Author: janikphoto

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Shooting on a white seamless…

I was thinking about writing up a little tutorial on how to shoot on a white seamless background.  Then I found a link to someone who wrote it up about ten times better than I had planned.  His is so detailed, it has FIVE parts to it!  

Heck, I even picked up a tip or two, like the cheap Home Depot tile board as a shiny floor?!?  Great idea!  Anyway, take a look at this tutorial, and love it!  It has my seal of approval… 
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What camera should I buy?!?

I get asked this question all the time:  What camera should I buy?  Sometimes it is a variation of that question, like: What brand camera is the best?  Either way, it’s basically the same idea.  What camera will make me a better photographer?  

It doesn’t really work that way…  at least not the way you think.  Certain cameras may have features that make them more appealing to specific shots.  Like a Nascar series photographer might ant the fastest frame rate available, and Canon has a nice EOS 1D mkIII that shoots ten frames per second.  But a portrait shooter might prefer Nikon’s lenses or color rendering capability, over Canon’s high speed.  Or, a street shooter might want something small and discrete, like a Leica rangefinder.   
The idea is that the camera is just a tool, like anything else.  Some brands are better quality than others.  Some brands are more expensive than others.  Some brands are more popular than others.  However, a good photographer can put almost any camera to good use.  
Here’s an example…  
This photo was taken with a $50 Russian TLR.  I like the image and think it is very moving.  I didn’t need a $3,000 camera to take this image.  As a matter of fact, the image would’ve lost some of its intimacy with a super-sharp lens and light leak-free body.  
The image below was shot with a plastic Holga camera that cost me about $15 (they were very cheap at one point in time, before all the college art students started buying them).  The Holga’s shortcomings are actually what make this image stronger.  The fade to black around the edges and the softness give the image a dreamy quality.  Try to reproduce this on a Canon or Nikon without excessive photoshopping…
This final image was taken with a free camera.  I built a pinhole camera myself, using a throw-away antique film holder, scrap wood and a used piece of pie tin. Oh, and some glue and tape, too.
So, you can see the idea of “what camera should I get” can be taken to an extreme by building your own.  There are certain features or qualities that might make a certain model or brand seem better-suited to you, but it’s really the person behind the camera that matters.
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When to pull the trigger…

Now, I’m not the best sports photographer around, but I know a thing or two about the subject.  Even though I focus my efforts on music, performance, and lifestyle photography, I have shot more sporting events than I can remember.  It’s just a fact of life that a photojournalist will wind up covering some sport for a newspaper or magazine from time to time.  
When considering sports photography, there are a few things to keep in mind.  One, where can you position yourself that will not interfere with the game, will keep you safe (a ball to the head is not a good thing), and will get the best pictures?  Often, there will be a designated spot for the media to stand, though the smaller events will be more flexible.  
Another thing to consider is when do you actually press the shutter button?  This may sound obvious, but you need to really think things through.  Today’s cameras can take several images in the blink of an eye.  Many decent models will shoot five frames per second, and some models will double or triple that number.  Sound fast?  Well fast is never fast enough.  
This is why you need to combine those fast frame speeds with a logical plan of action.  If you are shooting golf (like I was for this charitable tournament recently), there will be a VERY short window of opportunity to capture the action.  If you shoot too soon, you may miss the peak of energy/excitement/emotion in the swing, capturing a non-climactic shot.  If you shoot too late, well, you probably missed everything!  
Let’s look at these samples of the most basic and fundamental golf shot, the first swing from the tee:  
The first two images show a golfer hitting the ball.  Even though I captured the ball launching off the tee in the above image, I prefer the second image.  The first image shows very little movement.  The ball is moving and a back leg has some twist to it.  The rest of the body and the club are all in line with each other.  The golfer could almost be standing still from what you see.  
The second image has that classic golf pose, with a nice arched back, leg kicked out, and the club behind his head.  You can tell he just swung hard and is tracking the ball’s flight.

Again, look at the two shots below.  One is taken just before the ball was hit.  You get a sense of movement, but something feels lacking.  The ball is just sitting there.  In golf, you imagine a ball zipping through the air or rolling down a green.  The second image was shot just a hair too late to capture some of the tense muscles and grimaced face associated with the swing, but it does have a lot going for it.  The golfer and his partner are looking down the fairway, so your eye is led to an imagined ball down towards the green.  There is still a nice shape to the golfers body.  I would definitely choose the second shot over the first.

Here is an example of a golfer shot right at the moment he hits the ball (above) and a golfer finishing his swing (below).  Both have tense muscles and intense faces.  You can tell some force is being used to drive the ball.  
However, the top image only has that intensity going for it.  The ball has barely moved from the tee and the golfer is in a very boring position.  If he wasn’t tensed up, you would’ve thought he was just lining up for a practice swing.  The club is sitting in a position normally associated with resting or aiming, not smacking a ball into next week.  
The bottom image has the tensed face, legs and arm muscles, but also has that same arched back, kicked out leg, and flying club.  You can tell the golfer just hit a long one, and it’s screaming down the fairway.

And these last two shots show a variation on the classic golf shot.  They have the same wonderful body position as the other “good” shots, but they also have some extra details.  The top image has some grass and dirt flying up off the ground.  It helps to show that a mini-explosion just hit where the ball once sat.  The bottom image shows a tee floating in the air.  It is proof that a gigantic force just came barreling through, kicking up the tee as the ball takes off.

Don’t think I’m suggesting that every golf shot should be taken in this exact pose.  There are an infinite number of ways to capture the action of the game.  Instead, I’m just taking one of the most basic positions for photographing the game and pointing out the minor details that can make a shot seem average vs. great.  This should be the first shot you learn and the first shot that you take.

Once you get this idea down, then you can start looking for creative spots behind sand traps, on greens, or even in between holes to capture the full game.  But, I wouldn’t star playing around until you know you can capture this “golf 101” shot without fail.  If you can’t get this fundamental image captured, you aren’t ready for the next step…

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Mosh pit, anyone?

It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Curtain Club. It’s a small hard/heavy rock music club in Deep Ellum. Last night, I went to take photos of Ugly Mus-tard – a Dallas industrial band (think Nine Inch Nails, but heavier). They were pretty popular in the late 1990’s, with some decent airplay and successful tours of the US and Europe.  The band reunited this year, so now there’s plenty of new opportunities to be pummeled by loud music and wild audience members!

Ugly Mus-tard’s shows are usually pretty energetic, to put it lightly.  There’s a lot of pushing, shoving, and moshing in front of the stage, so I was tossed around a bit.  However, I think I came out of the mess OK…    

I’ll be writing a review and running one of my photos of the concert in a local music mag.  In the meantime, here are a few pics from the show:


  

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Wow… a Pulitzer!!!

A friend of mine just won a Pulitzer.  I’ve known Damon Winter since I first started shooting pictures for the Dallas Morning News, back in December 1999.  He is a great guy and deserved to win!  I’m so happy for him!!!  The story can be found here, with a link to his Pulitzer-winning images:  

This is so cool…  If you knew Damon, you’d know there isn’t a better photographer for the coveted award.
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Contrails…

I was outside on a photo shoot the other day, when I looked up and saw an airplane flying overhead.  I decided to photograph it, as it crossed the sky.  I don’t think I’ve ever bothered to photograph a contrail before, but I bet it would make for a fun photo project.  They are probably all so different, over a few years the body of work could be pretty interesting.  
There’s not much about this one that makes it unique or special, but I still like the way it looks…


  

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I’ll say it again… edit!!!

I’ve mentioned it several times in the past, and I will say it again.  If you are going to show your work to the world, you MUST edit!  It sounds so simple, but many photographers just don’t get it.  You will be judged by your worst image, so that one had better be good.  No, forget that…  it had better be great.  

You should not even consider leaving “good” images in your portfolio.  You should not assume that “good” images are worth seeing on the internet.  You are much better off showing ten great images, than showing ten great images and ten good images.  
So, get out your editor’s hat and look at the images you are showing.  Now, choose half of them to cut.  You’ll thank me for it.

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I didn’t shoot today…

I didn’t have a shoot today, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t work.  You can estimate that you’ll shoot about 100 assignments per year as a self-employed freelance photographer.  If you are a regular shooter for a daily newspaper, that number may be higher.  If you are strictly a wedding photographer, that number may be lower.  However, 100 days is a good average to start out with, until you can track and review your shooting schedule from year to year.  

Now, just because I didn’t shoot today, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t work.  As a freelancer, you will probably work six or seven days a week, to some degree.  Today, I ran some images to Fedex, followed up with clients over email, will work on some images in Photoshop, and will prep my gear for tomorrow’s shooting.  And I could’ve done more, if I didn’t need to dig up a sprinkler pipe and repair it in the back yard…  
Realistically, you can wind up working about 364 of the 365 days in each year.  Some days will be slammed with things on your list.  Others may require thirty minutes of emailing and/or calling clients.  Hopefully, you are trying to be a professional photographer for the love of the image.  If you thought you’d get rich or thought it would be an easy job, you were mistaken.  You would’ve been better off in a cubicle, if that’s the case.
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Those wigs look itchy…

I had the chance to photograph a Dallas-area band called Chameleon Chamber group for the cover of Quick.  They do this classical meets outer space sort of thing.  Kind of like the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey performed by The Flaming Lips.  It’s really interesting!  

The group dresses up and performs in these wild outfits, including Mozart-era powdered wigs.  I was pleased with the shoot, and I’ve received some pretty good feedback from viewers/readers that have seen the current issue.  
I love photographing bands.  There is so much room to just go crazy with the images.  If there’s a hint of punk rock in the band’s performance, I try to exploit that energy.  If there is a bit of goofiness, I crank it up to insanity.  
You can really take a band and “turn it up to eleven” so to speak.  Any sort of characteristic they display can be boosted and amplified in the photos.  That sort of “push it over the edge” mentality is what makes the band photos work.  I think if you don’t go all out with musicians and artists, they run the risk of looking very normal.  I think rock stars need to be idolized a bit, so normal should be the LAST thing you capture.