Instructor's Tip: Be Persistent

Photo by Russ Burden

I hope you enjoy this week's "Instructor's Tip" by one of my favorite instructors, award winning nature photographer Russ Burden. To learn more about how Russ captured the above image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Russ Burden Photography to get more information.

BE PERSISTENT

To consistently produce great photographs, there are many concepts about which you need to learn. I consider reading the light to be the most important . Without good light, a good photo is hard to produce. I’ve often been quoted as saying, “I’d rather photograph an ordinary subject in great light than a great subject in ordinary light.” Next on my hierarchy is composition. Even with a great subject in great light, if the composition is weak, that image will lack drama. Also on my list of essentials are techniques with regards to depth of field, emphasizing movement, controlling backgrounds, and subject choice. Along with these obvious photographic concepts is one that has nothing to do with how well you know the art of photography. It’s the art of persistence. Without it, you’ll miss many a great image as you won’t persevere or be patient enough to let drama unfold or wait for the perfect moment when the subject displays the decisive moment.

The decisive moment happens when the action reaches an apex, when a subject portrays the perfect expression, when the animal conveys a special look, when the light becomes its most dramatic, etc. Waiting for this fleeting moment to occur may take, if you’re lucky, five minutes but it also may take hours. It may also never happen. The one guarantee I can give you is that if you don’t try to wait it out, you won’t get the shot. I’ve been told that I’ve been “lucky” that I got the shot where peak action or the perfect expression is captured. I offer to you that persistence and hard work played a much greater role than luck. Staying with your subject, waking up a little earlier than the other photographers, staying out a little later, keeping your eye up to the viewfinder even though it’s not comfortable all determine whether you increase the opportunity to get the shot or guarantee you won’t.

Take a class with Russ or a fellow Digital Photo Academy instructor in your area, check out the Digital Photo Academy. I took Russ' intermediate and advanced courses last year, and he continues to be a strong source of knowledge and encouragement as I progress in my photography.

Instructor's Tip: No Bull....seye: Is Centering Appropriate?

Photo by Russ Burden

I hope you enjoy this week's "Instructor's Tip" by one of my favorite instructors, award winning nature photographer Russ Burden. To learn more about how Russ captured the above image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Russ Burden Photography to get more information.

No Bull....seye: Is Centering Appropriate?

I’ve been taking pictures for over twenty five years. When I first started I did what most budding photographers do with their subjects. I placed them dead center in the frame and had a lot of extra compositional junk surrounding them. As I read more, took more pictures, joined a camera club, and studied great photos, I realized what an OOPS this was. As my photography evolved, it coincided with the advent of autofocus and did that ever create a profusion of dead centered compositions. With the focus point set dead center in the viewfinder, many photographers succumbed to locking in the focus point in the middle of the frame and not bothering to recompose the image to get the subject away from the middle of the image. Thankfully, camera manufacturers saw what was going on and created multi sensor focus points which helped alleviate bulls eyed subjects.

To create a more dynamic composition, it’s better to place the main subject off center in one of the power points of the frame. These points are often referred to as the rule of thirds. If you create an imaginary tic tac toe board in your viewfinder, the point at which you should place your subject is where the lines intersect. Doing so allows the viewer to bring his or her eye toward the main subject or it leaves room for the subject to move through the image. The choice of which power point the subject is placed can be determined by what surrounds it. If the peripheral environment has distractions and clutter, place the subject at a different intersection of tic tac toe lines and see if the composition is improved.

Take a class with Russ or a fellow Digital Photo Academy instructor in your area, check out the Digital Photo Academy. I took Russ' intermediate and advanced courses last year, and he continues to be a strong source of knowledge and encouragement as I progress in my photography.

Instructor's Tip: Backlit Landscapes

Photo by Russ Burden

I hope you enjoy this week's "Instructor's Tip" by one of my favorite instructors, award winning nature photographer Russ Burden. To learn more about how Russ captured the above image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Russ Burden Photography to get more information.

BACKLIT LANDSCAPES

Backlight can impart many looks to a landscape. It can emphasize a strong silhouette, it can rim light a subject giving it a strong outer glow, it can enhance the look of fog or mist, it can create shafts of light highlighting specific portions, and it can provide you with a sun star as the sun ever so slightly peeks from behind a portion of the subject. It presents a unique quality of light that is often overlooked by landscape photographers. It presents challenges, but the rewards are worth the effort. Subjects must be judiciously chosen. The more you realize which ones work, the more you’ll add many dramatic images to your files.

Backlit landscapes are mostly shot early and late in the day when the sun is close to the horizon. Shape and form of the subject become important as most texture and detail is lost when shooting into the sun. But as with all guidelines, there’s an exception. Autumn colored leaves are great to shoot even in the middle of the day. Backlit leaves take on a glow as if a switch was turned on from within each creating a special translucence and powerful image.

Take a class with Russ or a fellow Digital Photo Academy instructor in your area, check out the Digital Photo Academy. I took Russ' intermediate and advanced courses last year, and he continues to be a strong source of knowledge and encouragement as I progress in my photography.

Instructor's Tip: Photographing Mountains

Photo by Russ Burden
I hope you enjoy this week's "Instructor's Tip" by one of my favorite instructors, award winning nature photographer Russ Burden. To learn more about how Russ captured the above image, join him on one of his photo tours. Visit Russ Burden Photography to get more information.

REMINDER: There will be no Photo Tip of the Week next Monday as Russ willl be in Bosque Del Apache and White Sands National Monument leading a photo tour. If you really want to learn a ton about composition, depth of field, how to read the light, and so much more about the art of making great images, I strongly urge you to sign up for one of his photo tours. With over 30 years of teaching experience and my passion for photography, Russ will ensure you'll come home a much better photographer in addition to bringing home a lifetime of memories and great images.

Photographing Mountains
There’s an old expression that’s a play on words: “Life’s A Beach.” I have a T Shirt that says, “Life’s A Mountain, Not A Beach.” From the very first time I drove across country from New York to Denver and saw the mountains loom in the distance as I neared the front range of the Rockies, I was hooked.

Add Color For Impact: Autumn is my favorite time to photograph mountains as the deciduous trees reach their peak color. Whether you focus on the Rockies with golden toned aspens or the rolling mountains of the east with multi warm colored hardwood trees, the reds, yellows, and oranges that paint the hillsides add dimension, impact, and specific focal points to any mountain image.

Create Depth: A key technique in creating successful compositions of mountain scenics is to create depth. This is accomplished by including fore, mid, and background elements in the image. Wide angle lenses are employed to accomplish this. By getting close to an important focal point in the lower portion of the frame, the eye is drawn to that area in the photograph. The midground layer needs to support the chosen foreground element and contain interest. The final piece of the puzzle is the background element. When photographing mountains, this is often the key peak of the range. In the end, all elements should support one another.

Timing: Dramatic mountain images are made in the sweet light of the day. This occurs both at sunrise and sunset. Capturing images at these times means getting up when it’s dark and being on location just as the sun crests the horizon. It also entails being out at sunset just before the sun falls below the horizon. At these times of the day, the light is warm and soft. It gives the scene dimension and texture unobtainable in the middle of the day when the sun is overhead.

Quick Tips: I highly recommend you use a polarizer and shoot at right angles to the sun to maximize its effect. Use a long lens to compress scenes where layers of mountains exist to add impact. Use a long lens to create intimate portraits of just the peaks of your favorite range. Incorporate people into some of your shots to show scale. Shoot when there is an impending or clearing storm to capture dramatic light.

Take a class with Russ or a fellow Digital Photo Academy instructor in your area, check out the Digital Photo Academy. I took Russ' intermediate and advanced courses last year, and he continues to be a strong source of knowledge and encouragement as I progress in my photography.