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Did you see that? — Comments Off
21
Oct 10

The cutest photo ever taken…

cutestphoto The cutest photo ever taken...

The cutest photo ever taken

This June headline in the Huffington Post –The cutest photo ever taken,  sure got a lot of attention. It was the cutest photograph ever made for about 15 to 20 seconds when someone took another photograph just as cute. Nevertheless, for the suspended time being, this photograph has a lot going for it, especially the purity of youth. Technically we could make noises regarding the sharpness, the busy background and so forth but this is simply not important. The key here is the Garfield Moment we get from the kitten’s eyes. It is all there. Words are not necessary.

The lesson here is that photographs do not need to be perfect to be great. Everyone with a camera gets to make a shot like this now and then, so get out your camera, crank up the ISO have at it. Every 20 seconds, you might be next! Do however make an effort to watermark or mark ownership of your image in some way; we searched and searched and were unable to find the creator of this photo. What a shame!
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PhotoTrainer

PhotoTrainer / The Craft — Comments Off
25
Aug 10

How to practice photography

Metro 300pxweb How to practice photography

Rock your soul...

Practice, practice, practice!

A Google search on the words “How to Practice” yields 188 million links. Million. I read them all. The three top groups in the results are

  • 1) Musical practice methods,
  • 2) Meditation techniques, and finally
  • 3) the many ways one can practice evidenced-based Psychiatry.

Practice holds the promise of a better result, a  and improved ability. Before I take a run at the dart board with my 16 year old son, I want a few practice throws. We are always learning, we all know that we can do better if we take time to concentrate, apply mindful attention, and…focus.

Well well well! It is interesting that musicians, yogis, and psychiatrists  regularly borrow this refined concept from photography, – the magic of the lens to clarify vision. The ability to focus is an enduring metaphor for the power of the mind. But we often give the lens too much credit.

One would think practicing photography is easy. No need to drill through odd time signatures with a metronome, No need to battle against the mind’s background noise , and no need for Board Certification. We get to wake up in the morning and grab the new lens and play, hell, We even have auto focus.

But it is not that easy is it?

We still have to quiet the mind, put in the time, and certify the images we want to keep. No one can sneak away. Here are some techniques I have used in the past.

• Write down your ideas. Resolve to turn off the phone, tell the family goodbye, and get away. Same time each day, or week. If it happens once a month consider yourself lucky.

• Set the camera on P and FORGET about settings for a half hour. OK 20 minutes. Move in and out instead of zooming.  Keep moving. When something captures your interest, apply the settings you know will help the shot. With a tripod if necessary.

• Keep shooting and moving. Control your breath, and keep breathing.

Later that evening…

• Back up files. Look at them in a good file browser. Rate them.

• Repeat.

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