fresh page images

I told you I was studying... :)

2008-10-25T11:48:00.001-07:00

For those of you wondering about the results of yesterday's Lightroom ACE, here are the results:

So, it's taken a few weeks, but I'm finally certified in both Photoshop and Lightroom. Of course, some have said that I'm "certifiable" for many years, but I don't know that we're talking about the same thing.

Now that the certification process is complete, I'll be getting ready to start teaching these applications - along with basic and intermediate digital photography - very soon. Expect to see some significant changes in this blog - both format and content will be changing, as I plan to use this blog as an opportunity to hone my ability to instruct and to continue to offer basic tips and tricks.

Thanks for your patience - and start looking for more content here next week!

Where'd I go?

2008-10-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

Alright, I swore I wouldn't go a month between posts anymore, but I've been so busy studying for the Photoshop ACE that I almost forgot I had a blog! So here's the deal... I missed the cutoff for a passing grade by one question when I took the test last Thursday. As soon as I got home, I scheduled a retest for Monday morning and spent most of the weekend studying.

(An aside: being a Raiders fan has one advantage - even when the game is televised, you often turn it off in frustration after two hours instead of three.)

"So," I hear you asking me, "what happened?" Maybe this will help:

YEAH!!!

Of course, I just loved studying so much {that's sarcasm for those of you unfamiliar with me} that I decided to schedule the Lightroom ACE exam as soon as I got home from the Photoshop ACE. I'll be taking that next Friday, 10/24 and I frankly expect to pass it the first time. It's a less-complicated application and I use just about everything in it - whereas in Photoshop, there were many tools and features I've never used.

These are just the first steps towards becoming a full-fledged Photoshop and Lightroom instructor - but they're necessary steps, and I'm glad to be under way!

Expert? Maybe... maybe not.

2008-09-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that I've been tossing an idea around in my mind for the past few months. That idea? Teaching people, primarily amateur digital photographers, how to use Adobe Photoshop. Now I know there are hundreds - if not thousands - of websites out there that people can visit to get tips & tricks... I know, because I scour a bunch of them pretty regularly. But there aren't too many opportunities for people to get focused classroom time with a certified expert in Photoshop - someone to help them really get their minds around the tools available to them in Photoshop. So, that's where I come in.

But am I an expert? Ah, not yet, says Adobe... I'll be taking the Adobe Certified Expert exam in Photoshop CS3 early in October - then I can say I'm an expert. So I've been studying for the exam and I have to tell you a little secret...

Here it is.

I don't like studying anymore than I did when I was in school.

There, I said it.

So even though I'm having flashbacks of all-nighters powered by caffeine and the foolishness of youth, I'm going to keep studying and getting ready for the ACE exam. Stay tuned for the results... and what happens next!

Photography is a team sport

2008-09-01T15:42:00.000-07:00

If you follow this blog at all, you know that I led a Photowalk of 50 people through downtown Laguna Beach last Saturday. I was a little anxious about 'leading' an event like this - after all, it's not as though I'm a famous (or even superior) photographer... many of the people joining me have been shooting for much longer than I have and I was humbled by the quality of their work.

Ah, but that puts too much emphasis on the "leading" of the walk. Really, all that means is that I helped coordinate the event and make sure that everything went smoothly. What made the walk a success was not leadership, but the people who joined us on the walk. Every one of them was friendly, helpful, willing to share tips and critiques... they made the event the success that it was.

I wanted to remind my readers (all three of you) that if you want to become a better photographer, get out there and shoot with other photographers whenever possible! It doesn't matter if you've been shooting for 20 years and one of the people in your group picked up their first camera last week - you will still learn something from them! (Granted, they'll learn far more from you than vice-versa, but that's okay, too.) Let them review your work and comment on it; you'll understand more about how people view your work.

The following photos were the top three (as judged by me) from our Photowalk.

This was just such a whimsical shot - a fisheye lens, close to the ground for a unique perspective (dog's eye, perhaps) and an entertaining subject. By converting to black & white, the photographer eliminated or minimized much of what would have likely been a distracting background.

This photographer captured a wonderful moment here on the Laguna Beach boardwalk. It was a challenge for me to select this one, because the photographer had many images that were worthy - but this one spoke to me. The location is well-established by the background, the lines of the boardwalk draw the viewer's eye in, and the little girl is a fabulous subject with a great expression.

Finally, the winning photo was this charming close-up, capturing the beach feel of the area while maintaining an intimacy with the subject matter. Excellent composition, colors and depth of field made this an outstanding photograph.

Of course, I suspect that my readers (all three of you, once again) might want to see some of my own work from the day. Here's what I've got for you - click on the images to see the full-sized version:

I'll admit I had to do some Photoshop work to really make this fly, but I really enjoyed this shot.

This abstract of the boardwalk is another example of the rule-of-thirds (see one of my earliest posts) at work. The biggest thing about this image, though, is the texture - to really appreciate it, be sure to click on the photo to see the full-sized version.

I really wanted to 'abstract' the subject a bit, while still keeping it grounded enough to recognize clearly. The reflections of the people walking, and the tiny bit of wave in the upper-left corner may not follow standard rules of composition, but this is an example where breaking the rules works better.

I'll be the first to admit that much of what made my photos work was the time I took in Photoshop to enhance the images. Next time, I'll take you through a step-by-step walkthrough of how I made one of these photos.

Until then, keep shooting!

Photowalk Laguna Beach

2008-08-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know of Scott Kelby - he's the top author of Photoshop books, and a pretty cool guy, to boot. Anyway, he's written a book on Adobe's recently-released Lightroom 2 (see this Amazon link for more info), and is promoting the release by holding a worldwide Photowalk on August 23. For reasons I've yet to understand (perhaps Scott's not quite as bright as I originally thought), I was asked to lead a walk here...

So, next Saturday, I'll be meeting 50 (!!!!) other photographers - from novices to pros - in downtown Laguna Beach where we'll walk around and take photos. Starting at Main Beach Park, we'll work our way down Coast Highway in small groups and spend a couple of hours seeing what we can come up with. Then, when we're done, we'll all gather for a bite to eat and check out everyone's photos. There's a huge prize package for the best photo, so everyone is going to be on their game!

If you're interested in learning more, check out this page on the event. For now, my Photowalk is full - but e-mail me directly if you want on the waiting list... I wouldn't be surprised to get a few more cancellations before the deadline. Also, be sure to check out the main page about the Photowalks - maybe there's one in your area!!

Camera? Check. Lenses? Check. Patience? Ummm...

2008-06-24T13:22:00.000-07:00

When you're photographing in a target-rich environment, there is a strong temptation to snap off a quick shot or two of each subject, then move on to the next one. After all, you want to make sure your friends and family get to see everything you saw... you don't want to miss out, right?

Sort of. But not quite.

I've noticed that many photographers - from folks with point & shoot cameras to gear-hounds with the latest and greatest - seem content with rushing to get a shot and then moving on to the next subject... as if photography were a scavenger hunt instead of an art form. Oh, and before you think I'm being self-righteous, I'll freely admit that I've fallen prey to this mentality on more than one occasion.

We'll spend a lot of money on the right gear... a lot of money on the trip to the right place... and a lot of time to get there. And then we'll spend 30 seconds setting up a shot before moving on to the next location.

I want to suggest that we take our time... whether it's waiting for the right light, the right subject, or the right moment. The following is an example of what a little patience can do...

This first photograph - of a sandhill crane - is nothing special. It didn't make my final "cut" of images from a recent trip to Montana, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it, either.

The composition is adequate, the subject is sharp and well-lit, but there's nothing commendable about the photograph.

I waited. And I waited a bit more.

A few minutes later, a second crane appeared and I started to take more photos. After a minute or two with the two birds together, they finally lined up for a good shot:
The light was significantly better, the subject's "pose" was much better, and the overall impression of the photograph is significantly enhanced.

And all because I waited for a few minutes before moving on.

Patience. It should be in all our camera bags.

The challenge of originality

2008-06-11T16:33:00.000-07:00

a quick comment before I get to the heart of my blog today... I will generally be updating this blog two or three times a week, but didn't get the chance to do so while I was out of town from May 20 through June 1. Since then, I've been dealing with the aftermath of the hard-drive failure discussed in my previous blog entry, but I'm back on track now.

If you enjoy photographing landscapes - particularly at iconic locations like our national parks - you've undoubtedly tried to create images that are like those of the great masters of photography. Your attempt may not have even been on the conscious level - your mind just composed the image in a way that, when you looked at the photograph later, looked vaguely familiar.

Is this lack of originality an entirely bad thing? Or can it be used as a springboard to your own creativity? Are we simply mimicking those who have gone before us, or are we able to develop our own skills by seeing just what our predecessors have managed to create?

I was faced with this very question as I looked out over the Snake River towards the Grand Tetons in Wyoming at the very end of May. Perhaps one of the most iconic photographs ever created, Ansel Adams' "The Tetons and the Snake River" is a truly sublime work of art:

This photograph is © 1942 Ansel Adams. Educational use is covered under the Fair Use doctrine.

When I found myself at the same overlook, I couldn't help but look for his tripod holes! Then again, with the dozens of other people trying to shoot the scene, I was lucky just to find some room. Knowing full well that I am not Ansel Adams, I composed my own version of the scene (click on the photo to see the full-size version):

© 2008 Alan Sisto / freshpageimages. All rights reserved.

It is a slightly different angle and, of course, the trees are much taller than they were in Adams' photograph. Still, anyone who is familiar with Adams' work will see the similarity...

So, does this make me less original? Less of an artist? Not surprisingly, I'd argue that it does not. When it comes to these grand vistas - Yosemite Valley is another example - an entirely unique perspective is nearly impossible to find. (The late Galen Rowell comes to mind, though: he would simply climb a nearby vertical cliff in order to find a new angle - but most of us are not accomplished mountain goats!) What matters isn't just where you put your tripod, but where you put your mind. Sure, I could have tried to re-create Adams' image as precisely as possible, but instead, I created my own version, allowing the light and clouds to dictate the feel of the image. Okay, it's not entirely original; it's like a cover version of a classic rock tune. But it still takes a musician to pull off a great cover...

The point is this: don't be afraid to stand on the shoulders of the giants and learn from their work.

The most important thing you'll ever do.

2008-06-05T16:46:00.001-07:00

We interrupt your regularly-scheduled blog to bring you this vital public service announcement:

ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN

{Rod Serling impression} Imagine, if you will, a computer. One that holds all your priceless memories... photographs of your child's first years, video of your wedding, snapshots from family vacations. Now imagine that you turn on this computer one day, and hear a loud 'clicking' sound emanating from within... your drive has disappeared; your files suddenly inaccessible. No, it's not just a bad dream. You've entered... the crash zone. {end Rod Serling impression}

Like the Twilight Zone episode with William Shatner and that creepy thing on the wing of an airplane, you too WILL open your window one day to see the ugly face that is lost data staring in at you. Are you prepared? Do you have a backup plan - a strategy for maintaining redundant data both on and off-site? Or are you trusting to blind luck?

If it sounds like I'm a little preachy here, it's because I'm hoping that someone wiser than myself will learn from my mistake. I'm running a Mac Pro - a very stable computer that only crashes on me when I'm running a Microsoft application (a little tech-related humor there for ya). But system stability is not necessarily reflective of hard-drive longevity. I'd been keeping all my data - including irreplaceable business-related photographs from my commercial/architectural shoots - on one large terabyte external drive. And, like I preached above, I did have a backup plan... the problem is that I wasn't executing it. So when my hard-drive failed on June 1, I may have lost nearly three months of images and documents. I say "may have" because the drive is currently in surgery and the data "may be" recoverable... but like any other surgery, it's very expensive. (This is where I throw in the old adage that "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure".) For the amount of money that I'm spending trying to recover the lost data (and there's still no guarantee of success!), I could have bought a second identical drive, a backup application to manage the process, and still had enough money to buy a new lens or two. Not to mention the peace of mind that I'd have right now. Okay, enough about me... let's make sure this never happens to you.

So what is the right strategy for you? In this blog entry, we'll talk about on-site data redundancy - in other words, making sure you have a handy backup right there next to you. We'll save the discussion of off-site data storage next time.

First things first - how much data do you have? Are you able to keep your computer's OS, applications and all your data (music, videos, pictures) on just one internal hard drive? If so, a single external hard drive hooked up via FireWire or USB 2.0 is the easiest solution. Hard drive storage space is getting cheaper by the day, so there's no excuse not to do this. Just be sure that the external drive is at least as large as your internal drive - preferably larger.

If, like me, you've got an internal drive for your OS and applications and a separate, external hard drive for your data, then you'll need either two drives (one to mirror each of your drives), or one large drive that has enough storage to copy both your internal and external drives. For instance, if you have a 250 MB internal HD and a 500 MB external HD, you should plan on getting a 750 MB external HD to store the information from both.

Now, we come to the second question - are you on a PC or a Mac? If you're using a Mac equipped with Leopard, you've probably already discovered the smooth and effortless backup application known as Time Machine. This is a perfect solution, but requires that you have one destination drive to hold all your data - so be sure to get one that's big enough to grow with your data storage needs. This shouldn't be a problem - you can easily get 1TB drives for $200 to $250 these days, so go big.

If you're running a PC or a pre-Leopard Mac, you'll need to look at software applications to help create, manage and execute your backup plan. On the PC side of things, there are a number of great applications out there, starting with Genie-Soft's Backup Manager. For the Mac users not able to utilize Leopard's Time Machine, Memeo makes a great backup application that's easy to setup and use. Both of these applications are able to backup across multiple drives, so you don't have to have one single, huge, drive. If you've already got a few 250GB drives, this is a great way to go.

Whatever you choose, just be sure to have a backup plan and follow through with it. You'll thank me someday... okay, maybe not, but you will be glad you did.

Sometime soon, we'll look at off-site backup - because all the backup in the world won't help you when little Johnny burns your house to the ground.

Simple Composition - Rule of Thirds

2008-05-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a general photographic tip that will help everyone create better images, whether you're shooting film or digital, point-and-shoot or dSLR. Today we're going to look at a basic compositional technique known as "the rule of thirds". Don't worry, you don't have do any math to get this right - in fact, once you see a few examples, you'll completely understand this simple concept and it'll change how you take photos.

Let's start with a typical photo where the subject is in the middle of the frame. This is how most beginners take a picture - they put the subject under the little dot in their viewfinder and push the button:

Now, there's nothing particularly wrong with this image, but it's not very exciting. The subject is obvious - an old windmill in the middle of a field of grass. The problem is, it's dead center - and that's usually dead wrong.

Now if you were a modern-day Don Quixote, using a rifle to hunt your windmill prey, this would be a good shot. But it's not a good photograph. (Usually - we'll talk about the exceptions to the rule on the next tip.)

This is where the "rule of thirds" comes into play. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid, dividing the frame into thirds horizontally and vertically:

Ideally, any strong horizontal or vertical lines that are in the photograph - like the horizon or the windmill, in this case - should be found along one of these grid lines.

Also, around the center of the image are four intersections - these "power points" are away from the edges of the frame, but they're not too close to the middle, either. These are great spots to put the subject of your photograph.

Now, let's put this grid over our picture and see what we get:

See our problem? There's nothing at the "power points". We don't even have any of the lines that are in the photograph (the vertical line of the windmill or the horizon) on one of the lines created with our grid. So, let's re-compose and see what happens:

Now, not only do we put the primary part of the subject at one of the "power points", but we've also lined up the horizon and the windmill on grid lines. We've even managed to get another naturally-occurring line in the photograph (where the gold grass of the foreground turns into the green grass of the midground) to line up on a "rule of thirds" line. Now, let's take away the grid and see if we have a better picture:

Go ahead and take a moment to compare this image to the first example. Which one do you think works better? Which one keeps you looking at it longer? Which one draws your attention? Which one is more dynamic? Which one just feels better?

Now you're saying, "but this is a square photo - my camera doesn't take square pictures!" That's okay, neither does mine. But the rule still holds...

Ah, I can hear you now... "what about a photo without a horizon?" I've got you covered - here's a shot I took last month in the Smokies:

Let's overlay our grid on this photograph and see what we have:

Notice how the center of the subject - the hub of the mill's wheel - is at one of the intersections? Do you see any other parts of the photograph that fall along the lines? How about the trough feeding water onto the top of the wheel? Or the vertical spoke of the mill wheel?

This same concept works for portraits, too. Here's a photograph of a client of mine:

Now, let's put the overlay on it and analyze it:

We have the subject's face close to one of the "power points". It's not exactly there, but that's okay... like Captain Barbossa said, "they're more like... guidelines." But you see, photographers talking about "the guideline of thirds" wouldn't sound as knowledgeable... thus "the rule of thirds". Okay, back to work. The face is near a "power point" and his torso runs vertically close to the left-hand thirds line. The horizon and pier are along the top thirds line, providing even more balance.

What about an even simpler portrait? Something where it's just a person and nothing else? Alright, let's have a look at a family friend:

Say it with me now... "aawwwwww". Okay, now to put on our overlay and study the image:

We're naturally drawn to a subject's eyes first - it's just human nature. So, I placed one of her eyes at a "power point" and used the grid to help me compose the rest of the image, with her smile along the bottom third line and her eyes both on the top third line. And, even though the middle of her face is in the 'dead center' of the photograph, the image still works because her face is only in the right-hand two-thirds, with empty space on the left-hand third. (We need that space for other reasons, but we'll talk about the concept of "leading space" in another tip.)

That's it for now, but I hope these examples help you understand the mysterious "rule of thirds". Now that you know how simple it is to compose images using this technique, get out there and shoot!

Feel free to comment or ask questions - I'm happy to help!

Welcome!

2008-05-12T14:17:00.000-07:00

Through an unfortunate incident involving a microwave, a time machine and a Twinkie (I should have used a Zinger), all my former blog entries were deleted. Yes, that's right - this tech-savvy, web 2.0 guy managed to delete the wrong blog this morning. Say it with me - "ooops".

But stick around - because I'll be blogging more frequently than I did before the aforementioned mixup. What will I be blogging about? Good question - here's a better answer: photography tips and tricks, including digital-specific issues as well as Photoshop and other post-processing pointers. Over the next few weeks, expect to see blog entries on the following:

basic photo composition & technique
exposure and the three things that make up every exposure (ISO, shutter speed and aperture)
light - and some simple ways to enhance and manipulate it
how to improve your family snapshots
how to manage your growing library of digital photos
simple Photoshop tips that will dramatically improve your photos

If you have a specific question or issue that you'd like me to tackle, just let me know and I'll blog on it just for you! See you back here soon... but in the meantime, keep shooting!