Category Archives: Education

Bad Weather Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Bad Photography

Well bad weather has gripped the North East. Wind, rain and cold are here resulting in most of the remaining fall color hitting the floor. If there were a silver lining in yesterdays rain clouds it came from the wet leaves and bark that resulted from the rain storm. The contrast created by the wet weather is truly awesome.

New Canaan Fall Foliage After Rain

Fall Foliage Color Pops When Tree Bark and Branches are Wet

So next time you think there are no photographic opportunities just because the weather is poor, look again!

Make Lemonade

Moose in Baxter State Park

Last week was an important week for me. As many of you know I have been working hard on my photography over the last 2 years. My friends and family will tell you that my work ethic in most things I put my mind to is second to few others. So I have been working the last several months with a mentor, Moose Peterson. I pursued Moose as my mentor (I think he wanted to have little to do with me at first!) for several reasons. Most importantly because he has dedicated his life to using photography as a communication medium in a way few others have, by speaking on behalf of wildlife. The message he communicates is one of compassion and awareness for the wild heritage that is all around us but rarely appreciated.

The message he communicates best however is the love affair he has with his craft. That message shines through with every press of the shutter he takes. There is no better way of proving this to you but to tell you to look over his website and read his new book, Captured.

The reason last week was so important is that my mentorship with Moose is coming to an end and I wanted to impress him with where my photographic skills have evolved. Doing so was important to me partly out of pride and partly because he has become like an older brother. Moose balances constructive criticism with making sure I don’t get full of myself by letting me know my skills are still a work in progress. But at the conclusion of our week together and during the 9 hour drive home from Baxter State Park, I realized that the outcome of the images I had taken over the course of the week was secondary to the other lessons I have learned from Moose (I know you are all getting confused on which moose I mean!). Most importantly, that every image I take needs to be filled with passion for it to be worth the paper or memory card I used to store and display that image.

Our week culminated in Baxter State Park with the intention to photograph Moose during the rut. I have never seen a moose in person before and I had anxiously anticipated this trip. But a Nor’easter that rolled into the area seriously dented our plans. 1 of 3 days was a complete rain out and the other 2 were gently said, not very cooperative. To Moose, these events were taken in stride. His answer to my obvious disappointment and frustration was to go and do what he does well, turn lemons into lemonade. While finding moose was out of our control, making great images wasn’t.

Fall Foliage in Baxter State Park

The program I have been involved in with Moose is Master of Light Program. If you want to seriously take your photography to the next level, I strongly suggest considering this mentorship. BTW, its not for the faint of heart, its a lot of work but the rewards are worth it if you are serious about being a better photographer. And if you think being a better photographer is only about f-stops, exposure and focusing, you have a big surprise coming!

You Don’t Need Money to Take Great Pictures

People often tell me they wish they could take pictures like me. Surprisingly, I feel the same way when I see pictures from the likes of Moose Peterson, Scott Bourne, Jay Maisel or Art Morris. Take this picture for example.

Jupiter Beach

This image was taken with my iPhone and minimally touched in Ligthroom 2.
How about this one?

Jupiter Inlet Sunrise

This image was also taken with my iPhone when I was waiting for the sun to rise at Jupiter Inlet, one of my favorite bird photography locations. (I will have some bird photographs on the blog shortly).

So you see, you dont need to spend a lot of money to take great pictures. You need patience, perseverance and practice but not expensive equipment!

Has Lightroom slowed you down recently?

Some people have asked why Lightroom 2 seems to have slowed down so much after the recent software update. The answer is pretty simple. Adobe has improved their algorithms for Lightroom 3 (don’t ask when it will be released, I don’t know). They have now provided some of these features in LR2.

Here are the release notes from Adobe’s website:
– Camera Raw 5.7 includes an updated demosaic algorithm designed to provide compatibility with settings applied in Lightroom 3 beta 2.
– Lightroom 2.7 also includes the same updated demosaic algorithm. The updated demosaic algorithm will appear as a subtle shift in noise characteristics at default values.
– By default Camera Raw will display the image adjustments exactly as performed in the Lightroom 3 beta 2 develop module. However, at this time Camera Raw 5.7 is unable to support further adjustments to the following settings or tools:
Highlight Priority and Color Priority post-crop vignette
Enhanced Luminance and Color Noise Reduction
Grain effects
Process Version

So the speed issues pertain to the re-rendering of your already processed images. In other words, LR2 is reprocessing your raw images using Adobe’s new algorithms. If the individual rendering of your images drives you crazy, there is an easy fix!
Right before you go to bed tonight do the following:
1) Open LR2
2) Select all of your images in your library
3) From the Library pulldown (not module) select Previews
4) In previews select render 1:1 previews
Now go to sleep!
When you wake up in the morning the annoying delay when you navigated between images will be gone.

Try Something New

I recently saw several images a friend of mine took of some models that I thought were excellent. His name is Barney Streit. I know Barney as a very accomplished landscape and nature photographer. However the shots I was reviewing were portraits. Oddly enough I have been interested in increasing my proficiency in portraiture so we started exchanging information on how he got more involved in this aspect of photography. I have attempted a few portraits and head shots and really like the results.

Martina

Rebecca

Both of the above images were taken at Joe McNally’s Dobbs Ferry Workshop. If you are interested in improving your flash skills there is no one better to learn from than Joe. He is funny and one of the most knowledgeable photographers I have ever met. Joe’s assistant Drew Gurian is an awesome photographer as well. Joe has a host of books, DVD’s and workshops. If you are interested check out his website and blog.

Oh yeah, back to Barney! When I asked him how he improved so much in this new area of photography he gave me two websites he used. Both of which had to do with networking. One of the sites I had heard of, the other I knew nothing about. The one I didn’t know was Meetup. This is a website where people with similar interests organize and post public gatherings for the purpose of meeting, collaborating and networking. I have already joined several Meetup groups and think this will help accelerate my portrait photography as well as be a lot of fun. If you already clicked on Barney’s link above I’m sure you have figured out that the other site was Model Mayhem. I also plan on joining Model Mayhem with the goal of doing some TFP work.

One of the best things about photography is that most involved are very helpful and knowledgeable. They are usually very willing to share what they have learned. Thanks to my friend Barney, I have some great new tools with which to try something new!

Photographic Goals for 2010

Regardless of your business, preparing for and encouraging growth is an essential part of success. In order to encourage growth in my photography I have created a list of goals for 2010.

1) Visit and photograph another National Park: A highlight of 2009 for me was visiting Glacier National Park. I attended Moose Peterson’s Wildlife Photographer’s Base Camp and learned more in 5 days than I ever imagined I could. Moose and his son Jake did a great job of combining wildlife biology and practical photography knowledge with business experience. I will definitely attend another Base Camp in the near future. As a result of Moose’s teaching I have read about and researched our National Park system since that visit and have become obsessed with visiting these national treasures. Ken Burns put together a fantastic series called “The National Parks: Americas Best Idea” that I highly suggest everyone watch.

Swiftwater Lake Reflection at Sunrise

2) Create photographs that illicit emotion: One of the true tests of being a successful photographer is whether your images are able to pull at someones heart strings. Good photographs capture moments, great photographs illicit emotion.

3) Get published: I will attempt to have one of my photographs or a text/photo package published in 2010. I will also explore having my images exhibited at some of the local Fairfield County art and framing galleries. I will also enter at least one judged photography contest.

4) Experiment with different forms of output: I would like to try new print media and video capture (I need to get a DSLR with video capabilities first)! I believe the advent of devices like Amazon’s Kindle and the rumored Apple Tablet will make “moving pictures” an important part of a photographers output capabilities. If you have not seen the Sports Illustrated Tablet Demo it is well worth your time and really cool. While the origin of this mockup is being questioned, the capabilities described are real. There is an old Wall St. traders saying, “Don’t fight the market, go with the flow for resistance is futile”. While I like creating and viewing photographs the tide in the industry is definitely trending toward moving pictures.

5) Attend Photoshop World: I have never attended PSW. Based on my current level of proficiency I think the educational and networking opportunities will far outweigh the costs.

6) Attend at least one Wildlife Workshop: This doesn’t have to be a photographic workshop, although it can be. The goal is to learn more about wildlife. Having just returned from Africa (I will definitely visit Africa again) I have an even greater interest in learning more about the biology of wildlife. I have started to investigate volunteering for a local wildlife organization to help them with their research by taking pictures.

What are your photographic goals for 2010?

D-65 Workshop

I had the pleasure of attending the D-65 Workshop last week. It was hosted by the husband and wife team of Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer. Both are experienced photographers and educators. This workshop was different from most that I have attended in that it was workflow specific. Any “shooting” time that we had was on our own.

The topic of workflow comes up often in conversations with friends, family and colleagues. Put simply, workflow is the process one employs for capture through processing of your photographs. Many people struggle with this process and frankly I find it to be the main reason some people take less photographs.

If you search the web, the number of solutions available for photography workflow is daunting. The problem with most of them is they are not easily repeated nor scaleable. That is not the case with the D-65 program. Yes, there is the ability to customize aspects of the workflow to meet your specific needs, but the core workflow is the same for every situation and photographer. Think of it as an assembly line for your photographs.

The only potential drawback I can see with this system is the “investment” required in Adobe’s Lightroom. I say investment because you not only spend money on acquiring the assets (software, external hard drives) but spend significant time mastering the software. Without the desire to make that investment I don’t think you should follow the D-65 program. That said, I have tried and/or used every browser and image management software available. My two favorites are Apple’s Aperture and Lightroom and I ultimately settled on Lightroom for one reason, the massive acceptance by the photgraphic community. You can get help from a myriad of places for Lightroom, not so with Aperture. What does that tell me? In the long run, my investment in Lightroom will be protected.

Before anyone attends D-65, I would strongly suggest reading Seth and Jamie’s book or purchasing the video Seth and Michael Reichman produced on the topic. Why would you do this before spending four whole days at the workshop? Very simple. I believe the strategies and techniques D-65 employs are best understood and implemented before you attend the class. My preparation afforded me the opportunity to absorb more in the classroom and arrive at the workshop with very specific workflow questions that I needed answered. Topics that were specific to how I work. Had I not made that effort before attending, I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of the class.

I know some of you are thinking, Vinnie, this is way over my head. Well you will be glad to know that the group attending the workshop ranged from established professional photographers to the group that I call “shutter moms” and everyone in between. You need to remember that just because you can take great pictures doesn’t mean you will be good at organizing, editing and processing those images. This workshop and program will get you going in the right direction. I strongly recommend attending. One added bonus is they offer workshops in Miami (where Jamie and Seth have a studio) so you can combine the education with a little R&R!

Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point

I have heard a lot of things about the Connecticut Audubon Society
Coastal Center at Milford Point
and decided to check it out. I decided to visit the center on the day it was closed, Monday, so that I could make my way around without a lot of traffic. I found the center to be a great place, one I plan to visit many times this fall. It is equipped with a three level viewing turret that brings the observer up to roof height of the center.

I’ve been told that the salt water marsh area is a major migratory stop for over 300 species of birds and that fall and spring are the best bird viewing times from this location.

Connecticut Audubon Center Salt Marsh
Connecticut Audubon Coastal Center Salt Marsh

I had planned on practicing my panning while at the center. I had one problem, I don’t have a 600mm lens! As you can see from the image below, the best angle to photograph flying birds is from the top of the observation deck. This picture was taken from the ground and as you can see, the houses on the other side of the salt marsh create a bit of distraction.

American Black Ducks flying over Milford Point
American Black Ducks flying over Milford Point

The center even had a nice array of bugs to photograph. All in all I will be back to this location soon.

The 3 P’s

If the 3 R’s are the cornerstone of education (yes I am dating myself by admitting I know what the 3 R’s are) then the 3 P’s are their equivalent in photography. No, there is no formula to the 3 P’s… no wild theories. Simply stated the 3 P’s are Practice, Patience and Persistence.

In photography I think I have practice and persistence covered, however; I need a lot of work in the patience department. To utilize a new photography technique learned at a workshop, you need to employ the 3 P’s. If you identify an area of your photography that needs work, the 3 P’s will help.

When it comes to nature and wildlife, patience is one of the most important virtues in order to be a successful photographer. No matter how much we want the perfect shot, animals and the weather don’t always cooperate. For me, installing a series of bird feeders on my property and using them to practice my patience (pun intended) has helped me tremendously in this regard.

Another area of my photography that consistently needs work is hand holding. Strange thing for someone taking pictures for 30 years to need to work on you might think. I have spent the last 23 years working behind a desk. The muscles, movements and techniques needed to hand hold a big lens need to be practiced regularly.

I also regularly practice digital darkroom techniques. The technology side of this art is changing all the time and accepting this change is necessary to compete and improve. As I spend more time trying to improve my craft, my appreciation grows for the amount of effort necessary to be good at photography. I have often been frustrated by the uneven improvement in my photography, but now realize it is part of normal progression. Like any job, what you put into it is what you get out and photography takes a great deal of effort. It makes me realize that this is not a hobby, passion or art form that is easily perfected. It simply means that I need to continue employing the 3 P’s.