Top 5 Photography Tips and Tricks

Here are my top five photography tips and tricks that I have learned in the past year.

1. Always keep a camera with you at all times. I can't tell you how many times I have been places and I kick myself wishing I would have a camera with me. So what is better getting a great shot with a camera phone or maybe not getting the shot at all because you don't have a professional camera with you? Not only do I have a camera on my phone, but I carry with me a very good point and shoot camera that is waterproof and drop proof from Nikon. 
2. You need to decide on what you want to focus on before you take the picture. If you want to show someone having fun, then show their face more than what they are doing. This will add to the emotions in your picture. If you are taking a scenic picture than have the picture of the scenery. Mixing people in scenic photography usually doesn't work unless you have more tricks up your sleeve.
3. Extreme brightness and dark shadows are your enemies. Bright bright photographs usually end up with blown out parts in it. Low light situations usually end up with a lot of graininess and blurry pictures. Your best bet is to find lighting in the middle, not too bright not too dark.
4. One photograph is never enough. When taking a photograph of one subject like a person sitting on a bench for example, one photograph is not enough. Changing angles and distance from the subject will dramatically change the feeling and look of your photographs. 



Iraq 2010

5. My last tip is, think before you click. The more you think before you take the picture the less you will need to edit afterwards and you will get a better shot too. 

Thanks for reading I will have more tips and tricks as I come across them to share with you, my wonderful blog readers.

~Kelly

Expressionism

So here are my favorites from the final sessions with my coworker. I’ve never done work like this, using props and turning ideas into photographs. These seem to be a bit on the abstract side of art, showing a man in business attire with muck on his face or with a sledgehammer. We did have fun making these photographs and it was a bit of a challenge to work with his ideas and trying to execute them when I don’t really know what each element meant to him. As we worked and talked I got a better understanding of what he wanted but for some reason I tend to like more of the images that make him look like a gentleman just by himself. This abstract and expressionistic way of photography is something I will need to work on and develop as I develop my craft because this is a great way to get out ideas if they are done right. This session has started my own ideas flowing. My notebook is filling up with interesting things and ideas about how I can convey ideas and feelings through photographs and not just capture nice and friendly things or moments in time.

Session Communication

This is the first set of photos taken with a coworker of mine. We went to the base of a mountain close to where we live and work and in this shallow streambed we found the perfect place to shoot some photos. We have never hung out before and this is really the first time we have ever come together to work on a project we both had interest in. He had some ideas of what he wanted and so did I. We started off the session a bit stiff and some of the photos show it so I changed tactics. Instead of chatting with him like a coworker and assuming he understands what I’m thinking, I started to chat with him like he is a client. I wanted to get him to 1, trust me and 2, open up and let me see his real smile or brooding face. (I think he likes photos of himself looking serious but the smirks are very nice too) 

 As we chatted and we both loosened up I got better results in showing true emotions. To me, a photograph without emotion is just a picture. So my take away and advice for anyone working with people you know but kind of don't really know is this… 
When you're in a session it’s a new world, and they are not the person that you know from work or whatever, they are a client and therefore for the time being your best friend in the world. I must say in retrospect that after we began this project we have developed a different relationship even at work. We may not be chummy but at least I can now call him a friend.

Higher Education

Higher education is something that I thought I could never do nor did I ever think I really needed it. Now with the economy the way its going and no end in sight I want to take my skills to another level and the way I am going to achieve this is going back to school. The military has taught me that now one is indispensable and there is always someone that can take your place and maybe they could even do a better job. Starting out on my own and wanting to make my passion in to a business this scenario is not an option for me. I want to be the best photographer I can be and that means going to school and challenging myself to do better. I want to provide the best photographs I can to my clients. I want to over deliver, over achieve, and do it at a price that I can live on and allow everyone not just people with means great photographs that help tell their stories.
 

Labeling yourself as a professional photographer means to me saying to the world that you are educated in not just the fundamentals but in advanced techniques and have a personal style that others can try and emulate but may never achieve. I feel that I have a good grasp on the fundamentals and I defiantly have a style but I want to challenge my self and prove that I can do some of the more advanced photography like you see in magazines and art books. Going back to school will force me to practice these skills and I’m sure I will need to change some of my ways of doing things so I can achieve a more telling story through my work. I know there are a lot of great well knows photographers out there that have never went to a photography school and they are working on pure talent but they are few. Every career field has these people and I’m ok with that. But I just need a little kick-start. I have always been the type of person that could never take the next step unless I was completely confident in every aspect of it. Some day I will call myself a professional, but until then… I’m just a passionate photographer that wants to tell a story.