Robert Adams, Author of Beauty in Photography wrote “A photographer can describe a better world only by better seeing the world as it is in front of him.”
A great photographer is a great observer. At this point when I teach this class I have the students engage in a couple exercises that enhance sensory and perception. These powerfully effective exercises will come in the next post.
Just for today here’s a short 60 second clip I put together. It’s about the magic that can happen when you get out and observe your surroundings, becoming part of where you are…
Go out somewhere this week and absorb yourself in your surroundings. Watch, listen, see.
Thanks for joining me here on PhotoTip Friday. Be sure to subscribe to this Art of Living Blog as we artistically energize you with quotes, insights, and photography. ↓
“All the equipment in the world will not compensate for the inability to notice.” ~Elliot Erwitt
Last week, we began a series on ‘putting yourself into your photography .’ The first way to learn more about yourself and what message you want to send is to STUDY THE MASTERS.
It helps to see what other artists are doing. Studying others is how you can hone your work. Master photographers are good teachers, and it’s ok to imitate them – It’s ok to learn from those who have gone before you – study their work, find things that appeal to you in their images, and then go out and try those techniques on your own.
THE KEY is to make it fresh by throwing your own twist to it.
I wonder if Thomas Franklin thought about Joe Rosenthal’s iconic image of Iwo Jima as he saw this scene unfolding at Ground Zero in 2001?
Raising the Flag at Ground Zero Thomas Franklin, 2001
Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima – Joe Rosenthal, 1945
Below are some examples of how a few legendary artists have influenced my photography:
Edward Weston had a great impact on my wedding and landscape photography with his figurative work and use of line to lead the eye:
Edward Weston
Incorporated his use of shape to lead the eye.
Edward Weston
I studied the patterns he created with shadow.
Margaret Bourke-White inspired my work by her use of repetition, patterns, framing, and mood in her photography:
Margaret Bourke-White
Using her concept of repetition to add interest, frame, and lead the eye.
Margaret Bourke-White
Her framing and photojournalistic mood became part of my portraits.
W. Eugene Smith, the American photo-journalist, motivated me with his editorial photo essays.
W. Eugene Smith
Wash Day, Suzette
With my passion for horses and the Western Plains, I like studying David Steocklein, known for preserving ‘the Spirit of the West with his photography.
Stampede, David Steocklein
Winter Grounds, Suzette
…And Eliot Porter’s landscapes have been a significant influence on how I see world:
Golden Isle, Eliot Porter
Island in the Mist, Suzette
Here are some wise words of advice from a few more of my favorite influential photographers:
Annie Lebovitz: “Your portraits will always look lifeless until you begin to take portraits that communicate the life of the model. Get to know your model and say something about her in your photography.”
John Lennon -Yoko Ono, Annie Lebovitz
John Paul Caponigro, Jay Maisel
Jay Maisel: “Ditch the gear and start paying attention to color, shape, and light. As you go about your day, find little things that have an artistic flair to them. Photography isn’t always just about the knock-you-in-the-face obvious shots.”
Elliot Erwitt: “All the equipment in the world will not compensate for the inability to notice.”
Dogs, Elliot Erwitt
The Eye of Paris, Brassai
Brassai: Brassai was born in Hungary but lived in Paris for most of his life. He did his work in one city and took captivating photos of ordinary people. You don’t have to travel around the world to do photography. It can happen right where you are.
Steve McCurry: “People ask me how I can identify the best moment to take a photograph. I tell them that it is intuitive and reflexive. You’re never sure of the moment because you’re always looking and anticipating. “Fishermen cleaning nets, families sharing meals and celebrations, artisans crafting their wares, nomads continually on the move; even the most seemingly mundane activities can be inspirational when you look beneath the surface.
Afghan Girl, Steve McCurry
Migrant Mother, Dorothea Lange
Dorothea Lange: “Pick a theme and work it to exhaustion… the subject must be something you truly love or truly hate.”
So, whether you shoot landscapes, weddings, portraiture, macro, commercial, or photojournalistic street photography, There are artists to study and to learn from. For more inspiration from iconic photographers, check out this blog :
Remember, it’s ok to imitate; that’s how we learn. Join me next time, and we’ll talk about another idea expanding Ansel Adam’s concept of ‘putting yourself into your photography.’
Happy shooting! ~Suzette
It’s ok to imitate, that’s how you learn.”
Thanks for joining me here on PhotoTip Friday. Be sure to subscribe to this Art of Living Blog as we artistically energize you with quotes, insights, and photography. ↓
“There’s nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.” – Ansel Adams
How many times have you photographed something spectacular – a landscape at sunset, a busy street corner, a bird in flight, but after downloading and viewing it, the image was no-where near the mind-blowing scene you remembered while shooting it?
You’re not alone.
I read a story about a man who would shoot with ANSEL ADAMS in Yellowstone National Park. He said, “Although I stood right next to him and photographed the same landscape as Ansel, I could never quite duplicate his photographs. There was something about his images that made me feel the scene we had been shooting.”
Yellowstone, Ansel Adams
This has been a universal struggle with artists since the invention of photography: how to ignite the senses.
Ansel’s answer to this struggle:
“Although my photographs are of landscapes and the great terrain, there are always two people in those photographs… myself and the viewer.”~Ansel Adams
What did Ansel mean by this quote? What did the companion photographer see in Ansel’s work that wasn’t present in his own?
SOUL. – The ‘myself’ element.
“The single most important component of a camera is the 12 inches behind it.” – Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams knew that it wasn’t the quality of the tool that creates a memorable photograph but the mind controlling it.
A great photograph is more than just ‘clicking the shutter.’ It’s about
What you’re experiencing within you when you click the shutter, and
The ability to communicate that experience to the viewer.
A great photograph captures the spirit of what you’re seeing. It reproduces the sensations of the moment –- everything surrounding you that prompted you to want to shoot a particular scene.
Did you feel a light mist in the air and smell the freshness of rain? Could you hear the heron’s wing skim the water? Did you sense an overwhelming calm?
Misty Morning, Suzette
More than likely, just clicking the shutter won’t communicate the feelings and emotions you experienced while shooting, hence the disappointment when seeing the initial picture. Post-processing is when you have the opportunity to ‘put yourself’ into the image and help the viewer receive the full impact of your final piece.
I know. Some photographers say a great image should come directly out of the camera with no augmentation. But guess what? Even Ansel manipulated his images. He was known to spend a lot of time in the darkroom, editing his prints, ‘putting himself’ into the photo.
Ansel believed that it’s up to us as photographers to lead the viewer to what we want to communicate. Lead them to the message, even if that means changing the brightness and contrast of various parts of a photo – deepening, lightening, leading the eye.
Ansel Adams, 1944
Ansel said, “You ‘take’ a picture, but you ‘make’ a photograph.”
Here’s my point today. It’s ok to enrich your photos to help communicate what you want your viewers to see and feel. It’s ok to tone down and amplify areas of the image, adding to the sense of sound and taste, texture, and motion.
The keys are:
Knowing yourself in relation to:
Your surroundings and then:
Translating the mood to the viewer
Stay tuned for the next few PHOTO-TIP FRIDAYS for ideas, exercises, and techniques on how to put yourself into your work!
The last few weeks PhotoTip Friday has been about how to put more mood in a photograph. So far, we’ve covered lighting, color, storytelling, and evocation. Today is about leading the viewer’s emotion through depth of field – where to place the focus.
As photographers, we can help the viewer participate in the message of an image by leading their eye to the intended focal point. Below are 4 ways to create depth of field:
Open up the aperture on your camera (the wider the aperture the more blurred the background)
Use the ‘portrait’ setting on your I-Phone (it works amazingly well!)
Shoot through an object.
Manipulate the image in post-production with photoshop.
I’ll be showing all of the techniques above in later blog posts when we start doing live shooting and photoshop tips. Today is about the effects of focus.
My friend Rick Lemke posted a timely, beautiful image of a shamrock flower on his Facebook page this week that epitomizes depth of field. With the way he masterfully isolated the flower from his background there’s no question as to where we need to look for the subject. Rick’s technique also created a pleasing ‘bokeh’ effect in the background which is the way the lens rendered the out-of-focus points of light.
Blurring parts of an image works well to lead the viewer’s eye to the subject, and it can also effectively be used to send a message, make a statement or tell a story. The slide-show below shows a few examples of the effects from directing depth of field.
Next time you’re out shooting, play with a few different types of focusing. Blur the foreground, blur the background, blur the whole image, blur it some more. You might be surprised at some of the results!
George Lucas said, “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” This is true in photography, too. We have full control of what realities we want the viewer to see within the depths of our work.
We have full control of what realities we want the viewer to see within the depths of our work. ~Suzette
Thanks for joining me here on PhotoTip Friday. Be sure to subscribe to this Art of Living Blog as we artistically energize you with quotes, insights, and photography. ↓
“No difficulty can dishearten the man who has acquired the art of being alive.”
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox
2020 was long year, and I think we’re all ready to begin again. The pandemic began slow and spread so quickly that it cracked the world into pieces. God used the opportunity to wedge between the cracks, infiltrate, widen the space, loosen up the pace, and create TIME.
Time had disappeared.
The world was forced to slow down and reinvent itself from its entanglement.
And now it’s time to return.
This is as close as I could get to my mom in a year. It’s time for all of us to begin again.
This hardship changed the way we knew life. It changed communication, commerce, and connection. It changed humanity.
The reentry into civilization will place us in a world that demands different things from us, and like a prisoner after incarceration, it’s going to take some internal work – an adjustment in mindset to begin again.
We’re all in the same situation though. Emerging. We’re coming back with shaky legs and squinted eyes and we’re going to just wing it for awhile, tiptoeing until we find our way again.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could enter into the world with more kindness and empathy to ourselves and to each other as we begin again?
I wrote a book during this time of seclusion: ‘THE ART OF BEING ALIVE’, and it’s about just that –LIVING.
It’s an inspiring photo essay that allegorically ties the art of life with the art of photography through photos, insights and inspiring quotes.
This book will be released on March 20th with the symbolical intention of a fresh start to life.
The book will be released on March 20th– the first day of spring with the intention of signifying a fresh start –letting go of the past and moving forward. My hope is that it will entertain, inspire, and help with this resurgence into life.
I don’t want this post to be an advertisement, but I did want to make you aware that it’s on the way as we begin to rebuild our lives from the traumas of 2020.
“Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of the dreams.” ~ Paul Gauguin
Color is symbolic and it directly influences the soul, but it’s all in how it’s applied. Henry Haskins said “The greatest masterpieces were once only pigments on a palette”.
How does this relate to Photography? We can also use color in photography to elicit a feeling or circumstance, and it’s the technique and application to our work that will make the difference in what we want to emote in the image.
For instance, black and white vs. color, the use of high key vs. low key, the color itself, and even the amount of saturation can become symbolic in an image.
Below are some examples of this.
Hi-key vs. low-key can send different messages↓
Hi-key can send a message of pleasure.
While low-key one of despondency.
Low-key can feel ominous.
Hi-key characterizes fresh and pure.
A black and white image can send the message of melancholy, while color can emote pleasure. ↓
Black and white can paint a melancholy mood.
Where brighter fresh colors emote pleasure.
Black and white can illustrate innocence and purity.
…vs. a deep warm color can give the feel of protection.
Or exhilaration vs. despair.
Monochromatic black and white gives a feel of unity and connection.
…and stark intense contrasting color can describe disconnection and despair
The overall color, or combination of colors themselves can render a relational statement. No words necessary.
Similar colors give a relational feel of harmony
Intense color sends a message of discord.
Temperature dictates temperament –
from soothing cool…
…to raging heat.
An increase of saturation to an image can be used to make a statement or can signify an increase in emotion such as vibrancy, euphoria, or chaos.
And the absence of color can bring anything from a cold and desolate emotion to mystical and angelic.
Sometimes just popping the color a bit gives more strength to the image:
And then there’s always the option of what message to send in an image. Playing with color and black and white can render different meanings:
Trying an image with both color and black and white can shift the mood of an image. Hope vs. destitution, for instance.
Sometimes the shift in color just gives a more pleasing artsy effect.
What mood or message do you want to send in your image? The options are endless. Just play, but whatever you do, remember the opening quote: “Be colorful. The world needs your prismatic soul!” ~Amy Leigh Mercree – The world needs everything you have to offer.
Later on in these blog posts, I’ll be giving some fun techniques on playing with color in photoshop. Right now we’re learning how to put MOOD into photography, so stay tuned for the next PhotoTip Friday.
Stay tuned, and sign up below ↓↓ to get these posts delivered to your mailbox!
“Color can encourage or discourage, and it can summon desire or disgust.” ~Suzette
“Keep me away from the wisdom that does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh.”
~Kahlil Gibran
Everyone wants to feel. That’s why the world spends countless hours listening, reading, watching – streaming Netflix, video games, music, or buried in a book; the viewer wants to feel something. They’re seeking emotion.
This is also one of the things that separate a good photo from a GREAT one. Mood. Emotion. It’s what makes the viewer stop and ponder. The image elicits some feelings within them.
Mood demands attention.
An emotion can be triggered without a technically perfect or stunning beautiful photo. This article will touch on six techniques to do that.
Mood controls everything. It sways circumstances, and it affects the people around us. Mood influences life.
Sometimes we can alter a mood and transform the situation, but sometimes the mood is just there, infiltrating the atmosphere. Knowing when to step in and reshape the ambiance or when to step back and capture the natural setting is what will make the difference in your work. This is true with life as well as photography: knowing when to intervene and when to just let it be. Both are powerful when used skillfully, and both have their place for effectiveness.
Below are 6 tips on how to infuse mood into an image.
Lighting, Color, Story-telling, Depth of field, Evocation, and Timing. Six techniques that add mood and emotion. The more of these you use in an image, the greater the impact.
The next few weeks we’ll cover each of these techniques in detail. I’ll see you next time on on PHOTO TIP FRIDAY, and we’ll dig deeper into tips on PAINTING WITH LIGHT to enhance the mood of an image.
~Suzette
Knowing when to step in to reshape the ambiance, or when to step back and allow the natural setting to unfold is what will make the difference.
Watch for my newest book, “THE ART OF BEING ALIVE” coming March 20th!
Have you ever been flipping through a magazine or surfing the web, and a photo on the page makes you pause and contemplate it? What is it that made you stop? Many factors come together to create a good photograph, but what makes an image stop you in your tracks? What is it that separates a good shot from a great one?
Two elements are imperative in creating an award winning, jaw-dropping photo. Without these two elements, the image will be mediocre.
The elements? LIGHT and MOOD.
I want to touch on light a bit. Photography [fuh-tog-ruh-fee] literally means ‘Painting with Light’.
Below are a couple of visuals of the kind of impact light has on a photograph. The two images below were taken on a photoshoot in St. Lucia with my friends, Rob Provencher & James Hodgins and his beautiful wife, Jocelyne.
We were experimenting with the light on this beautiful Island. Drag the arrow to the right to see first image, a classic pose taken mid-day. For the second image, we came back to this spot and shot at sunset. What a difference a few hours makes!
Midday vs. Sunset
Another example is the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. Dragging the arrow left and right again below you’ll see two different times of day. I waited in a dry riverbed under the dunes and shot all afternoon as the sun dramatically changed the curves and shapes as it moved across the sky. A low sun, either at sunrise or sunset can add dimension and sculpt.
Noon vs. Sunset
Light affects everything around you. When you start watching it, you’ll see how it alters the subject. When you begin noticing light, it will change the way you look at the world, and it will change your work as an artist.
Something else happens, though, as you become more mindful. The awareness changes YOU. Observation brings you into the present moment, and when you’re in tune with your surroundings, it begins to unleash the light within you, adding yet another dimension to your perception; there’s more to see all around you.
This mindfulness also changes your expression and your demeanor. When you’re in the moment, your presence moves through you the same way rays move through the sun, affecting everything your path.
The impact of light goes far beyond creating a more dynamic image. It creates a more dynamic you. As you see more and sense more, you’ll have a dramatic impact on the world around you.
See you next time on PHOTO TIP FRIDAY, when we’ll touch on the other essential element to a dynamic image: MOOD
~Suzette
The impact of light goes far beyond creating a more dynamic image. It creates a more dynamic YOU.
Watch for my newest book. ‘THE ART OF BEING ALIVE’ on March 20th!
The Art of Living 