Shoot It Till Its Dead

by Jon Wason   copyright 2013

I am not a violent person but my philosophy is “shoot it till its dead.” As a photographer I am driven by the desire to capture a great image. Let me explain a bit more.

Last week I spotted an interesting, old, pickup truck parked along the highway so I stopped for a closer look. There is a center console next to the driver’s seat in my Toyota and my camera is almost always there ready for action.

Almost everyone is familiar with electron microscope images of sperm fertilizing an egg. What you see is the large round egg completely surrounded by the wriggling sperm cells. Similarly, when I find a good object to shoot, such as that vintage, red pickup, I shoot from all angles like the sperm attacking the egg. I shoot from straight on and slowly move around clicking from all angles. Another thing I do is and zoom in on some details like the chrome plated grill and the big round fenders. Also use a wide angle for some shots. Be sure to move back and get some distance shots, too. If you fortunate enough to have a bag full of lenses, mount ‘em and use ‘em.

The great thing about digital capture is that later you can delete the images you are not pleasing to you. A few years ago when I was using film, I shot less images because processing a roll of 36 exposure film was about 10 to 15 dollars. With digital a camera this is not a concern, so shoot all you want. However, keep in mind that you will spend some time holding your camera and reviewing images and deleting the ones you don’t like and later at your computer spend more time editing the images from your shoot. So there has to be some balance between quantity and quality.

Don’t be a violent person, but when you are out there with your camera remember to shoot your subject until it is dead.

F-stops, Apertures and Lenses: a Lesson with Jon Wason

What is an F-stop? What is an aperture? How does the f-stop relate to the shutter speed? Learn the answers to these questions and more. Jon Wason uses salt to represent light for a lesson that will clarify the concepts and help improve your photography.


Follow this link for a 9 minute video:


http://youtu.be/FBJLg77daP8

Tips for Photographing Children

By Jon Wason copyright 2011
Photographing children can be a challenge but a few simple tips can help you capture some great shots. Children can be hard to photograph because they move quickly. Children also tend to have a short attention span and their mood can change from giggling to crying in two seconds.
The first thing that I recommend when photographing children is to move down to their level because if an adult six feet-tall stands close to a four year-old and shoots a photo of that child most likely the resulting image will be the top of the child’s head. Not a great portrait.
So kneel or sit down and your photographs of children will improve. If you are getting older and your knees can’t take much kneeling; then pull up a chair. You will find yourself closer to eye level with you subjects. Also try moving closer. Some people are always too far from their subject and their images include too much background.

Because little kids run around a lot the photographer has to be ready. Using a flash can stop some of the action. Sports photographers know this. The duration of typical photo strobe is 1/10,000 of a second. Even a sugared up three-year-old does not cover much territory in that short amount of time. Even on a sunny day a flash can improve your photography because mid-day sun tends to created harsh shadows under the eyes, nose and chin. The light of a flash can reduce this problem.
If you are attempting to shoot a formal or semi-formal portrait of a child in a studio setting get the camera and all the equipment set up before the child (or children) are asked to pose. Otherwise the ten minutes or so that they can refrain from running, jumping and playing are wasted as you set the ISO, changes lens and adjust the shutter speed. By the time you are ready to start, they are all done and twitching to get out there and play.

Talented child photographers know how to use props like bubbles, balloons and puppets to get children to look at or at least toward the camera. Babies can be especially challenging since they are just learning to respond to verbal commands. A three-month old cannot understand, “Smile for the camera,” but she will probably look at a red balloon or turn toward a squeaky toy. Be warned that even these new and exciting stimuli will lose their interested after a few times.
What happens if the happy children are uncooperative, bored or crying? I usually try to enlist the help of the parents to get the child to cooperate. But I do not push it too far. I believe that children (and all people) have a limit of how long they can pose for the camera. Even professional models have limits.
Threatening a child to smile or face punishment is not effective but I have witnesses several occasions when a well-meaning parent said something like, “smile or I’ll take away your Gameboy.” It doesn’t bring a smile to the children’s face.
The candid approach is very effective for children. Just let kids be kids and photograph them from a distance. Shoot a lot and delete the ones that did not work out. Also keep practicing. The more you practice the better you will get at photographing children.