My college friends and I used to enjoy taking group portraits in and around the Berkeley campus.

Here’s one such photograph we took in front of Sproul Hall, where many of the iconic photographs of Vietnam protests were taken:

Taken with a Canon 40D + 10-22mm at f/3.5, 1/4s, and ISO 1600.

While I like how this photograph turned out, I’ve discovered that I much prefer group photos in which each person is positioned in a unique location, at a unique depth, with a unique pose.

For example, here’s another photograph we took a year earlier in the courtyard of one of the dormitories:

Taken with a Canon 20D + 24-70mm at f/3.2, 1/13s, and ISO 3200.

Notice how I tried to keep everyone distinct in the following elements:

• Distance
• Pose
• Direction

Also, try to space out the people in the frame in a not-so-uniform way. I tried to keep each person in their own little area of the frame, at a different head level than the others. In my opinion, uniformity tends to make for boring group photos, while adding some fake randomness makes things a lot more interesting.

Here’s another photo we took the night of the first photo:

I like this photo better than the first one, but not as much as the second one. I think it’s much more interesting and dynamic, but the lighting wasn’t done very well (we were just poor college students with a single mounted strobe). Also, unlike the first photograph, there’s too much overlap in bodies and too many heads next to each other on the same level.

Anyhow, next time you take a group photo, try to focus on making the distance, pose, and direction of each person unique and see if that spices up your portrait!

One of the results of always carrying around my camera is that I end up with a lot of portraits of my friends. I had lunch with a few of my buddies last Sunday, and snapped this photograph while waiting for a friend:

I was using a Canon 40D and Canon 16-35mm with the following settings:

Aperture: f/5.0
Shutter Speed: 1/100
Focal Length: 16mm
ISO: 800

Instead of using a higher focal length and backing away from my friends, I decided to go ultra-wide and move in close. This caused the closer friend (Joseph) to be much more prominent, even though they were both sitting close together. If I had used a longer focal length and backed up, my friends would have been more flattened out, and Joseph would have been featured less prominently in the photograph. Thus, going wide and moving in close to a particular person when taking a group photograph can really help to make a photo more dramatic.

As with most portrait shots, I focused on Joseph’s eyes before recomposing the shot. I also wanted to make sure that my main subject wasn’t directly in the middle of the frame, and that the two bodies subject balanced out.

I think if I had framed Joseph directly in the center, the fact that my other friend (Anna) was looking directly at the camera as well puts too much action on the left side of the frame, and too much empty space on the right side:

If there was only one friend in the shot, I would have pushed him more to the side, since there wouldn’t be another pair of eyes to work with.

I guess this breaks the rule of thirds if you consider both subjects as one entity, like in the silhouette to the left, but with the way this photograph was set up I think it worked to have the main subject closer to the middle and another subject a little to the side.

Another thing I chose to do was get down very low. Notice how they’re sitting on a pretty low bench, yet I’m still taking the photograph from below their eye level.

Now regarding post-processing, I first opened it up in Adobe Camera Raw and made the following edits:

White Balance: Auto. It was decent and auto fixed it up by making it a tiny bit warmer.
Exposure: Left it unchanged.
Recovery: Anna’s white clothes were clipped in certain areas, so I upped recovery to get the detail in those areas back.
Fill Light: Added a splash of fill light to make the shadow areas a little less pronounced.
Blacks: Left this unchanged.
Brightness: Left this one unchanged as well.
Contrast: Increased to 60 to recover some of the contrast lost in previous steps, and to just increase it a little in general.
Clarity: Increased to 40 to bring out some detail in places like the bright clothes and the texture of the pillar.
Vibrance: Increased to make the colors pop a little more.

I also did the basic increase in sharpening, and added some vignetting to bring more attention to the subjects. These were all just pretty basic edits that I also step through when processing my RAW photographs.

Here’s how it turned out after modifications in Adobe Camera Raw (hover over it to compare to the unedited version):

This is where I would normally be done with an image like this. However, suppose I wish I had used a wider aperture to have a shallower depth of field (i.e. if I had used f/2.8 rather than f/5.0). Obviously I can’t go back and reshoot, but what I can do is fake the depth of field in Photoshop. I might go into more detail into how to do this sometime in the future, but I’ll just briefly describe it now.

First, I duplicate the layer to make a blur layer. I use Filter->Blur->Lens Blur for the blur. Then I use the following mask on this blur layer to selectively choose where to add blur and where not to (hover over it to see the blur layer. Might take a few seconds to load):

Here’s the resulting image with the fake depth of field added (hover over it to compare it to the unedited photo. Hover over this link to compare to the non-blurred version.):

I hope this was an interesting and informative walkthrough. Leave a comment if you have any questions, suggestions, or tips!

David Nightingale is the photographer behind Chromasia, an award winning photoblog that was selected as “Best Photoblog” by numerous publications, and was ranked as the 6th most influential blog in the UK by the Financial Times.

Portrait © Bobbi Lane (www.bobbilane.com)

PetaPixel: Can you tell me a little about yourself and what you do?

David Nightingale: I’m a photographer, currently living in rural Bulgaria with my wife and six children, and am working on a range of projects, including; my own online tutorials; a new book; and a variety of personal photographic projects.

PP: How did you come to live in Bulgaria?

DN: We met someone who lived out here, and the more we looked into it the more we liked what we saw. The climate is great, the people are friendly, and the cost of living is very low. We still have our house in the UK, but plan on spending most of the summer months here, if not longer.

PP: Can you briefly tell me about chromasia.com?

DN: chromasia.com started in early 2004, as a personal photoblog, and for the first couple of years I attempted to post an image a day after being inspired by such blogs as Daily Dose of Imagery.

In the early days, it was definitely no more than a hobby – something different to do when I wasn’t thinking about my day job. As time went on though, chromasia became quite popular and we began to receive requests for prints, some small commissions, and so on.

In June 2005 we received a major commission from the Arts Council, UK, at which point my wife and I decided to set up chromasia as a limited company. At this time I was still working as a psychology lecturer in a UK university, and chromasia, though it was now a business, was very much a part-time concern.

Towards the end of 2006 though, two things happened. First, my university was offering a voluntary severance package – i.e. paying to get rid of some of us :) – and I was offered a contract to write a book on baby photography. Both events convinced us that we could run chromasia as a full-time concern.

Since then we’ve carried out a number of major commissions – for the Bahamas ministry of tourism, a winery in Germany, and the Dubai International Financial Centre – have written a book on HDR photography, and have established our own online Photoshop tutorials, for which we now have over 1500 subscribers.

PP: I noticed you said “we”. What role does your wife play in the business?

DN: While I’m fairly confident that I know what I’m doing with a camera and post-production, Libby, my wife, has a much better business sense than I do. For example, our online tutorials were her idea, and now form the major part of our business.

PP: How did you first get into photography? When was it, and what was your first camera?

DN: I first got into photography when I was quite young, probably about seven years old, as my father allowed me to use his camera to take the odd shot during our family holidays. With the benefit of hindsight he probably just wanted a few frames with him in too, but at the time it seemed like a great honour. :)

When I was around 18 though, I bought myself a Canon A-1 and a couple of lenses, and taught myself black and white developing and printing. I never managed to produce a print I was entirely happy with, but I had a lot of fun with the process.

PP: Do you still shoot film?

DN: No, I haven’t shot film for quite a number of years now.

PP: You have nearly every professional piece of gear Canon offers. What are your favorites?

DN: Well, not quite – I don’t have a 1DS Mark III, or a 5D Mark II. :)

As for my favourites: I love my cameras (a 1Ds Mark II and a 5D), but these are incidental; i.e. they’re just a way to capture the image, and both have their strengths. My favourite pieces of equipment are my lenses. And while I’m not sure I could pick a favourite I would probably have to say that my 35mm f/1.4 and 70-200 f/2.8 IS are the ones I like shooting with best. The one I shoot with most, which is also a great lens, is my 24-70 f/2.8, but it’s not as much fun as the other two.

PP: Could you tell us a little about your favorite lenses?

DN: The 35mm f/1.4 is a stunning lens, especially when shooting wide open, and it’s probably one of the sharpest lenses I own. In terms of features though, the 70-200 is extraordinary. Using the IS I can shoot at 1/50s, which is great for low-light shooting, the DoF is extremely shallow at f/2.8, and it also produces exceptionally sharp images. It’s only downside is that it’s really heavy.

PP: What is the item at the top of your wish list?

DN: That’s a difficult question, as there are two pieces of kit that I’d really like at the moment: the 5D Mark II, and the 85mm f/1.2. If I had to choose one of them though I suspect I’d go for the 85mm f/1.2.

PP: You seem to take a lot of photographs from strolls on the beach. Could you tell us a little about that?

DN: One of my favourite ways of relaxing is to take a walk along the beach, photographing either the landscape, or any items washed up along the shore. In some ways, though I’m not sure I could explain it all that coherently, walking along the shore and taking photographs is one of the ways I can lose myself in the moment.

PP: What would you say are the most important elements of post-processing that photographers should focus on mastering?

DN: I don’t think there’s an easy answer to that one, as post-processing is part of a much larger process – one that starts with optimising a digital exposure (assuming you’re shooting with digital kit), through understanding how best to manipulate an image to produce a technically optimal image, to achieving a goal that meets both technical and aesthetic criteria. In short, I don’t think that any particular part of the process is more important than any other. You need to understand the technology, both in terms of what it can do, and how it can be used, and you need a good understanding of a whole range of post-production techniques that will allow you to explore the creative potential that each image offers.

PP: Did you have any memorable breakthrough “AH HAH!” moments as you were learning more and more about photography and post processing?

DN: It happens all the time, but I think that the biggest breakthrough in my own work was when I realised that converting the RAW file (using ACR, Capture One, or any other software package) was probably the most significant step in producing a good final image.

PP: Could you explain a little into why that is?

DN: I think the major reason that this stage is so important is because you can make specific changes to a RAW file – during the conversion process – that result in a higher quality image than if you make the same changes during post-production in Photoshop. In other words, getting the RAW conversion right, whatever ‘right’ might mean, is probably the most important step.

PP: How many images would you say you’ve taken since starting Chromasia? How do you store and back them all up?

DN: I’ve lost count of how many I’ve taken, but it’s tens of thousands of images, all of which I store on two RAID devices: one in the UK, one in Bulgaria. My nightmare is a tech failure leading to me losing any of my images. By having duplicate RAID devices in 2 countries I’m hoping that that won’t happen. :)

PP: What is your opinion regarding HDR? A lot of photographers seem to hate it, while you’ve done quite a lot with it.

DN: I think it’s a useful technique, and one that can be used to produce very effective, if not unique, images. I also think it’s a technique that lends itself to being done badly; i.e. the software doesn’t really care what the final image looks like, and will produce quite hideous results unless you’re careful to think through how to use it and what sort of images you want to produce.

My own view, at the moment at least, is that if one of my images ends up looking like a typical HDR image, then I probably didn’t do it right. In other words, it’s a technique I use, but one where I want my own style to be the first thing the viewers sees, not the fact that it’s an HDR image.

PP: What are some of the questions you’re asked most often by your fans?

DN: The most common question, and most general one, is “how did you do that?”, i.e. how did I post-process a particular image. And this question was the impetus for our online Photoshop tutorials. An alternative, especially when I also publish the original, unedited shot, is “why did you do that?”; i.e. why or how did you decide that that’s how you wanted the final image to look?

PP: How long do you spend on the average image you post online?

DN: There isn’t an average amount of time, it really depends on the nature of the shot and the extent of the post-processing, and could be anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours. Typically though, I’d guess that I spend about 30 minutes to an hour on each shot.

PP: How often do you shoot? How many shots do you take during each outing?

DN: I shoot as often as I can, which isn’t often enough, and there isn’t a fixed amount of shots that I would take during a specific outing. Oddly, the shoots that tend to work best are the ones where I take less shots – where I spend more time thinking about composition, lighting, and so on. One of the best things about digital photography is that you can take thousands of shots during a shoot, and it doesn’t cost you a penny, but this is one of the worst things about it too; i.e. it’s just too easy to rattle off hundreds of shots – because you can – without pausing to think through each one.

PP: What words of advice would you give an aspiring photographer hoping to get where you are in photography?

DN: I think that the best piece of advice I can give is that any aspiring photographer should try and work out what they’re best at, then hone those skills. In my case, I’m known for my post-production – and that’s what I tend to concentrate on, at least for most of the time – but for other people, other skills will be more important.

On a more general level, we live in a world where photography is everywhere – there are countless thousands of photographers, producing good work – so being a good photographer is only a part of the story.

What’s also important is finding ways of getting your work out there – by joining photographic communities, being active in a variety of social networks, and spending time thinking through how to get yourself noticed. It’s not easy, and it’s not photography, but it is essential if you want to make any progress in the world of photography.

I read somewhere that that the business of photography is 90% business, and 10% photography, and after working as a professional photographer for the last few years, sadly, I would have to agree.

PP: Which communities are you a part of? What are some of the best avenues for getting your work noticed?

DN: I think there are two ways to get your work out there …

First, you can join any number of online photographic communities, such as photoblogs.org, photos.vfxy.com, coolphotoblogs.com, and so on. Second, I think that social media will become increasingly important in the years to come, i.e. twitter, facebook, and so on.

Social networks, in many ways, have replaced something that we seem to have lost in modern society; i.e. they are the new ‘local’ communities, played out on a global scale. As such, if you want to make progress as a photographer, being a member of such communities is becoming increasingly more important.

PP: Who are some of your favorite photographers?

DN: Historically, my favourite photographer is Ansel Adams, as he managed to marry both technical and aesthetic genius; i.e. understood his craft in a way that far outstripped many of his contemporaries, and he could use that craft to produce images that are still awe inspiring today.

From a contemporary perspective, I think that my criteria are slightly different; i.e. there are many great photographers out there, but my favourites are the ones who, in addition to producing great photographs, also have something to say and something to teach. For example, David Hobby (strobist) and Zack Arias both produce great images, but they have both taught me a lot in terms of my own photography.

PP: Who is one person you’d like to see interviewed on PetaPixel?

DN: Ansel Adams.

Failing that, Zack Arias would be great, as would David Hobby or Chase Jarvis.

PP: Anything else you’d like to leave PetaPixel readers with?

DN: This refers to one of the points I made earlier, about honing your skills …

Practice, practice, practice, and when you’re bored of practicing, practice some more. Photography is a craft skill – you need to know your tools, and what they can do – and the only way you can truly know their strengths and limitations is through constantly pushing them and yourself to produce images that meet or exceed your creative expectations.

A big thank you to everyone who entered our latest giveaway. The winner of the free QuikPod handheld tripod is:

#12: Patricia Reiser

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your new accessory and put it to good use! Please send an email to editor@petapixel.com to claim your QuikPod.

We have many more giveaways planned, so please check back soon. Also, I’m definitely looking forward to Monday, when we’ll be hearing from David Nightingale of chromasia!

Have a great weekend!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July here in the United States (well, everywhere actually), which means there’s going to be FIREWORKS! Huzzah!

It also means a lot of photography blogs will be posting tips and advice on shooting these firework shows. Instead of posting some ordinary article with things I’ve learned, I decided to see what you all had to say about it, and asked for your tips on Twitter.

I’ll share some of the helpful responses and fill in some details as necessary. Let’s get started!

#1: Stabilize Your Shot

@leeweiner says:

tripod, cable release and a bit of trial and error…

@jhoetzl says:

Use mirror lock up, use a remote shutter release, and, most important, bring a flashlight!

Since you’ll be photographing at relatively slow shutter speeds, a tripod is definitely important. You’ll be pointing the camera up at the sky, so you probably won’t be able to find anything to set the camera down on that will suffice if you don’t bring a tripod.

A cable release will allow you to avoid any blur caused by your finger pressing the shutter. The longer the exposure, the less this initial shake of the camera will matter, but having a cable release is still very helpful. You can get one for as little as $5 (shipping included) on eBay for either Canon or Nikon.

Finally, you can further reduce blur by using the mirror lock up feature of your camera if it has one (Perhaps Google it to find out?). What this does is cause the first press of your shutter to lock up the mirror of your DSLR, and allows the second press to take the photograph with only the shutter curtains opening and closing. This avoids the swing of the mirror that occurs when you normally take photos, reducing any blur that would have been caused by it.

Instead of having your photo turn out like this,

you can end up with clearer, sharper shots like this:

#2: Show Context

@jhoetzl says:

Fireworks look better in a context – just air as the background is boring – Get foreground; Try to be upwind of the launch site

@dallasnagata says:

My favorite fireworks-shots I’ve taken have all had people in them, holding very still. I like working with the silhouettes.

I’ve definitely found these things to be true as well. You can take really nice looking photographs of fireworks against the dark backdrop of the sky, or you can include things in the foreground, especially silhouettes of the people watching, to make the photograph a lot more unique and interesting.

#3: Shoot a Lot

@quixoticgeek says:

Persistance. Accept that to get 1 decent shot, you are gonna shoot 100 crap ones.

Definitely true. Out of the hundreds of photographs I’ve taken at firework displays, only a handful of them turned out well. The others were either poorly framed, poorly exposed, poorly timed, or all of the above.

Thus, shoot as much as you can to increase the chances that you’ll end up with a good shot. To do this, it would be wise to bring as many memory cards as you possibly can.

#4: Set and Forget

@PhotoEscapist says:

bring a tripod, find steady ground, shoot shutter and use a remote release. Shoot a pic or two before the start to check settings

@fifthoctober says:

shoot without looking through the viewfinder after you have made all the necessary settings on the camera

If you’re intent on leaving the show with a good photograph, then go ahead and shoot the show like you would shoot any night shot. On the other hand, if you’d like to enjoy the show as well, figure out the settings you need to use, take some test shots, and from there on out just enjoy the show and snap shots using the remote shutter release.

Here’s a photograph that I took with a 10 second exposure and a remote release while watching the show at the Butchart Gardens in Canada:

If you DO end up shooting through the viewfinder, you’ll probably want to shoot with both eyes open in order to see when the fireworks are launched and the path they’re following.

#5: Optional Gear

@PhotoEscapist says:

ohhh yeah bring a monopod too to prod people outta the shot..

Haha. I’ve never had to do this one before. Maybe it might come in handy for some of you though.

#6: Unconventional Focus Trick

@dhavatar says:

For unconventional advice, change the focus while shooting to get focus-to-blur effects.

Now this is interesting, and not something I’ve done before. During the exposure of the shot, manually throw the shot out of focus to end up with an creative and interesting effect. Here’s the example that @dhavatar provided:

#7: Utilize BULB

@thukai says:

tripod and remote trigger. Use bulb to time the shots. Leave shutter open until the series of fw is over. Repeat process :)

@felixkunze says:

fireworks, you hv 2 learn how to predict when firewrk will explode. I use bulb mode and expose for duration of burst, no longer.

The “bulb” setting on your camera allows you to determine how long the shutter stays open rather than having it expose based on a fixed amount of time. You can press and hold the shutter when a series of fireworks are launched, and then release to close the shutter after the series ends.

#8: Cover the Lens in Between Fireworks

@uncommon_depth says:

If it hasn’t already been said, put the camera on bulb setting so the shutter remains open and use a hat or something dark to cover the lens between bursts.

@roybarnesphoto says:

a longish exposure f8 for 1/4 sec will show nice trails – needs good timing. Use a tripod. or set cam to bulb on tripod, cover lens w black card press shutter.Remove & replace card to get multi-fworks trail.Press to end

If you’re not including things in the foreground, you might want to cover up your lens between firework bursts to prevent ambient light from adversely affecting your shot.

#9: Using Light Creatively

@puffmagic says:

Sparklers + long exposure = great portrait opportunity. Also light painting.

An interesting thing to do during firework shows is to turn your back on the fireworks and capture the expressions of the people watching, using the brief flash of the firework to expose the image.

This sparkler and light painting idea is pretty great. Imagine a photograph of a firework exploding in the background while your friend holds a sparkler or writes a message with light in the foreground. That would be pretty epic. Be sure to let me know if you end up with a photo like this!

#10: Use Optimal Camera Settings

@ceseco says:

bulb mode with external shutter release. just make sure your aperture and focus are set correctly before shooting.

So what ARE the settings you should be using for this kind of photography?

ISO: You’ll probably want to use the lowest you can, which is most likely 100. Going with a high ISO will introduce a lot of noise in your photo, which is something you definitely want to avoid when taking long-exposure night shots.

Aperture: If you’re shooting just the fireworks, it will probably help to go mid to high (f/8-f/22). You don’t want any depth of field or the lack of sharpness that comes from lower apertures. If you’re taking portraits with fireworks in the background, then you might want to go lower to throw the fireworks out of focus.

Shutter Speed: This really depends on the type of look you’re trying to achieve. If you use a relatively fast shutter speed, your firework might look like this (this is 1/400 of a second):

Use a slower shutter speed, and you might end up with something more like this:

Focus: Since the fireworks are exploding pretty far away from you, set your focus on infinity and change it to manual. You don’t need the camera attempting to focus on the fireworks, since you know what it should be focusing on already.

Focal Length: This really depends on many factors, such as where you’re sitting and how much of the sky the fireworks take up. Generally I’ve found that it’s safer to go wide, since you can always crop afterwards if you capture too much sky. If the lens you bring isn’t wide enough, you might be fiddling around with the framing all night.

Modes: In general, try to stay away from automatic modes. This means setting both your exposure and focus to manual. This allows you to determine the correct settings for your photographs and have your camera come up with consistent shots. You don’t want the camera to try and figure out the proper exposure for each shot, since it’s not a situation where a camera excels at determining the proper way to expose.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my tweets asking for your personal tips. I definitely enjoyed reading through all the different things you guys had to say. Sorry if many of you weren’t mentioned or included. We had many overlapping tips, and I went with the first one or two people who responded. Hopefully this was a helpful and informative article. I hope to do more “reader generated” articles in the future!

Good luck shooting tomorrow!

Faisal Sultan is the photoblogger behind friskyPics.

PetaPixel: Could you tell me a little about yourself?

Faisal Sultan: I’m 33. Male. Born in Karachi Pakistan. Sort of lived all over in cities like London, St Louis, MO (where I went to university), San Francisco where I moved to right after college to join the dot-com boom… They were apparently just handing out jobs back then in the late 90s and I joined this startup that had no business plan nor idea what they wanted to do – but hey, it was San Francisco and I was living history! I’m a techie / geek / nerd at heart and profession. Currently working in a business / product role for a huge media / Internet company in New York City. Besides photography, I also enjoy running my own Internet radio station and record label… So with all that stuff going on, I have no “free time” nor do I get much sleep. I anxiously await the day they invent cloning technology so I can clone myself into 3 Faisals.

PP: How did you get started in photography?

FS: I’ve always been sorta into photography. Growing up we used to take loads of vacations as a family and my father used to take our pictures so I used to play around with his Yashica. When I bought my first digital camera about 8 years ago: a canon SD 100 or something, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I only really got into “photography” until only about 5 years ago, when I bought Canon Powershot G4. After that I bought my first SLR the Nikon D70 and the rest is history I guess.

It was mostly me looking at photoblogs via photoblogs.org, looking at some of the amazing pictures people were posting back then and thinking to myself, “hey I wanna get as good as those people are one day”. Or, thinking, “I would have taken that shot differently”. That’s really how I got into photography as an “art.” I still don’t think I am an any good tho – and I still get really humbled when people say that they like my work. I feel like I haven’t even learned 20% of what photography is.

PP: Why do you take pictures?

FS: I take pictures for purely selfish reasons: for myself. I like to take a moment in time, frame it, and make it my own. I know that once I have taken that shot, it’s like taking a moment in time and history all for yourself. This might come across as overly dramatic but that’s really how I feel. Bottom line: I take pictures for myself. All those folks looking at and appreciating my work is a huge added bonus!

PP: When did you start friskypics, and how many photos have you posted since then?

FS: I’m actually coming up on friskyPics’ 5 year anniversary in October. Before Oct 2004, I used to post images on a ghetto picture gallery script I wrote myself on my blog site. On friskyPics, I must have posted about 800 images thus far. I had an HD crash about 3 years ago and had to reboot the photoBlog and lost most of the older shots – which is fine by me, as some of my earlier work was horrible.

PP: So you lost hundreds of photographs permanently in the crash?

FS: Unfortunately, most of them yes. That thought me the valuable lesson of backing up the HD! Some of them are still on my HD, which I might or might not publish in the archives. I’m actually working on a redesign of the photoblog, so I might post all of the old photos then.

PP: Have you taken additional steps since then to make sure you don’t lose photos again?

FS: Yep. I have an external HD which I backup weekly, in addition to MAC’s Time Machine backups. I also have all my RAW images backed up on Amazon’s S3 cloud. So I think my work is safe now.

PP: What equipment do you use these days?

FS: Nikon D700 with a 24-70 2.8 lens most of the time. 50mm 1.8 when I don’t feel like lugging around the huge lens. I also love the 85mm 1.4 lens for some street photography. For those point-n-shoot moments I have a Leica D-LUX 3 that goes with me everywhere. Besides those two cameras, I also love my Holga! There’s nothing like shooting with that thing! So much fun!

PP: What’s on your wish list?

FS: Aaah don’t get me started! I’ve been lusting after a Leica M6 rangefinder for ages. I really want to get into film and I feel M6 would suit me and my style best. Besides that, I really really really want a good solid medium format camera. If money was no object, I’m get a Hasselblad 503 tomorrow! But realistically, I’m say a Leica M6 is what I’m probably gonna buy in the very near future.

PP: Why did you go with Nikon over Canon?

FS: You know, I’m not one of those people that think one is better than the other. They are simply brands. I don’t really get all the “canon fanboys” doing all the promotions for Canon by always talking about how Canon is the next baby Jesus. In the end, the camera doesn’t matter. I always get a little bit ticked off when people focus too much on the equipment and not the person behind it. That’s why I never ask other photographers what they used to take a shot. What really matters is the person behind it and how you chose the subject and frame your shot. But why did I personally go for Nikon? Well, I got a great deal on the Nikon D70 when I was shopping for an SLR. That’s how I ended up as a Nikon user. Sorry – went on a little tangent there. :-)

PP: Could you briefly tell me about your workflow?

FS: You know – I’m aware that my workflow sucks. I’m a little bit of a disorganized person so anyone reading this should copy this workflow at their peril: I download all shots from the memory card into Lightroom. I organize them either by day, event, or if I went to a particular place to shoot (eg: Empire State Building) I will name the folder that way. From there, I will usually work on the curves and contrast a little, nothing more than you would normally do in a dark room really. Once I’m happy with it, I will import into PhotoShop CS4 to work on Levels some more. I don’t usually do any other post processing other than Levels and Curves. Sometimes, when I’m feeling adventurous, I use masks to do custom levels and curves on particular areas of the image. Other than that, I don’t manipulate images too much. I usually take a shot knowing how I’m going to process it. If you start off with that one image in your mind’s eye, processing seems almost natural.

PP: What’s the one thing you’ve learned since starting out that has had the biggest positive impact on your photography?

FS: Good question. Nailing it down to just one thing is gonna be next to impossible so I will say this… I’ll say the most important thing I’ve learned is that I really don’t know anything. Looking at all the other photographers that I follow everyday, looking at their work makes me realize how much I still have to learn. And that really is a good thing – because I know for a fact that I can learn so much more from these folks and push myself in my work. I’ve always learned that in the end – I do this for myself. It’s easy to get seduced by popularity and trying to get more and more people to look at your work – and that might lead you to start posting images that you think your “audience” might like. I post images first and foremost for myself, as a way for me to keep track of my photography. It just so happens that since it’s on the Internet, others can enjoy it too… or not enjoy it and tell me that I suck. Entire way – it really doesn’t bother me. However, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it when people email me and tell me that they enjoy my work. It’s the best feeling in the world.

PP: What is your favorite type of photography?

FS: I’m say the photography I most enjoy shooting is abstract and urban landscapes. I love shooting buildings and other city structures. I also like taking a normal subject like a building, and challenging myself to find a new, unique way to photograph it. Lately though, I’ve been getting more and more into shooting humans. If you look at my archives, you’d think that I live in a world with no humans – I almost never shoot any pictures of people or with people in the frame. The reason is two fold: I like desolate, vast open and empty spaces. Another reason is that I know my limitation, I know that I’m not that good at photographing people. And that’s something I’ve been pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone and shoot more portraits etc. I have a series that I’m working on at the moment that I’m pretty excited about. It involves people! I hope to post it to celebrate the 5-Year anniversary of my photoblog.

PP: How often do you shoot, where do you go, and how much do you shoot at a time?

FS: Not enough. But lately I’ve become “that guy.” The guy that cannot step outside the house even for a minute without his camera in tow. So now, wherever I go I take my camera with me. But besides that, I will normally go out to shoot something specific once every 2 weeks or so. I wish I could shoot more, but I simply don’t have enough time with my job and my “other job” running the station and record label… It’s exhausting… Photography is strangely relaxing for me though – so when I’m feeling stressed or burnt out, I will go out with my camera and try to shoot. Usually on an outing I will take about 120+ shots – most of them end up as crap but there’s always that one shot that I end up liking…

PP: Do you get a lot of comments through your blog? What are some common things you’re told or asked?

FS: There’s a bug in my photoblog code that makes it impossible for people to comment using IE that I need to fix. But yea usually I get a few comments per shot – which is nice. But I’m thinking of getting rid of commenting altogether in the redesigned blog site that I’m working on. I’m also working on a “portfolio” site where I want to showcase some of what I feel is my best work. But yea besides the “nice shot” and “nice perspective” comments, which are nice to get BTW, I also get comments from people asking me about how I processed the shot, or what lens I used. I also got an email from a photography student, asking me for my feedback on their work, which I thought was mind boggling… I mean I was very honored, but I really don’t think I’m any good – there are sooo many other better photographers out there.

PP: What advice do you have for people looking to improve in their photography?

FS: I know its cliché, but I’m say the best advice I can say is shoot shoot shoot. You can’t really learn this in a classroom. Starting out, people used to ask me if I have taken any classes and I used to tell them I don’t believe in taking classes to learn photography. Confession: Even a year into my photoblog, I had no idea what the “rule of thirds” meant. The point is, the technical side doesn’t matter – it will come thru practice. And once you go out and shoot, you will start to learn things like the right settings and exposure controls for a particular shot or subject. So yea, shoot shoot shoot. Then go out and shoot some more. Push yourself into being creative and out of your comfort zone – be bold.

Also: try not to get sucked into trends or what’s “popular”. Case in point: HDR. It’s popular, but is it photography? No it isn’t. Please, be a friend, don’t do HDR.” There, I HAD to say something about how much I hate HDR.

PP: Who are some of the photographers you follow online?

FS: I follow these folks daily – or whenever they have a new post up: Jessyel (dailysnap), Miles Storey (MUTE), Andy Bell (Deceptive Media), Daniel Cuthbert (Hmmm), Fredrik Olssen (Smudo), Bob (No Traces), and Your Waitress. I also love Daily Dose of Imagery, and Orbit 1 (although I don’t visit it everyday). Gosh so many people that inspire me every day!

PP: If you could have one person interviewed on PetaPixel, who would you choose?

FS: I’ll say Daniel Cuthbert. He’s not only a good fashion photographer, but a great photojournalist as well.

PP: Is there anything else you’d like to say to PetaPixel readers?

FS: Well, you’re still reading this interview so I guess you are interested in what I have to say so I will take this opportunity to say thanks for reading and checking out my work. Now go out there and do it too. Push yourself to take better pictures and remember that there’s no such thing as a “perfect” photograph – like art, photography is subjective. That’s you should why remember this: if you’re not doing this first and foremost for your own self, you should probably take up another hobby. Also: don’t just use one camera to shoot pictures. Some of the best shots I’ve seen have been taken by toy cameras or even iPhones. So try to get out of that “camera makes the shot” mentality.

I was over at Lake Tahoe attending my brother’s soccer tournament this past weekend, and took this photograph from behind the opponent’s goal:

I corrected a few things in Adobe Camera RAW, and this is the resulting image (hover over it to compare):

The difference isn’t too big. I just corrected a few things, and addressed a tiny bit of clipping in certain areas.

At this point, I wanted the sky to be a little darker and for the clouds to be more dramatic. This is where the luminance tab comes in. All you need to do to instantly make the sky more interesting is drop the slider for aquas and blues. In this case, I decided to drop them both to -50 (I like simple numbers):

Here is what this simple edit does to the final photograph (hover over it to compare):

Pretty neat, huh? Play around with the luminance slider, and you can do pretty interesting things with skies.