A couple of days ago, we featured a BTS video showing how portrait photographer Greg Heisler got a great Time magazine cover shot of Michael Phelps before the 2004 Olympics using some creative techniques and a lot of preparation.
In this video, part of the same Master Series, Heisler discusses photographic techniques and how they can actually mask your vision if you rely too heavily on them. Read more…
Photographer Zack Arias created this video titled Signal vs. Noise to help his fellow photogs refocus their lives and careers. His advice: “Look for the signal in your life, and not the noise.” Arias writes,
As 2012 was coming to an end [...] I felt as though my brain was full. There wasn’t any more room in it. I can’t take any more information. My head was filled with noise and trying to find anything of any substance was difficult. I would do my best to remember what I was going to the store to buy, but when I walked in the door I couldn’t remember. I’d sit in meetings with my studio manager where she would ask about the direction for the new year and I’d draw a blank. “I don’t know.” My mind was filled with thoughts but I couldn’t string them together in a coherent way to save my life.
Each year I take the month of December off from social media. I like to disappear, go work on stuff, and come back feeling fresh. Nearing the end of 2012 I knew I needed to leave all of that behind sooner than December and most likely stay off of it until the spring. My mind was stuck on static and the volume was set to eleven.
Arias has developed a number of strategies for strengthening signal and killing noise. Head on over to Scott Kelby’s blog for the whole shebang.
It’s Guest Blog Wednesday featuring Zack Arias! [Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider]
Getting the perfect shot, from the perfect angle, with the perfect perspective, is an obsession of great photographers and videographers. This is because, although there may not be any one perfect angle from which to capture a moment, a few of them are leaps and bounds more impressive than the others.
In this video from NatGeo’s “The Man Who Can Fly” — a short piece on daredevil adventurer Dean Potter — filmmaker Bryan Smith and shooter Michael Schaefer found one of those angles, and it only took them a mile away from their subject. Read more…
Here’s a gallery of 83 of the best photographs captured by Pete Souza, the official White House photographer for President Obama. You can view thumbnails of the entire set here.
We’ve written about Souza and his work a number of times in the past. We shared a reflection piece of his back in October, and wrote about the fantastic documentary, The President’s Photographer, the year before.
Tyler Shields has led a very successful career — both as a photographer and previously as a skater — and in his talk at Luminance 2012 he spent some time explaining how he differentiates himself in an increasingly photographed world.
Specifically, he spends time explaining that there is photography that gets you “eyeballs” (viewers and attention for your work) and photography that gets you paid. (Warning: The video includes some strong language and a few potentially offensive PG-13 photos.)
Read more…
The New York Times has published a recently-discovered interview photographer W. Eugene Smith gave the American Society of Media Photographers back in 1956. Here’s Smith’s response to the question, “When do you feel that the photographer is justified in risking his life to take a picture?”:
I can’t answer that. It depends on the purpose. Reason, belief and purpose are the only determining factors. The subject is not a fair measure.
I think the photographer should have some reason or purpose. I would hate to risk my life to take another bloody picture for the Daily News, but if it might change man’s mind against war, then I feel that it would be worth my life. But I would never advise anybody else to make this decision. It would have to be their own decision. For example, when I was on the carrier, I didn’t want to fly on Christmas Day because I didn’t want to color all the other Chistmases for my children.
He also shares thoughts on the issues of staging and retouching. It’s a fascinating read. Check out the full interview through the link below.
W. Eugene Smith: ‘I Didn’t Write the Rules, Why Should I Follow Them?’ [NYTimes]
San Francisco resident Ryan Tatar is passionate about two things when he’s not sitting at his desk at a Silicon Valley tech company: surfing and photography… and usually a combination of the two. He has attracted a good deal of attention in both worlds with his lo-fi photographs of surfers, captured with old analog cameras and expired and/or cross-processed films.
In the short video above, Tatar talks about his love for analog photography and introduces us to what he does.
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How well do you know the area in which you live? Or any area you regularly visit, for that matter? This may seem like the question of an idiot — of course you know your area of residence — but do you really? Have you explored every road and back road and high street and side street and pathway and alleyway? I’m aware I str ayed into polysyndeton, but it’s relevant to the question I’m asking: how well do you know the area in which you live?
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If you were watching the Thanksgiving Day NFL football games on TV today, you may have seen the above commercial promoting the Canon Rebel T4i entry-level DSLR. It’s a humorous ad that asks “When was the last time something inspired you to be creative?” and shows a number of photographers putting themselves in uncomfortable (and unsafe) situations in order to capture the photograph they have in their minds eye.
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Sometimes the best thing you can do to improve your photography is leave your camera at home.
Yes, practice is imperative if you want to improve. You do need to learn to work your camera instinctively and make a mastery of the technical aspects needed to create beautiful images.
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