The Perceptive Photographer

In this Episode

Looking at my own work, I realize that often times I see the same thing and photograph the same thing over and over again. While the subject and subject matter might change, for all intensive purposes the images are the same. I don’t necessarily think this is bad or good, but in trying to understand why that might be happening I came across a couple of quotes. The first quote is by the wonderful photographer Edward Weston:

Why limit yourself to what your eyes see when you have the oppotunity to extend your vision?

The second quote is by Henry Thoreau

Many an object is not seen, though it falls within our range of visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray, i.e., we are not looking for it. So, in the largest sense, we find only the world we look for.

I think that is the challenge in photography is how do we expand our seeing and sense of seeing so that it is outside our intellectual ray. How does our time behind the camera, editing, and critiquing work build a bigger world to live in.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Facebook

In this Episode

In this podcast we return to one of the central themes of creating meaningful work. Since starting the podcast, one of the most common questions I get asked seems to revolve around what it takes to make a good photograph. While we have covered this topic in various forms before on the podcast, we return to this topic again to look at the importance of honesty in photography.

As you strive to create more significant work, you have to consider how you are relating to your subject and the subject matter. It is not just enough to take cool or interesting photographs, you need to find how you relate to those subject and reveal that feeling or concept in the work. If your work is a reflection of something that is not your own relationship to the work, then the work will not hold value over time. The most meaningful images are images that build on our connections to the world around. In this podcast, we take a little deeper dive into this idea and explore what it looks like to create this type of work and how you can extend your own process.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

In this podcast we return to one of the central themes of creating meaningful work. Since starting the podcast, one of the most common questions I get asked seems to revolve around what it takes to make a good photograph. While we have covered this topic in various forms before on the podcast, we return to this topic again to look at the importance of honesty in photography.

As you strive to create more significant work, you have to consider how you are relating to your subject and the subject matter. It is not just enough to take cool or interesting photographs, you need to find how you relate to those subject and reveal that feeling or concept in the work. If your work is a reflection of something that is not your own relationship to the work, then the work will not hold value over time. The most meaningful images are images that build on our connections to the world around. In this podcast, we take a little deeper dive into this idea and explore what it looks like to create this type of work and how you can extend your own process.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Facebook

In this Episode

One of the questions I get asked a lot is about how I work with my images. Once I get the images taken in the field, what is my actual workflow to determine what prints to work on in an editing program. While I don't think my workflow is any different than others, but since I get asked a lot I wanted to make sure that I answered the question.

My workflow is basically like working with a funnel. I try to narrow out really bad images at the start and make a tighter and tighter edit to get down to the images that I think are worth editing. My process has a couple of key workflow concepts. The first is that you have to start off being soft in your editing process so that you don't eliminate to many images to soon in the process. The second is that it is best to give yourself a little time between judging your final work. It doesn't matter if you are looking at the screen or a print, give your self a little time to come back in and look at the work to see if the quality is what you truly want.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

One of the questions I get asked a lot is about how I work with my images. Once I get the images taken in the field, what is my actual workflow to determine what prints to work on in an editing program. While I don’t think my workflow is any different than others, but since I get asked a lot I wanted to make sure that I answered the question.

My workflow is basically like working with a funnel. I try to narrow out really bad images at the start and make a tighter and tighter edit to get down to the images that I think are worth editing. My process has a couple of key workflow concepts. The first is that you have to start off being soft in your editing process so that you don’t eliminate to many images to soon in the process. The second is that it is best to give yourself a little time between judging your final work. It doesn’t matter if you are looking at the screen or a print, give your self a little time to come back in and look at the work to see if the quality is what you truly want.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Facebook

In this Episode

 

It is Sunday night and I find myself in front of the recorder again. While I normally try to have my podcast done well in advance, this weekend I was reading something on my phone that sort of got me amped up for the day. There is a lot of photographic teaching out there in the world and some of it is a amazing and some of it not so much. For the most part, I try to ignore things that bother me, but for some reason this weekend, I just couldn't let it go.

Over the past several months, I have been keeping a list of things that I keep seeing in the list of X number of things every photographer should know. I finally broke today, maybe it was the ether from the wet-plate work or just going crazy, but here is my list of 5 things that we need to teach differently.

First 1,000 or 10,000 images are your worst. This isn't necessarily true. Sure a lot of them might be bad, but the creative process works in magical ways sometimes. You might produce some of your best work when you are starting out and free from all the trappings that come from being more focused on "better" photography.

We go to the brightest spot in an image first. We actually go to the point of highest contrast first. Find an image of snow with a silhouette of a tree. Which do you look at first the snow or the dark tree?

A good black and white photograph has to have a pure black and pure white. What if you want to have a high key image with no black? What happens then?

Fix it in post is bad. This is true if you are lazy and sloppy but what if your seeing requires you to "fix it in post." The intention is right here, but we can limit our own creativity is what we see and experience in the world requires post processing (HDR, Panos, and compositing come to mind)

My work is organic so I don't study photography because it will corrupt my vision. What a load of garbage. You have a sense of seeing and the more you understand design, gesture, light, color, composition, framing and all the other aspects that go into an image the better you will be as a photographer. I hear all the time from people that they don't know what makes a good photograph. If you are in the camp, you need to study more.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

 

It is Sunday night and I find myself in front of the recorder again. While I normally try to have my podcast done well in advance, this weekend I was reading something on my phone that sort of got me amped up for the day. There is a lot of photographic teaching out there in the world and some of it is a amazing and some of it not so much. For the most part, I try to ignore things that bother me, but for some reason this weekend, I just couldn’t let it go.

Over the past several months, I have been keeping a list of things that I keep seeing in the list of X number of things every photographer should know. I finally broke today, maybe it was the ether from the wet-plate work or just going crazy, but here is my list of 5 things that we need to teach differently.

* First 1,000 or 10,000 images are your worst. This isn’t necessarily true. Sure a lot of them might be bad, but the creative process works in magical ways sometimes. You might produce some of your best work when you are starting out and free from all the trappings that come from being more focused on “better” photography.

* We go to the brightest spot in an image first. We actually go to the point of highest contrast first. Find an image of snow with a silhouette of a tree. Which do you look at first the snow or the dark tree?

* A good black and white photograph has to have a pure black and pure white. What if you want to have a high key image with no black? What happens then?

* Fix it in post is bad. This is true if you are lazy and sloppy but what if your seeing requires you to “fix it in post.” The intention is right here, but we can limit our own creativity is what we see and experience in the world requires post processing (HDR, Panos, and compositing come to mind)

* My work is organic so I don’t study photography because it will corrupt my vision. What a load of garbage. You have a sense of seeing and the more you understand design, gesture, light, color, composition, framing and all the other aspects that go into an image the better you will be as a photographer. I hear all the time from people that they don’t know what makes a good photograph. If you are in the camp, you need to study more.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

In this Episode

I was out shooting with a friend on the island, I really should have had my tripod with me, but I did not pack it for this trip. My friend caught me contorted in a corner looking for a way to use the wall as a tripod. He jokingly mentioned that I should have brought the tripod and was just being a lazy photographer. Truth is, I was.

That got me thinking about how we are lazy in our photography. At times in my own past, I haven't been working on my photography and I thought of myself as lazy. As I have gotten a little wiser, I have come to realize that life is about a series of choices and we often have to choose an prioritize things above our photography. That is a good. Making sure that we have a happy and healthy life can lead to a more creative life. And yet, there are times when we might be lazy in our photography. I know in my own work I find that I at times might mail in a photo. As I got to thinking, I realized that it is so easy to fall into easy habits. My short list of issues includes:

composition and framing

processing

sharing

printing

researching meaningful work

As you think about your own work and creative life, I hope that you can find a way to separate your priorities from you perception of laziness and that where you do find yourself mailing it in that you push your boundaries to create something amazing behind the camera.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

In this Episode

I was out shooting with a friend on the island, I really should have had my tripod with me, but I did not pack it for this trip. My friend caught me contorted in a corner looking for a way to use the wall as a tripod. He jokingly mentioned that I should have brought the tripod and was just being a lazy photographer. Truth is, I was.

That got me thinking about how we are lazy in our photography. At times in my own past, I haven’t been working on my photography and I thought of myself as lazy. As I have gotten a little wiser, I have come to realize that life is about a series of choices and we often have to choose an prioritize things above our photography. That is a good. Making sure that we have a happy and healthy life can lead to a more creative life. And yet, there are times when we might be lazy in our photography. I know in my own work I find that I at times might mail in a photo. As I got to thinking, I realized that it is so easy to fall into easy habits. My short list of issues includes:

* composition and framing

* processing

* sharing

* printing

* researching meaningful work

As you think about your own work and creative life, I hope that you can find a way to separate your priorities from you perception of laziness and that where you do find yourself mailing it in that you push your boundaries to create something amazing behind the camera.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.

Twitter

Google+

LinkedIn

Facebook

In this Episode

As I look at my own work and the work of others, I have been noticing that the better photographs have something in common. Each of the photographs has a good working background, midground and foreground. The photographer has taken the time to make sure that all the elements of the entire frame work together.

When we first start photographing, I believe that we focus on the subject or the object that we want to photograph. After a while, we might start to think about subject matter or how that subject is perceived in the frame. As we continue to work on our images we learn about framing, compositions and design guidelines that make images works. One of the final skills that I think develops in most photographs is the ability to use all the planes of a photograph to help convey meaning and story. Using various parts of the photograph to overlap, separate and relate various objects and aspects of the photograph is something that makes really great photographs stand out.

As you look at your own work, I encourage you to really evaluate in both your effective and non-effective images how do you use the various dimensions and planes in your image. Do they relate and help with the image or do they hinder the viewing of the image. After you have looked back at your old work, try to apply those skills in the field. Find a location where you can set up and frame, compose and use the planes of the image. Once you have the elements in the frame, wait for something dynamic to happen. I think that you will find that when your images share a good frame, composition and plane development that you just need to have some patience to make amazing photographs.

Photoshop World 2016

I an also so excited to be an instructor at Photoshop World 2016 this summer in Las Vegas. I am teaching four classes and I would love to see you down there this July. You can find more information over at www.photoshopworld.com.

If you subscribe to the Perceptive Photographer up on in iTunes, I would love to hear some feedback or have you take a few minutes for you to do a quick review up on iTunes it can help others learn about the show.