Behind the Scene With Stanley

Watch this one first



Then watch how I did it.

Do Your Photos Provide Context For Your Subject?

Professional communicators work hard at getting a message across. But first they must get the audience’s attention. There needs to be a “lead” or “hook” to stimulate their interest in the story.

Ted Koppel said that during his 25 years as anchor for Nightline, they spent the majority of their pre-broadcast time on the first 10 seconds of the show.

The hook is all-important. If it doesn’t work no one will hear the message.

A tactic used by writers to grab the attention of readers is to lead with a quote. This is a powerful literary tool for hooking an audience. It is often misused. Quoting out of context is done quite often. There are two known common practices of misusing a quote - the straw man argument and the appeal to authority. Both of these can undermine the message.

Photographers are also guilty of taking photos out of context to create impact for a visual hook.

If a writer or photographer uses the hook appropriately they will deliver context or story within the hook.

Wire service photographers have used impact as a visual hook (to the detriment of the story-telling photo) for so long that we rarely see good examples of photos with any real context. The context has been handed over entirely to the writer.

Extreme close-up photos have extreme impact but, out of context, may lack any story-telling ability. Relating the subject to its surroundings can help tell the story of the subject, but impact is still needed.

A good example of the type of photo that can contain both impact and context is the environmental portrait. The subject is shown in their environment and the surroundings portray the person and help tell their story. A simple headshot shows what someone looks like, but the environment portrait can speak volumes about the person.

I grew up watching missionaries give slide shows in churches. Invariably most of the pictures they showed were tight headshots of some person looking into the camera. A friend of mine characterized these lacking-context-pictures as “People Who Need the Lord” photos. The pictures show what they look like, but tell me nothing about who they are.

Today I am often asked to speak to these missionary groups about how to improve their photography of their mission trips. My chief complaint about mission teams going somewhere and then showing their photos is the lack of environment in their photos. They have many “People Who Need the Lord” photos, which could have been made almost anywhere. Their photos don’t tell a story, they have little context. What does the county look like? How do they live? What do they eat?

I suggest to these groups that they make pictures that tell something about these folks. Show the mother in her kitchen making a meal. Show the man at his job – what does he do to earn a living. Show the children and what they do for play.

Think of the photos as an introduction. How do we in America do introductions? After we exchange our names we usually ask what they do for a living or we ask about their family.

A real advantage of photography is how much story can be told without having to speak a word. True masters of the craft use light and composition to make sense of all the clutter and show how things in the frame relate to one another. When the photo includes people expression and body language add even more context to the image.

Here are six simple steps to help bring context to a photograph.

1. Determine the purpose of the photograph.
2. What is the mood for the photograph to be?
3. Determine the subject.
4. What should be included or excluded around the subject?
   a. Do I include some of the environment in front of the subject?
   b. Am I making an image that is just graphically strong or does the space around the subject give context?
   c. What is in the background?
   d. What is beside or on the same plane as the subject, giving it equal importance?
5. When do I press the shutter?
   a. Are they interacting with another person?
   b. Do I show a serious or light moment?
6. What about the light?
   a. Do I use the natural light?
   b. Do I bounce the flash?
   c. Do I use professional lights?

Put your subjects in context when you photograph them and your pictures will truly be worth 10,000 words.

My Uncle's Photos of me working

This photo is by my Uncle, Knolan Benfield. He was helping me on a photo shoot for recruiting at a Catholic High School in Roswell, GA. He is the one who got me to buy my point and shoot camera. So while I am shooting and he is waiting to help me pack up and move he shot some photos with his Lumix DMC-TZ4.

How to improve your flash photography

This is the third article I have written on using your flash. My first one was about avoiding the dreadful red eye syndrome and here is a link. The second article I wrote was about should you use flash or not and this article is here for you. I want to address specifically the technique of off camera flash in this e.Newsletter.

First let’s start with what we do know about flash. We know that most cameras that come with a flash built in them give straight on harsh light and subject to red eye. This is due to how close the flash is to the lens. There are times this is the only option you may have for a situation. In this case getting the photo is more important than no photo. Almost every point and shoot has a flash built into them and most people’s photos have this harsh look. The other place we see this straight on flash a lot is in crime scene photography, which has been made more famous through TV shows like the CSI series.

What we do know is when we use the flash on the camera pointed straight at the subject it will look like most all amateurs’ photos and crime scene investigation photos. In other words anyone can get this type of photo and it is almost the norm when it comes to flash photography.

When creative directors, art directors and editors hire professional photographers there is an assumption which is expected and not always stated. The professional is hired to get something different than what they would do with their camera. While picking a unique angle with a different lens may give the client something different, the minute the straight on flash is introduced it immediately looks like something they would or could have done very easily themselves.

Lighting has more impact on a photograph than any other aspect in photography. Without light there are no photos and what kind of light determines much more than weather you can see the subject. It actually helps shape the subject and creates a mood more so than camera angle or lens choice.

When shooting in black and white the direction of the light helps shape the object and can make a photo have more pop or subdued for example. In color the color of the light as well as the direction will help establish the mood. Theater type of lighting makes your subject look dramatic for example. And lot of white light can make something look clinical or even used to simulate the feel of being in heaven.

To avoid red eye I have mentioned in earlier articles bouncing your flash off a ceiling or wall. What I consider one of the most dramatic types of lighting requires your flash to be off camera.

There are two angles which I like the best. First, having the light 45 degrees to the either side of the subject relative to the camera give a lighting affect used by the great artist Rembrandt. Rembrandt liked to have the light 45 degrees to the side of subject relative to his perspective and about 45 degrees up above his perspective as well. If the subject is looking straight at you will get a small triangle on the cheek which is on the opposite side of the light. The shape of the nose and brow help create this triangle. You may have to ask the subject to move their head just slightly to make this work just right.

Second, I think side lighting the subject works really well for people. This is where the light is 90 degrees from the camera on the left or right side of the subject.

There are basically two ways to achieve this technique. You can use a cable to go between your camera and flash. The second way is to use a remote to fire the flash.

When using a cable (check your manual for the flash and camera to get the one for your camera) you will need to be very close physically to the subject to get this to work. The reason is the further back you are from the subject the angle between the lens and the flash relative to the subject will diminish and you will have photos that look more like on camera flash. One simple solution is to buy a longer cable. There is usually a limit as to how long this cable can be and still work with your flash.

A little more expensive solution is to use a remote. There are two kinds of remotes for flashes: a generic radio remote and a wireless one designed to work with your flash. Both of these will let you place your flash away from the camera and each one has its advantage and disadvantage.

The advantage of the radio remote is it works up to a distance of up to 400 feet—depending on the unit. It works around walls and even through them. The disadvantage is if you need to adjust the power of the flash you must go to the flash and adjust it manually. Your TTL function—where the camera pretty much figures out the correct exposure is lost.

The advantage of the wireless system, like the SU-800 for Nikons, is you can control each flash unit separately through the unit. Your camera will fire the units and since it is working in TTL mode will properly adjust the exposure. While both systems will let you use numerous flashes together, the TTL wireless system lets you ratio the lights from the unit and therefore you can look at your LCD and make an adjustment and never have to move. One more major advantage of the wireless system like the one for the Nikon, you can use a shutter speed greater than the sync speed of say 1/250. This opens up many possibilities—especially outside on sunny days.

Using off camera flash requires a lot of practice to master the technique.

Will your photos be better because you use this technique? Maybe, but most importantly they will look different and sometimes this is enough to get the attention of your audience.

What’s a good camera for me?

When I speak to groups someone usually asks me what camera I use. Next someone else will ask, “Would I take better pictures if I had a better camera… maybe one like you use?”

The best answer I’ve ever heard to “The Camera Question” came from Joanna Pinneo, a former colleague of mine. Joanna is an outstanding photographer who has worked for Newsweek and National Geographic. Joanna had just finished wowing an audience with some of her photographs when a little old lady asked, “If I had a camera like yours would I take better pictures?”

“Probably not,” Joanna said, “you will take the best photos with a camera that is easy for you to use. When you see something you want to photograph the less you have to think about the camera the better your picture will be.”

Joanna went on to point out that professional photographers are so familiar with their cameras that using them is second nature to them; like driving a car. She told the little lady that unless she planed really study photography she should find a camera that was simple and easy to use then just concentrate on the subject of the photograph she wanted to make.

She was right, of course. In general most of your best photographs are taken to capture a moment. If you are switching lenses, fidgeting with a flash, or trying to remember how your camera works you’ll miss the moment. By the time everything is set just right the shot is gone, the moment has pasted.

On the other hand, if you have a point-and-shoot camera you can just (pardon this) you can just point-and-shoot and capture the moment. You’ll take a better picture precisely because you did NOT have a “better” camera.

Not long ago I was photographing the keynote speaker at an event in Atlanta. Beside me was Ambassador Andrew Young with his point-and-shoot camera. He was photographing the speaker as well. Later he showed me his shot and it was quite good.

This was not the only time I’ve seen him making pictures. I’ve worked with him on several occasions and once I asked him about his photography. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small point-and-shoot camera. He said he always carried it with him and that he loved to take pictures and share with his friends.

Then Ambassador Young laughed. He told me he even pulled it out of his pocket at his daughter’s wedding. He was officiating the wedding, but he still took a photo during the ceremony at the altar.
Point-and-shoot cameras are not just for amateurs.

My good friend Dave Black, who shoots for Sports Illustrated, used one for a job. One of the greatest qualities of these point-and-shoots is they make no noise. They are so quite that manufacturers have put a speaker in them and created a clicking noise you can turn on or off to let you know when the shutter fires.

PGA rules will not allow a picture to be taken of a professional golfer during their back swing since the noise might distract the golfer. Steve Williams, Tiger Woods’ caddy has thrown a few cameras into lakes when people have fired away during Tiger’s backswing.

When Dave Black showed the editor from Sports Illustrated at the event the photos of Phil Mickelson in his back swing you can understand why the editor started to quiver and gasp for air. Dave pulled out the little camera and made a picture or two of the editor. When the editor found that he couldn’t even hear the little quite camera he began to breath normally again.

No one had any photos of golfers in their back swing before Dave so Sports Illustrated ran the photos big made with the little point and shoot.

Today’s cameras are so much better than before. Take for example the point-and-shoot Nikon P80. Nikon’s enhanced Face-Priority AF automatically finds and focuses on one person’s face or up to 12 people’s faces within one frame. Face-Priority AF provides faster and sharper focus to produce clear, crisp portraits wherever the subjects are positioned in the frame. The P80 is equipped with an 18x optical zoom lens with a 27 - 486mm (in 35mm equivalent) focal length coverage. The maximum aperture is F2.8 to 4.5. It has 10.1 megapixels letting you capture fine detail with the creative freedom to crop and edit.

The amazing thing is that the professional grade Nikon camera body with all the lenses needed to match the zoom power of the little P80 would cost close to $15,000, but the P80 sells for just $399. (Hay, I’m beginning to wonder if I really need all this expensive photographic equipment!)

Another camera similar to the Nikon P-80 is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ28K. It is equipped with a Leica lens and is similarly priced to the Nikon P-80.

Joanna Pinneo said it so well, when she said, “You will take the best photos with a camera that is easy for you to use.”

Guess the old adage is true after all. I’ll paraphrase: It would be Stupid not to just Keep It Simple.

Backing Up for a Disaster

The severe weather warning sirens in my town have been going off more and more lately due to tornadoes. But this isn't what prompted me to write about the importance of backing up your computer.

One of the students I taught in Hawaii packed her computer and backup drive in the same bag. This, of course, is the bag the airline lost when she flew home. She lost everything she had worked on at school.

My cousin works for a large furniture store. They dutifully backed up all their computers; however, they kept the backups in the same store with the computers. One night the store burned to the ground and they lost all their computers and their backups.

I am not even going to go into my losses through the years.

Tornadoes, computer crashes, lost luggage, burglars, floods -- there are a lot of things that can make our important files and photos vanish. So I'd like to talk a bit about planning a system for backing up our computer files.

My Backup System

First, I prefer a permanent backup of important files to CD/DVDs. It is a more stable solution than a hard drive. Hard drives fail more often than CD/DVDs.

I make two copies of these backup CD/DVDs and put them in different locations. I keep one backup with me where I can get to it in a hurry if my computer fails, but I put other copy in a safety deposit box or at a friend’s house.

Second, I have an external hard drive and make regular backups to it. Most external drives come with software designed to help you make backups.

I use this external hard drive to mirror -- completely duplicate -- my computer's hard drive. When my computer dies, I only need to do a restore and everything will be put on the new hard drive or new computer.

Third, I bought yet another backup hard drive. I labeled one A and the other B. I alternate backups between the two. I make sure these A and B drives are rotated, not just with the computer, but the location where I keep them (bank vault, neighbor, etc.)

Another option for backing up important files, like photographs, is to use an online backup. To take advantage of this solution, a high-speed connection is needed. Your first backup takes the longest, but once this is done only the changes to your hard drive from the last backup are needed each time. I program my computer to do this at night after I've gone to bed. It takes longer than backing up to a hard drive connected to a computer, but it is off-site, and it is one more place to keep your data. One such provider is Carbonite, which is only $49.95 a year for unlimited storage.

I stay away from tape backup systems. The computer department where I used to work decided to use a tape system to backup their image library. The system corrupted the files and, after five years of inputting data, everything was lost. After restoring all that had been lost and adding four more years of images, it happened again. As far as I know they never recovered the images from those nine years.

You Need More Than One Safe Place

The estate of President John F. Kennedy's personal photographer, Jacques Lowe, archived all their images in a safe deposit box housed in the vaults at 5 World Trade Center next to the Twin Towers.

I make sure my images and other important files are stored in more than one location.

Now, when I hear a weather alert, I've got one less thing to worry about.

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The Integrated Photographer

When the camera merged with the computer to give us digital photography, the skills to be a successful photographer changed dramatically. Prior to digital photography, the professional photographer only had to know how to use a camera.

Almost everyone who was working prior to the computer becoming commonplace has experienced this phenomenon. The computer was integrated into many people's jobs. Everyone has had to learn how to do word processing and e-mail. Using the computer to maximize your efficiency for work depended on your comfort level with computers.

There were those who didn't handle this transition well. They always had to ask the office's resident "computer guy" to help them with everything -- mail merge, printing envelopes, attaching documents to e-mails, and so on. Because they didn't learn, they became less valuable employees, while the computer guy became more valuable.

In 1990, the publication industry took a big hit. I was laid off due to the recession. Many of my friends also lost their jobs since newspapers were dropping like flies; many two-newspaper towns lost one of their publications.

Fortunately for me, I had computer skills to fall back on. These skills helped me to sell computer systems to corporations in Long Island for Tandy Corporation. I used my knowledge to help design networks for clients, and to create databases for mass marketing. I enjoyed the photography forums on CompuServe long before 1993, when the World Wide Web was created. I took a class at Georgia Tech on designing Web sites and created my own Web site back in 1995.

In the early 90's I was scanning transparencies and film to digitize photos for publication. Once the digital camera surpassed the quality from this process, it was easy for me to make the transition. Today I speak to my peers at conferences and workshops as an expert on digital photography and on how to use the computer to run their businesses.

Ever since I moved from a staff position to a full-time freelancer, I have watched my business average 20 percent annual growth. Many of my friends have been losing their businesses and staff positions during this time. I've come to realize that the greatest single factor in my success is the knowledge of computers as it relates to photography. Those who have failed have generally not kept up with technical developments.

The successful photographer today is the integrated photographer. In technology, "integrated" refers to two or more components being merged together into a single system. The integrated photographer is the professional who has merged mastery of the camera with mastery of the computer.

Six Steps to Banish Dust from Your Digital Images

Dust has been a source of frustration for digital SLR users from the beginning. Those little specks are like blood clots in the digital workflow -- slowing you down or even ruining your best work. Sure, you can remove imperfections in Photoshop, but when those specks get on your sensor, every single photo will need to be fixed until the problem is addressed.

You're much better off preparing on the front end, aren't you? Here are six steps to ensure a dust-free photo shoot:

1. Keep the body cap or a lens on your camera at all times. Having an SLR camera dangling around your neck without a lens is the No. 1 reason that photographers end up spending hours using the cloning tool or healing brush in Photoshop to remove dust from their images.

2. Don’t mess around when changing lenses. Keep the new lens close by and ready to switch out.

3. Clean your camera bag. Any dust in your bag will eventually end up on your SLR, so make sure it's as clean as you want your images to be.

4. Check your sensor for dust. Your camera is not airtight. Just zooming a lens can create a suction that pulls dust into the camera and onto the sensor. It is inevitable dust will get onto a sensor. Here is how you check it:

• Attach a telephoto lens or zoom and set it at the longest focal length and smallest aperture.
• Manually focus on the closest setting on the lens.
• Using the manual setting, set the exposure to one stop over the normal exposure. Photograph clear sky, white wall or white paper. Camera shake will not affect this at all; it will still reveal the specs of dust.
• Ingest into your computer and increase the contrast to the highest -- it will help reveal the dust.
• View the image at 100 percent and review the entire image.

5. Use a hand blower to clear out the dust you find. Do not use compressed air as it can damage the sensor or camera. Read your camera manual on how to lock up the mirror and keep the shutter open to reveal the sensor for this. After this step, check your sensor for dust again.

6. Use a brush or swab to remove any remaining specks. If you're not experienced in cleaning your camera and are unable to remove all the dust with a hand blower, you may wish to turn the job over to a professional at this point. But if you want to clean it yourself, you will need special brushes like those at VisibleDust or Copper Hill Images. Using a swab, which uses methanol, is another way to get rid of stubborn dust; you can find one at Photographic Solutions. The methanol will clean the sensor and not leave streaks like water or other products often do.

If you follow these steps at least every few weeks, you can avoid the computer cloning and healing that can slow your workflow to a crawl. This will help you focus on the subject and not the speck in your camera's eye.

Macro Photography: The Magic of Nuance

I remember the moment clearly. I had just finished playing Haydn's Concerto In E-Flat Major For Trumpet for the first time without any mistakes.

"Now you are ready to start working on it," my music teacher said.

I was so disappointed; I thought I had nailed the piece and was ready to move on to something else. But while I had played each note on the page correctly, I was being taught an important lesson: only by mastering the nuances could I avoid sounding like a robot on the instrument.

Artists look at things differently than nonartists do. We notice detail; we appreciate nuance and beauty. Artists respond differently to things than nonartists do. We tend to be more sensitive.

Nothing can sharpen your understanding about the nuances of photography more than macro photography. This is where you photograph objects extremely close, where the image projected on the "film plane" (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is close to the same size as the subject. We would say the image is a 1:1 ratio.

There are a few ways to get this close to the subject with a camera. You can buy a macro lens, which gives you 1:1 or even closer. You can buy a set of close-up filters that you screw onto the front of your lens that let you get closer. There are also extension tubes that go between your lens and camera to let you get closer. Another tool is a bellows that acts like a zooming extension tube. The last way to get closer is using a teleconverter. These teleconverters increase the magnification of the lens and come in 1.4 or 2.0 powers. They go between the lens and the camera to work.

Once you choose the way you want to do macro photography you will soon discover the closer you get to the subject the less depth-of-field you have. This is to say the amount of area that is sharp in front of the point you choose to focus on to the space behind that point is quite shallow. You typically will need a ƒ/number of ƒ/11, ƒ/16 or even greater for just the subject to look like it is in focus.

Since you will be working with such a small aperture (ƒ/number), you will need a lot of light or a good tripod to keep the camera from moving while taking the photo.

Today's flashes, which you can buy for your camera, are so advanced that they can make this a lot of fun. Before you had to be a physicist to understand all the math to make a good exposure. Now just buy the flash with TTL feature and the camera and flash together will give you the perfect amount of light to make your photo.

I recommend buying the extension cord, which lets you take the flash off the camera and put it where you need the light -- right in front of the lens.

Once you have all the equipment you will be at the place I was when I finally learned how to play all the notes of Haydn's trumpet concerto -- ready unleash the artist within by discovering the nuances of a subject.

Point of View

Sometime back while flying out of Dallas I was sitting by a sweet little grandmother. She had been visiting her grandchildren and was eager to talk about them. She showed me a snapshot of a red dot in the middle of someone’s front yard. The red dot (at least to her) was a compelling photograph of her granddaughter in a little red dress my new friend had made for the child.

All I could see was a red dot, but the grandmother could see, in her mind’s eye, the beautiful little girl and her handmade red dress. If I had made photographs like that one, while I was on my assignment, it would have been the last time I ever worked for that client!

That grandmother held a snapshot that was a memory jogger for her and those who already knew the little girl. A photograph that can communicate to anyone is something else altogether.

If my assignment had included that child I would have needed to show the cute little daughter up close enough for anyone to see for themselves how charming she was and perhaps through body language the child could let the viewer know how proud she was of her new dress.

I believe there are two main reasons people make photos: (1) people take pictures to please themselves or (2) people take pictures to communicate something to others.

Making photos for ourselves is pretty easy. We know right away if the photo was successful. Either we like it or we don’t. If we don’t like it we probably can figure out what would make it better. Photos we take for ourselves belong into the category of snapshots. They are intended for the family photo album to hold memories of vacations, birthdays and other of life’s special events.

One year I decided to help my father transfer the family movies to video. It was a pretty crude setup, but it worked. We projected the movies onto a screen and video taped them while our family watched the old movies. The video camera captured the comments we made as we watched the old films. The funny thing is every time we watch these videos together, the same comments are made by the family and we catch ourselves laughing at how these old pictures always trigger the same responses.

As I think back I realized that the older films, the ones made before I was born, don’t do much for me. You just had to be there for these snapshots to work.

Okay, so if we want our photos to communicate we must consider another person’s point of view. How can we attract and hold the attention of our audience? One way to learn to do this is by studying the work of photographers whose work does just that.

I suggest aiming for the top. If you like sports then open Sports Illustrated and study the photos. Ask yourself and others why these photos work. If you enjoy travel photography study National Geographic, Southern Living or other magazines that do a good job keeping paying audience.

There are some key elements that keep the viewer’s attention. Editorial photographers try to stop the viewer with their photographs. They want the photo to spark curiosity; to make us read the caption under the photo. A good caption will make us want to read the story.

Here are some of the key elements that distinguish a good photo from a snapshot:

Stopping power. The world is full of visuals vying for out attention. There are photos on products, TV, magazines, newspapers, the web… everywhere pictures, pictures and more pictures!

I believe the key is to show our audience something different. Most snapshots are shot from standing height and way too far away. Get down to the ground for a worms eye view or get up on something for a bird’s eye view. Get a lot closer. This will give our photo a little stopping power. It’s out of the ordinary. It’s a surprise.

Communication of purpose. Getting the attention must be followed by good content. People want to be amused, entertained or learn something from a photograph. We need to think about why we are taking a picture. If we aren’t sure, no one else will be either and we’ve made another snapshot.

Emotional impact or mood. Some folks can just tell stories better than others. The same is true with making photos, but we will make better photos if we consider how to bring more drama into them. The key to creating emotional impact is to first experience the emotions we wish to convey. We need to have a genuine interest in the subjects we photograph.

Our photos need to be technically correct, that’s understood, just as a musician is expected to at least play the right notes. But if the photo doesn’t draw the viewer in and move them in some way it’s like listening to a machine perform Chopin. What we choose to include or exclude makes up the graphical elements that can catch the viewer’s attention.

Remember a technically competent photograph often is no more than a technically competent snapshot and quite boring. Of course we must be sure the camera’s settings are correct, but this is only the beginning. We need to look for a new perspective, look for another point of view so that people will want to see more of our pictures rather than looking for ways to get out of enduring more snapshots.

New Venture

I am helping a good friend of mine, Chris Gooley, market his software Photocore. It is an online database for people to store their images and search their images. They can give access to clients and friends through passwords and keep records of who visits their website and what they see and download.

We are in the beta versions of the software now and you can see it by going to my website www.StanleyLeary.com and clicking on . We hope to have this were you can license your images 24/7 365 days a year while you do your own thing. People can log on agree to a license and pay you for using your images.

Another function will be to order prints online. These two functions will help photographers turn their images which normally sit on their computer or in a drawer into profits.

I am going to be presenting this software to companies and individuals. If you would like a personal demonstration give me a call. Believe me PhotoCore is the most efficient way for photographers and agencies to catalogue and search their images from any where in the world.

Just what's in the viewfinder

On my latest trip abroad to Haiti I realized not knowing the language keeps me focused on just looking for images. This is great in many respects because I am trying to understand what is going on by watching visual cues and listening to the tone in people’s voices.

Since I do not really have the verbiage to clue me in about what is taking place, I am really more focused on what I should have been doing for years. I am seeing the situation my viewers will be seeing it. They cannot hear the conversations through the printed pages or on the web.

I spent a lot of time looking for interesting visuals because I had no idea what they were saying. I would smile and nod to those who I made eye contact with. Amazing how close I felt to people when I couldn’t talk to them.

This has helped to remind me the audience cannot hear and pick up on what is going on in a still image. I must really look for those moments which communicate visually intimate moments which bring the viewer closer. Photos get better when I realize I must concentrate on what is in the viewfinder. Sure understanding what is going on can help me anticipate better, but the end results still must be what is in the frame of the viewfinder.

Team Photos

There are many ways to approach team photos for posters. For Georgia Tech's football team the theme for the 2006 year is "Take Your Best Shot." We made the photos at a boxing gym. What really made the photo was the players getting into the concept.

I have always thought people look their best with pleasant expressions or smiles in portraits. However, getting male athletes to smile has proven difficult in the past years. They all want to look tough and having an attitude like we see on MTV.

We embraced their attitude and what they want to portray about themselves in this photo. I think it works because it is a peak into their dreams.

Women athletes smile much more than their male counterparts. They enjoy being the princess or queen for the day. Here they are on top of Atlanta with the Skyline behind them. It is like the last photo of the Disney movies where the Prince and Princess ride off into their kingdom. Their kingdom is Atlanta in this photo.

Cades Cove - Personal Retreat

Knolan Benfield, my uncle and professional photographer, and I took a few days to do what we love to do—photograph wildlife in Cades Cove.

“It is great to take time like this to put all those years of honing your craft to make a living and then spend some time shooting for yourself like this,” Knolan commented just before we finished our time in the Great Smoky National Park this past week.

When I first picked up the camera I shot for myself and it was a lot of fun. I then pursued this as a career. Over the years I knew I could do a better job, so I continued to go the workshops, seminars, read books and did a lot of self assignment tests to sharpen my skills.

It had been a while since I spent time photographing nature like this—back when all I shot was film. I would shoot and then look at the back of the camera, evaluating the image. I would pull up the histogram and look to see if it could be improved. We played with different white balance settings to see the outcomes of our efforts.

We just had fun.

Only another photographer would put up with all of our long shoots with 1 deer and a tripod. Most of our friends would think “haven’t you got enough already?”

What I noticed the most was the memories in my mind of conversations, bears we saw that turned and went in the woods before we could get our camera up and funny moments rejuvenate the soul.

I hope I do not take as long between this adventure and the next time I just shoot for myself.

Group Photos

Every once in a while you just have enough good things come together to turn a standard photo like a head shot or group photo in this case into something pretty good.

I was pleased with the result. The two key leaders of the design firm are out front leading their team at this Victorian home in Marietta, Georgia.

I really enjoy spreading out group photos where you can see everyone. You may have to use a larger photo to see everyone, but it is a much more interesting photo.

The strength in the photo to me is each person is an individual portrait all put together for the group photo. For me this makes me want to look at the photo longer and see each person.