Creativity

Hey Photo-bloggers, 

We've been diving into the amazing 12 elements of a photograph based on The Photographic Exhibitions Committee's standards. We have gone over impact and technical excellence and today we will discuss one of my favorites and in my opinion, the most important, creativity!

Creativity to me is taking a form of medium mixing it together to express an idea, message, or emotion. When we talked about impact we mentioned something similar, where we intended to create a piece that gave the viewer a strong impression of emotion. Creativity is similar to that and can work hand in hand with impact because we use creativity to express impact. I have found that many of the 12 elements of a photograph can play hand and hand with each other and in fact, a photograph is only truly strong when it has all the pieces.

Here are some examples of my creativity this week:

Sometimes for me, my muse is gone on vacation but I was able find some interesting shots this week that anyone can manage in their backyard. The top is of our cat. I love this because I played with the lighting and illuminated her whiskers. In the bottom picture, I laid in the grass and angled the camera to get an almost mystical view of the yard.

The one thing I love the most about being creative is that anyone and everyone has a creative flare and each person brings something different to their art. You can not go wrong with your creativity and no matter how young or how old you may be you can always be creative.

************ 

Hey guy,
For those of you that check in every week I apologize for this week's post being pushed back a week, I was actually dealing with some health issues and could not get to the computer in time to upload these amazing pictures.
Next week we will be diving into Style and how it can affect your photo!
I have decided to switch my uploading days from Fridays to Saturdays. I hope this works out for everyone so no one misses out!
Hope to see you next week!
~Amanda

Technical Excellence

The second element in The Photographic Exhibitions Committee (PEC) of PPA's 12 elements of being an amazing photographer is Technical excellence. This usually means the print quality of the photo. Some think this is the physical quality of the print (such as those who deal in film and develop their own photographs). I deal strictly in digital so we do post production editing such as touch ups, getting all the imperfections out of the image, and creating sharpness. Some even go as far as photo manipulation by using programs such as photoshop that allow them to artificially create amazing and crazy scenes. 

At R.E.A.L. Photography we try to keep our images as realistic as possible and try to stay away from photo manipulation. That being said, we do touch up our photos and get the images as sharp as possible. I use lightroom first and then transition to photoshop if there is any big projects to fix. 

Two of my favorite ways of getting a sharper picture without using sharpness is to bump up the clarity and vibrance. Clarity can sometimes make the image darker without meaning too but it also clears up the image, and vibrancy enhances the color without over saturating the color.

Sometimes you need to bump up the sharpness because there is no other way to get fine details. Sharpness is great in small doses but be careful. It can cause a lot of grain in the background that you wouldn't noticed until after you print or blog up the picture. 

Try to fiddle with the luminance instead. This feature is a god send in my opinion. It reduces background noise that causes the graininess and blurs just enough while also sharpening the features of the subject. 

Fixing up the images isn't the only steps to make the images technically perfect. You have to print them properly. Some people think that going to Sears or Walmart is the cheapest way to go but sometimes this can cause your print quality to start lacking. As a photographer I do not recommend going to places like this. However, if you are starting up and need a place that is cheap but also has a good quality I would recommend Shutterfly. They have many more options than other places and allow for full customizations. 

Hope these tips helped up your photography game and maybe your Photography Technical Excellence will reach a 10 out of 10!

Check back next Saturday for Element 3: Creativity!

Impact

To have impact according to Dictonary.com is "to have an impact or effect on; influence; alter", but for a photographer impact is more of a strong impression on the viewer. Some type of emotion, be it happiness, anger, sadness, loneliness, joy, pride, etc. According to the Photographic Exhibitions Committee (PEC) of PPA, impact is one of the 12 elements that creates a successful piece of art, even photography. There can also be impact within the other 12 elements of photography as well.

Anyone can take a successful photograph, but capturing an impactful photo can be quite a challenge. My version of impact (keeping in mind my low budget, time frame, and space) is actually one I took a few years ago. It doesn't have the best quality but the impact for me is huge.

To me this image expresses a sense of loneliness but yet a light in the darkness. Hope when all may be lost. From an aesthetic point of view I found that focusing on the bright part of the wick and allowing only the top part of the candle to shine brought about this emotion.

Another wonderful aspect of impact is that each viewer sees the image differently. Some may not see my image as impactful like I do, but maybe this image:

Missouri Capitol Building- 2016

is more impactful bringing a sense of pride or wonderment. I took this picture for a school photography class a year ago. The nightshot light from all angles gives an odd look many don't see. Another image that spoke to me was this one:

Old barn from Fulton State Hospital

A sense of sadness, due to the buildings old exterior comes to mind.

All these images have a different impact for different people. You do not have to go far or be a super professional photographer to capture something impactful. Let me know what you guys think about how impactful my photos are, what I could change, some creative ideas, and maybe add some of your own.

Next weekend I will talk about Technical excellence and what that means for your photography.

impact. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved August 6, 2017 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/impact

12 Step Project

Hey guys,

So recently I have been focusing the blog in a more educational/ How to do photography kind of way and I wanted to switch it up a bit by also challenging myself. I recently read in this Article about the standards of a great photo. I challenge you and myself to come up with a photo that represents each of the elements mentioned in the article.

Each Friday when I update the blog, I will go over one of the elements in detail and discuss my process and reveal my Photos for that week. I have limited time, money, space, and other resources so this will be a huge challenge for me. I really hope that you, my readers, will also participate in this challenging project! Comment with your images (even if they are from your phone!) and give me advice, professional critique, or just say hi! :)

~Amanda
R.E.A.L. Photography

Here are the elements:

1.) Impact 

2.) Technical excellence 

3.) Creativity 

4.) Style

5.) Composition 

6.) Presentation 

7.) Color Balance 

8.) Center of Interest 

9.) Lighting 

10.) Subject Matter 

11.) Technique 

12.) Storytelling 

Also here is a picture of one of my cats: 

Lara

How to Photograph in Direct Light

Sometimes we have to pick our battles. As photographers some locations and shoots end up with direct, harsh light. Knowing how to work around such conditions is easy, so I will show you the different ways to capture a subject and work around the sun.

When you start out at your location, observe your surroundings. If the sun is above you or mostly above you, you and your subject will be under direct light. My subject for this blog: My unwilling, annoying, prince charming of a fiance. All the images I took are completely unedited with the exception of the watermark.

I started out with my subject facing the sun. In the image to the right, his eyes became more squinty and harsh shadows crossed his face in unpleasant ways. I had to adjust the aperture a lot to overcompensate and it still came out extremely bright.

So I moved my subject to the side where the sun was to the right of us. The image to the left was just a little better with aperture, but cast very unpleasant shadows.


The last  photo I took, the image to the right, I moved my subject to where I was facing the sun. Although it was hard to see for me, my subject was angled properly. The sun wrapped around his shoulders just enough but did not disfigure his face and make the colors funky.


IF you have the option of capturing your subjects in the shade, I highly recommend it. Even then, be aware of the sun's location. In the image to the left, my subject is shaded, but the sun is so bright it comes through the leaves in spots and still casts a shadow.

As a rule when shooting in direct sunlight, always face your subject with the sun behind them, like in the image to the right.

The Challenge

Sometimes as photographers we deal with clients or situations that force us to deal with unexpected or challenging shoots. This blog post will share one of R.E.A.L. Photography's first challenging photoshoots.

A Wedding to Die For: 

One of R.E.A.L. Photography's first wedding shoots was the most challenging and creatively demanding. The clients were extremely flexible because of all the challenges we were faced with: a sunset cosplay wedding, on a boat in the middle of a lake, with three different photographic locations, with three different times in the day with no posed shots. An 11 hour day was daunting to plan out and let's just say, Rhi and I were very nervous.

How did we get through it?

We did a ton of research months in advance: what type of equipment we needed, how to capture images in different (and changing) lighting, how to get the sharpest images in low light. All of the research we did really gave us an idea of what to expect throughout the shoot.

We also ordered the right equipment. Having two photographers we pride ourselves on capturing everything to our strengths. Rhiannon handled up close and I handled distance shots. Therefore we used two different lenses during the shoot that helped get a variety of images. We ordered through a company called Lumoid.com that rents lenses that starting photographers might not be able to afford yet. This was a major help but also a major expense.

We also decided to dress up for the cosplay aspect of the wedding. This is in hindsight a bad idea, specifically because it got in the way and created yet another barrier to get past during the shoot.

Don't get me wrong, Rhi and I got annoyed at each other, frustrated at points, weren't sure how to capture certain things, and ran around like chickens with no pants. We did manage to get through it though with some amazing photos!

Color Vs. Monochrome

The impact of using color photography versus using black and white is situational and brings different elements to your photographs. We see in color so it's our first choice when taking a photo, but photography first started out in black and white. Color photography is based on hues, and can guide your eyes to the subject, such as a woman wearing a bright dress. Monochrome can be striking, and gives off a classic vibe inferring emotion into your images. 

Dodeca Convention- 2016. Nightmare Jack Skellington and Sally cosplay.

I love to love color:

Colors exist all around us but knowing when to use it instead of monochrome can be hard. Color can be contrasting, it can set a mood such as warm or cold tones, and it can bring loads of emotion to an image. If the color in your photos does not pull the eye to the subject or there is too much color, such as a flushed face in summer, trying monochrome might engage your viewers in a better way.

Weaver cosplay wedding-2016. 

Black and white shows the soul:

Black and white photography can be emotional and incorporate a depth to your photographs. Basically you use black and white when the light, form, or texture is more intriguing than the hue. Due to seeing colors constantly in everyday life, changing an image into black and white causes our minds to look deeper into the image itself. Playing around with contrast and light is a fun adventure, but you’ll never know what looks the best in each image until you try it out.

Mixing color and black and white:

Sometimes we get super crazy and decide that we only want the red of her dress to stand out, or the “something blue” in a wedding picture. That is when mixing the two forms of photography gets really fun and challenging.

How?

Some DSLR cameras have a built in black and white feature that allows you to experience lack of color before post production. This feature is useful to some and bothersome to others. Personally I like post production black and white better because I can make sure the image doesn’t become too grainy or have odd lighting that you might not realize was there in the colored photographs. Another tip that I learned the hard way was ALWAYS shoot in RAW or RAW and JPEG format. RAW files give you the flexibility of changing back and forth from color to black and white without losing clarity. In the end whichever way you take the photo is up to the photographer and there is no right way or wrong way. Each image is unique and tells a story.


Photos taken by : Rhiannon Evans

Shout out to bethadilly for the inspiration, here is a link to her blog: http://bethadilly.com/100-photography-blog-post-ideas/