# Photographing and tips



## Alan Aspie (Apr 24, 2020)

I wrote something about photographing to another thread. And I want to write more. And more. And more...

And I'd love others to write about that topic too. That is why I decided to start a thread for that topic. So here you are! Photographing tips!

Share yours. I share mine. We can all share good links about photographing. 

This is not a picture sharing thread. But pictures are very welcome to show what you mean.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 24, 2020)

Copypasted from "There will always be" thread.


Playing with ideas & humour with photographing helps me with stress. (There's a lot of that stuff to choose.)

And here's some *tips for those who are interested about photographing*.

1. *Shadow is your most important tool*. You make dimensions (visual, thematic, emotional..) with shadow.

2. *Light is your second tool*. You show & highlight things with light.

3. *Optics is* your *third* tool. It draws your pictures. Never buy a objective which does not make you happy.

(Light, shadow & prime. A lid of an ash bucket.)





©Alan Aspie

4. Camera body is your fourth tool. All the bodys & marks are good. *You need to find a body which suits your* hands, your *thinking and your workflow*. Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Fuji, Hasselblad, Leica, Phase One... They are all good cameras - and so are the rest. It's more important that you and your camera work together well than that specs are good.

5. All *good photographers look lazy*.

6. Photographing is an *art of reducing*.

7. *Don't photograph your target. Photograph it's relation to one other thing*. "A photograph about a thing." Boring. "A photograph about the relationship and tension between these two things" Interesting. There might even be some kind of katharsis.






©Alan Aspie

8. If you *photograph* people, take a picture of their *personalities*, not about how they look.

9. *Tell, don't show* with your pictures.

10. *Go wild with your imagination*.





©Alan Aspie

The point of these tips is to give tools to take photographing close to your writing. Same but different.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 24, 2020)

*Write a story with one picture.* Tell, don't show.

There is a story in everything. You cut it so that there is part of a story before shooting and the rest before that. Those parts form in the imagination of members of your audience.

Choose your depth of field to help your cut. You arrange timeline of imagination + feelings with your thematic and visual decisions.





©Alan Aspie

The way you use light and shadow should work for your timeline cuts. It's a bit like if light told you the good future and shadow what has been - or otherwise.




©Alan Aspie

You focus on your point and blur the rest. That gives you a mini story. 

And sometimes you let your audience to form the story. You just inspire them to do that with some kind of emotional or informational load. 




©Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 24, 2020)

*Shoot RAW*

Dynamic range of RAW files is a lot bigger than jpegs have. Use it. That way you can find visual elements from both bright (sky, light, reflections...) and dark (shadows, dark areas...) parts of your photos.




©Alan Aspie

Find yourself a RAW converter which suits your gear, wallet, style and work flow. Lightroom, DPP, RAW Therapee... What ever suits you.

Make converting part of your thinking and work flow so that you know how you are going to convert when you are shooting. Don't shoot too tight. You can under- or overexposure while shooting if that helps your converting.

Think what is your story, your emotional input or your point before shooting. Make it visually important and other things less important, blur, distant.... And highlight that while converting. Build tension between main thing and something else. Emotional, visual, thematic... any kind of tension. Red and blue, wet and dry, near and far, warm and cold.... What ever. And highlight that tension while converting.

When you combine your shooting and converting well, you can shoot in difficult situations.




©Alan Aspie

Early night or late evening after sunset. No monopod. No tripod. Shot while standing. Sharp enough. Not too much noise. I would not be able to do that without thinking shooting for some kind of converting.

Or very difficult mixed light. And not enough of it. If you have an idea what and how you are going to do while converting you better understanding about what you can do while shooting. (ISO, f-stop, time, noise, colour balance...) Like here.

Tapani Bagge. A man with 109 traditionally published books. (Can be more now.)




©Alan Aspie

Shoot RAW. Convert. And destroy 95% of your photos. Pay attention only to the most important files. And shoot 20 times more than you need.

Writing is rewriting. Photographing is revisualisation. Your RAW file is your Shitty First Draft. It's your Vomit Draft. Converting is your rewriting, your revisualisation. It's your editing rounds.  Do it. Learn to do it. Make it your habit.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 24, 2020)

*Fail often. Make your training difficult. Push your limits.*


Do what you can't do. Fail in it. Do it again. Fail again. Push your limits. And delete what you got until there is something worth saving.

Walk. Take your camera and one prime lens with you. Try to see everything like you needed to photograph things with that lens. Anything visually worth photographing? Or emotionally? Or any theme or subject worth shooting? Well... Shoot. Shoot more. Think. Feel. Shoot more.

If you really want to get your gear familiar and your way to shoot better, take your camera and one lens to night walks. But do not take tripods or monopods with you. You must use your timer, your strap, your environment and yourself as a tripod. And you must do it in dark. Your fingers must know what to do without you seeing well.

99% of your photos will be trash. But then you start to get some kind of grip of your gear & thinking & shooting. And then you get something you like.





©Alan Aspie

And then something more...




©Alan Aspie

And even more...




©Alan Aspie

Take your gear to dark, wet, foggy...




©Alan Aspie

...weather and environment. Fail there. Fail more until you start to get something you like.

Fail it till you nail it.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 25, 2020)

You can photograph absence. A person missing is as good as a person present. You just need something which shows that it's about absence.




©Alan Aspie

And an important tip:

*Anyone can share his or her tips.* This is not meant to be my personal thread. Good tips are always welcome - with a picture or without.


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## Overread (Apr 25, 2020)

I always find it tricky to give generalist "tips" without context - I do better at critique where there's a photo providing some context; or a question where there's, again, context from someone seeking advice


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 25, 2020)

Overread said:


> I always find it tricky to give generalist "tips" without context - I do better at critique where there's a photo providing some context; or a question where there's, again, context from someone seeking advice



To me it's upside down. Easy to give general tips but I really don't want to give critique.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 27, 2020)

*Use motion blur to show motion. *

If you do, you must get sharp areas sharp. And you need to separate motion blur from bokeh. (Bokeh is the quality of unsharpness out of depth of field.)

You can train it with anything that moves in a way that you can predict.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 27, 2020)

*Talk with other photographers*

When possible, go and talk with other photographers. You might learn something or get new ideas or get inspired or... something.

But don't disturb them while being social. Be humble but share your skills.

Chance your skills. They get something. You get something.

This was shot last night in one of the biggest cities of Finland. I went there just to shoot night and people - present and not.

An unknown female photographer shooting a picture of her mobile with her camera. And me shooting her. I had only few seconds time to shoot that so I messed with that light above her hat and hand. Should have noticed it.





©Alan Aspie

(I forgot to put my @ -mark to that piano snapshot. But it's my.)


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## Astro Pen (Apr 27, 2020)

A very good thread Alan. All good knowledge. I just worked through it.


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 27, 2020)

Astro Pen said:


> A very good thread Alan. All good knowledge. I just worked through it.



Thank you. if you have good - or bad - tips, they are welcome.

Next:

*Have fun with your imagination. See the things that are not there  and then make them visible to others.*

There are some strange embellishments in one roundabout. They look a bit weird. But if you take 20mm lens (FF body) in the evening and go inside that roundabout you can exaggerate that weirdness. And if you overemphasize it while converting you get an attack of the man eating triffids.

No photoshopping, just a bit heavier touch with a RAW converter.

Shot yesterday evening maybe an hour before that "female photographer shooting her phone" -picture on the same trip.




©Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 29, 2020)

*Take it if you like it.*

You don't need to have big ideas, great symbolism, classical elements of art or anything else than your own want or need. 

You like it? Take it. 
It steals your attention? Shoot it!




© Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (Apr 30, 2020)

*Areas of decisions*

What is a photograph and what is just a snapshot? Who is a photographer of a picture? What photographers think and do? How?

(All this will be very subjective. There are other views and some of them are well based. But this is how I think it.)

There are three main areas of decisions which has to be made before you can call something a photograph and somebody the photographer of that picture.

*There are thematic decisions*. Theme, substance, what you are photographing.

*There are artistic decisions*. How you express that theme and/or substance.

*There are technical decisions*. How you can succeed in those thematic and artistic decisions.

Most often these three areas are in that order. Thematic ==> Artistic ==> Technical.

If these decisions have been made in a reasonably successful way, the result should be a photograph. Otherwise it's a snapshot or not even that. This is the view which is largely shared among pro's & professional evaluation. And this is also my personal view.

(And this is who pro's don't like when asked to evaluate amateur snapshots. What could they say? Lie? Or or insult people by saying that "this has something good, but it's not a photograph".)

A photographer of some picture is a person who has made artistic and technical decisions of that photo.

Theme might be given (by customer or employer or a friend or...). The artistic and technical decisions about how how to handle that theme are photographing.

A time trigger, a photo cell, an assistant or a computer might trigger the camera. That does not make them photographers if someone else did the artistic and technical decisions. This is very hard to understand to some people with less or none knowledge and understanding of photographing.

You can talk about a photograph when and only when thematic, artistic and technical decisions are well made and in balance. And you can talk about a photographer when you are talking about about person who did that balancing. That means you can have photographers without photographers and photographers without photographs.

So... What do you see here?




©Alan Aspie

You see a snapshot - not a photograph but a snapshot.

I'm a photographer of that snapshot. So this is a non-photo with a photographer. Failing to succeed in thematic, artistic and/or technical decisions and handling them drops this out of a category of photographs to the category of snapshots. But those decisions have been made and balanced - just not successfully.

And you must do this - fail - to develop yourself as a photographer. And you must see and admit that you have failed. And you must learn from your mistakes and correct them. That's the way to learn photographing.

If you think you are good, you learn nothing. Narcissistic thinking does not work with photographing. Humble way does. See the mistakes you make. See how you fail. Do it again, with less mistakes this time. Or with new and more interesting mistakes!

(I think I'll write later about those 3 areas - thematic, artistic and technical. But I don't promise that.)


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## Alan Aspie (May 19, 2020)

*Your style is an extinction of your personality.*

It should be your own, not a copied one. It can't develop well in a vacuum. It needs interaction. It needs to get challenged and it needs safe and it needs love and...

Let your style to tell about you. Don't tell everything but tell only what is honest and true.

You choose subjects, viewpoints, focus, timing, visual style, composition, visual arguments... and that is the way you share your inner world. You make part of it visual.

If someone sees you through twisted or dishonest way after that, it's their problem, not yours. Take distance to them.

If someone projects his or her inner world to you after that, take more distance. You can't fight against projective minds. They see your disagreement through those same projections - or worse. Let them live their lives as far from your life as you can. Don't fight. Don't flight. Be yourself and let your character grow while their characters do what ever they do.

If you grow, your growth takes you elsewhere without you needing to flight. Growth takes you forward. Your life is there.

Go your way. Stand your ground but do not try to occupy any other ground. Other grounds you visit, your ground you stand.

Let people see your world view throug your way to watch life, universe and everything.




©Alan  Aspie

The development of your style is like the development of your character. You can steer it but the main impact comes from obstacles and how you handle them. And when you do, you don't get rid of obstacles. You kind of choose your path and the next obstacles which are waiting on that path. And those obstacles let you grow more. And then next obstacles...


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## Alan Aspie (May 21, 2020)

Try to photograph a personality of your model instead of how he, she or it looks. 

Try to capture the relationship of that person and his/her/it's life.




©Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (May 22, 2020)

*Shoot what you don't know.*

Persons, animals, landscapes, urban and rural life... Shoot it.

Lousy hard light? Shoot. Wind, snow, boiling hot, cloudy? Shoot. 

If you need to ask can you shoot, then ask and shoot. (This dog was training agility and gave me a permission to shoot and publish here.) 

Just go and see. You can't shoot what you don't see.


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## Alan Aspie (May 23, 2020)

*Get close! Talk with everyone!*

If you want to write, you need to be able to talk with everyone. It's important to see a person as he or she is and to help them open their life to you.

You ask. You act in a nice way. You keep your word. They can trust you if you are trustworthy.

All these were shot today with the same lens - 85/1.8. Several different people with very different lives and situations.

Some have had a very light touch with my RAW converter. Few... well... a lot more. I had very little time with all the photos.

Street photography, one day.




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie


(This baby is the only one who did not talk with me. I suppose she was a bit shy. All alone in a "big" city.)




©Alan Aspie


+ many more.


Don't contact just those who are similar with you. Talk with junkies. Talk with rich people. Talk young, old, shy, pushy, silent, talkative....

Every photograph tells a story. You can't tell if you don't listen & contact first.


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## Alan Aspie (May 25, 2020)

*Make instead of take. Create instead of getting.*

Don't just take a photo. Make it. If you have time to make decisions, then do. 

What is your goal? How you can reach it? What is a theme in your photo? What is the the in your photographing? What is the difference between a theme of one photo and a theme in a process / hobby / job of photographing? 

Think it. Think light and work with it. Think the subject and work with it. Colours, emotional atmosphere, composition, depth of field, bokeh, shadows, what is absent...

You are the creator of your photos. Don't just snap something. Create. 

You don't take a photograph. You make it. (Ansel Adams.)





©Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (May 26, 2020)

*Shoot RAW, learn your converter.*

There's a big bunch of different RAW converters. Pick one. Use it. Learn it. 

You can enhance your photos in several ways. And when you learn to take converting and your goals in it into account before & while shooting, you get a bit more room to wiggle. 

I let Peter tell you about this. He can do it better. He's talking about Lightroom, but you can pick any converter you like. 











An example. Very hard light. Greasy skin with bad reflections. You want to get textures strong, but background smooth. With a RAW converter all this + big bunch of other things take only really short time. 




©Alan Aspien


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## AlexH (May 27, 2020)

Two tips from me are to look for reflections and don't worry about your equipment - it's more about learning the capabilities of what your camera can do. The best camera is the one you have with you, and for me that's usually a compact camera (albeit a top of the range one for the past two years). These days, most cameras from around £200 (and maybe much less) are more capable than cameras many greats of the past used.

To illustrate the reflection and camera points, here's a reflection in the balcony of Selfridges, Birmingham, UK (taken with a bridge camera that had cost me £100 at the time, with the balcony used to keep the camera stable):






Don't be afraid to look silly could be another tip. I looked stupid while I was taking the photo, stretching over the balcony, but it won Picture of the Week in Amateur Photographer magazine, after a journalist had said he never saw any unique pictures of Selfridges any more!

I think that photo also fits Alan's tip, "Have fun with your imagination. See the things that are not there and then make them visible to others." There is also no Photoshopping on this photo, though I do find myself making contrast and/or colour adjustments on most photos these days.

One time, I didn't have my camera with me. But I did have a crappy camera on my first ever smartphone. If I didn't have that, I would have missed this moment after a subway flooded:





These days I'd straighten those verticals, though I still like this photo a lot.

Edit: I often look silly crouching by puddles, but I'm pleased when people realise what I'm doing and try the same!


__
		http://instagr.am/p/BbzNDcEDQ0Q/


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## Astro Pen (May 27, 2020)

AlexH said:


> The best camera is the one you have with you, and for me that's usually a compact camera



True. I always carry a litle £10 samsung with me in a pocket  because you never know what you will see. Like I met a friend in a woodland park and the cafe had this sign. It isn't a 'technical' photo but it amused me, and wanted to share it with friends on the web.




This one that is stuck in the photo competition here a couple of months back was another, just out on a cycle ride and liked the curve of the lane, so I  pulled out the sammy and snapped it for the memory.


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## Alan Aspie (May 28, 2020)

AlexH said:


> Two tips from me are to look for reflections and don't worry about your equipment...
> 
> ...The best camera is the one you have with you..
> 
> ...



Thanks about all these tips. They are all worth paying attention - a lot.

I have been feeling myself a bit lonely in this thread. I have felt like I was writing alone and reading alone things here. It feels good to have other people giving tips.

And I like your photos! They illustrate your tips well!


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## Foxbat (May 28, 2020)

Some fabulous shots folks. As Rod Stewart sang in his heyday: every picture tells a story


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## Foxbat (May 28, 2020)

Alan Aspie said:


> I have been feeling myself a bit lonely in this thread. I have felt like I was writing alone and reading alone things here. It feels good to have other people giving tips.


I, for one, might not have had much to say but, make no mistake, I’ve been taking it all in


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## Dragonlady (May 28, 2020)

Really good tips, thanks. Can  anyone suggest how to find shots when doing suburban walks? I'm so used to lazily photographing pretty things and nature but less options now so need to get creative


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## AlexH (May 28, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> Really good tips, thanks. Can  anyone suggest how to find shots when doing suburban walks? I'm so used to lazily photographing pretty things and nature but less options now so need to get creative


Look down, look up. Get low, get high! The first photo I posted is an example of getting high (on a balcony), and the other two low (down to the puddle). Try and find a new angle on something. I'll look for some other examples later.

You could also look closer. Look for shapes, repetition, patterns...


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## Astro Pen (May 28, 2020)

*Aerial perspective*
How green is my valley-not.
I did a bit of art teaching and one of the hardest things to do is to stop students using strong vivid greens. They "think" they see green everywhere but it isn't there or is very muted if it is. 
I use this photo of a local valley to demonstrate by pulling it into paintshop or photoshop and using the colour dipper to prove that the trees opposite are not "dark green" but actualy grey blue nearly  'airforce blue' and that in fact there is very little green in the picture at all. even in the apparently vivd green foreground trees which are black with olive edges. Feel free to copy and paste it into your package to try it for yourself


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## Alan Aspie (May 28, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> Can  anyone suggest how to find shots when doing suburban walks?



- Watch light and shadows. Boring or mundane thing in interesting light is interesting.
- Have a theme and seek things or meanings connected to it. (Love, loneliness, shapes, connections, time, speed, history, details...)
- Pick a visual thing you want to use or show. Bokeh, contrast, colour, leading lines, negative space...
- Tell a story via one photograph. Then tell another. 
- Relax. Let your mind wander. Have fun.

I use to take a body + one prime lens with me while walking. What ever lens I choose defines how I watch and see things. (Today it was Nifty Fifty.) 

If you take a look at my photos in this thread, you can find suburban walk photos in comments #3 (lady in a church tuning a grand piano), #4 (blue, black and white),  #5 (all) and #13.


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## Dragonlady (May 30, 2020)

@Alan Aspie Thanks! Loads of ideas. I need to learn about lenses, I jave just the one zoom lens at the moment, a 20-40mm I think.


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## Alan Aspie (May 30, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> @Alan Aspie Thanks! Loads of ideas. I need to learn about lenses, I jave just the one zoom lens at the moment, a 20-40mm I think.



You are welcome. 

Learning about lenses is a good idea. 

Focal length + f-stops are the most important things. What apertures you have in some focal length limits how you can use bokeh areas in your photographing. And fast lenses (ones with wide maximum aperture = small f-stop number) use to be sharper.

When buying it's good if you understand something about MTF-curves. It does not matter much if you don't, but helps to avoid bad stuff if you do. 









						How to Read MTF Charts
					






					photographylife.com
				




And remember this:

50mm equals normal lens in FF (=35mm = kino) and about 80mm in 1.6 crop.









						APS-C - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




Sensor size has a huge impact to the nature of unsharp area. 

20-40? This?






						Pentax 20-40mm f/2.8-4 ED Limited DC WR HD DA Review
					

Looking for a Pentax 20-40mm lens review? Read on to find out what we uncovered in our objective optical lab tests.



					www.imaging-resource.com
				




If you open the lab test chart to it's own window, it's easy to to change f-stop and/or focal length and see what it means to sharpness of that zoom in different areas of sensor. 

Unsharp areas work well in negative space of a picture. Sharp areas should be sharp. Knowing those help you to put your subject and bokeh areas the way you like the result to be. 

(I don't have any zooms. I like primes more. But this is a matter of what and how you shoot + what you like. Get what you like and can afford. Then get to know it well enough so that you can push it to the limits.)


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## Dragonlady (May 30, 2020)

@Alan Aspie thanks! It's a fuji xc 16-50 mm. Focuses from 15cm so good for macro. I enjoy wildlife and architecture photography so am itching for more zoom, but need to understand it better before investing.


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## Alan Aspie (May 30, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> @Alan Aspie thanks! It's a fuji xc 16-50 mm. Focuses from 15cm so good for macro. I enjoy wildlife and architecture photography so am itching for more zoom, but need to understand it better before investing.



This?






						Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS - Review / Test Report - Analysis
					

Fujinon XC 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS - Review / Test Report




					www.opticallimits.com
				




I suppose you mean you are itching for large variation of focal lengths?

Wide angle for architecture? Tele for wildlife?


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## Alan Aspie (May 30, 2020)

*Use negative space *

Positive space = Something that jumps out from it's surroundings. The main subject is often in positive space.

Negative space = Opposite. Areas and things which do not claim your attention.









						Positive and Negative Space in Photography
					






					photographylife.com
				




Use negative space to direct main attention to subject, theme, message, emotional atmosphere... And when you use it, do it in a way which highlights the main message & emotions connected to it.




©Alan Aspie

This big dandelion = positive space.
Background green areas = negative space.
Blurry dandelions + too sharp grass = something between positive and negative = distractive elements.

(Distraction makes them part of positive space - even that the effect is negative.)





©Alan Aspie

Mickey = positive space.
Areas behind and in front of him = negative space.

The emotional load these photos have is mainly from negative space. If you take pieces of paper and cover negative space areas the subject will remain but the photos become boring and flat.

A photograph without any negative space is often restless. Your attention wanders from one thing to another. The main subject + emotional impact drowns somewhere. But add some negative space and you focus your viewers eyes and attention to exactly where it should be.

Like...




©Alan Aspie

Bonus tip:

The importance of the quality of bokeh to some photographers and viewers has a deep connection to using negative space. If you can make your unsharp areas creamy and soft, it lifts the effect of negative space to the sky.


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## Dragonlady (May 30, 2020)

@Alan Aspie  that looks like the one.  Yes, I'd love greater variety of focal lenths, certainly when we are able to get out and about more. I love those pics in your last post, macro shots of an object popping out like mickey are so easy and fun to do.


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## Alan Aspie (Jun 2, 2020)

*Play with B&W!*

No matter do you want to use black and white photos to anything or not. Take your RAW converter and play with converting some of your photos to B&W.

While you play with B&W, you find out that you must pay more attention to composition, contrast, what kind of relationship your subject has to other visual and/ symbolic and/or emotional elements. 

This shift of your attention makes your understanding and gut feeling about photos better. 

It's good to make a virtual copy of a photo before converting it to B&W. And then you can do what ever needs to be done to make it as good B&W photo as you can. 

Squint your eyes to see your composition better. It helps you not to drown to details. 

Some photos are worth of nothing in colours but ok in B&W. And toning might suite them well. 




©Alan Aspie

Sometimes you can highlight your own feelings about something by converting photos to B&W - positive or negative.




©Alan Aspie

Sometimes you can make your main subject or it's emotional effect to pop up more in B&W.




©Alan Aspie

Or symbolism... Playing with B&W can be very powerful way to make your point.




©Alan Aspie

And remember.. Post production has always been as important in B&W world as shooting. You shot your film but you printed and developed your photos!

I'd love to hear your composition and B&W tips!


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## Alan Aspie (Jun 4, 2020)

*Eat your models!*

You can train & practice with your food.




©Alan Aspie

If it's in your plate, your fridge, your fruit basket you can shoot it.

It's food. Shoot it that way. Fresh or well aged, colourful...



©Alan Aspie

tasty, sow, fast...




©Alan Aspie

...not easy to swallow...




©Alan Aspie

...looks like someone...




©Alan Aspie

...has something you want to share...




©Alan Aspie

...or is too important to be eaten.




©Alan Aspie

You think and/or feel something that is connected to that food? Shoot it that way. Share the feeling, not just outlook.


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## CupofJoe (Jun 4, 2020)

Any suggestions on a DLSR or Mirrorless camera?
Something with interchangeable lenses...
I want to start doing some nature photography [there is a bird-watching site not far from where I live, so seems a good place to start]
At work, I've used a Canon 500D. It is good but getting on for 10 years old [and it's a tricky legal position if I take it home and break it].


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## Alan Aspie (Jun 5, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> Any suggestions on a DLSR or Mirrorless camera?
> 
> I want to start doing some nature photography.. ..bird-watching..
> 
> At work, I've used a Canon 500D.



All main camera brands and most models are good. So you must find the one that suits you - not to someone else. 

And a camera body is just a part of a system.

What lenses are you thinking? Expensive telephoto lenses for birds? Small and light pancaces for light travel & good visual quality? Primes or zooms? Wide angles? 

Big or small hands? Glasses or not? Big budget or small? Do you want or need weather sealing? Pro stuff? Consumer stuff? Crop censor or FF?

One way to think it:

In the beginning 50% of money goes to camera body, 50% to lenses. No dark & shitty zooms. It's better to have one good prime and learn with it than to have something that is no good in anything. Buy more lenses when you really know what you want. 

Know what you want and how much you are going to work to get it. Start with what is enough and will be enough for some time. 

(My gear is Canon 6D Mk2 + 20/1.8 + 35/2 IS + 50/1.8 + 85/1.8 and I might change that 85 to 100/2.8 IS Macro. My gear suits me now. It might not suit you or someone else. And it's possible it does not suit me in some part of a future.)


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## Alan Aspie (Jun 6, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> Any suggestions on a DLSR or Mirrorless camera?



You might start by learning the difference between FF (24x36mm) and a crop censor (15x22mm or near). The best way to learn it is to watch the difference or to try both.

After or during that you might teach yourself how aperture (f-stop) affects to the picture.

Most of my photos in this thread have been taken with f-stops like 1.8 - 2.8. That's why and how I have made background blurry. 

If you buy a lens with maximum f-stops something like 4-5.6 you can't take photos like that with same focal lengths. It's impossible. But you can take photos like that with any digital FF from any big manufacturer. 

And you can't take photos like that with a crop censor and same or analogous focal length. If you use a bit bigger aperture it's very similar, but not exactly. 










(Hyun makes some mistakes f-stops but don't care about it.)

About aperture...


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## Alan Aspie (Jun 10, 2020)

*Try old tricks*

In the distant history, during Pax Romana or at least when film was the thing, photographers had some tricks. Some of them seem to be forgotten. 

Try to find them. If you do, test some. 

This huge dumpper has been photographed through old time soft focus filter called "old stockings". 





©Alan Aspie

Stockings were white, coarse and pinned on lens hood. Like this.




©Alan Aspie

Having a stocking filter in front of your lens gives you something you can't get in any other way. 

Or you can.... (Go and read what else you can do.)


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## -K2- (Jun 10, 2020)

Alan Aspie said:


> Having a stocking filter in front of your lens gives you something you can't get in any other way.



_Bob_ C.J.E.S. Guccione would be proud 

K2


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## Alan Aspie (Jul 23, 2020)

Go close to your subject. (Yes. I'm trying to learn how to use my new 100mm 2.8 IS macro lens.)




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie


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## hitmouse (Jul 29, 2020)

This is a great thread. I think the observations and suggestions made are valid. I have spent many happy years messing around with my Canon slr and a variety of prime and other lenses. I do like the technical stuff, but recently I have quite enjoyed the results from being low-tech, making me concentrate on the moment of the photo opportunity.

Here are some shots on a clapped out old iPhone 5 from a couple of days walking around Calcutta last summer. Low res, small, grubby lens, often poor light, and I was trying to be inconspicuous. Tripod, good lens, and more pixels would have changed these, but I think the essence would not necessarily have improved much. I find that I quite like the graininess.


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## hitmouse (Jul 29, 2020)

More Calcutta.


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## hitmouse (Jul 29, 2020)

And more:


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## Robert Zwilling (Jul 29, 2020)

The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?


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## Robert Zwilling (Jul 29, 2020)

I could really use some old fashioned, easy to do, practical tips on photographing my artwork. The more finished the picture gets, the worse the picture of the work looks. The best pictures of my work are made from the digital files that I create printed out as glossy photographs.


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## hitmouse (Jul 29, 2020)

Robert Zwilling said:


> The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?


Glad you like it. 
Re: Drunken State. Is that a philosophical question? Physical location of the sign is at the junction of Chowringhee Rd and Park St, central Kolkata, West Bengal. Probably findable in Google Street view.


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## hitmouse (Jul 29, 2020)

Robert Zwilling said:


> I could really use some old fashioned, easy to do, practical tips on photographing my artwork. The more finished the picture gets, the worse the picture of the work looks. The best pictures of my work are made from the digital files that I create printed out as glossy photographs.


Decent lighting, and be prepared to adjust the colour balance, saturation, contrast digitally afterwards. You can make that very complex with professional software, or do 99% of the job, probably to your own satisfaction with basic free editing software which comes bundled with iphoto or picasa etc. 

Try to get the camera perpendicular to the picture, and far enough away that you do not get perspective distortion of the edges of the picture or aberration or blurring from the edge of the lens. Bright light and a small aperture are helpful in this respect. Use a prime lensand tripod if you have them, but not critical. 

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?


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## Robert Zwilling (Jul 30, 2020)

Drunken State, here we have dui or drunk driving. Drunken state sounds weird to me, more like a place.

Thinking it over from your suggestions, I think I will try taking several closeup pictures, smaller than the whole picture, and recombine them back into one picture.

Best lighting so far, for me, has been natural lightning, bright but not direct. The camera fixed in placed. The printed surface is underneath a few clear polycrlic layers. Its clear but not crystal clear and the surface is very uneven, making glare a real problem. Like photographing an image in a rounded surface with lights coming from all directions. The colors just don't come through. I have to recolor it section by section, it would be like digitally repainting the picture all over again. For selling it sight unseen, I really need an exact copy. Sounds like making the picture of the picture will be much harder than making the original picture.


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## hitmouse (Jul 30, 2020)

Robert Zwilling said:


> The drunken sign picture is fantastic, almost seems like it is more of a suggestion than a statement of fact, even the sign looks like it is only a suggestion. All of the stuff crammed into it and those fan units in the windows look way oversized but there they are. Nice green building next to raw concrete finish. Who knows what could be under the tarps. The light post is going in all directions while the lights seem to be in a line. As a digital artist I see so many artistic avenues in that picture to pursue. The trees lining the street make a nice green picture. The clean horizontal car motion blur emphasizes the soaring vertical aspect of the scene. So where exactly is this Drunken State located?


Digressing a bit from the OP. Indian road safety warnings can appear whimsical, and are often thought provoking rather than directive. Probably more effective as a result. 
My favourite is “ Arrive in peace, not in pieces  “ 
Some others:








						9 funny Indian road signs
					

Indian roads are some of the most dangerous in the world. Maybe it's because drivers are laughing at the signs...




					www.wanderlust.co.uk


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## Dragonlady (Aug 1, 2020)

been playing with a new toy, a tamron adaptail 2 70-210mm lens that may well be older than me, had a bit of a play tonight.


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## Dragonlady (Aug 1, 2020)

sorry, struggling with the pictures


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## Dragonlady (Aug 1, 2020)

The best couple of shots, need more practise and to dig out the tripod/monopod

View attachment paddling pool.jpg


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## Alan Aspie (Aug 2, 2020)

Try symbolic telling. Happy or annoyed about something? Some kind of life situation? Do you need to share something you don't want to or can't tell? Go symbolic!




©Alan Aspie




©Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie




© Alan Aspie


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## hitmouse (Aug 2, 2020)

My hint. 
Look at the works of great photographers. My hero is Henri Cartier-Bresson. Looking at his pictures changed the way I think about photography. I would recommend his book Europeans. 









						Henri Cartier-Bresson • Photographer Profile • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos
					

In 1947, Henri Cartier-Bresson, along with Robert Capa, George Rodger, David 'Chim' Seymour and William Vandivert, founded Magnum Photos




					www.magnumphotos.com
				




The other Magnum photographers are very good.

The Guardian newspaper has an excellent photography section.


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## Alan Aspie (Aug 10, 2020)

*Check your gear.*

Is it clean? Do your lenses focus like they should? Is your gear right stuff for you or should you change something? Do you give your gear enough exercise? Are your batteries ok? Is your camera's censor clean? Do you know how to clean it? Is your computer and programs ok for you? 




© Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (Aug 14, 2020)

*Publish in social media.*

Put some of your photos to social media. Get more feedback that way. Let other people see your visual thinking, your emotional and artistic touch and what you are interested of.

Get yourself some kind of network among photo/video/sound/drawing/whatever folks.

Let others look inside your mind and heart through your art - or what ever it is.

And have a look to the inner world of other artists who let you look they way of seeing the world.

Here is my Instapage. You can publish yours in this thread if you want to. 






						Login • Instagram
					

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.




					www.instagram.com


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## Dragonlady (Aug 17, 2020)

Followed! I'm lizzie.butterworth


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## Alan Aspie (Aug 18, 2020)

Dragonlady said:


> Followed! I'm lizzie.butterworth



Followed and hope to see more Instagram networking among visually oriented writers and readers.





© Alan Aspie

The cat is asking you all to check my Instapage.






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## Alan Aspie (Aug 24, 2020)

*Carpe diem.*

I saw this from window, crabbed my camera and shot it.


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## Alan Aspie (Sep 8, 2020)

Don't shoot appearence. Capture the emotion, feeling, mood, the atmosphere at that exact moment.


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## Alan Aspie (Sep 9, 2020)

*Shoot symbols!*

Shoot what does not exist in material world. Make it exist. Then shoot it.

In one of my previous posts you see a cherry heart. And here is a plum heart, a real life emoji.




©Alan Aspie (here, not my real name of course)

And here is Smiley as a golden hair princess.




©Alan Aspie


Both started their existence when I planned and shot them. And now they are real. And more will come.

And you will find these and some more from my Insta feed. 






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## Alan Aspie (Sep 20, 2020)

*Bad weather is perfect for photographing.*

We had a storm few nights ago. I took my camera and went out to shoot local mall. Someone was unloading cars there.


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## Alan Aspie (Sep 28, 2020)

*Highlight your experiences.*

Make your photographing part of your life in a very enjoyable and meaningful way. 

I woke 2 of my kids last night near midnight. Told them to clothe up and take their gear. We jumped to our car and drove far from city lights. And then we waited. Something started to appear. And something more. And more...

Those two kids saw Northern Lights first time in their life. And they photographed Norther Lights first time - like me too. We we full of adrenaline, experiencing strong emotions together. Shared hobby - photographing - highlighted that experience. 

And what did we capture? 

With zero understanding, knowledge or experience about photographing Aurora Borealis we got photos like this.




©Alan Aspie 

This is a photo I just threw to my Insta account. But the experience of sharing those moments with my kids... Those are in my heart. 

more photos about environment, characters and symbolism in my Instaboard.






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## Alan Aspie (Oct 1, 2020)

*Learn your environment.*


Pay attention to light, nature, urban stuff, rural stuff, people, animals, seasons, colours, changes, symbolic and emotional stuff.

When you know your environment, you know when and where to go and what to take with you.




©Alan Aspie


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## Alan Aspie (Oct 18, 2020)

*Think it all the way before shooting.*

I saw a half dead orchid on some place. Only one of the flowers was ok. The only lights in that room were one old fashion light bulb + window. It was cloudy outside.

I screwed a monopod to my camera. (Sirui P-326 carbon fiber model which I highly recommend.) I took 100mm 2.8 IS macro lens. I put the flower so that coudy sky lighted it from the back and 2700K bulb gave some yellow light from above.

I exposured it so that I protected highlights in the sky + some more. That was because I wanted to have some extra room to rise contrast - a lot. I wanted to make it a bit high keyish but couldn't get it all the way to high key. 

And here's what I got. One of the three pics I saved. 







©Alan Aspie


The point of my text is that I had to think light, shooting and editing before shooting. That was the only way I could do it in those conditions.


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## Astro Pen (Jul 16, 2021)

Just wanted to caution against photographing purple flowers while your auto focus is hungry


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## Astro Pen (Apr 16, 2022)

You don't need expenive kit. This was taken on an ancient £5 digimax with a tiny lens yet the simple dandelion head pops with colour and detail
(right click, 'open in new tab' and maximise for full size


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