“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float, To gain all while you give, To roam the roads of lands remote, To travel is to live.” ― Hans Christian Andersen

Travelling and photography are two different things that mysteriously complement each other. What other way to immortalize and share a fragment of the world through your eyes if not by photographing them exactly how you see them.

This month’s Indie Spotlight shines bright on Mike Fennel from the Golden State of California, USA. Mike practically lives on the road as he is always on the move so it is only natural that his primary focus & subjects of photography is everything that he sees and experience first hand with a majority of his work showcasing nature’s beauty and amazing landscapes.

Kit:

Mike has chosen one of the excellent ‘not for the faint hearted’ cameras that money can buy, Nikon’s magnificent D800 FX coupled together with Nikkor 24mm-120mm f/4 and Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 to express his views and interpretations of the world to everyone. He found himself using the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 most of the time due to the clarity of its fast glass and bokeh effects it produces which compliments Mike’s soft focus style, dreamlike backgrounds, accompanied by sharp and detailed foregrounds.

Workflow:

Mike has been trying his hand at High Dynamic Range (HDR) lately so more than 90% of his landscape shots comprise of  HDR. In order for him to capture and utilize pure unadulterated sunlight in his imaging, he uses a tripod so he can use lower ISO speeds together with longer shutter speed for most of his HDR work. Mike will then import his shots into Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro for them to undergo some enhancements before transferring them to Apple’s Aperture for some final touches.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Mike has been receiving favorable feedback on his photographs, particularly his works that include an element of sky. He enjoys making them soft and colorful, sometimes for pure aesthetics and at other times is to focusing on an exquisitely detailed foreground. Trying to mix large aperture setting with a long shutter speed can be tricky in many situations but Mike always varies them in order to get that perfect shot in his own unique style.

Mike’s combination of long shutter speeds and large apertures  is tricky because a large aperture will take some focus off of the clouds while the long shutter speed will blur them into a soft texture. Once these sky shots has been imported into Aperture, Mike uses the skin softener brush to go over the sky and try to make the clouds and sky more softer while increasing the saturation.

Inspiration:

Mike admires a number of very talented photographers whose works inspires him to do better in every way possible. Two of them are Trey Ratcliff; A modern HDR landscape photographer; and Ansel Adams who is the father of landscape photography.

What’s Next:

Next on Mike’s list? Scandinavia. There’s literally thousands of amazingly beautiful photos of Scandinavian countries – From the ice fields in Iceland, the enormous valleys in Norway, to the colorful homes popping out of the snow, and of course the Aurora Borealis – and Mike would love to have the chance to capture photos of these amazing scenes himself. Mike would also like to improve more on his skills in documentary style of shooting which basically means he needs to learn the art of natural light portraits and candid shots. As of February 2013 he has taken a 3 month trip to South East Asia and like you we shall eagerly await his photographs from the trip.  He  thinks it will be a great place to work on those skills.

Links:

Mike can be reached online either via his website, Facebook, and Google+.

Houston, we have had a problem!

Over the past few weeks we have experienced crippling challenges with the site. I recent weeks a database problem made it impossible to add content to your favorite photography site. At times it also crippled the site from rendering pages as you requested them in your browser. I’m now very pleased to advise that those times are now behind us! Additionally, in the past week we have taken the opportunity to move the entire site to Amazon’s Elastic Computing Cloud.

OK, enough of the Babel! What this means to you is that Fuel Your Photography is back and it is going to be faster and better than ever. It means that you have some great new articles on the way including some awesome new Indie Spotlights from around the world and great new tutorials, inspirational articles from our team of writers who have taken the break from writing during our downtime to practice their craft and shoot new and exciting images.

We are excited to be back and thankful for the opportunity to be a catalyst for your photography. We look forward to bringing you some exciting new techniques to grow your own skill. If there are any techniques or topics you’d like us to cover let me know by dropping me an email or commenting on this article.

It is great to be back! Until next time.

Take care!

-  Jeremy
Editor-in-Chief

Ahh, envy! The Green Eyed Monster!  I’ve experienced it many times, and it usually involves a lens.  Lens envy.  Not to be confused with the Freudian envy involving a body part.  We experience envy all the time and it’s not a bad thing, it’s a natural part of who we are as humans but don’t confuse envy with jealousy.

Let’s ask Wikipedia for the definition of both:

Jealousy is an emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection.

Envy is best defined as a resentful emotion that “occurs when a person lacks another’s (perceived) superior quality, achievement or possession and wishes that the other lacked it.”

Both jealousy and envy are natural emotions. Small amounts of jealousy can actually keep a relationship together or inspire attentive actions. Envy can motivate action. Both emotions come from primal instincts that serve to protect our families, our possessions and ourselves.

Envy on the other hand is about coveting something you don’t have. The person you envy has what you want. This leads to self sabotage becauset he more unfair you think the situation is, the more you will find ways to demean the person you envy. Then instead of working to achieve more, you justify the reasons for staying in an inferior situation.

Arghh!!

Let’s face it, now that almost every artist and their creative brother are online showing off their handiwork, it’s easier than ever to become jealous of …

• their photos/artwork/writing/music
• their sales
• their really cool website
• the hundreds of comments on their blog
• hearing about all of their recent exhibitions and gushing publicity
• not to mention their legions of fawning friends and followers on Twitter and Facebook

I mean, sometimes it’s enough to make you want to crawl back into your creative little hole and hibernate until the coming zombie apocalypse.

Why is it so easy for us to experience envy? Think about it: as artists we spend our time creating art, photographic images, paintings, whatever your creative medium is, straight from our soul.  It exposes us so much that even our deepest emotions can come through and that leaves us open and exposed to criticism and makes us vulnerable.  So when we see things that other people have, or that they have been honored with some acclamation or award, we occasionally see that green eyed monster rear its head.

I‘ve had those moments where I’ve said to myself, “I should be the one recognized for that. How did they get the breaks and I didn’t?”

AND

“I have been making those types of images for years. How come I’m not the one who is famous for those ideas?”

If you have had similar thoughts, these are great questions to ask – yourself.

Can we learn by embracing this monster? Absolutely!

To help me tame the Green Eyed Monster, I whip out these 8 techniques. They lead me out of the clouds of jealousy and envy and back home, to self-acceptance:

1. Get more information.

Most of the time we envy one quality about a person, and we presume the rest of his/her qualities are as perfect as the one we want. That’s usually not the case. Do some research on the person you want to temporarily destroy and you will find that he/she have their own set of problems and weaknesses. My point: you don’t have the full story. Once you realize none of us are perfect, you’ll feel better.

2. Compliment them.

“WHAT?!? You can’t be serious, right?” Wasn’t that your first thought?  Actually I am serious. I have tried it numerous times and it works. It gives you the ability to recognize their talents and that’s being gracious.  I usually get a great compliment in return too, which is a great ego boost as well.

3. Find one thing that you do better than him/her.

I believe that if you don’t succeed at first … you keep trying… and that failure teaches us about success.

Remember, they didn’t wake up one day with all this success, they had to earn it.  Recognize their hard work and look back on your self and your life for the last few years and remember your successes.  You are where you are today because you made changes and moved along.  There has to be one thing that you have done better than anyone else, otherwise you wouldn’t be in the position you are.

4. Put the boxing gloves away.

His/Her success doesn’t take away from yours. One person’s success doesn’t rob another of success. In fact, success can often breed success.

5. Learn from them.

Your frienemy is doing something right if he/she has your attention. There is a reason you are threatened. So, get out your scribbling pad and take some notes.

6. Go to the core.

Whenever I’m scheming to take down some chick who could (in my head anyway) destroy me with her success, or start in with the self-loathing because I don’t do something as well as my cousin’s best friend’s fiancé, I know that it’s time to go back mentally to where I found myself. Repeating the affirmation, “Only you can create your own happiness.”

7. Re-find yourself.

Give yourself a pep talk. Pump yourself up. Remember the many great talents you do have. Maybe sketch out some goals for yourself. What do you need to do to be able to go forward with more confidence? What specific actions will allow you to believe in yourself a tad more?

8. Do your best.

The ultimate weapon against jealousy and envy is simply to do your best. Because that’s all you really can do. They may be farther ahead in their careers than you, talk faster, and sell more prints or canvases, but the only thing that matters is that you have done the best job that you can do. Then you can breathe a sigh of relief and feel some satisfaction.

One of my favorite books is Don Miguel Ruiz’s, “The Four Agreements” and one of those Agreements is “Always Do Your Best.” He writes:

“Just do your best–in any circumstance in your life. It doesn’t matter if you are sick or tired, if you always do your best there is no way you can judge yourself. And if you don’t judge yourself there is no way you are going to suffer from guilt, blame, and self-punishment. By always doing your best, you will break a big spell that you have been under.”

If we embrace our emotions, whatever they are, we can learn from them. They are there to teach us and help us make major life decisions. Envy can open up doors you never saw or were afraid to walk through before. Jealousy can lead you to treasure things and people you might have taken for granted.

Remember; mild jealousy and covetousness is actually a route to improved capabilities. It’s called creative envy. It’s part of aspiring! The pressure can be channeled to new skills that take artists to a higher level, both economically and as evolved beings. There’s always something left to give. The camp of artistic altruism is full of brotherhood and sisterhood. It’s a cool place.

~ Dawn

Questions or comments?  Email me at: coach@fuelyourphotography.com.

The app brings you newsworthy/creative photography from around the world and then a simple tap on the screen of your device reveals photographic tips.

The Eyewitness app takes you on location and places you in the photographer’s view so you can vicariously experience photography in a variety of situations.

Here is a birds-eye view of Barack Obama’s second inauguration, while many of us will not be in a situation of this nature the principles can still be applied to our own experiences.

Clearly this photographer saw an artistic view of this sporting event.

This photograph shows the new trend of shooting on your SLR and then editing on the ever capable mobile platforms.  While mobile apps such as Snapseed, Pixlr and Instagram are unable to do many advanced techniques such as layers in Photoshop they are surprisingly capable.

The Guardian Eyewitness app introduces us to many situations that we may not yet have experienced, fortunately the pro tips provide us with a means to achieve a greater level of success when we are in such situations.  From the app you can save photographs as favorites, share the link to the image with friends, set an image as your wallpaper,  run the current series of images as a slideshow among other options The app is free and available for Android and iOS.

Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think of the app.

This week’s Indie Spotlight shines on Ryan Prawiradjaja of Austin, Texas in the United States. His style of photography is mostly travel and landscape, but it is also still evolving. He really enjoys photographing cities from every perspective possible. There are so many elements and aspects   of a city – building, lights, people and all the little details – that make it a great subject to shoot.

Kit:

Ryan’s camera is a Nikon D90. In the past, some of his favorite pictures came from his Canon SD1200 point-n-shoot.  He most often uses Nikkor 18-200mm F/3.5-6.5 AF-S lens. He feels it has the best versatility and wide range. It greatly accommodates his situations, since he usually shoots on a whim with no specific goal in mind.

Workflow:

Ryan works with all natural light and rarely uses flash. He scans his surrounding through his viewfinder, adjusting the zoom levels to frame his image; and his color is usually set to Vivid. He takes different exposures for a single shot to see how the light affects the final result. For HDR, Ryan uses a lightweight tripod and the built-in bracketing and timer function in the camera.

When he has his images chosen, Ryan stitches them using Hugin on his Mac, composite HDR with Photomatix and post process with Lightroom 4. He likes to try various color toning to convey the mood and feeling he desires, while maintaining the reality of the picture.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Ryan does not have a particular technique he frequently uses, but he advises the best thing to do is experiment photographing at different angles, exposures and vantage points. He also advises to not get caught up with the technicality of taking a picture or you will lose the moment you are trying to capture. Ryan says photography has to be fun, otherwise it starts to feel like work.

Ryan stumbled upon photo stitching rather by accident. It is great for compensating a lack of ultra-wide angle lens. It is a very easy technique to master with today’s downloadable resources. He often uses this to capture large scenery.

Inspiration:

Ryan does not have a particular photographer he follows, but crowd sources his inspiration through social networking sites like Google+, Flickr or 500px. He feels the photographers on these sites are wonderful, produce gorgeous images and are keen to help one grow as a fellow photographer.

What’s Next:

In the future, he would like to visit less traveled foreign lands to capture the beauty of these new places and people. Ryan would also like to do more studio shooting for modeling and portraits.

Links:

You can find more of Ryan’s work on Google+, Flickr and Drink & Click.

This week the Indie Spotlight shines on Cho Tang from Den Haag in The Netherlands.  While Cho does not gravitate towards a single style of photography he finds himself photographing landscapes most of the time.

Kit:

Cho has a raft of cameras, he owns a Canon EOS 450D, a Canon EOS 7D and a Canon EOS 5D mark III.  He started with the 450D about 4 years ago and then progressed to the 7D 2 years ago, he recently purchased the veritable 5D mkIII which is now the body he reaches for first.  As a complement to his 5D mkIII, Cho’s favorite lens is the Canon 17-40 f4 L. The lens enables him to shoot with a wide angle and create depth in the image.  In Cho’s opinion, you can pull the viewer into the image using a wide angle lens better than any other type of lens.

Workflow:

Cho makes a concious choice to not have too much of an influence on the subjects he shoots.  He doesn’t stage anything and just appreciates and captures the scenery in it’s natural state.  He usually starts by surveying his location and then decides which lens he should use first.  Once he has his game plan set he shoots landscapes with as small an aperture as possible, low ISO and his shutter speed is determined on whether or not he intends to capture a long exposure.

After capturing his images he opens each one in Digital Photo Professional, the native software from Canon; while there, he makes some minor adjustments in the RAW file and then exports 5 different exposures of  each image.  He then opens each of the 5 exposures in Photomatix Pro 4 to create a varying HDR outputs. Once he has created his varied HDR images he then transfers them to Adobe Lightroom 4 where he adjusts them to his liking.  The final step is to open the images he has adjusted in Lightroom in Adobe Photoshop CS6 where he then blends them together to complete his process.

“Yes” he claims, “it’s devious!.”  While there are probably easier ways to get desired results, Cho likes this workflow and doesn’t plan make major diversions in the near future.   For a details of his workflow, please visit his tutorial at http://www.chopen.nl/tutorials.html

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Cho is a self taught photographer, he had no prior photographic schooling and just trusted his instincts when he decided to try his hand at photography. Along the way he joined a few photo communities and got to know a some very skilled photographers who were willing to share some knowledge.  He credits interaction with others photographers as the best way to learn photography.

Cho opines that it is also important to experiment, even when you think you know it all.  While Cho has a set workflow for processing images from from time to time he will still experiment with techniques he hasn’t done before.  He guarantees that when all the circumstances are in your favor you will have an eye opener.

On one occasion when Cho was on a beach shoot he pointed his camera to the sky to capture a passing seagull. In the haste to photograph the fleeting creature he had forgotten to change his settings from those used on the previous captures and the results were an overexposed image.  However, despite being overexposed, the resulting image was an impressive high key image.  As a result of this experience Cho sometimes now intentionally overexposes his images for artistic value.

Inspiration:

Cho’s photographic hero is Mike Shaw, when Cho was still relatively new to photography Mike extended a helping hand and bolstered Cho’s photographic knowledge.  Mike’s images inspire Cho to this day, Cho considers Mike and his body of work as his visual mentor.

Another source of inspiration for Cho is John G Moore who specializes in landscapes and portraits.  John’s expert use of tones is something that Cho admires and studies each time he views one of John’s images.

What’s Next:

While Cho gravitates towards landscape photography, he has a desire to shoot more portraits where he has a model to direct.  He claims “I’m not very good at it at the moment, so I want to improve in that area.”

Cho also wants to visit the photographic nirvana – Iceland and as he put it “ just go crazy there.”  During Cho’s research of Iceland he discovered that it is a unique volcanic island with an array of stunning landscapes.  As if that wasn’t enough “you can see the Aurora Borealis there during certain months”  says an excited Cho.  It is clear that Cho thinks Iceland is a must for most landscape photographers.

Links:

You can see more of Cho’s work thorough a variety of web presences:

His personal website: http://www.chopen.nl/

His Google+ account: https://plus.google.com/u/0/116422773158129145495/posts

His facebook account: https://www.facebook.com/chopen.nl

Surprise, we are into the second month of the year and it seems to be a bountiful year for photography.  This year will bring the advent of many technological advances to cameras, included in this I expect that the Android operating system will come to our SLRs and on that note also the advent of mirrorless cameras such as the Sony NEX series will become more prominent.  Nowadays the mirrorless cameras are matching the creative control of the SLR in every way and as a benefit not only are they more compact but they are less expensive to obtain a high megapixel unit with a decent lens.  We now, as photographers, need to match their introduction of more capable cameras with increased creativity.

Trade Shows

While cameras are not a mainstay at the annual Consumer Electronics Show and the fact that the CES show has become more of a marketing thrust than the actual introduction of bleeding edge new tech cameras were not entirely left out as evidenced by the CNET roundup.  The event for photographers to watch this year is The Big Photo Show if you are free and in the Los Angles area on May 4^th and 5^th this is the show you want to attend.  This show will introduce new milestones and is purely photographic in nature.  The show traditionally introduces new cameras, lenses, camera technologies, education both in terms of photographic technique and editing software and all the accoutrements that go along with photography.

Mobile Photography

Cell phone lenses from Photojojo

We can also expect an increased interest in photography and now video with the runaway success of Instagram and now Vine, the latter being a recent app that allows you to share six second video clips in a similar way that you share images on Instagram.  At the current time Vine is available only for IOS but will soon come to Android and other platforms.  We can expect to see more capable smartphone and while these don’t operate with the same creative capability of our SLRs they do offer the opportunity to have a camera with you at all times, it is expected that the next iteration of Apple’s popular iPhone will be upgraded with Sony’s 13 megapixel sensor.  Also there is a brand new trend where images that have been shot on our ‘real’ cameras are now edited in mobile apps such as Snapseed and Pixlr, if you have not tried these apps on your smartphone yet I urge you to do so immediately.  You are likely to breathe new life into old images and also discover new ideas for editing which you may then refine on your traditional editing platform, both apps are free.

Upping Our Game

In the past month, the readership of FYP has tremendously increased with more participation from around the world, this goes hand in hand with our team of writers from around the world, many of you know that I’m based on the beautiful Caribbean island of Barbados, but our writing team brings you creativity and instruction from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Malaysia and many others.  This year we seek to expand our writers so if you like to share your experience and boost your own knowledge feel free to drop me an email editor@fuelyourphotography.com or comment on this article.  I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Take care!

-  Jeremy

Editor-in-Chief

Samyak Kaninde is a talented amateur photographer who resides in Chennai/Pune, India. Choosing nature as his main subject, Samyak focuses on photographing birds, landscapes and macros. Outdoor photography is challenging as you have to understand fully on how to utilise available natural light to get that perfect exposure, clearly Samyak has mastered this.

Kit:

Samyak uses multiple cameras and lenses for different style of photography – the 2009 Camera Grand Prix ‘Camera of the Year’ Canon 5D Mark II for landscape, macro & travel photography and the Canon7D for birds & wildlife shootings. As for his lenses, he put his trusts in Sigma’s 150mm F/2.8 for all of his macro works since it gives him the most comfortable distance from his subjects, Canon’s 300mm F/4 coupled with 1.4 TC for his birds and wildlife photography and of course an all-purpose Canon 24-105mm for everything else.

Workflow:

Being an outdoor photographer, Samyak prefers to utilise natural lighting completely. While on location, he will first be on the look out for subjects, observe their behaviour and formulate ideas as to how he wants to photograph them. Paying special attention to wildlife’s behaviour is an integral part of shooting wildlife in order to get the best photo out of them in natural light.

Once Samyak is satisfied with his captures, he will first convert them via Canon’s very own Digital Photo Profesional from RAW to TIFF format before exporting them on to Adobe Photoshop for any necessary enhancements and adjustments to images to ready them for printing or new media.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

As a derivative of photographing wildlife, Samyak understands and advocates the importance of needs to study and observe the species that he is about to shoot. Patience is the key and the need to know the exact habitat locations for the particular species that he’s going to shoot would help assist in capturing great images.

Lessons Learned:

In the photographic process, we are bound to encounter a number of new techniques whether accidentally or by observing and improvising from our initial technique.  Samyak stumbled upon a radial zoom technique, where you zoom in/out while the camera is exposing the subject would give some nice effects surrounding the subject. He loved the technique so much now to the extend that he will use it whenever possible, but notes that the technique works best when there is a streak of uneven light scattered around the subject to give it a most unique feel.

Inspiration:

Samyak admires the work of many photographers but two that influence/inspires him most are:

Bence Mate – “Bence is a very inspiring photographer for the kind of innovative hide photography he is doing to get the unimaginable photographs from a wide angle lenses with completely different perspectives.”

Arthur Morris – “Arthur is a very respected old timer particularly in shooting birds. He is a great tutor and offers everyone so much of guidance related to bird photography. His photography is a great inspiration throughout my photography.”

What’s Next:

Samyak would like to shoot the rainforests, particularly those situated in India’s North Eastern region and Borneo. The kind of biodiversity and amazing wonders of hidden nature present in these forests which Samyak would love to explore and bring them to common man’s attention through his photography. Given the chance, Samyak would like to follow the footsteps of one of his idol, Bence Mate’s way of presenting amazing perspectives by capturing intimate moments of birds through photography.

Links:

Samyak Kaninde can be found online via Facebook, his personal website SamyakKaninde.com and of course his Flickr account.

Confidence in Technical Ability

The most important thing we need to be confident in as photographers is our technical skill and ability to provide professional-quality images. Whether we feel completely comfortable technically or are still in the beginning stages of learning, confidence in the things you DO know will give you the courage to go out and try new things. If you aren’t confident in your technical abilities quite yet, this is the first priority. Do what it takes to learn the basics and to understand your gear inside and out, whether that means taking a class or just practicing on a regular basis.

Confidence in Posing and Giving Direction

From a client’s perspective, few things inspire less confidence in a photographer than one who doesn’t give clear and direct posing instructions. Most people don’t know how to stand, what to do with their hands, or what kind of expression they should be making. And if the photographer doesn’t give them explicit instructions, the subject’s lack of confidence in their own abilities will be extended to a lack of confidence in the photographer.

The way to remedy this: lots of practice. Think of poses and directions you can give ahead of time and practice saying it loud alone or actually trying it on friends who will give you feedback on whether something sounds/feels uncomfortable. I used to worry about remembering poses and directions during the session itself, so my solution was to photograph a written direction or pose idea right before the session, using the CF card I’d be using for the session. That way, I could quickly glance at my LCD screen, flip to the beginning of the card and get an idea or two, without my clients ever knowing. Eventually I worked up an arsenal of poses and directions that I frequently use and usually don’t have moments of panic during a session because of forgetting what to do next. I also found that with every session, I’d learn more of what did and didn’t work well and use that information to improve my communication for next time.

Confidence in the Importance of Photography

Last, but not least, it’s so important to have confidence in the power of photography itself and in the service we provide. The images we create for our clients are something they will value forever. When all is said and done, you’ve left someone with a product that will be part of that family’s legacy and an heirloom for future generations. Above all else, this should give you confidence that what you are doing matters!

This week the Indie Spotlight shines on Randy Scherkenback of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA.  Randy likes to get the ‘big picture’ view of things, often shooting landscapes, architecture and cityscapes.  He also enjoys taking long exposure shots as well as dabbling with HDR processing.  Randy’s uses HDR sparingly, preferring to keep the image realistic.  He does not indicate which shots he processes with HDR and feels that HDR is not so much a style, but a tool to produce his desired image.

Kit:

Randy uses his Nikon D3100 to capture his work.  His favorite lens is his Tamron 10-24mm which he says fits his style perfectly, allowing him to get the maximum amount of his subject into the frame.  He sometimes uses his iPhone 4 as well but not usually for any serious shots.

Workflow:

All of Randy’s work is shot in RAW format.  When shooting a subject that he knows he wants to process in HDR he usually goes with nine exposures with 1 EV spacing between them.  He finds that although he may not use all nine, it is always better to have extras to delete rather than trying to go back to re-shoot more.  All RAW files are imported into Adobe Lightroom.  For HDR images he selects the brackets for processing and imports them into the Adobe CS6 HDR module.  He then saves the file as a 32 bit, exposure blended TIFF, to be finished in Lightroom using some custom presets, with a few manual tweaks.  Randy then shares his work on various social media sites such as Google+, 500px, Flickr and Facebook.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

When shooting something unfamiliar, Randy takes a few shots in ‘Program mode’ to see what the camera automatically selects.  He then switches over to ‘Aperature mode’ and makes a few adjustments from there.  This way Randy has a few decent shots in the can in case he doesn’t get his settings quite right.

Inspiration:

Randy is inspired by the work of Mike Spinak, who shoots a lot of wildlife.  Randy finds his work to be exceptional.  He says that Mike is very interactive on Google+, always taking time to answer questions and to explain how he got the shot.

Another of Randy’s inspirations is Barry Blanchard.  Randy says that Barry is constantly producing incredible images without traveling the world to do so.  He makes great photos by seeing the world around him in new ways.  With photography being more of a hobby, Randy aspires to do this in his own work as his ability to travel to shoot is limited.

What’s Next:

Randy has not yet had any experience in studio photography or portrait work.  He would like explore this if only just to be able to do it for family and friends.  In the future he would also love to shoot Dubai, especially at night.  He says it looks like a fantastic place from the images he has seen online.

Links:

Check out Randy’s work here: Google+, Fine Art America, Flickr and 500px.

This week’s Indie Spotlight shines on American photographer Joe Urbz. He resides in picturesque Twin Peaks, Southern California. He considers his photography focus to be landscapes and nature with some HDR.

He strives to take unique shots that may provoke a previous visitor to reminisce or for someone to wish they could be there on a realistic level. He wants the observer to feel they are there with him at that place. He tries to keep a balance between maintaining a realistic shot and keeping the artistic angle and feel of the piece.

Kit:

Joe shoots with anything working and readily available. Currently, he carries his Canon 5D MkII, Canon 60D and iPhone 5; but he does also have other cameras, including film. His favorite lenses at the moment are the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L IS with a Canon 1.4 Extender III on the Canon 60D and recently a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS for the 5D MkII.

He uses these camera set-ups equally. Joe likes f/4’s for landscapes. They allow a lot of flexibility while staying sharp. He is able to focus on the art of the shot instead of the equipment dictating limitations. These lenses are cooperative with him and perform at a professional level.

Workflow:

Joe uses the Back Button Focus (BBF) on his cameras and sets the custom white balance. He uses natural light with B+W filters (UV, Polarizer, ND), Hitech ND glass, and Manfrotto tripods. He uses a MacBook Pro Retina with Aperture 3.x and NIK Software for processing most of his work (RAW/TIFF). He also uses Photomatix for HDR, Perfect Photo Suite 7, Topaz, and Photoshop CS5.1 depending on the project. Every project brings its own mix of tools. He prints to a Canon Pixma 9000 mkII and uses other services also. He really enjoys metal paper and aluminum prints.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Joe found the use of the BBF on his Canon cameras an awesome camera technique. Using the AF-ON with Single allows him to focus on what he wants while taking multiple shots with the same focus points set, such as with sunsets. He uses it with Servo for action shots. He detests the trigger button refocus issue.

Some simple sounding tips from Joe: 1) do not let ocean water get into your camera or lens, 2) Canon only really likes to clean or fix the more expensive lenses, so take care of your equipment, and 3) do not use a $5 filter on a $1500 lens.

Lessons Learned:

A technical lesson Joe learned is that using a ND filter on a hidden sunset behind the clouds can later be processed into a gorgeous photo. Today’s camera sensors pick up a lot more than people think.

Another valuable lesson is the practice of patience. Last year, for example, Joe was in Joshua Tree National Park awaiting the sunset with at least thirty other photographers. The first part of the sunset was hazy and did not foreshadow an evening with a gorgeous sky. Within the half hour watching and waiting, only two other photographers with their tripods stayed longer. Mother Nature provided a deep red horizontal sky overlooking the silhouetted mountains. Joe has seen this scenario quite often in Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Mt. Rainier, Pacific Ocean, etc. while awaiting shots.

Inspiration:

The two photographers that bring inspiration to Joe are Ansel Adams and Susan Barcus. Adams is pretty self-explanatory by just stating his name. Joe admires his commitment to his craft and his later color photography. He allowed himself to explore a different medium even though he was a master of B&W.

Susan Barcus is a colleague, mentor and incredible friend of Joe’s. She has taught for over 40 years and is a long time professional event/sports photographer. Joe has worked as a multimedia teacher and videographer with her for years, and she encouraged him to reinvent himself with a private love of photography. She still inspires Joe to explore and learn more of the art. She is one of the best in what she does that Joe has ever met.

What’s Next:

He enjoys going on the road and capturing Mother Nature’s moods. He would love to shoot in Page, Arizona for the hidden slot canyons like Lower Antelope Canyon. He would next love to get to the Hawaiian islands and Europe, starting with Scandinavia. To try something out of his comfort zone, Joe would like to work with a professional in a major sports project, such as American Football or Basketball.

Links:

Joe can be found all over the virtual world. His website, google+, Twitter, Smugmug, 500px, artwebsites, and  his classroom site.

This week our spotlight shines on Daniel Schwabe from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Daniel prefers to look for great images, either in the natural or man-made environment, he does not like to confine himself to one particular style but he does like to capture those “hidden” images that lie all around us, waiting to be discovered.

Kit:

Daniel’s kit includes  a Sony NEX 5N and a recently acquired Canon S100, however, most of his photography  is done with his trusty NEX 5N.  To complement his primary camera he uses a Sony SEL 18-200mm (24-300 35mm equivalent) zoom as his main lens. he finds the Sony SEL 18-200 to be very good and versatile, covering a very wide range of uses and  focal distances. He also has a 16mm wide angle that he uses on occasion.

Workflow:

Daniel shoots entirely with natural light, using a tripod and filters when necessary (although he prefers handheld). Daniel uses RAW+JPEG as the capture mode (except for in-camera panoramas, which only get captured as JPEGs).  Daniel then imports his photos to his Mac where he has in place a robust archiving system that utilizes 3 separate hard drives as backup, plus online accounts for the processed images. Once on his Mac, he uses Photoshop on the RAW images and also Nik Software’s filters (Color Efex and Silver Efex for B&W conversions) as desired.  Should it be necessary he further processes his images using Imagenomic’s Noiseware for noise reduction.  From time to time he also experiments with some “creative” filters, such as PixelBender (now integrated into Photoshop 6).

Daniel likes to use Color Efex “Tonal Contrast” filters; he has some presets as a starting point but he also always check the levels, and experiments with the “auto” modes in PS CS6. Besides this, he sometimes experiments with selective blurring, to generate uniquely looking images. To do this effect, he first selects the part of the image he want to keep focused; then he copies the rest into a separate layer, add a mask to it, and experiment with motion blurs. It is often useful to unlink the image from the mask in the blur layer.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Daniel caught on to the blurred effect he outlined earlier when he accidentally panned his camera horizontally during a long exposure. The resulting image was quite interesting, and this led him to the idea that he could simulate it in Photoshop.

Another interesting effect was discovered when he was still shooting film, and accidentally breathed on his lens in cold weather. When he looked through the viewfinder (it was an SLR), he saw halos around the light sources as the condensation from his breadth receded. He realized that he could use this trick obtain a nice halo effect around lights at night.

Inspiration:

Daniel derives inspiration for his work from Ernst Haas who displays  mastery of color, light and movement in his work. Daniel is also inspired by David Hockney, who is not exactly a photographer, but has worked with photos and photo collages in a unique, inspiring way. However if Daniel absolutely must nominate a second “true” photographer, he would cite Don Hong-Oai, a Chinese photographer settled in the US and is somewhat less known but truly exceptional.

What’s Next:

Daniel is captivated by long exposure architectural photography but he has not yet had the opportunity to dedicate himself to it.  High on Daniel’s bucket list is to photograph the American Southwest, especially “The Wave” and Antelope Canyon of which he says “I am deeply fascinated by the shapes and colors of the rocks.”  He also wants to go to Iceland in the future.

Links:

You can follow Daniel and find more of his work on Google+, Flickr, and 500px.

Happy New Year to you and your loved ones!

The start of the year marks my second in tenure as Editor-in-Chief of this fine publication and as you know I’m especially proud to have the privilege of leading our fine team of writers who have contributed the many articles that you have enjoyed over the past year.  Over the course of the past year I have picked up a few tips which I’ll share with you for your benefit and to improve your photography and dedication, but more on that later.

Indie Spotlight

This year we shall continue to bring you many fine articles including featuring photographers from around the world in our Indie Spotlight series.  As you know we feature photographers of note regardless of where they are in the world and even if English is not their primary language.  In my opinion, appreciation of photography is not bound by language, camera type, gender, geographic location or politics; it is simply, a matter of talent, timing, aptitude and appreciation that determine good photography.  If you know of anyone you think should be featured please drop me a note and include their name, web presence and email address to me via email to editor@fuelyourphotography.com.

Photography Coach

This year we are also making changes to our Photography Coach column, it will no longer be a question and answer column. Dawn will now lead you to better photography through use of her professional coaching qualifications, Masters in Human Development and I’m sure you already know that she holds a B.A. in Photography.  If you read some of Dawn’s past columns you’ll know why she now not only holds the position of Photography Coach but she now also holds the title of Field Editor.  Congratulations Dawn!  Before you start to wonder what you will do with those questions that you wanted answers to, Dawn is still available to answer them for you just drop her an email at coach@fuelyourphotography.com.

New Writers

Every so often we have a few slots available for photographers and writers of caliber.  If you feel you are this person, want to join our team of talented professionals and can commit to writing one article per month drop me an email to editor@fuelyourphotography.com.  Not only do our writers share their photographic knowledge but as an educator, with 19 years of experience, I can tell you that the best way to learn is to teach.  Writing for Fuel Your Photography bolsters your knowledge of both basic and advanced photographic technique, enables you to devise lessons plans and best of all gives your photographic work major exposure as we suggest using your own work for primary imagery to accompany your articles.  If you are up to the challenge drop me a note!

Tips

Over the years I have picked up a few tips that we can all benefit from, today I’m going to share a few of those tips with you:

Inspiration

At some point many of us lack inspiration for new work, this is partially because we hoard our work, we take fantastic images and then don’t show them so we don’t get the acknowledgement that inspires us to continue.  We also don’t have enough professional exchange.  Photographers, by nature are often private about their work, professional liaisons will assist you in broadening your scope and enable you to produce images that you may not have initially conceptualized.  If you have a local group for photographers JOIN IT!  A few years ago I joined the Barbados Photographic Society, a group which I now also have the pleasure of leading, the experience has been hugely rewarding for me and it shows in my work.  Getting out there and having face to face meeting with other photographers on shoots is an experience you really can’t pay for.  Sometimes you may not even shoot, while on such a venture, you may be taken up in watching how another photographer works with a model, captures a macro image, shoots motorsport photography. This is truly a rewarding experience, TRY IT!

Social Media

In recent times the line between photographers and non-photographers has become blurred.  From time to time I view profiles on social media while seeking candidates for nomination to our Indie Spotlight series and sometimes I can’t tell if the profile I’m viewing is a photographer or simply a photography lover resharing an image.  Unfortunately, I have to pass them up and move on to the next one.  The lesson to be learned from this is if you are a photographer make sure this is clearly stated in your profile.  Furthermore, if you have the ability to share things both publically and non-publically be sure to keep the photography as public and other post that may not be photographically related as non-public or shared with specific people.  This avoids a problem of to much noise and not enough signal!

Representing Your Work

We’ve all heard it – “a picture says a thousand words.”  Unfortunately that doesn’t suffice and we still need to be able to talk clearly and concisely about our photography and our photographic ability.  In the space of 4 weeks over 50 people who were nominated for the Indie Spotlight series and were very excited to be featured had to decline because they were unable to describe what they photograph, how they do it, what they’d like to do next, what inspires them, what equipment they use and a host of other questions.  Frankly these are all basics that we should know and be able to explain at the drop of a hat.  If you can’t already do this you have some work ahead of you.  My challenge to you is for you is to write two different short descriptions outlining your work, comprised of   2 paragraphs (no more than 500 words in total), one should be a version explaining what you do to persons that have photographic knowledge and the other should be for persons who have little/no photographic knowledge, but don’t just keep them to yourself, send them to family, friends and fellow professionals and then talk to them a couple days later and ask them what you do.  Have you done a good job of explaining it to them?  Are you memorable?  It takes more than your images make you memorable!

Thank You

I’d like to say a sincere thank you to YOU, our readers, as without you we have no purpose.  I’d also like to say a sincere thank you to our writers because without them there would be nothing to read.  Thanks you’s also go to photography lovers because without them, we’d have no audience to appreciate our photography.  Last but not least thank you to our families for enduring delays while we stop on that family outing because we have seen something that we simply must photograph immediately and for any other family time on which our love of photography makes an incursion.

Do have a prosperous and blessed 2013, keep reading FYP and keep making those awesome images.

Take care!

- Jeremy

Editor-in-Chief

The year is 2013, and Indie Spotlight is still shining bright towards talented amateur photographers that show great potential. This week, we’re focusing our spotlight on Moon Lee who resides in Seoul, South Korea. Moon Lee has her current focus on street and macro nature photography.

Kit:

Along with her trusted Canon EOS 50D, Moon Lee is equipped with two lens that compliment her shooting styles – the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 as an all-purpose lens (especially when she does street photography) and a Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro for her flora and fauna photography.

Workflow:

Most of Moon Lee’s photography occurs without the help of an external flash. She finds the lighting from an external light source (namely flash) ‘less thrilling’. Thus, she prefers to utilize natural light as much as possible. She then imports her photographs into Adobe Lightroom/NIK Silver Efex for enhancements and occasionally, Adobe Photoshop CS5 if she finds the needs to apply some texture layers.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques:

Being an amateur photographer, we tend to make mistakes and learn from them. Moon Lee, self admittedly,  used to shoot blindly – poor composition, bad lighting, etc and she ended up having to spend an awfully lots of time editing her photos. Today, Moon Lee will always try to compose each shot carefully before pressing the shutter button so she spends less time processing them.

When Moon photographs nature, she finds that having patience is the best technique there is because for shooting flowers or insects, Moon Lee realises that she has little to no control at all over the subject. Therefore, in order for her to get the perfect shot that she wants, she has learned to be very patient.

Inspiration:

Two photographers whom Moon Lee admires the most are:

1. Helen Sotiriadis for her magically touch in each & every photo that she takes. Her abilities to take photo of any mundane subject and make it look beautiful, interesting & alive are what inspires Moon Lee.
2. Victor Bezrukov for his black & white street photography, especially his bench series. She has never seen anyone who takes photos of benches so beautifully. His simplicity in his work inspires Moon Lee whenever she’s out and about shooting at the streets.

What’s Next:

Moon Lee would love to have a go at photographing portraits in a studio or even outdoors at some point and learn the right techniques to utilizing external light sources and also to enjoy the process of planning and setting up equipment for a photoshoot.

She managed to experiment with self-portraiture for a little bit earlier in 2012 and she found it to be fun. Underwater photography is also on her photography ‘Bucket List’ but she’d need to learn how to scuba dive first.

Links:

Moon Lee can be found on-line on Facebook, Google+ and 500px.

It’s that time of year again, THE NEW YEAR and when it’s a new year, everyone has their New Year’s resolutions written down and waiting for application.  I’m not a resolution type person; I believe in intentions and dreams. The medical definition of resolution means: the subsiding or termination of an abnormal condition, such as a fever or an inflammation. Do you consider your life an abnormal condition? I don’t.  That’s why I make goals, list desires, and look back at what didn’t work before and change it.  I also believe that when bad things happen it’s just a challenge presented to me that I have to learn from.  I like being positive all the time although my dry sense of humor may lead one to think otherwise.

So with this New Year and new beginnings, I’ve decided to make some changes to the Ask The Photo Coach column.  The biggest thing is the format: no more question and answer. So from now on it will be just The Photo Coach.  I want to inspire us as artists! I want some good vibes going out there! There will be more inspirational, ego boosting, peppy like attitude articles, a more coaching aspect rather then an answer your technical questions.  There will be more fun and wit, with more reflective and motivating topics.  I plan to write it from a coaching perspective; helping you stay in your creative flow, with encouraging statements and giving advice.  Or messages that rouse your talent. These will be things that I find, and I think others would find, inspiring as an artist.

So in this vein of positive thoughts and encouraging messages I will leave you with this list of ten Artist’s Intentions (not resolutions) for the New Year.  Use them all or just one, but JUST DO IT:

Intention No 1: I will use my camera more consistently, more days than not each week.

No 2: I’ll be more meticulous about writing down ideas about new photo ops. I will set aside half-an-hour a week to work on developing some of these new ideas.

No 3: I’ll allocate at least half-an-hour a day to do something creative or inspiring that’s not focused on an end result: playing with HDR or something I  haven’t tried before like pin-hole photography, infra-red or being adventurous with Photoshop actions, or just stopping into an art gallery or museum.

No 4: I’ll regularly do at least one image in size/shape that’s outside my norm, whether extreme landscape format, a square, a tiny print, or a huge one.

No 5: I’ll do more shooting outside my comfort zone:  if I do street photography – I’ll try studio lighting.  If I like the studio, I’ll get out and practice with natural light.

No 6: On my birthday, I will treat myself to something I’ve always considered an extravagant luxury, such as a new lens or deluxe camera bag.

No 7: If one of my friends asks me for a print of an image that they like, I’ll gently suggest that they buy it, reminding them that photography isn’t something I just do to keep myself busy.

No 8: I’ll continue working on developing an identifiable style, so that people looking at my images will recognize it as being by me.

No 9: I’ll share the most helpful thing I’ve ever learned about photography with other photographers to inspire them.

No 10: I’ll read this article every month. : )

So that’s the intention, the dream.  Now go out there are do it!  Make this New Year the one where you become the best photographer you can be!

Sincerely~

Dawn Sanborn

The Photo Coach

P. S. don’t forget – I’m always available to answer your questions too, just email me at: coach@fuelyourphotography.com