Craigslist Scam

IF YOU ARE RESPONDING TO AN AD ON CRAIGS LIST THAT SAYS I AM LOOKING FOR AN ASSISTANT, DO NOT RESPOND TO IT AS IT IS A SCAM!!! CONTACT CRAIGSLIST AND FLAG THE AD IMMEDIATELY.

Tips on composition

TIPS ON COMPOSITION

Following our weekly lessons here at PPSOP (www.ppsop.com), a weekly assignment is given to every student. This past week, after reviewing the work turned in from Assignment Six in our Understanding Exposure class, I was reminded again of just how much beginning and intermediate photographers need to be ever mindful of two compositional principles as they work towards the goal of creating the Perfect Picture.

Principal one:

Keep a watchful eye on the background!

Anyone who knows me, will attest to my unwillingness to head out the door to shoot wildlife. I can be patient, but NOT when it comes to waiting on wildlife to “do their thing”. And even if they “do their thing” e.g. the Bald Eagle swopping down across the bay to grab a salmon, there is no guarantee that at that moment I am lucky enough to have the right lens, the right light and/or the right point of view. Animals are more unpredictable than a roomful of two year-olds.
However, when I heard about a “rain forest” like setting in a 4-acre netted enclosure (complete with more than 40 different tropical bird species and bird feeding stations) I reconsidered my position on this matter and sure enough, like many other shooters, I was soon ‘feasting’ on tropical birds in a natural setting at the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore.

In this first image, do you see that the background is filled with ‘contrast shifts’? Note the large white globs of light to the right and left of the bird and the yellow glob of tone to the left of the bird. These two contrast shifts cause the eye to jerk away from the real hero of the shot, the bird.
Have you ever been in a movie theater and during the show, someone heads out the exit door into the afternoon bright light? That sudden shift in contrast, dark to bright light, gets your attention really quick! And so do the two contrast shifts we see here.
The solution in this case was not only a simple one, but it leads into the second tip towards better compositions: turning the camera vertically! As you can see in this next photo, I turned the camera vertically and moved a few inches to the right and this simple solution cleaned up the white and yellow contrast shifts. Now the eye is free to relax and enjoy the ‘movie’! (Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens at f/5.6 at a 1/640 second ISO 200)

Principal two:

When is the best to shoot a vertical? Right after you shoot the horizontal!

Not all of the time—but most of the time—you can compose each and every subject in either the horizontal or vertical format. It may take some moving around, shifting your point of view, moving closer or backing up, or even changing a lens. But, the benefits of shooting your subject in both formats are obvious.
Benefit number one is that when you crop that horizontal into a vertical IN camera, you won’t see a loss in image quality since you still have the same amount of pixels! Cropping a vertical out of a horizontal via your computer will ALWAYS mean a loss in image quality since you have just “thrown away” about half of your pixels and without the needed pixels that vertical image will make it as a high-quality enlargement.
When you get in the habit of shooting the vertical, in camera, right after you shoot the horizontal, you’ll of course be spending less time on the computer, allowing you more time to shoot!. Additionally, should the day ever come when you wish to sell you work, you’ll be more than ready: Should a client express interest in one of your horizontals and then ask if it is available in the vertical format, you can meet the demand and, thirty days later, deposit that check for your first magazine cover!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse is one of the most photographed lighthouses along Oregon’s Coast, but when looking at the many images that hang in the Coastal Art Galleries and on postcard racks, rare is the sighting of a vertical of this proud and dignified beacon of light. And such is the emotional message of the vertical frame; it is proud, dignified, active and no doubt “going places” in contrast to the horizontal frame whose message is calm, tranquil and restful.
With my 70-200mm Nikkor lens mounted on tripod, combined with my Lee 3-stop GND filter and my FLW magenta filter, I first shot the horizontal and than quickly followed up with the vertical. (Both exposures were shot at F/11 at a ¼ second with 200 ISO)


All my best-
Bryan F Peterson
bryanfpeterson@mac.com
Founder/PPSOP

New How to Video Streams up at PPSOP

I have just uploaded 2 new video streams to PPSOP that I think you will really enjoy!

Click here to see them or go to

http://videos.ppsop.com/index.html



Bryan F Peterson
Founder PPSOP.com

Language of Seeing

AGREE OR DISAGREE-
THE FOLLOWING TWO LOCATIONS ARE ABSOLUTLEY, POSITIVELY, WITHOUT A DOUBT, FULLY CAPABLE OF OFFERING UP TWO TRULY COMPELLING IMAGES?

IF you don’t agree then perhaps you aren’t quite fluent in the foreign language of seeing creatively. Let me explain. I have lived abroad on two separate occasions. From 1989-1991 I lived in Bavaria, Germany and Amsterdam, Holland and from 1999-2008 I lived in Lyon, France. Fortunately for me, 88% of Dutch people speak fluent English so my stay in Holland was less challenging, but not so in Germany and definitely not so in France. Needless to say my challenge would be to communicate my needs, hopes and desires in a foreign language IF I truly wanted to integrate myself into their respective cultures. A daunting task perhaps, but there is nothing like the full immersion method. Just like throwing a baby into a swimming pool where it quickly learns to swim, I too quickly learned ‘how to swim’. The few phrase books I had brought with me were quickly retired, not because I had mastered the language, but rather because no one seemed to speak in the phonetic manner that these phrase books suggested. But in well under 3-months, I was soon speaking just enough German and French to get myself both in and out of trouble! As the months continued to unfold, my confidence took a sharp turn upward as I could sense my adventure on foreign soil was moving forward at a much faster pace and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

And what does any of this have to with learning how to see creatively? EVERYTHING! Truth be told, your camera and lens(es) are a foreign country, a country where your camera and lens(es) do speak a language all their own. Until you are willing to learn the language your lenses speak, fluently I might add, your attempts at picture making will require constant translation.

Some of us can pick up the language of ‘seeing creatively’ quicker than others but I also believe that if given enough time everyone can speak the language of ‘seeing creatively’. I have seen and taught too many students to believe otherwise. And the road to speaking and seeing fluently is made much shorter when you put the language of your lenses to work, week in and week out. Obviously you won’t become proficient at speaking French if you go to one French class a year or visit only Paris for two weeks every five years. The same is true in learning to see creatively; visual fluency requires weekly practice.

Are you ready for lesson #1? Do you know what language your wide-angle lens speaks? Are you even sure you have a wide-angle lens? How close can it focus? What is its maximum angle of view? These questions need your answers and they can only be answered of course when you put the camera and lens up to your eye!

Today most if not all shooters are running around with at least one variable focal length lens, the “street zoom” as I call them, e.g. 18-70mm, 17-40mm, 24mm-105mm etc. and with a lens like that there is no excuse why you can’t be banging out one prize winner after another-no excuse at all!

Assuming that you have one of those “street zooms” and depending on its focal length, set the focal length to either 17mm or 18mm or 24mm and make a point to not change this focal length at any time during this exercise. Now choose a subject (a favorite barn or oak tree) or take your spouse, friend, or child into the backyard or over to the local park. From whatever distance is necessary, place your subject so that it falls in the middle of the frame, allowing for a lot of “empty space” above, below, and to both sides. With the camera still at your eye, make your first exposure and then begin walking toward your subject. Every five paces, take another exposure, mindful of course to keep the subject in focus. Keep walking closer until your lens can no longer capture the subject in sharp focus.

One thing is sure to result from this exercise. Your first composition will record not only your main subject, but also all of that other stuff that probably detracts from it, and your final composition should record a close-up of your subject, which not only cuts out that other stuff but maybe cuts out some important stuff, too.

Now, without changing the focal length, repeat the exact same exercise while on your knees and then again while on your belly. Finally, once you’ve gotten as close to your subject as you can, and making that last shot while on your belly, turn over onto your back and take just one more shot while shooting straight up.

While walking on your knees, you no doubt discovered a far more intimate portrait of the small child or perhaps recorded a far more intimate “portrait” of the barn that had the added drama of depth and perspective since the field that surrounds it now fills up the foreground of the image. Perhaps also, while on your belly, you discovered a wonderful and fresh composition of the surrounding park framed through the feet and lower legs of your friend or spouse. And, most of all, you learned the inherent vision, when combined with differing points of view, of your ‘street zoom’ and that includes everything it can and can’t do.

But, you’ve only just begun! Make a point to do the same exercises at 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 60mm, 70mm, 80mm, 90mm, and 105mm. Switch over to your tele-zooms and start this exercise all over, shooting at various focal lengths up to 200mm (or 300mm if you have it). If you maintain this regimen of “eye exercises” once a week for the next six months, you will soon be speaking the visual language of your lenses, fluently!

And when you are fluent in seeing creatively, you will see the two compelling images that are yours for the taking
from the above two images.

Image#1-Nikon 300D, Nikkor 70-200mm at 200mm at f/5.6 at a 1/60 scene.

Image #2-Lecia D-Lux 4 in close focus mode, f/4 at a 1/60 second.

Your lenses are anxious to share their unique language with you! Why not get started today!?


All my best-
Bryan F Peterson

Correct Exposures-VS-Creatively Correct Exposures

By Bryan F Peterson
Founder PPSOP.com

Did you know that most picture taking situations have at least six possible combinations of f/sops and shutters speeds that will ALL result in the ‘same’ correct exposure? Furthermore, did you also know that despite having six possible correct exposures only one, maybe two, would be the ‘creatively’ correct exposure?
Every ‘correct’ exposure is nothing more then the quantitative value of an aperture and shutter speed working together within the ‘confines’ of a predetermined ‘ISO’. For the sake of argument lets say we are both out shooting some flowers in a meadow and we are both using a film speed of 100 ISO and an aperture opening of f/5.6 and whether we are shooting in manual mode or aperture priority mode the light meter indicates a correct exposure at 1/250 second. What other combinations of aperture openings (f/stops) and shutter speeds can we use and still record a ‘correct’ exposure? If I suggest we use an aperture of f/8 what would the shutter speed now be? Since we have cut the lens opening in half (f/5.6 to f/8) I will now need to double my shutter speed time to a 1/125 second to record a correct exposure, (1/250 sec + 1/250 sec= 2/250 which equals a 1/125 second). On the other hand, If I suggest that we use an aperture of f/4 what would the shutter speed now be? Since we have just doubled the size of the lens opening (f/5.6 to f/4) I will now need to cut my shutter speed in half (1/500 second) to record the same ‘quantitive value exposure’.
Now let’s put this into practice and pretend that nine of us have all got together for an evening of shooting. We break into three groups. One third of the group will shoot this night scene at f/4 for at a ½ second, the other third will shoot the scene at a f/8 for two seconds while the remaining third of the group will shoot the scene at f/16 for 8 seconds. You know what? All of us just shot the exact same CORRECT EXPOSURE! Even though each group’s f/stops and shutter speeds were different, the end result was the same; all three groups recorded a correct exposure. However, it’s very clear in this case, that the group, which shot the longest exposure, ended up with the most exciting composition!

f/4 for 1/2 sec

f/2 for 2 sec

f/16 for 8 seconds

Duct Tape

I was recently hired to shoot a series of images for a company called FLEX Solutions in Orange County California. FLEX Solutions is an industry leader in the area of 3rd party logistics and their goal was to convey their speed and efficiency to their clients. Motion-filled images were the ultimate goal and the obvious solution towards recording these motion filled images would involve some rather precarious camera positions.
Among the 1520 images I shot over the course of two day’s, about 30% of them of them required attaching the camera to several of the many lift trucks that operated inside their 200,000 sq. foot warehouse. Ask any commercial photographer what one vital tool of their trade is, and the answer will be ‘duct tape’ and on this particular shoot, duct tape was once again KING! With my tripod at full extension, I was able to jam the lower 18” of the legs in between the pallet of Dole Pineapple and after wrapping the legs and portions of the pallet in duct tape, I was “off to the races”.


With my camera and 12-24mm lens mounted securely to the tripod head and as the lift truck driver drove between the many rows of products, I walked in a hurried pace, firing the camera with the attached cable release. With the camera in Aperture Priority mode and with my aperture set to f/22, my exposure times varied between ¼ second and 1 full second. (The light values would vary as the lift trucks ventured down different aisles.) In addition, due to the tungsten lighting that was in the ceiling overhead, I had set my white balance to TUGNSTEN. A number of exposures turned out quite well that day and if I could offer just one piece of advice, duct tape would be it!

If you want to see more of this check out our huge selection of classes at www.PPSOP.com

Welcome To My New Blog!

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new blog! I finally decided to move into the 21st century, and created this blog to keep you informed of my current and upcoming on location photography workshops that I teach all over the world.

I will also be updating the blog with announcements, news, tips, tricks, and just about anything and everything to help take you photography skills to a whole new level.

I want to thank you for taking the time to visit, and hope to see you out on location someday!

All my best,
Bryan F. Peterson