Tag Archives: creativity
Photoshop is not a bad word
A lot of photography conversations revolve around the question of how much editing has been done to a picture. Terms like “sooc” (for straight out of camera) or raw, or “minimal editing” are involved. I also have been known to encourage capturing the best pictures you can in camera. But does that mean editing in post process is a bad thing? No, definitely not. For some, it has become a bad thing though, and phrases where “photoshop” has become a verb have been bandied about a lot. I’ve heard everyone from amateurs to pros say things like “We’ll just photoshop … Continue reading
Five Tips to Better Photos
With the sudden surge and swell in the blogosphere, Twittersphere and Photosphere over Lightroom 3 hitting the streets (and a nice combo discount is available in the sidebar by the way), let’s not forget that this software is all meant to be doing one thing – letting us get back to the business of taking photos instead of spending our time in our computer. With that in mind, I’m bringing back a popular concept of “Top Tips”. Today, I give you…(drum roll please): “Five Tips to Better Photos” Be Ware of Exposure Values – No matter how good your camera … Continue reading
Nothing But the Tail Lights
In the course of pursuing creative inspiration, I’ve often found that just picking a subject and sticking with it can be a good exercise in creativity. Taking something and focusing (no pun intended) on that subject and only that subject can help you see things differently. The exercise is good whether your subject is flowers, thumb drives, coffee mugs (which I’ve done in the past), or in this case – tail lights! [cincopa 10624678] As you can tell, some of the shots are pretty cool, others – well, not so much. Some are out of focus, some are boring, but … Continue reading
An exercise in silence…
As creatives, we often can find ourselves just not seeing anything new…even if given a theme to go out and discover. In times like these, it’s sometimes beneficial to stop looking outward and start looking inward. I am not talking about Yoga, meditation, or even pontificating the meaning of life. Although these are equally viable options for getting out of a creative rut, I am talking about looking at your own past work. While we all have done this from time to time, I found a recent little twist on this practice helpful. Look back at your work with a … Continue reading
Composition and the Angle of View
We’ve talked a lot about various rules of composition – what they are (Rule of Thirds, Golden Mean, etc) and when to adhere versus eschew them to create dramatic effect. One thing we’ve not talked much about is the idea of changing your angle of view. We have mentioned the concept in the past, suggesting that to get a good perspective to look up, look down, look behind you, and in new directions to get a unique view on things. While this is always a good practice to remind yourself that there are other perspectives, it’s never really been discussed … Continue reading
Photoshop Teaser…
The Denver Area Lightroom Users Group (DALPUG) had their bi-monthly meeting tonight, and it was a lot of fun. Brian Reyman (the leader) gave some great insights on digital asset management and some really cool Lightroom and Photoshop tips and tricks. He reminded me that it’s been a while since I’ve played in Photoshop, or done tutorials here on the blog for that matter. So, in the interests of putting some sort of creative graphic design effect together, I started playing around in Photoshop when I got home with a few different tools, effects, and all that fun stuff. When … Continue reading
Challenge yourself!
The field of photography is a very challenging venue and finding your “voice” in a crowded field can often make the task seem daunting. If you want to challenge yourself in different ways, try something else. Painting, singing, and yes, playing a musical instrument can not only give you a new vision for your photography, but it can get your creative juices going in ways that you may not realize. While you may never become a Picasso, Luciano Pavarotti, or a Mozart, even picking up something you used to do as a kid (or when you were younger for those … Continue reading
How To Make Your Pictures Sing!
While recently listening to This Week in Tech (a great podcast, and I highly recommend it), the show host, Leo Laporte, made an interesting observation about the advancement of technology. He was musing about the changes that have happened in audio consumption. We listen to much of our music in iPods and portable music players, when not too long ago, we were confined to a certain space. To that end, he noted that the technology of audio in those days revolved around things like the number of amps, tweeters and woofers, quadraphonics, decibels, and much of that technical information. We … Continue reading
Cabo Creativity
Last week’s first ever 5-day series of written work “The Five Elements of Control” featured 5 distinct ways in which you can control and increase the impact of your work. Those elements were through controlling for luminance, color, geometry, context, and composition. Hopefully, the perspective can be one many will find useful in elevating their own work. In taking the task to heart, today (my first day back after a week-long break in beautiful Cabo San Lucas), I am sharing a slideshow of some of my favorite recent shots. So, rather than suggesting others incorporate these techniques, I am trying … Continue reading
Pick a theme – tell a story
When working on capturing your own creative vision, here’s another useful tip in getting the most out of your work – pick a theme when looking for creative inspiration. A theme can be a useful cornerstone or building block which you can use as a springboard to get started on projects. The reason why themes are such useful tools is because this can also give you the basis for telling a story, which is a commonality of many powerful and evocative works, whether that story is natural beauty (landscapes), urban decay (architecture), romantic moments (wedding photography), etc. I’ve put together … Continue reading
Martini Memory
Have you ever had some crazy idea for a photo and then realized it might not be as difficult to pull off as you thought? Something just off the wall, not really something that would ever grow into anything other than “just for fun of it”? No project, no marketing, no commercialization, no selling, no limited prints, nothing like that at all… In case you couldn’t tell, I had one of those moments a while back, and finally decided to pull the trigger trip the shutter! Here’s the small version of my Martini Memory! There are, of course, a few … Continue reading
Creative Vision – or not!
When looking at image composition, many of the things we use as our foundation are the typical rules of the trade – things like the the Rule of Thirds, Sunny 16, Golden Mean, etc., etc., etc. While these rules are all well and good, and they definitely are some of the fundamentals that we all incorporate as we see to create beautiful images – they do not constitute the entire picture (pardon the pun). As photographers, we should also be challenging ourselves to look at things in unique and new or innovative ways. For instance, take the Eiffel Tower. This … Continue reading
An Interview with Peggy Dyer…
As you may recall, a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting up with Peggy Dyer, a professional photographer here in Colorado, and I got to learn about her latest project – One Million Faces. We got a chance to sit down a second time and I learned a lot more about her creative energy, where she finds inspiration, and about where the One Million Faces project found it’s genesis. In addition, we also got to talk in more detail about the Lensbaby series of lenses, starting with the first one ever, going through the most recent Lensbaby … Continue reading
Great Green Gobs of Grapes!
This week has been a particularly creatively filled one here on the blog: Monday I shared the HDR image workup from last weekend and published the weekly podcast Tuesday had another shot showcasing the benefits of looking all around for ideas (including behind you!) Wednesday was the more detailed explanation of the Lensbaby Composer and selective focus And now today, another source of inspiration from the kitchen! I was cleaning some grapes for lunches and was struck not only by their size (these things were huge!), but also by the cool way the light in the kitchen was bouncing off … Continue reading
What’s This?
Nothing fancy today – just something to whet your creativity – can you guess what this is? It took me a while to dig through my archive of images to find one that I could crop this way and effectively not give it away. The winner….well, wins! Good luck to all, happy shooting, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow! Oh yeah, don’t forget to vote in the poll – how much time do you spend shooting for your own projects each month?
Photography for Fun?
As I started a new job here in Colorado, I was actually quite excited to do so, because a fair portion of it includes some photography portrait work, event photography, and a lot of publishing in catalogs, brochures, and marketing materials. As a hobbyist photographer for going on 4 years now, I would guess that I am similar to many other hobbyists – I enjoy learning more about the field, and at some point, there has always been an interest in “taking things to the next level.” Today, my Thursday Thoughts revolve around that premise, and the age old adage … Continue reading
supporters
Kickstart that Creativity
In a rut? Got writer’s block or photo funk? Here’s some great ways to kickstart those creative juices! This is actually part of a larger work I am putting together, called 101 Sources of Inspiration. Here’s the first 25 I’ve put together: Inspired Photography: 25 sources of inspiration As we all endeavor to find new ways to express ourselves creatively, we can often find ourselves in search of inspiration to give purpose and definition to our expression. Here are a number of sources that can inspire. Some are traditional, while others are hopefully new venues to spark those creative juices. … Continue reading →