What do I mean by this F.O.C.U.S? It is an acronym for the process I think one should take as an artist/photographer. F.O. C. is for, “figure out clearly.” Figure out your gear, your tools. You can’t really concentrate on what you are trying to say, trying to communicate, if you are worried about the exposure. You really need to know what your camera is capable of. I have no problem with using Program Mode. You more or less can set it and forget it. Until you… fill in the blank. What happens if you have your subject in front of a brightly lit window? Sure you like silhouettes but you might also want to see your subjects face. You need to know that your camera will be fooled in Program and you have to open up a stop or two to expose for the face. Or you can use on camera flash to expose for the face and let the background burn in. These are all choices you can make if you understand what Program can and cannot do.
“U” is for understand. Did you ever take a photo 101 class? Did you ever assemble a portfolio based on the assignments you were given in a photo class? Did your portfolio look like everyone else’s in class? Of course it did….at first. You were all given the same assignments: depth of field, panning, flash on bulb, self portrait, etc. These are all useful, and informative. However, they don’t develop your style, your voice, only you can do that. So take the assignments you are given in class or that you give yourself. Understand what they are trying to teach you. Do you need a wrench or screwdriver for the job? Do you want to use a long lens to make the background soft and compress the space, make your foreground subject pop? Do you want to use a super wide lens? Have everything sharp? Obscure the perspective? These exercises should be like practicing an instrument or your jump shot. You need to know your gear inside out. You need to know what tool to choose to get the job done. But all of this is just the beginning. You are laying the foundation for your work. It doesn’t matter if you shoot Nikon or Canon, if you are PC or MAC. What matters is what you do with them. The hardest part is seeing.
“S” is for See. What do you want to say? What is important to you and why? How do you see the world? You can start by asking yourself, what do you like to look at? What moves you? What photos do you like and why? What is great about them? Do they capture a moment? Are they quiet and beautiful? Are they graphic and architectural? Is it the human elements or the natural ones that inspire you? I heard a wonderful talk given by Joe Buissink, http://www.joebuissink.com/. He said the first picture that started it all for him was one of his son breastfeeding. He said it was the first picture that looked back at him. I had never heard it said that way before. I realized that is all I care about in a photo. What I care about is the person looking back at me…and in the meantime, maybe I was able to say something about how I saw them and felt about what they were projecting to the world. When people ask me what I photograph I say, “I will shoot anything that breathes.” That really sums it up for me. It is all about the human condition. That is how I see it.
Okay if Sheila E and Prince are done singing in your head, let’s talk about styling. What should you wear or have your subjects wear for a photo shoot? This is a loaded question. I realize my next statement is going to alienate half of the readers out there but… PLEASE NO MATCHING SHIRTS! I mean really, do you walk around in the real world with your family in matching tee’s? Okay maybe at a sporting event I can see that, but for pictures?
My years shooting commercial work taught me about styling. At first advertisers wanted it to be all classic. You know, Gap khaki’s and white t-shirts or plain sweaters, jeans, loafers, and polos. I always told my models that were bringing their own clothes to think of J Crew, Banana Republic as style guides. You should also avoid logos, and loud prints. Here is a shot created for commercial use using generic clothing.
The reason this becomes important for your own photography is because you don’t want to look at an image years from now and say…”oh yeah, that was 1983”. If you are shooting private portraits or your own family I think dressing yourself or your subjects in classic clothing allows you to concentrate on what is important, the people and the emotion portrayed. So choosing the fluffy pirate shirt that was all the rage in high school may come back to haunt you. Same goes for the Farrah Fawcett hairstyle. When I look at an image I don’t want to be distracted by clothing, trendy hair and jewelry. By the way, I still stand by my 1991 wedding dress. The head piece was a little much but luckily I took it off for most of the day. Other than that, I really don’t think the images look that dated. Okay maybe my husband’s hairline and my waistline are a little different:-). When I look at a photo all I want to see is the subjects, how they feel and how I feel about them. Check out this image below. It is shot of my neighbor’s kids at the local Y. I think it really captures the joy of childhood. What could be more fun than hanging out at the pool with your siblings? I took this photo last year, or was it …..16 years ago. See my point.
Fast forward to today. In commercial photography now, agencies want to see trendy clothes. The abundance of images in the system makes their shelf life and usability limited. Once the trend is over there will be the next million images for sale with the latest whatever. Those decade specific looks have gone from kitsch to cool. If you want to play up a look or exaggerate it that has a place too. I always remember the shot in the movie “Garden State” of Zach Braff the lead actor wearing a printed shirt standing in front of a wallpapered wall of the same print. It was so visually striking. I think if you are going for a specific look you should carry it across the whole image, from clothes to lighting, think of the impact. Maybe you love old Hollywood? Start with a glamorous dress, add the period makeup and hair, and then of course the dramatic studio lighting.
For your traditional portrait sitting I still think your best bet is classic clothing in neutral colors. I tell people black is okay, with the exception of black turtlenecks which make you look like you have a floating head in photos. Texture is extremely important. I think this mom did an excellent job dressing herself and baby. See how nicely the texture of her sweater goes with the wheat grass. The baby’s nubby white sweater adds depth to the photo without being distracting.
Instead of matching colors to show family unity try complimentary patterns. See in the photo below how the girl’s tank top has small bands of color that match (there I said it, but it is in a very small amount) her sister’s and mom’s dresses. The older girls both have on solid brown and the Dad and son have on khaki. This color combination and composition leads your eye around the photo in a circular manner. If you must do the same color at least do different cuts and styles in the clothing. That way everything looks pulled together but not like identical twins. All that said, if you are shooting a portrait for a client, not just yourself, make sure your subjects are comfortable. If they feel good in what they are wearing, even if you think it is hideous, their self confidence will shine through.
Next time you take out your camera don’t forget about the styling, it can make or break your picture.
(This post has been updated from a post at RESOLVE http://blog.livebooks.com/category/contributors/sas-becker/)
Hopefully the net will appear… but just in case. I think it is extremely important that you be ready to deliver a professional product when you make the switch from weekend shooter to pro. You really are only as good as your last job. You have time to bone up on the business end of things, but your images are your reputation. Go out on as many jobs as possible as a second photographer. There you have time to learn, but not the pressure of being a lead. Assist for free if necessary… anything that gets you on a real photo shoot. You need to see how others work to develop an approach to shooting that you are comfortable with.
Your knowledge of your equipment should be second hand. Read your manual if you can stand it. That would be torture for me. However, I am happy to have a sales rep or photo geek (I use this term in the highest regard) explain to me all the inner workings of my gear. Practice at home in every conceivable lighting condition until you feel comfortable with any challenges that may arise. Make sure you have the right gear for the assignment. If you are shooting a wedding or an event that cannot be redone you must have two camera bodies with you. Rent one if necessary, this is also a good way to try out new products before you buy. Canon and Nikon both have pro services that give you access to loaner equipment. A wide selection of lenses is also a must. The right tool for the right job makes all the difference.
Talk to other photographers in your area. Figure out what your cost will be for operating your business. Do you need liability and business insurance? Will you be a sole proprietor or an LLC. How will you promote yourself? Do you need a logo, identity and promotional pieces? How about an office or shooting space? Do you need help writing a business plan? Who is going to watch the kids while you are working? The big thing these days is a website. I think as a photographer it is essential that you have a nice looking site that is user friendly. Everyone I have talked to under the age of 35 says a blog is also a must. This is my attempt at blogging:-). Another good place to gain insight is a website called http://prophotoresource.com/. Workshops and conferences are a great way to brush up your skills and learn from other photographers’ experiences. Some provide practical information while others are pointless. I think their real value comes in networking. All in all it is helpful to speak to as many pros as possible to see what worked and didn’t work for them and then adapt their advice to your situation.
You know how the cobbler’s kids have no shoes? Well it’s not that bad, I do have photos of my kids, but they were not easy to get! I have tons of photos of my friends’ children that are wonderful and were much easier to create. It is something about the pressure of performing for your own parents that makes it a difficult task for the kids. Not to mention the expectations I have for my little muses as a mother and an artist with a vision. Even with the right location, clothes, light and bribes in place, it is still challenging to photograph your own children.
Start with movement. I don’t mean the kids, they do that already. I mean you, the photographer. Bend, squat, jog, kneel, and shake the camera and yourself on purpose. My father was 6’6” tall and a gifted photographer. However, he did better photographing the animals at the zoo than the rug rats at home. I think because every shot was taken at eye level and that gives a very specific look, especially at his height. So try it…..
Shoot up
Shoot down
In your face
On the ground
Keep it loose. I think traditional portraiture can be so stiff. This is another great reason to shoot a lot. In the old days of film, photographers use to shoot a roll not using any film for the sole purpose of loosening up their subjects. Here are two favorite tips I have for making my subject lighten up. First, interact with each other. Not looking at the camera, but at each other talking and laughing. You are bound to get some dorky shots with people’s mouths open, but you might get a real moment too. Lastly, when in doubt, walk it out. People can’t look stiff while they are moving; I think it is physically impossible. Again, you will blow through a million out of focus, lousy frames. If you keep at it, and practice your panning prowess you are going to get a great shot. PS. if you are walking backwards have someone watch where you are going. I have fallen into a pricker bush and almost off a dock before.
Keep it loose
Wearing a cape running through a field, or using a butterfly net as a prop. These both capture universal themes of childhood. Look at your print ads and catalogs what is going on there photographically. Think of at least one emotion you are trying to convey and about the perfect wardrobe and location to make it happen.
I know parents that shoot their kids doing everything. This is a much more photojournalist approach. There is nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact shooting weddings has made me a better observer. You are not directing every moment in a wedding… sometimes you are a fly on a wall. It is while you are observing the mundane moments in life, that is when the magic can happen.
So you know how to get to Carnegie Hall right?
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.
The sun is low and behind the subjects
It’s a beautiful sunny day outside so you want go out and shoot, right? Let’s think about this…. How great do the kids look at the beach in the mid-day sun, squinting at the camera? I generally try to shoot 90 minutes after sunrise or 90 minutes before sunset. That is when you will have the most flattering light. Your subjects can look at you either with the sun in their faces or to their backs. This shot of my kids was taken on the beach in Maine about 90 minutes before sunset. The sun was low and to their backs.
Even at the golden hour I rarely shoot with the sun directly in the models faces. Most subjects have trouble keeping their eyes open even in low light. A wonderful option is to use a silk between the sun and your subject to diffuse the golden light as seen here. Try to cover the subject completely. Watch where the shadows created by the silk are falling and try to keep it natural looking.
The light is diffused using a silk
One of my absolute favorite things to do is to shoot into the sun. Have your subject stand directly in front of the sun. You will need to carefully watch for lens flare created by the sun entering directly into your lens. I often choose to have flare in the camera as seen here.
This image has intentional use of lens flare
You will have to use trial and error to see how much flare is desirable. You will need to either expose for your subjects face using a hand-held incident meter or use exposure compensation in program mode and open up at least 1-2 stops to accommodate for the meter being fooled by all that bright light. You can also balance the light adding on-camera flash. Expose for the background and use the flash to light your model. You can take this even further by under exposing the background by a stop or two and then balance the flash to your subject. This is a trick photographers like Annie Leibovitz use. It makes the foreground objects pop against the nicely saturated background. Sometimes accidents turn into the best photos…the trick is knowing how to repeat them.
This photo shows the Bokeh effect
My other favorite thing to do is to utilize the dabbled light created by the leaves in the trees as seen in the photo above. This look is accentuated when using a longer portrait lens. The compression of a telephoto makes the subject in the foreground stand out and creates a Bokeh (derived from Japanese, a noun boke 暈け, meaning “blur” or “haze”) effect. I also used a white fill card here to reflect more light into the model’s face. Pay careful attention to what is happening behind your subject. Shoot at a shallow f-stop so your background is soft and out of focus.
Generally the last thing you want to do is go out in the mid-day sun. Unless you can find open shade it is really a difficult situation to work with. Since you probably can’t get a crew and a large enough silk to diffuse a big area, get creative. Can you work under an umbrella or a porch? Can you hold a card up to block the direct sun and try to use the shade created? This image was created on a sunny day around 10am under the overhang of a porch.
Sunny day under the porch
While you are at it, forget about the sun all together. There is nothing like shooting on an overcast day. The light is soft and even from every direction. You are not limited to the time you can photograph. It is an all day shooting opportunity. This shot on the beach was taken on a cloudy day.
Overcast day at the beach
A real pro works with what light they are given. So take a 360 degree look around you and start shooting.
There are three things that make me feel like a rock star. One is getting my hair professionally blown out. Two is watching my children grow. And three is strapping on ten thousand dollars worth of camera gear. Okay let’s talk about number three. It is not the ten thousand dollar part, although having big a** cameras are a lot of fun. It could be a point and shoot, or a “PHD” camera as my dad used to call it (Press Here Dummy). What makes me feel like a rock star and what should empower you too, is the ability to know how to use it, and the vision to act on it. Even if it is a Polaroid, as long as you know what you are doing, you have conviction, you own it…you own your power. This kind of confidence is contagious. It makes your subjects comfortable. It draws people to you like a magnet. I think this kind of charisma is essential for a people shooter. It’s through this rapport that you will get your best shots.
So how do you develop these qualities? It’s like the law of attraction which basically states, what you put out there comes back to you. Or in other words, if it feels good you are on the right track. Keep doing that. So when you are learning how to shoot, first focus on what you are attracted to. What interests you? What are your reading about or looking at even when your favorite TV show is on. What moves you into action?
I am betting if you are on this website you love shooting and you are a mom. Can I take a guess; you probably love shooting your kids! I know I do. So take this and run with it. Practice with them, on them, until you know what you are doing. It’s a lot more inspiring then doing exposure tests on a mannequin. I am constantly at Target styling my next photo concept…or, I am driving around town scouting out the perfect location. What do you want to photograph? Write down all your shoot ideas…keep them in a journal, refer to it often. Make a habit of leafing through magazines for inspiration. Ironically, when I was a photo editor at a magazine my job required me to look through them. I always felt guilty about doing this. It seemed so decadent. Maybe because I am the product of a Jewish father and a mother who attended catholic school… it is double the guilt. But when you are an artist in training you must find motivation anyway you can. You need to fill the well with lots of inspiration.
Then next thing that will catapult you to rock stardom… is just doing it! Sure you have heard that before but sometimes it is easier to watch Oprah then to learn something new. Another cup of coffee sounds like a better idea than researching photography websites. The idea of a photo class seems too intimidating. How could I possibly make time for that… the kids, family… Yeah, yeah we are all there. It is all about balance. The happier mom is, the happier everyone is. So if you need to take pictures…and you are actually doing it….congratulations you are a ROCK STAR!
(this post has been updated from a post at RESOLVE http://blog.livebooks.com/category/contributors/sas-becker/)
A career in photography requires you to adapt and change. I guess any career that involves technology demands that you always keep up to date. Gone are the days where you stayed at one company for 30 years. For someone that is a technophobe like me, this basically stinks. You mean to tell me that to continue doing what I love; I have to always learn new stuff? I guess there are worse things. I mean I went kicking and screaming into digital and now I curse myself for not switching sooner. I am not sure where this fear came from? I know most people are afraid of change. Although, growing up my role models, my parents, where always the first to try new technologies. We had the first microwave on the block…. which was enormous if I recall. My mom also had one of those huge cell phones with a brick size battery you had to carry around with it. So one would think I would have developed some desire to be the first to conquer the new frontier. Not really…. but what I do have is tenacity and this has served me well.
I graduated photo school with some great contacts but not a lot of practical photo skills. I didn’t feel technically astute enough to be a first assistant so I became a photo editor. That taught me a lot about producing great photography, but it wasn’t as fulfilling as creating it myself. So, in 1993 my husband and I took the leap and starting building our stock library. We walked into a stock agency with a box of 8×10 black and white prints and got signed on the spot. The thing that was great about stock is that we could learn how to shoot on our own time. Granted it was our own dime too, but through trial and error we figured out what we were doing. The stock allowed us to build a portfolio, which led to magazine assignments. The editorial work led us to a rep, which got us a few advertising gigs.
We continued to shoot stock and assignment work for the next decade. We were happy as clams….but, then digital happened. Now all of a sudden everyone is a photographer. The cameras got better and more affordable. The price of equipment was no longer an obstacle for beginning shooters. The market was flooded and our stock sales dropped, a lot…. Now, here comes the bride…. All of a sudden weddings are looking pretty good and so are family portraits. Great, now I have something new to figure out? The great surprise is I actually love weddings and family portraits. All the things that drove me to photography to begin with exist in weddings and portraits. I love people! As long as I get to photograph them, especially if it’s at a big party, I am happy.
So what you know or learn today might not matter in 5 or 10 years… this maybe true. But what doesn’t change is your vision and your desire to create. You love making photos right? You can’t imagine not doing it…… Now you know how the kids feel at school, they constantly have to learn new things. It may be a little easier for them, they are not as old and scared of change. So you know how to eat an elephant don’t you……. one bite at a time.
Well this is a loaded question isn’t it? Unfortunately, not my title but the title of an awesome documentary I just saw on women artists. Check out www.whodoesshethinksheis.net. Just recently I found myself defending my artist to a gifted, female photographer. I was happily second shooting for her in Hawaii. Anyway, we were shooting this wedding in Hawaii….It was gorgeous, the couple was gorgeous…..I like to call this scenario “shooting ducks in a barrel.” So, I was trying to tell her that I was a goddess photographer and not a soccer mom. She gave me a once over and pointed to my crocs, my Capri’s and most incriminating of all, my necklace made of photos of my kids and said have you looked in the mirror lately. And, don’t you drive a minivan, and doesn’t your daughter in fact play soccer? Yeah… but, well… Okay maybe she had a point.
This film challenged all that. Just where do we as women, get off, trying to do art, mothering, marriage and god knows what else? Society tells us that we can’t have it all, we have to choose. I know I assumed a soccer mom couldn’t be a cool artist. Well, didn’t we all learn what happens when we assume…. You can still drive a minivan and have something to say. “Who does she think she is?” follows the lives of 5 different artists navigating their muse, family, and life in general. My absolute favorite was this Mormon mother of 5 in New England that made these incredible sculptures from clay. She couldn’t have appeared any more normal. Jeans, t-shirt, quirky glasses and nice highlights. I can’t even imagine handling 5 children and then finding the time to make the most outrageous creatures often with several heads birthing other creatures with multiple heads. Then the film showed a clip of her ten year old daughter saying, “It would be nice, if when my friends came over these things weren’t in the dining room.” It was just fantastic that these objects came out of this woman. Her story was unfortunately one of the only ones with a seemingly happy home life.
The first thing my girlfriend said to me when the film was over was that she wanted her friend, an actress to see it. Also, it was a shame that all the women in it were destitute or divorced. I actually didn’t notice that part at first…but that’s just me… glass is always half full. What I noticed first, is the amazing work these women were producing. Also, how strong they all seemed. I particularly related to the fact that they always had a drive to create but it was somehow magnified after childbirth. I have always considered myself an artist… but it wasn’t until I had my kids that I truly got it. Got how important it was to create for myself. Maybe the act of creation itself flicks the switch. I remember watching my brother and his wife when they first had their twins…. and thought, wow this is it… this is what it is all about… kids, family. This was before I had my own kids. It is just that they had longed for them for years and now they just felt so blessed. It was a beautiful thing to witness. I knew I always wanted to have kids but it was more like something I was going to get to eventually, after the list of other things I was doing. I don’t mean that to sound callous. I cannot imagine life without kids, without my own precious children. But, I also can’t imagine life without creativity and art. It is like birthing a baby. It is a long process that is very intricate, many things can go wrong. But, in the end it is so right, and couldn’t have happened any other way.
So who do you think you are? Are you a soccer mom with a camera and a vision? Embrace it, be the best damn artist, mom, spouse, friend, woman you can be. Nurture it. Follow every whim. Write down your ideas. Assign yourself projects. Rub shoulders with other artists. Go on a play date with yourself. Read a book, journal, jog, knit… whatever it is find time to express yourself because if you don’t you will feel less capable to handle everything else that comes with….life.
TheMommaRazzi.com was started because as women photographers it’s hard to find a place to learn the art of photography that is safe and free from criticism. The concept behind TheMommaRazzi.com is simple create a community of woman only shooters where we can learn from the resident experts, but also each other. (more…)