An Apple a Day Keeps Creativity Awake

Do you find yourself lacking inspiration? Without new ideas? Or just unsatisfied with your average looking images? Pablo Picasso – the famous and talented artist – once said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” This exercise is designed to help you achieve exactly that, and awaken your creativity.

An old English proverb says, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”. So following this principle I came up with a routine for your photographic health. Something to keep you busy so that inspiration can find you working, as Picasso suggested.

Step 1: Photograph an apple

Why an apple? Well, because I found that many times the excuses that we use are linked to the idea that we don’t have an interesting subject, or a nice-looking one, or an expensive one, in other words something worthy of photographing. So don’t procrastinate at the market looking for the perfect red shiny apple that looks like one from a fairy tale, just get an apple. An apple is something we all have access to. It’s not particularly expensive, and as you will see, also very versatile.

The first part of the exercise is to photograph your subject, in this case the apple without altering it. In other words, you are the one who is going to adapt in order to get the most out of it. For now you don’t have to worry about the technical part, so you can just leave your camera on automatic mode and shoot away. Photograph your apple from the top and from the bottom; from afar and in macro; with a wide-angle lens and a telephoto – anything you can think of.

Once you have done this and you can’t think of any other ways to photograph the apple, push yourself to do at least two more. Yes, it may take some time to come up with them, but trust me, those will be the best ones! Why? Because photograph has been around for almost two centuries, and lately thousands of images are done everyday, so most likely the first images you can come up with, are also the same ones everybody thinks about. That is why you need to come out of your comfort zone and exercise your photographic mind and eye.

As you can see, the color and exposure on each one is different. This is because the camera was set on automatic mode. This way the settings adjust to the information it’s receiving. If most of the frame is covered by the warm colors of the apple it sends different information than a frame mostly covered by the white background. This is why the next step is very important.

Step 2: Put your technique to good use

Now that you have found the best angle for photographing your apple, you can move on to the next level – make it professional!

When you had your camera on auto mode it made the decisions by itself. Let’s be honest, with the cameras that exist on the market today, it’s very easy to get a well-exposed photo. However, what I always say to my students is, “We learn photography not to make it good, but to make it our own.”

If you use the automatic mode of your camera, it might come out a good photo, but it won’t be your photo, because you didn’t make any of the decisions. In this part of the exercise you need to put your photographic knowledge – no matter how much that is – to good use.

If you know about bracketing (the process of making the same photo with different exposures) then do that.

If you know about lighting, then play with your lights. Use a direct flash to create a hard shadow for one image, then use a flash and a reflector to soften the shadow, and so on. Even if you don’t have a professional set of lighting gear you can always play with artificial light from lamps and natural light from windows. The point is to use your tools and techniques to make your photo the way you want it to be and not just another snapshot.

Step 3: Get creative

Now it’s all about the finishing touches. It’s always important that you are able to produce a technically good and unique photo of an object/subject. But how about getting a bit more creative? Try to tell a story, to set a mood, or to use the apple as a metaphor, anything goes! 

Once you have your best angle and your light and settings selected, it’s time to decide what you want to say with your photo. Do you want your photo to be yummy and inviting? Maybe cut the apple and plate it on a beautiful table. Do you want it to be about health and nutrition? Maybe add some other fruits to the set.

If you want to push yourself a little bit more then try to tell a story, maybe make a photographic series. Think about Snow White or Adam and Eve, in both cases the apple plays an important role. Do you want it to be conceptual? Think about life and death for example using a fresh and a rotten apple. You can do anything you want just by adding some elements, add some context, and get creative!

Today for me it was a healthy, ready-to-eat snack!

Conclusion and what’s next

Great work! I hope you enjoyed your apple for today. Tomorrow maybe go with an orange, or a dog, or a self-portrait. You can apply this three steps to everything, or stay with the apples and see how far you can get, the important thing is to exercise every day.

How to Pause and Learn to Make Fewer and Better Photos

At the end of each year do you find yourself with thousands of photos and wonder what to do with them all? Or wondering if you should even keep them? This is a lament that I often hear in my photography workshops and have experienced the same problem myself. Sometimes, this is a result of being too quick to click. You see something that excites you photographically and proceed to snap away, hoping that you’ll cover all the bases and that at least one shot will be a keeper. Sometimes this works and you do get one that you like, but often you find yourself disappointed because there isn’t even one that truly reflects your experience.

But what if you could take a different approach to your photography? One where you make fewer and also perhaps better photos? I’ve found that the simple practice of pausing before clicking the shutter can make a huge difference in the quantity and quality of your photographic output and enjoyment. Let’s break it down.

Pausing is the practice of checking in with oneself. When something stops you and you want to make a photograph, take a moment to notice what’s happening and ask yourself a few questions.

• What do I see, smell, and hear?
• What stopped me?
• Was it a color, shape, or texture?
• What am I feeling? What do I like about it and why?
• Does it mirror something going on in my life at this moment?

If this sounds like navel-gazing to you, believe me, it’s not. Many photographers over the years have said that a photograph says something about the creator. Your choice of subject matter reveals a lot about you. By becoming more aware of why you photograph what you do, you will gradually uncover your photographic vision.

If you take the time to ask yourself these questions, you will become clear on what’s drawing you personally to that subject. In the photograph above, of a reflection on a car, it was the three-color harmony and the sweeping, curving lines that drew me in. It’s vibrant and airy and makes me feel like dancing.

The clearer you are on why the more clear your photographic message will be to the viewer. You get to the heart or essence of what’s there and your photograph will have a greater impact, and you’ll learn about yourself in the process.

Focus

Now that you’ve clarified what stopped you in the first place – the concept or message you want to convey – it’s time to focus your attention and look closer. The contemplative monk, Thomas Merton, said, “There are degrees of attention: the glance, the cursory look, the look, the long look.” (Master of Attention)

When you’re too quick to click, you’re only taking a glance or cursory look. Consider how your photography would change if you took more long looks. You most definitely will come to a greater appreciation for your subject.

The image above shows the exterior wall of my aunt’s barn, a structure that is very old and has not been well maintained for some time. A closer look reveals its subtle beauty and rhythm.

Here are some ways to practice focusing:

Look at the details – the colors, shapes, textures, etc.

Sketch the general outline of the scene. Get the big picture.

Jot down some notes on what you see, sense, and feel.

Change your vantage point. Look at the subject from different angles and perspectives.

Identify the essential elements. Each should contribute to the main subject in some way.

Connect

Finally, once you have determined the best way to compose and expose your shot, it’s time to connect and click the shutter. I think of a photograph as a visual record of the relationship the photographer has with their subject. Once you learn to pause and focus, you will have that relationship. Ask yourself a few more questions.

How should I compose this subject or scene?

Should one element take up most of the frame or should I use juxtaposition with several elements?

What are the essential elements?

What should be included the frame and what should be left out?

How is the light and how should I expose the image to best express what I’m seeing?

Should I use a narrow depth of field or have everything in focus?

Will this composition best express what I’m seeing, and most importantly, what I’m feeling?

With the image above, I spent a good amount of time pausing and focusing on an amazing rock formation off the coast of New Hampshire. I did some sketching of the whole scene (the ocean was beyond) and it was quite some time before I noticed the little pebble tucked safely inside this crack. To me, it felt symbolic. This tiny pebble was being protected by the stronger forces around it. I felt a connection and composed accordingly.

Conclusion

You may be wondering who has the time to ask these questions, especially when the moment or the light is passing quickly. That is certainly the case in some instances and at those times you must be ready to seize the moment. But usually, you will have the time. Consider it a practice that is well worth it. Eventually, the answers to these questions will become quicker and more intuitive. You’ll do them without much thinking at all.

8 Tips for Getting Great Expressions in Family Portraits

Sometimes as a photographer, you are lucky enough to get a family session full of models with perfect natural smiles in every photo. It doesn’t take much to get a photo that is ready to hang on the wall. However, most of the time with family portraits it isn’t that easy.

Maybe you’ve got somebody who doesn’t want to be there or little kids that have no idea what you’re trying to get them to do. And maybe, just maybe, you’d like to have some photos that show some extra personality. Everyone looking at the camera and smiling is nice, but I always love the ones that show a little more of who the family really is. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve to help you through the more difficult sessions, and to help you get some fun full-of-personality shots and great expressions with any family.

1. You’re in charge of the kids

Many times during a family session, you’ll have parents that are really concerned about whether or not their kids are looking and smiling at the camera. They don’t realize that the moment their little one looks and smiles, their faces aren’t photo-ready because they’re spending all their time wondering what their kid is doing.

Remind the parents to keep their faces ready for photos at all times, and you, as the photographer, will take care of getting their kids to look and smile. If they are talking to their child, it will be hard for their child to look at you, because he’ll think he needs to be looking at mom or dad. Whether you want the parents looking at the camera or not for a particular photo, remind them to do their part for the photo and leave the rest to you.

2. Let the parents help sometimes

This might seem to contradict point #1 above, but there are times when getting those genuine smiles from the kiddos requires a little bit of help from the parents. If you have a reluctant smiler and you want to get a good individual photo of the child smiling, ask the parent to make a funny face, or do something silly off-camera. If you want the subject looking at the camera, ask the parent to get right behind you. Parents often know one silly word that will get their child giggling, or the child might just need the comfort of seeing a parent smiling at them to know that it’s all okay.

You can also have photos with the parents interacting with their children in the frame. These often end up being some of my favorites. I love capturing the genuine interactions, and those expressions that the parent sees every day. Put the parent and child together, and simply ask them to smile at each other. Often this initially awkward directive gets them really giggling together, and you’ve got the perfect expressions.

3. Laugh at the silly one

One of my most effective prompts for natural looking family interaction and genuine expressions is to ask them to laugh at the silly one. Sometimes they all look to the same person right away, and everyone will start truly laughing. Sometimes they all look at someone different, and after a second of bewilderment, they all start laughing.

This one can backfire, though, and needs to be used with caution. Some kids automatically think that laughing means to be over the top silly, and they over-exaggerate a huge laugh that doesn’t look natural at all. Some kids think that laughing also must be accompanied by pointing, and that never looks great in a photo either. In these cases, I tell them to giggle quietly and to keep their hands down. Usually, that solves the problem. If it doesn’t, I just move on to something else and let the moment go.

4. Simply hug

Oftentimes in sessions, I position everyone into a nice arrangement, take a photo of them all smiling and looking, and then I just say, “Now, everyone hug each other.” or “Put your arm around the person next to you.” When I look at the photos side by side later, I’m always amazed at how much more natural the smiles are in the hugging photos.

I think that when photos feel really formal, it’s hard to relax, and people end up with stiff smiles. When they feel comfortable, the true smiles come out. There’s just something about being surrounded and hugged by those you love that makes you feel safe. Sometimes you need to prompt them to hug each other but make sure they’re still looking at you. Occasionally you get the real huggers that will turn right around and give their mom a bear hug. Although that looks cute in real life, it doesn’t work as well for a photo.

5. Let the personalities shine

Sometimes you might have a perfect photo in mind, but you just have some little guys that have big personalities. You could spend the whole session trying to get them to be somebody they’re not, or you can just go with it and laugh about it.

Let’s be honest, sometimes those expressions that just scream personality make the best photos. Families will treasure those photos and laugh about them throughout their whole lives. You can try to get that perfect family photo for mom, but don’t make everyone miserable by insisting on squelching unique poses and expressions every time they pop up. That said, I don’t encourage them in their silliness because sometimes that can make them go a bit out of control. Just simply take the photo, and don’t make a big deal out of it.

6. Big groups are fun too

Giant group photos can look very dull at times. When you have tons of people in one photo, it can be a task just to get them all arranged, and then after all that work the photo just looks like a bunch of little boring faces.

Try getting a few photos that are just for fun. Ask the entire group to hug or kiss their neighbor. (Give them the option. Nobody likes to be told they must kiss the person next to them.) If you have a bride and groom, you can have the bride and groom kiss, and ask everyone else to cheer or to react however they’d like.

When you have a big group of people with funny happy faces, it makes a photo that you want to look at for awhile, and you can’t help but smile. These photos are never perfect, but they’re fun, and end up being the photos the families really love.

7. Capture life

You don’t always need smiles, nor do you need all the eyes showing. Capture the family participating in an activity together, and just let their expressions happen naturally. These lifestyle photos will capture the family as they are, right now. They will be the photos that really bring back memories for your families when they come across them later. You don’t have to set up anything elaborate. It can be as involved as a picnic together with the blanket and basket and everything, or as simple as holding hands and walking together. If you do have them walking away from you, ask the family to look at each other as they walk, so you get some profile expressions, and interaction with each other.

You don’t have to set up anything elaborate. It can be as involved as a picnic together with the blanket and basket and everything, or as simple as holding hands and walking together. If you do have them walking away from you, ask the family to look at each other as they walk, so you get some profile expressions, and interaction with each other.

8. Take a lot of photos in a row

When you’ve got a lot of people to capture at once, the chances of getting all of them with a great expression at the same time is slim to none. I snap a lot of photos in a row of one pose because the chances of catching smiles and open eyes for each person go up greatly when you have a lot to choose from. If all else fails, you have a lot in nearly the same position, so you can swap eyes, faces, or heads if needed.

It can be so frustrating when you have a family photo that is nearly perfect, but one family member is blinking. Trust me, even three in a row may sometimes not be enough to get every expression that you need. I don’t head swap often because I usually have one in the series that captures everything as I want, but it’s nice to have the option of swapping something if needed.

Weekly Photography Challenge – New Beginning

As the first photography challenge of 2017, I thought it would be fitting if we go with a theme for new beginnings. Like these 19 images show – there are many ways to interpret that theme.

By Francisca Ulloa

By Shellie

Weekly Photography Challenge – New Beginning

So, however you want to run with this idea is up to you. It could be about babies, kittens, or eggs. Or it could be around a new beginning you want for yourself this year. Maybe even a goal or resolution you want to achieve.

Share your images below:

Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge. Sometimes it takes a while for an image to appear so be patient and try not to post the same image twice.

By Micolo J

By Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren

By Craig Sunter

How to Take Senior Portraits That Kids and Their Parents Love

Have you ever tried to photograph a high school senior, only to come home and discover that all your photos look awkward and stuffy? Whether you’re a professional photographer that’s being paid or a friend snapping photos in the backyard, senior portraits can be a huge challenge for photographers of all types because you have multiple clients to please.

It’s important for the high school seniors to have fun and look like themselves in their photos. It’s also important to capture images that will please their parents and fit their school’s requirements for the yearbook photo. Having lots of cooks in the kitchen can make things challenging, but not impossible. Here are a few tips for before, during, and after the session that will help you take senior portraits that are loved by both kids and parents.

Before the Session

1. Ask Questions in Advance

When it comes to senior portraits, every high school does things a bit differently. Some high schools have very specific requirements for the senior portrait to be used in the yearbook. I’ve even encountered one school that specified that all girls were to wear a black crew neck shirt with pearls, photographed with a gray backdrop, with the subject turned slightly to their left. Other schools are much more relaxed and may specify only the orientation and whether the image should be color or black and white.

Some schools require that seniors use their in-house photographer for the yearbook photo but they can use images from independent photographers for graduation announcements and other things. So, as the photographer, it is so important that you are aware of the school’s yearbook photo requirements for seniors before you even begin shooting.

Deadlines?

Also, I always ask about each school’s deadline to submit photos to the yearbook. Some schools require that photos be submitted before Christmas, other schools don’t cut off submissions until late spring. This is another situation that varies from school to school, and it’s a really important question to ask. You’d be surprised how often I get calls for senior portraits two or three days before a school’s deadline, asking if I could squeeze in a session and them assuming that the images will be edited and ready to go the very next day.

Sometimes it may work for me to squeeze in a session, with the agreement that I’ll provide 3-5 images by the yearbook deadline and the rest will be delivered within my standard time frame. Other times, I just can’t swing it. Asking the question allows me to be transparent with prospective clients, and also to help set reasonable expectations for the session well in advance.

2. Wardrobe Choices

Every photographer approaches wardrobe selection a little differently. Some ask their client to model prospective outfits in advance and help them choose. Other photographers create little handouts that include examples of what to wear (and also what not to wear). Still, other photographers prefer to capture whatever their clients show up wearing.

Your approach will likely be influenced by whether you tend to capture styled sessions or lifestyle sessions. I find myself somewhere in the middle. I want my clients to be comfortable and to look like themselves, but I also find that most people benefit from some gentle direction about what to wear for a session.

Giving direction

When it comes to senior portraits, the direction that I usually give is to bring three outfits:

One casual outfit, something like jeans and a solid colored top.

A dressy outfit; slacks and a button down shirt for the guys, a dress or slacks and a nice shirt for the girls.

One outfit that describes their senior year in a nutshell. This might be a sports jersey, a t-shirt with their favorite band, their prom dress, or it could be a really trendy outfit that they absolutely love.

For the first two outfits, I usually tell both the seniors and their parents to select medium to dark-wash jeans with no holes, and either a solid colored shirt or very classic patterns (like plaid). I also tell them to feel free to be creative and think outside the box when it comes to the third outfit. I’ve found that the parents typically prefer the images of their kids in the first two outfits, while the seniors typically prefer the images of themselves in the third outfit. In my experience, offering this simple guidance in terms of wardrobe has been the most important factor in ensuring that both the parents and the kids love their senior portraits.

3. Posing

High school seniors are in a bit of a tricky spot. At 17 or 18 years old, they want to look and be treated like adults. I really try to be conscientious of that dual dynamic. This may be my own personal soapbox, but I also try to be mindful to guide these kids through poses that make them feel like confident and strong young adults, without being overly risqué or mature. DPS has great posing guides for men and women. Take some time to scroll through and identify the types of poses that you think are age appropriate for high school seniors prior to the session!

During the Session

1. Build Rapport

As you begin your session, ask the senior more questions. If they play a sport, ask how their season is going so far. Ask about their plans for next year, or what they think they’d like to major in. Find out what they usually do on a Friday night. Get them to tell you about their favorite part of high school.

Really listen, pay attention to their answers and when they share something awesome, tell them so! Hearing praise from someone other than their parents will help build their confidence in front of the camera. More importantly, when you’re genuine with your feedback it helps build relationship and trust, which in turn will lead to more genuine photos.

2. Mind your aperture

I love seeing the images that families choose for the graduation announcements. More often than not, in my experience, that image is a head and shoulders portrait of the senior looking at the camera and smiling, with a nicely blurred background. There’s something about that sort of image that’s timeless and classic. To achieve this for senior portraits, I almost always have my aperture set somewhere between f/1.8 and f/2.5 depending on the lens.

3. Acknowledge the Awkward

Portrait sessions are odd for most people. When you add hormones, acne, insecurity, and that not-quite-adult dynamic we mentioned earlier to the mix, senior portrait sessions can feel downright embarrassing. One of the simplest techniques I’ve found has been to simply acknowledge the awkward. I’ve been known to say things like, “I know it feels weird to be the center of everyone’s attention and to be posed like a doll, but you’re doing a really good job and everything looks great so far!”

Or maybe something like, “I know this is going to feel absolutely awkward and ridiculous, but I want you to give me your biggest, loudest Santa laugh. Like this (insert ridiculous Santa laugh here).” I know it’s a weird request. They know it’s a weird request. Acknowledge the weirdness, and be willing to be an active participant in the craziness. It’s really not about the Santa laugh itself. But, if you can get them to participate, it’ll often make them smile or laugh, which is the moment you’re really waiting for.

Just acknowledging that senior photos are not a comfortable everyday experience for most kids can go a long way towards putting them at ease and capturing images that really show their personalities.

After the Session

1. Utilize Social Media

Shortly after the session, I post a preview image to my Facebook page. I try to select one that I think will please both the kid and the parents, which is often those head and shoulders portrait I mentioned earlier. Many of the images you see in this article were the preview images posted to Facebook after the sessions.

I also make an effort to post a caption for the image that captures one of the cool things that the senior shared with me during the rapport-building part of our session. My heart in doing so is to affirm and acknowledge these kids. I’ve photographed a lot of different kids from a lot of different backgrounds, and each one has blown me away talking about their passions and hopes for the future. I want them to see and hear that they matter and that they were heard during our session, as well as to encourage each of them and build them up, if only in some small way.

You’ll have to find your own groove in terms of how exactly you share images on social media, but for high school seniors especially, don’t skip this step! I’ve had more referrals for senior portraits come from Facebook than any other avenue.

2. Keep the Editing Style Classic

When it comes to editing senior portrait sessions, I try to keep my editing style clean and classic. Again, every photographer has their own niche and style, and I’m not suggesting that you change yours. I am suggesting that when it comes to senior portraits, that you be mindful of creating images that will stand the test of time. For me personally, this often means offering more black and white images than I might from other sessions and fewer images with a matte treatment.

Finally

In all, capturing senior portraits that both parents and kids love is one part preparation before the session, and one part rapport-building during the session, with a drop of thoughtful post-processing thrown into the mix.

It’s not difficult, but it does take some advance preparation. Do you have any other tips for capturing senior photos that parents and kids both love? Please share them in the comments below.

Household Items to Bring to Your Next Food Photography Shoot

One of the most common assumptions about food photography is that hardcore food styling techniques must be involved to make dishes more visually appealing. In fact, there are professional food stylists who will employ all sorts of techniques to transform a dish into an inedible, yet highly photo-worthy subject. However, food styling techniques can also be very simple and accessible. Below is a list of common household items that can also help you out on your next food photography shoot.

For Keeping Food Clean

Tweezers

It’s pretty much inevitable that a plate of food will have quite a few moving parts that can easily fall out of place. While the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop can make crumbs or blemishes disappear in post-production, it’s best to remove those bits and pieces from the dish before your shot is taken. This is where a pair of tweezers comes in. Use them to rearrange food on a plate or reach down into a deep glass or bowl to make adjustments.

Cotton balls

Besides being used to soak up pools of excessive liquid that might gather on a dish, cotton balls are also great for propping up food. Stuff one or two behind a piece of food to give it some leverage and height. Since they’re small and absorbent, the cotton balls can easily hide and blend into a dish so it’s not obvious they’re being used.

Q-tips

Serving a similar purpose to tweezers and cotton balls, Q-tips (cotton swabs) are important for small touch ups. Use them dry or dipped into some rubbing alcohol to remove small blemishes from a dish and you’ll save yourself some valuable time in post-production. Which leads me to my next point…

Rubbing alcohol

Throughout a food photography shoot, your props and gear are bound to come into contact with some morsels of food. Bring a small bottle of rubbing alcohol to keep your gear clean, and even consider keeping some hand sanitizer nearby to clean your hands after rearranging plates of food.

Highly absorbent paper towels

If it’s not already obvious, all of the food styling tools listed thus far have to do with cleaning and touching up dishes before they’re photographed. This tool is the last of the cleaning sort and is useful not only for wiping dirty hands after styling, but also for absorbing liquid from juicy meats, iced drinks, or other plates of food that are a touch too wet.

For Keeping Food Fresh

One of the biggest challenges for food photographers is to shoot dishes while they still look appetizing and edible. These tools will help restore shine and luster to dishes to imply freshness.

Nonstick cooking spray

Restore a bit of shininess to a dish and help it reflect light better by adding a bit of nonstick cooking spray. Be very careful, however, as a spray that is too strong might dishevel parts of your dish.

Spray bottle filled with water

This serves the same purpose as the nonstick cooking spray, but in a slightly more controllable manner as you can often shift the nozzle of a spray bottle to emit a smaller or larger stream of water.

Eye-dropper

When you need ultimate control over liquid application, it’s best to use an eye-dropper instead of a spray bottle or nonstick cooking spray.

For Applying Creative Touches

After using the above tools to perfect the details of your photo subject, it’s time to focus on two other factors that can take your photo to the next level; light control, and selecting a creative background.

Tin foil (or a large metal baking sheet)

Depending on your preferred camera tools, you may already have a reflector in your food photography kit. If you don’t have a reflector, you can use a sheet of tin foil or a metal baking sheet. If you use tin foil, you have the added bonus of being able to use smaller pieces and mold them.

Baking parchment paper

In photography, baking parchment paper can serve a couple of purposes.

First, it can be used as a cheap alternative to a diffuser (light modifier) to soften the light aimed at your subject. Simply tape a sheet of parchment paper to a window where sunlight is shining through. The resulting light will soften considerably, reducing the shadows and glare on your food subject.

Another way to utilize parchment paper is as a photography background or surface. Try plain parchment paper for a white surface, or the brown version for a different color option.

Gift wrap

Since we’re on the subject of photography surfaces, gift wrap is another affordable option for shooting food against creative backdrops. Cutting boards, tabletops, and placemats are also popular options, but they can be pricey and take up lots of room to store. Gift wrap, on the other hand, is plentiful with a variety of colors and textures to choose from.

6 Frustrations Every Travel Photographer Experiences On Location

Every travel photographer will tell you that this very rewarding profession comes with a lot of frustrations as well. The countless hours spent walking around, all the early morning alarm clocks and the constant battle with the elements are, for the most part, worth the effort. But occasionally travel photography can be incredibly frustrating. Here are six frustrations that every travel photographer experiences on location at some point in their career.

#1 Bad weather

Ask most travel photographers and bad weather would usually be at the top of their list of frustrations. There is nothing more demoralizing than being at a location and having the weather hinder your plans. Of course, you can minimize the impact of adverse weather by doing your research beforehand and ensuring that you head to your chosen destination at a time when you will get your ideal weather, but even the best plans can be ruined.

Often the choice you have is to either go ahead with your shoot anyway after all bad weather can sometimes add a different dimension to a familiar destination, or you need to have a backup plan. For example, if you are experiencing bad weather when photographing landscapes, you can head into forests and jungles where the flat light will make things easier to photograph. Or in a city, you could look to photograph indoors at museums and galleries (if allowed). The key to avoiding the frustration ruining your photo shoot is to be prepared.

#2 Construction work in your scene

You have just arrived at a dream UNESCO World Heritage site and are excited about the next few days and photographing one of the most iconic places in the world. But as you walk up to it, you are suddenly confronted with scaffolding and building work right in the middle of your scene. As you might have gathered I’m talking from personal experience when I visited Angkor Wat a few years ago.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is no getting around it. You simply have to figure out how you can still capture great photos while also being able to exclude the unwanted scaffolding in your scene. Often, it’s not a lost cause and if you walk around and look for different angles you may be able to crop the building works out. Using natural elements such as trees is also a good way to block these out and sometimes you can remove elements in post-production. But ultimately sometimes you simply won’t be able to capture the shot you want and will have to try to find other elements that can still give you a good collection of photos.

But ultimately sometimes you simply won’t be able to capture the shot you want and will have to try to find other elements that can still give you a good collection of photos.

#3 Closures of venues or buildings

There are times as a travel photographer that you feel fate has conspired against you. For all the research and planning that can go into preparing for a shoot, sometimes events happen which are out of your control. Unexpected closures of venues or buildings that were on your shot list can be incredibly frustrating and stressful, especially if you are on an assignment. There are times where there is nothing you can do. You just have to accept that the situation is beyond your control.

The only thing that could help in these situations is more time at the destination. An extra day might mean the venue re-opens after the power cut so it’s always a good idea to build in a bit of extra time into your trip (if you can) to allow for these sorts of situations.

#4 Tourists

Tourists do have a tendency of wandering into people’s photos unknowingly, usually because they are not paying attention. Travel photographers have to either find ways to exclude people from their photos or simply try to include them. More and more picture editors are now looking for images that convey an experience rather than just a “touristy” photo, so including people in your photos can actually benefit the composition. But sometimes you will need to exclude people and that is where you need to be creative and patient.

At busy tourist destinations the crowds often arrive in waves and if you wait long enough you will find a gap in the flow of people. If the venue is outside, photographing early morning will usually mean you have the place to yourself for a few hours.

#5 Traffic

One of the major hindrances to destination photography is not allowing enough time to photograph everything you have on your shot list. Most people make the mistake of underestimating the time it takes to get around and also the time it takes to photograph one scene.

Traffic is one of the key factors that you should consider when photographing any big city. Even though it may only be a few kilometres to drive from A to B, it might take longer than the time you allocated. So, to avoid rushing, make sure you allow yourself an extra few hours. You can always spend the extra time photographing if you arrive early.

#6 The “nearly shots”

Most photographers have, at some point in their photography journey, suffered from this syndrom. Whether you are a professional or amateur there are those moments when you just think, “What if?”

You have everything in place and have framed your shot perfectly. You have great light and an interesting subject and all that is needed to complete the image is a person to be standing in the foreground. But they never materialize and you end up with one of those “nearly shots”.

Often one of the biggest differences between professional photographers and amateurs is the ability to persevere in this sort of situation and wait, or keep coming back until you get the shot. But sometimes it doesn’t happen even for the pros and you just have to accept that “nearly shot” because time has run out and you have to move on.

Conclusion

Travel photography can sometimes be the most frustrating branch of photography to do. But even with all of the above frustrations most travel photographers will say that they would never want to do anything else. With practice, perseverance, and good planning, often you can avoid these scenarios. But sometimes you just have to accept that the shot you wanted wasn’t meant to be on that occasion and move on.

5 Creative Uses for the Super Versatile 50mm Lens

When I am out and about with my family, say on a trip or a holiday, I go really thin on the gear and use this to challenge myself to think of new and creative ways to use just one camera and one lens. I usually carry an 85mm as my choice of lens, but I have been using the 50mm lately for this purpose. The 50mm lens is a hugely versatile one that is a handy size for traveling too.

Having a totally pared down kit has its advantages. It pushes you to think outside the box and to find new ways of making pictures without having much choice of gadgets at all. The limitations you put on yourself certainly makes you more creative. It also makes you give extra careful consideration to factors that make a good image such as lighting, composition, color, the subject, and action.

To further challenge myself, which I do on nearly every family break, I don’t actively go out seeking subjects to photograph. My aim during my vacation with family is not to carve out time away from them in order to shoot some images. Rather, I actually give in to the limitations of the holiday and shoot what is in front of me, what happens as part and parcel of the trip or vacation. It increases the restrictions of course and takes away the usual amount of control I have when staging a photo shoot, but I believe it helps me practice using my eye and keeps me sharp. Personal photographs are the hardest to do, so with everything thrown in the box, this is definitely a creative challenge. Don’t let the lack of sophisticated gear cramp your style.

Here are five creative ways to use the 50mm if you find yourself in a similar situation (traveling with non-photographers) or want to set yourself a similar challenge.

#1 – Close-up shots

We are not talking macro close-up here of course but you can get pretty close for a normal lens. The lens’ ability to open to f/1.4 (or f/1.8 if you have that version) can give you a very shallow depth of field, so the contrast between is the subject in focus and the background can be quite dramatic. I usually use manual focus if the lens struggles to focus automatically because I am too close. You can definitely leverage the 5omm’s wide aperture to exaggerate the contrast between your sharply focused subject and the shallow depth of field.

You can also use your 50mm as a macro lens using the reverse lens macro technique by purchasing an inexpensive reverse mounting ring.

#2 – Silhouettes

I used to be rather panicked when shooting silhouettes on the fly. When I wasn’t trying to shoot a silhouette and suddenly I saw the potential for a great one, I would get brain freeze. What settings are appropriate? What shall I adjust? ISO? Aperture? Shutter speed? Shall I go semi-manual, fully automatic or stay fully manual mode shooting (which I am on most of the time anyway)?

With silhouettes, you must meter the brightest part of the background in order to underexpose the subject. The easiest way to create a silhouette is to shoot in manual mode. When you meter the background using either the back button or the by pressing the shutter button halfway down, this also means that you are focusing on that spot and not on your subject. Therefore your subject would not be as crisply outlined as you would like it to be. Your focus needs to be the subject and thus it needs to be sharp and clearly defined. After metering the background, you must move your focus to the subject but not change your exposure settings. Take the image and see what it looks like, and adjust the exposure as necessary. It’s as simple as that.

Lock the exposure

Now if you are shooting in automatic mode or semi-automatic which gives the camera full or partial control of the settings, you will find yourself in a pickle when shooting silhouettes. The moment you move your focus to the subject and press the button halfway down to focus, your camera will also adjust the exposure settings based on the light hitting the subject. You then lose your background settings which are the basis for your silhouette image. You can also use Exposure Lock (AEL) to set the exposure.

Read more about how to shoot a great silhouette in this article: How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Easy Steps

#3 – Portraits

On a trip such as a family vacation, I aim to capture natural moments and not necessarily strive to take the best portraits of my kids, posed or otherwise. I try and keep my eyes peeled for good light and opportunities but I hate to stop the natural flow and moments of the day just so I can take great portraits. With my own children, I try to be grateful for any I get, to be perfectly honest.

The 50mm is a superb lens for candid photography, street shots, and portraits. It gives me enough wiggle room (on my full frame camera) for the scene I want to capture. I don’t have to worry about moving further back if I want to capture more of a wider scene like I usually do with the 85mm , or going closer as I do with my 35mm and with it the risks of distortion for portraits if I get too close. The 50mm is comfortable and convenient for travel portraits and is a great handy size too, not taking up a lot of space in my handbag.

#4 – Night photography

For night shots including light painting and dragging the shutter, the 50mm lens is brilliant. The fun ghostlike painting images below were taken with a fairly slow shutter speed, as low as I can go hand-held, to make sure some ambient light in the sky was captured. I had the kids hold their torches (flashlights) underneath their faces which also illuminated the tippee behind them, with the triangular structure adding a more dynamic feel to the image.

This photo below was done with a technique called dragging the shutter. I set my shutter speed so low, around 1/10th of a second, and took the image with my camera’s pop-up flash pointing straight at my son. As the image was taken, I also moved the camera up and down as fast as I cold within the 1/10th of a second. The flash froze my son so that he is sharp and clear, while my exaggerated movement of the camera blurred the background and added motion to the ambient light during the time the shutter was open. You must try this, it’s great fun! It is possible as long as you have a flash, whether that be a pop-up, on-camera or off-camera flash.

This light painting image below was taken with the Bulb setting. For this to happen without a tripod, I had to put my camera down on a steady surface and positioned my kids in front of me where I could get enough of the scene in the shot.

#5 – Travel and picture-scapes

This is one of the reasons why I love the 50mm lens. It is fantastic as a handy travel lens and creates very pleasing views. I find it so adaptable to a myriad of scenes and it’s incredibly versatile, not only for its focal length but also for its aperture range.

To be able to shoot at f/1.4 (or f/1.8) is amazing and the icing on the cake. The price is minimal. Super versatile and easy on the pocketbook, it’s a magic lens and I would recommend all serious enthusiasts to get one.

Five Fun Ideas for Making Festive Holiday Images

November in the Northern Hemisphere can be a bleak time of year for photographers. Daylight hours are short, temperatures drop and the leaves have fallen off the trees. Luckily, in December, cities and suburbs decorate with a blaze of holiday lights and color. Even if it’s not your usual thing, gather up a few friends for a fun photo walk to create some beautiful and colorful holiday images.

Bring a tripod or don’t – you can make do as you go along. Your goal is to have fun and to make images that capture the essence of the season. Embrace the colors, look for holiday lights, keep an eye out for seasonal blooms, capture miniature moments, and photograph the music around you. Read on for tips and ideas for making beautiful holiday images.

1. Embrace colors

Over-the-top holiday decorating is filled with color. Department stores like Macy’s use festive decorating as a way to lure customers into the store. It’s a lure for photographers too. Just look at this red lighting in Macy’s!

Believe, The Walnut Room at Macy’s in Chicago, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 24mm, ISO 3200, 1/90th, f/4, hand-held

Inside a department store, the ambient light will be low and you probably won’t be allowed to use a tripod. The solution is to crank up your ISO. You’ll want your shutter speed as fast as possible to prevent motion blur. If you have a steady hand or if your lens has stabilization, you’ll be able to hand-hold at lower shower speeds but a high ISO – think 2000 to 4000 – should give your shutter speed the boost it needs.

Composing your images

In addition to the riot of holiday color, department stores are filled with signage, bright spotlights, and people so be creative when you compose your images. Try unusual perspectives to help you avoid distracting elements. Here at the Walnut Room in Macy’s Chicago you can photograph the tree from the ground floor, from the elevator, and from the upper gallery. The first image above was shot from a low vantage point. The result emphasizes the angled red ceiling and the word “Believe.” The second image looks down, emphasizing the size of the tree.

The great tree, The Walnut Room at Macy’s in Chicago, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 24mm, ISO 3200, 1/30th, f/6.7, hand-held

Sometimes it helps to zoom in when you compose. Don’t worry about fitting the entire tree into your frame. Instead, move around and find a composition with repeating elements, like the smaller tree projected on the wall.

Pink Christmas, the streets of London, England

Canon 70D, Canon 18-55 @ 36mm, ISO 200, 1/13th, f/5.6, hand-held

If you don’t have an iconic location like Macy’s Walnut Room near you, head to your local shopping mall or main street shopping district. Shop owners work hard to make their storefronts look beautiful. Again, think outside the box when you compose your images. The trees in the image above caught my eye because they were pink and purple, rather than the traditional red and green. These two trees flanked an open shop door. Since the inside of the shop wasn’t very attractive, the solution was to stand to the side, get low, and focus on the sparkly pink snowflake. The tree on the opposite side of the door then fades into a lovely blur of bokeh.

2. Look for lights

Cities are great places for holiday photo walks and image making. Make sure to check out large parks and plazas that usually have lighted trees. Super large outdoor trees make great focal points. They also make great backdrops when using larger apertures because the twinkly lights blur into a beautiful bokeh.

When shooting in the city, arrive just before dusk to scout your location and find good backgrounds. A beautiful time of day to shoot the holiday lights is the hour after sunset because the sky is a lovely shade of blue. Plus, it’s still bright enough to capture images of people. You might want to use a tripod at this point or, once again, crank your ISO.

This image was supposed to be of the skaters on the rink below the promenade. But this couple looked so beautiful bathed in golden light, I couldn’t help making a picture of them.

Couple enjoying the holiday lights at Millennium Park, Chicago, IL 

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 80mm, ISO 2500, 1/20th, f/4, hand-held

A really fun photograph is to focus on a lighted tree branch, especially if the bulbs are unusual, like these that are faceted and made to look like cut glass crystal. To make this image, find an isolated tree branch with a clean background. Open your aperture all the way up, preferably to f/1.8 or f/1.4. The wide aperture creates a very shallow depth of field. The bulbs further away will dissolve into soft, round circles.

Bokeh with bulbs, somewhere in suburbia 

Canon 70D, Canon 50mm 1.8 prime lens, ISO 1250, 1/1000th, f/1.8, hand-held

Go monochrome

Scenes filled with white twinkly holiday lights are the perfect time to think about monochrome images too. For images like these, the trick is to underexpose by 1-2 stops. After you take your first shot, check your histogram. It should like sort of like this example, stacked up on the left and just reaching the right hand side, but not climbing up it. Those white twinkly lights are bright and if you expose too far to the right, they’ll look blown out in your final image, with no detail.

Histogram to the left.

By underexposing and keeping your histogram stacked to the left, you do actually lose detail in the shadows. Often that’s a concern, but since the goal for this image is to capture the twinkly lights, the priority is to maintain detail there.

Lucca Basilica di San Frediano, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Canon 70D, Canon 18-55 @ 27mm, ISO 2000, 1/1000th, f/4, hand-held

If you’re going for symmetry and crisp geometry, setting your camera on a tripod is the best bet. If you’re trying your hand at street photography, like in the image with the Basilica, try hand-holding but definitely crank up your ISO.

Holiday Symmetry, The East Courtyard, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 40mm, ISO 200, 1 second, f/11, tripod

3. Holiday blooms

For macro photographers, the holidays have an exciting assortment of flowers that are forced to bloom during this special season. Experiment with these large blooms by choosing a small aperture and a larger depth of field, like in these two images below. It would also be a blast to use a Lensbaby to make dreamy selective focus images.

Overlapping Red Pearl Amaryllis blooms, Semitropical Greenhouse, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 105mm with Canon 500D Close Up Lens (diopter/filter) attached, ISO 400, 1/10th, f/22, tripod

Your best bet for locating these sorts of blooms is a local conservatory or the greenhouses at your local botanic garden. If you have a green thumb, you can even grow them yourself.

Pink Surprise Amaryllis, Semitropical Greenhouse, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105L @ 105mm with Canon 500D Close Up Lens (diopter/filter) attached, ISO 400, 1/10th, f/22, tripod

4. Miniature moments

Miniature Norman-Rockwell-like villages crop up everywhere at the holidays. For some, they are family heirlooms and setting them up each year is an important holiday rite. If you have a friend who sets up one of these treasured villages every December, invite yourself over for cocoa and offer to photograph it for her.

You can also find exquisite miniature scenes in public places, like the Winter Wonderland Express at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Winter Wonderland Express 2015, Regenstein Center, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105 @ 70mm, ISO 2000, 1/45th, f/4, hand-held

The key to successfully photographing miniature scenes is to shoot from eye level with a specific focal point, like the train in the above image. This viewpoint successfully shows the painstaking details of the scene. If you stand up and over a miniature scene, be careful with your composition so that you have a focal point in the scene.

Christmas Reflections, my parent’s lovely home, somewhere in suburbia, IL

Canon 5DIII, Canon 24-105 @ 70mm, ISO 200, 2 seconds, f/16, camera supported by table

Another fun option, if you don’t have a miniature scene available to you, is to create one using props. In the image above, the crystal orb reflects a miniature version of the holiday tree in the distance behind it.

To create this image, move the orb around, setting it on tables and shelves to see what it reflects. Once you find a great reflected scene, set your camera on the same level as the orb. Focus on the scene in the orb and let the background blur away. I found that f/16 gave me the crispest details in the orb but you can experiment and try f/4 or f/8 too. Since you’ll probably be inside with a long shutter speed – this one was 2 seconds – a tripod or firm support method is recommended to prevent motion blur from shaky hands.

Read also: 7 Tips for Doing Crystal Ball Refraction Photography

5. Photograph music

Buskers and musicians abound during the holidays and hopefully you’ll be lucky enough to see a few of them on your holiday photo walk. You can make street photography style portraits of musicians, with the intent to convert to black and white.

In this first image, the background was more cluttered than I would have like but the harpist’s face was so angelic as she sang that I had to capture the moment. If you’re planning to shoot like this, you’ll probably be able to better fly under the radar hand holding your camera. But again – yep, you guessed it – you’ll need to keep your ISO high to prevent the motion blur caused by a low shutter speed. A wider aperture will help too. This is also the perfect opportunity to try a 50mm prime and experiment with wide apertures (f/1.8, f/2, f/2.8).

Holiday Harpist, the streets of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Canon 70D, Canon 18-55 @ 55mm, ISO 2000, 1/5th, f/5.6, hand-held

Another option is to embrace the motion blur and make it work for you. Think of it as seeing the music. The shot below is intentionally blurry to show the energy and enthusiasm of the brass band that was playing in the streets of Lucca.

To make your image look like this, focus on a key element like you normally would but intentionally set a slow shutter speed. Try 1/5th or 1/10th of a second first, evaluate the level of blur and then try again, adjusting your shutter speed as needed to get the right look. There is no right or wrong here so just keep experimenting till you get the look that pleases you.

Here the focus was on the girl’s face. I chose her face because I liked the triangle she made with the two musicians around her.

Blurry Brass Band, the streets of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

Canon 70D, Canon 18-55 @ 53mm, ISO 2000, 1/5th, f/5.6, hand-held

Conclusion

These five ideas are just a few of the many ways you can take advantage of the holidays to make fun and beautiful images. Don’t forget to dress warm, stop often for hot cocoa, and try out a few of these ideas during your photo walk.