De-Cluttering

     Sorry I'm so late. . . whew - wipes forehead.  I spent yesterday de-cluttering "my room" which had basically  become a catch-all room.  It had to be done, it was looking eerily like a hoarder's room filled with props, half-full storage containers, and cardboard boxes with darkroom equipment.  Now its nice and clean - but the closet is stuffed!
     So, I spent the day cleaning and in the evening I watched this lecture on Harry Callahan (pretty good to learn some trivial stuff if you've got an hour), and I got to thinking about my photographic inventory.  Uh, how I hate it, I mean the work part of it.  But now that I have a large collection that's ever growing I think there's a need to take it more seriously.
      Probably like you, my photos are filed by date.  But as your collection grows wouldn't it be nice to search for them by theme or style.  Here's the plan to ketchup:

1.  Create Folders for Subjects - Landscapes, Portraits, Macro, Food, Flowers, and so on
2.  As you shoot, save by date and filter "choice" shots into Subjects
3.  During free time - start at the beginning and work through your inventory

   My advise to you: start now, or soon anyway.

     There's a point to all of this.  I just don't know what it is, just kidding.  Your photos will look better as a collection.  For example:

     These three photos were taken months apart, but they work great together to show her personality.  However, in order to get them together I had to search in three different folders instead of being able to find them all in one titled "V".  All's well that ends well, but next time it will be easier.  I hope this works for you, and it'll be fun finding some lost gems in your archives.

Photography for Your Memories

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

     For the upcoming Holidays I've got a few tips for your memory books.  And I'll keep it short and simple so you can get back to planning, shopping, and one of my personal favorites: Eating!

'Tis the Season for Pecan Pies!

     Whether your photographing a Graduation, Wedding, or something as simple as Baking Cookies with the kids use these tips to help create the pictures that will help bring the moment back to life when you go to reminisce down the road.

1.  What's the Story (Morning Glory)?
     Who, What, When, Where and How.  I know, I know, it sounds like an English assignment from 4th grade, but trust me it's easier now that there's no due date.

2.  As the Story Unfolds.
     Be sure to show the progression of events especially tight detail shots, i.e. flour going into mixing bowl, sticky fingers, rolling, cutting, resting, decorating . . .

3.  And Finally The Finale -
     The fruits of your labors.  For example: a group shot, eating cookies, piece of cake/pie on plate or so on.

And I almost forgot MSN is doing a $500 prize thing for your Fall Theme Photos, didn't take much to enter, a picture and an address.  Not much time left, enter soon and I hope you win!  Here's the link- http://postbox.msn.com/

Numero Uno

     I'm sure if you're reading this you've probably read at least 5 other "how-to" photography sites. Thanks for visiting this one.  You're probably also tired of reading about the rule of thirds, freezing motion, the golden hour, etc, etc.  Freakin' boring right, I mean how many times can you read about it?  Please don't get me wrong, they are the foundation for a safe photograph, especially if you're using precious film as a portrait photographer.  But who is these days?  Most people with a decent camera are hobbyists that want to get a little better, and maybe, just maybe, make a little extra money.

What I hope to bring with this blog is add sense of rebellion (if you don't have one already) toward the rules.  Taking your photos in another direction, adding texture, dimension, and overall character.


Now that the introduction is taken care of, on to the fun stuff.  That's my first lesson, have fun.  


The photo I will be using is from a session when I brought my family out to an art park to get some portraits of us, something I don't do nearly enough for my own family. Anyway, we left a little later than I wanted (I'm impatient), it was too hot for pants, I was thirsty, and nothing was working.  And my craptastic attitude was showing in my photos, not so fun.  Thank goodness my wife and kid are fantastic at putting up with me.  Editing software to the rescue!


Here's Photo from the shoot:

Straight From Camera, blah, the ladies are posing great, but the rest of the frame is doing them a disservice.

After the Attitude Adjustment

Personally I like the second version (I could be a biased though after the blood, sweat, and tears).  If you're like me keep reading.  If not, change the channel.

The process was actually very easy to do with a program that I found on Google Chrome called "Pixlr-O-Matic" and Photoshop, naturally.  Pixlr-O-Matic allows for easy, and fun, photo character building with several cross-processing effects, burn and bokeh overlays, and textured borders. But, I don't want to get into specifics on the "how-to's", they'll come later on other, more specific shots.  The idea of this post is just that, an idea:  have fun with the editing process.  I will say this, since pixlr-o-matic was sooo easy, I had time to "draw" the skull and bones in Photoshop Elements (8).  And I'll add that if you haven't already, play around in Photoshop also, especially layers and their blending modes.  Layers are your friend, they will help your photos come to life with contrast, color, and effect.   Don't be scared of them.

Alright, since I'm new at this; I'm going to end here with a challenge.  Find a picture, and make it better.  And remember it was Ansel Adams who said,  "You don't take a photograph, you make it."