, they are just too expensive”. Depending on your situation, this may be true, but if you have a decent day job, I’ll bet you can afford more bodies. One of the best sources is www.craigslist.org or eBay but I prefer CL as I can meet the person face to face and test the equipment out. You need to remember what I told you in an earlier post, you don’t need the latest and greatest camera to make awesome images and I know the Professors here at AI will back me up on that one. Stop getting hung up on Mega Pixels and the latest bells and whistles and buy what works and is reliable.

I personally have technically eight cameras in my collection. I have the Canon 1D Mark II, Canon 50D, 2 Canon 5D Classics, a Canon 6D, a Sony NEX 6, the iPad Air 2 and my iPhone 6 Plus. Only a couple of these cameras are new models, the rest are up to ten years old but I still use them as they still work and take fantastic images. I also know from personal experience you can go on-line and find say a Canon T1i or T2i for next to nothing. I have seen them sell for as little as $100-$150 and whether you realize it or not, they have the exact same basic technology as the new T5i you got through the school.

If you ask anyone that is knowledgeable in cameras, especially Canon gear, they will tell you to this day that the 1D Mark II and 5D Classic take fantastic images, especially if they are clean and in good working order. The 1D Mark II is around 12 years old but is one of Canon’s first cameras with high frames per second for sports shooting and I also keep it for some studio work as I have the AC studio power supply so I can shoot without batteries for hours and hours. It’s only 8.2MP but anything 6 and higher is more than enough. I actually used it for several of my classes at AI and received compliments for my images shot with it not only from my Professors as well as classmates.

                                        Laotian ceremonial pray bowls, shot while kneeling

So shop around, pick up a spare Canon T1i or T2i or XSi for $100 or so, shoot some test images to see if the sensor is dirty, if it is clean it yourself or take it to a shop and pay $30-$50 to get it cleaned and *BAM* now you have two bodies to use.

Now that you are properly armed for anything, work on new ways to keep yourself creative. Have a 2 year old at home, get down to their level and take a look around. See things from their eyes and then shoot what you see, you’d be amazed and how you can use a simple idea like this to come up with some great new images and keep your creativity going.

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How to Deal with Stubborn or Mean Subjects During Event Photography

So one of the students this week posted about some trouble they had had with people not wanting to be photographed at a local event they were shooting for one of their photography classes.

This student had really had some cranky people that they ran into during a public event and asked how to best deal with situations like this. A few of us posted our suggestions and even a couple of the professors chimed in as well with their wisdom, and when it comes down to it, Reuben Njaa had one of the best responses, “Kill them with kindness.”

In photography, there are just certain things that we have to learn to deal with and overcome and one of the toughest is cranky subjects when trying to complete a shoot. Human nature is a sometimes funny thing and one of the oddest quirks that people have is not wanting to be photographed. Some of the Native American tribes as well as other more “primitive” groups of people felt that the camera would steal their souls and they would not be able to get into their Heaven.

The best way to deal with people that yell at you that you cannot take their picture when you are at a public event is to just apologize and not take their photo. Many times, you can change their mind by explaining that you are a professional just doing your job or in your case, a student doing an assignment. Often if you carry yourself as a professional with an air of confidence, you may just convince them to let you complete your assignment with them included.

                                          Concession worker at Gwinnett County Fair 2014

If being the confidant professional doesn’t work you can just apologize and move on. You need to learn to develop a “thick” skin as a photographer as we are not a profession that is truly loved by all. Often a few kind words and an apology and just move on are the best ways to deal with difficult and cranky people. I have found from my own personal experience that having some sort of professional credential helps a bit.

I am not saying that you have to run out and join a group like NPPA, but I did and I upgraded from their student to their Professional membership. Why? Because I not only get a free freelance photojournalist listing in their directory for potential clients to find and hire me, but I also am able to get a photo ID from NPPA with my professional membership that to me is pretty sweet! The IDs are not free as they are produced by a third party company for NPPA but I still feel it’s worth it as it shows you are a professional and most people know that NPPA has to do with news and news outlets.

I wear my photo ID lanyard when I am out shooting for my personal project and it also helps keep the cops away when I am shooting in posted areas or just in general. Is it a fool proof get out of jail card? No it’s not but sometimes a professional credential of some sort is all you need to convince them that you are someone that knows what you are doing and that you are not there to hurt anyone with your camera. You would be surprised how many times I have had people spot my NPPA ID around my neck and they ask me, “which newspaper are you shooting for?” I just told them I was a freelance photojournalist and that was usually sufficient. Some pros will actually make up the name of a phony newspaper and even go as far as having business cards made up with the name of their phony newspaper on them. I have not decided to go that far yet but again, your mileage may vary. I did shoot a local event for Editorial Photography class at a place called Corn Dawgs and there was a lady there giving free hay wagon rides with her tractor. She was’t into the idea of her photo being taken until she found out I was doing it for a class assignment. She just didn’t want to end up in the local paper when she didn’t “look her best”. Once I explained it was for a class assignment, then she said, “Oh, well then shoot away.”

                                           Lady giving hay wagon rides at Corn Dawgs 2014

This post is some of the best, straight forward advice I can give on this subject. The key here is to not be discouraged, work on that thick skin and get back out there making great images.


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Composition

For this week’s blog post I want to talk about composition in your photography. Good composition is making sure you have a strong image without a lot of clutter or unnecessary items in it that detract from the eye of the viewer.

Good composition means your images only contain the “meat and potatoes” as it were to make for an image that the viewer looks at and says “WOW!” When I look through my viewfinder, I am trying to de-focus my eye and attention and concentrate on only what I feel will make the image strong and then move my framing to fit that scenario.

When out shooting, especially landscapes you want to simplify your image and exclude any extraneous items that are not going to add to the image’s overall composition. Many times this will mean moving around both physically and with your camera to change the view and get the exact “picture” that others will look at and their eyes will stay engaged in that final image as long as possible.

                                          Broken Fence - Canon T3i 18-55mm IS kit lens

Many new shooters think that you cannot accomplish all of this with the crop sensor camera you buy through the school. This is not true, as although I prefer my full frame cameras for shooting landscapes, you can still get fantastic landscapes with a crop sensor body. Many of the crop bodies have fantastic wide angle lenses for shooting scenes with strong composition.

Many of the manufacturers have very good to high quality lenses for shooting landscapes even on a crop sensor body. Canon, for example has a really nice EF-S 10-20mm lens that makes fantastic wide landscapes!

I know that sometimes, when shooting there are other objects that detract from an image that you really want, for example a really beautiful church steeple with a fantastic, colorful sky behind it at sunrise or sunset but there are power lines in the field of view and they sit right where it is hard to get around them. You can try moving to a different position, but maybe you cannot get that same sky from a different angle or side of the building, this is when you have to get creative. Try a longer focal length lens to get a tighter framing for the shot. It might not be the larger view that you originally wanted but at least you got the important part without the detracting power lines.

Considering limiting your objects in your view when shooting for your next assignment or shooting for yourself. You will find that your images will be stronger and you should get a better critique from that professor. Throw that final image on a site such as Student Stock or 500px and let other photographers view and rate it to see how you did, you may be amazed with the results.

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Canon Speedlites, Which One to Choose?

This week I am writing on the topic of Canon Speedlites, I apologize for not covering Nikon as well but I only use Canon as I am a Canon shooter.

As a new photographer, there are literally tons of equipment you will be buying as you work on your degree at AIOPD. Cameras, backdrops, lighting, both strobes and continuous, meters, graycards, the list goes on and on.

When it comes to lighting and especially strobes, which are one of the most popular lighting choices for photographers, you not only have regular strobes like AlienBee, but also their smaller cousin, the Speedlite.

Regular strobes are nice but expensive, especially if you need portability, as you have to buy models that can take battery packs and then the battery packs are not cheap either. The cheaper alternative is Speedlites. A Speedlite, external flash is basically the same thing as a strobe but in a smaller, cheaper package and more portable.

Speedlites, like strobes, come in different models and have different power levels and capabilities. Today, I will be talking about the three most common models of Canon Speedlites, the 270EX, 430EX II and the 580EX II.

The 270EX is Canon’s smallest external, hotshoe mounted flash. You can pick up the 270EX on Amazon used for around $50 or new for around $200. The 270EX is handy as it’s small and it for when you need a discrete flash and your camera either doesn’t have pop-up flash or you need more power. The 270EX is handy for those situations, but other than that, not really worth the money and I never bothered to pick one up as it has limitations. It cannot be turned or used for bouncing and has no zoom. It is strictly a straight forward flash.

The next and best choice for a starting flash is the 430EX II. The 430 is Canon’s slave flash and is an excellent choice for a first flash whether your camera has pop-up or not. The 430EX II is a bounce, zoom flash, so when set for ETTL it will set itself for your lens focal length up to 105mm and it will show the exposure in your camera meter, with the flash factored into the equation. You can swivel the 430EX II to 180 degrees and even tilt the head for bouncing the light off the ceiling or wall behind you. This flash comes in handy for when you need the light of s strobe but don’t want that light to hit the subject head-on. You can get the 430EX II at Best Buy for around $250-$300.

The third and final flash I have here is the Canon 580EX II. This is the most expensive of the Canon Speedlite (although the 600EX RT is out now too). The reason for this is the 580EX II is the Master Speedlite. What that means is the 580EX II has special hardware inside it that let’s is act as the control flash for a multi-flash, wireless set up. You can set the 580EX II to Master mode and then it can control other 580EX IIs or the 430EX IIs as well. This comes in handy for when you need a multi-flash set up and cannot set all the Speedlites in direct, line of sight placement so that all of them flash when the primary one does and you don’t have a Pocket Wizard, or other wireless flash trigger system. The 580EX II will run you from $350-$600, depending on whether you pick up a new or a used one.

As a new photographer, I recommend the 430EX II for most people and most uses as you can pick up a good wireless trigger system for anywhere from $50 to $400 and control the flash units that way instead of buying the much more expensive 580EX II. If you have the money to spare, I recommend the 580EX II as it’s Canon’s best Speedlite, but I would not buy more than one as the 430EX II is a cheaper alternative for slave flash units.
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