What makes a good image?

This isn't about an image for a client or for promotional purposes.

Any image can look good as long as whatever you're trying to capture is in focus, then you have something to work with. When I did my self-portrait project, it was difficult to work out the shot, in reference on where to sit how to sit and what lighting to use. But before then, I thought about how I was going to manipulate the image, as that’s what we do when we load the image into an editing software, even if you're adjusting the exposure or white balance, you're manipulating the image from what’s its original state was.

I had mentioned that the self-portrait was based around photographer Lee Jeffries work, and how he produces a certain look to his images that draws you into his and the models world. It’s one of many look's that could have been given to an image, and for the audience, they either like it or don't. The audience are the ones that you're showing the images to, and trying to gain acceptance from to like your work. Working with RAW files gives you the ability to enhance the image into something that is far from the look of the original, the original image can work without enhancement, and it just depends on your audience if they like this kind of work.

The audience or viewers are the ones that you're showing your image to, they are the ones that will repeatedly come back to look at your work as you progress. In today’s world of photography, we are much more likely to find an audience than those that did photography 20 odd years ago, they needed word and mouth, or exhibit their work in a gallery. Some sadly have not been recognised until they have passed away, and that is some respect is only down today’s technology and social networking that they are getting the audience that they deserve to have for their work to be seen and shared.

Sharing your work with the audience.

When you first start out in the social media scene, it can be a bit scary; you don't know if your image will have an impact that will draw and audience to your work, as that’s what you're looking for, recognition in a positive way at first. Social media is a great tool as people will click in icons that are likes and +'s and the more you get, tells you how well it's being reviewed, but is that enough for you to establish what it is about the image they like? Sadly not, as it’s limited to a yes only which you can't take any more information from.

If you’re just starting out, you want feedback as what it is they like about the image. Is it just the composition, light, colour, detail or the way you've post edited the image. I know with my own work that when the audience post's a message about the image that I get so much more from that than just the click on the icon. Good or bad critique is a good thing as it helps you to improve on what you're trying to create and it’s something that any photographer starting has to look at. On the other hand, if you’re well established, you have the ability to move the audience towards new ideas or projects that they've not seen you cover before, with that you will get some that will not agree with the move, but then a new audience is formed from that move.

Why are you doing photography?

Photography for most starts out as a hobby that soon becomes expensive as you find you need equipment to manage your images and to take them to a new level. This could be equipment like a tripod or a flash and then software to post edit your images. Some join local photography groups where you can see equipment and the end results that have helped make that image, photography is no different from any other hobby, the more you want to be able to do then the money starts to get spent.

I guess you have to look at what it is you want to get out of photography, before things get too expensive, because you can make great images that are just for your own personal viewing with the minimal amount of gear, but soon as you begin to advertise in social networks, things can begin to spiral if you don't have a hold on what you're doing photography for. Many will look at others images and have that wanting to reproduce the same technique, but then to get that kind of image, you may have to purchase equipment to help produce that kind of image.

There can be a point with all the feedback from viewers that include friends, that a time will come when you think of maybe earning a few bob from your photography, this journey needs for you to sit down and think hard on how you intend to do that. Some do it as a second job to their main job and helps to pay for the photography equipment and upgrades as a starting point.

Photography as a profession or as a second job does mean that you have to have certain things in place like Public Liability and Indemnity Insurance plus cover on your equipment, why, well if you're doing a job for someone and there’s and accident or failure on you memory card as an example, you need cover against being taken to court, and replacing your broken equipment can be expensive or put an end to your dream. Then you need to pay your taxes as you're making an earning from your photography as you are charging people and invoicing them for your work. If you don't do these things then you are leaving yourself open to a knock on the door. One thing to take into account that soon as your start earning or setting yourself up, is that any VAT you pay on purchases for your photography can be offset from the tax you pay. So the Inland Revenue will take the VAT off your income before you pay tax and there is a starting point on how much you can earn before you get taxed, so is worth finding this out and keep all those receipts safe so that you can show them to the tax man.

Promoting Yourself.

One of the main things in this day and age is having a website, this doesn't have to be expensive but it helps to exhibit your work and give information to viewers on the type of work you cover in your photography. You may well be just doing weddings or baby photography and you can build your website round that, but if you have set area, then you can show yourself as a freelance photographer. To be freelance allows you to make choices on jobs that come your way and being diverse can be a good thing and bring exciting ventures that maybe you hadn't thought of before.

Joining groups or social networks that are all based around photography is also a way to find work and get you out there. Entering competitions is another source of making a name for yourself if your image gets exhibited. And if you have the know how you could make digital photo books that then can be sold on-line, there are always new ways of getting yourself out there, but you have to think clearly before doing anything like this as it will be a case of putting money into setting all of this up, so it’s worth working out how much you are willing to invest in yourself for the first year or two.

The first gaol should be that the business as that’s what it is, is paying for itself, so you may not see a profit in your first year, but if it levels out then that’s a good thing as you've lost nothing, but you have to work hard and that means putting in un-social able hours which can have a grind on the family life at times. But if you can make something that you enjoy doing work and pay for it and even make a profit, then that’s a dream job situation. But you have to keep your feet on the ground as making it to the big time is something that only works for the few, but there is nothing wrong with having a dream and being able to work towards that.

Thanks for reading and hope you found it informal, AndyD

Self Portrait

Ive just finished my first year of my Foundation Degree in Professional Photography, and now the first year if over I'm kind of looking back and what I've done and where I am. I've learnt so much and done what I think is well with an average of 65% pass (40% is minimum pass), that my confidence in what I do has grown.

Now that we've got the summer break, it's knowing what to do so that I can keep the rhythm going. When I was sat with my tutor, I was asked what did I think I would do over the summer and it came to mind that maybe I would do a series of images that were self portraits or selfies which seems to be the in word.

I took a week to relax and do nothing, but it soon felt that I should be doing something, so I began the journey.

Over the last year, I've built my gear up and even invested in a new camera as I had kind of out used the features of the old camera and I know the benefit of having a full-frame camera. My studio equipment was another area thats been built up over the past few months, and I know that in my second year we will be doing a lot of studio work, so its worth getting some practice in over the summer to find new ways of working with equipment and lighting in particular.

So after setting up the studio and getting myself in front of the lens, I drew a blank as to what was going to be a self portrait, is there a formula to it or do I just try and pose and click the shutter and see what happens? As I looked at the first couple of image the posing side of things just wasn't working, I now understand what its like for those that I photograph and direct in what pose I wanted them to do, it seems like there is a learning side to being a model and being able to work with a photographer. I have always looked at the idea that when working in the studio or on location, that I would be looking for that natural look, something thats un staged, to do this you have to communicate with your sitter, and on a level of just having a chat while at the same time asking them to move their head of arm etc to what you're looking for in the shot. Getting a smile or laugh, you have to find things that will make them do this, either in a joke or something that you have in common. It doesn't matter if you know the person or not, you need that communication to be able to come up with that shot that they've hired you for.

But when it's just you and know one else, your on a whole different level of doing portrait images, you don't have that direction. After half the day gone by I started to just face the camera with the remote shutter in one hand and looking at things around the room and then taking the shot. Now I was getting images that reflected me and how I look to others, how do I know that, well because I was just being relaxed and focusing on something other than the lens. I would move myself to different directions and adjust how sit in my chair, either sitting forward with my chin in my hand, to looking up and closing my eyes as a kind of sigh of relief. 

I looked at the images initially and then left them alone for a few days before going back to them.

Know at the stage, I wanted to work out a way of post editing them images. I'm a great fan of the photographer, Lee Jeffries and his dark and powerful looking images that he's done in the passed of the homeless, they have such character and definition to his images that I wanted to try and edit my images in a technique that was similar to how he produces his images. I don't know how he does his work apart from the small piece of info that he uses a dodge and burn technique, there are plenty of ways to work with an image to come with something similar. As I started on the first one, it just wasn't happening in Photoshop, so I did a slight HDR single image, and this began to come together as I then reworked the image in Photoshop. 

The images might look I've been working in a coal mine or something, but the images highlight the blemishes in my skin because of my age and the wrinkles that are there. The idea of a self portrait is not to hide from what I actually look like to others, but to except those blemishes and flaws that I have. Yes, they are over exaggerated, but this is about me being happy in my own skin as it's the only one that I have!

I'm 51 tomorrow, but someone close that had no idea of my age was asked how old did they think I was, and they replied mid forties! well I know that I don't look my age as many have made the same comment, I'm just lucky with the look that I have to seem I younger than I am. But imagine if I had retouched the image to get ride of the blemishes and wrinkles, I could have taken off another 10 years and look like I was in my thirties, but this would not be me or who I am and would be going against the idea of a series of images that are about me in the now and not then.

I've done not just colour but also black and white as I personally like black and white and its just my preference, and will when they are all complete post on my website in the gallery section and will let those that have read this know.

It has been an interesting journey and would recommend to others to have ago and see what you come up with, it's not easy but I feel that its very rewarding and has given me the view of what its like being behind the lens with me taking the photos. I think that it will make a difference on how I will work with sitters or models for the future, not dramatically but a slight difference in my approach.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and hope that it's been informative. AndyD

Street Confidence

Firstly I'm know expert but I believe in sharing knowledge, ideas and views, that way we can learn from each other at whatever level we are at.

The fascinating thing about photography is that there's so many different forms or areas we can cover, anything from still photography, sports, wildlife and street photography as just some to mention. For me I've not found one area that I prefer over another, maybe because I'm doing it more as a hobby that I'm looking to take the one step further in doing a foundation degree in professional photography which is over three years as a part time course and I hope that maybe it will give me a step up in the world of photography, if not then I will at least have a lot more under my belt to do photography in what ever way it comes.

My personal view is that when you get into photography, you start to see the world around you in a different way. For that photograph you see an image in your head of how you would like to see it as a print or a visual aid on a screen. Soon as you put that viewfinder to your eye you begin to move the focal length and angle of the camera to the point that you decide to press that button. If your like me or others your change the angle and camera view so many times that you end up taking maybe 5, 10 or more images of the same thing. Its not till you get home and you load them onto your PC and scan through them all, you start to weed out the ones that for what ever reason you feel don't work and your left with maybe 2 or 3 that has something for you to work on.

Then the work begins as you decide in what form the image is to be in its colour range, this could be anything from B&W, tinted, HDR or just colour, what ever comes into your head may again change so many times which is the great thing about digital is that you can make as many copies as you want to try different effects until you have the final image that your happy with.

Some forms of photography don't involve people, children, animals which are probably some of the hardest things to photograph as they don't always do what you when you want. Then there's photography that involves people, children and animals that are in the environment of the street.

Have you ever herd of the term people watching? You can sit on on one of those benches that I reckon is put there for the population to take the weight off their feet while their better half is busy in the shop and could be there for some time. 

If you sit there and watch the people that go pass you or are in the foreground doing something which could be just looking at something in a window or in their view that as an image would be an interesting subject. People, children and animals can do the funniest or interesting things from the point of view as a photographic image to be captured. Their looks or mannerisms can be captivating and it doesn't have to be just a single person, it could be a group of people and you just wished you had your camera to capture it.

Today we live in a world of images, why, because everyone has a camera on them that capture stills and video, this is how most of the social websites have grasped on to the fact and want people to have their devices in their hands at all times to get that image and load it up on there social network. Sadly something's are captured that can be devastating and upsetting with the initial view, but that can be used as a positive to help protect us from things or people that cause such things to happen that we sadly caught on our devices. This has only come about in the what last 6-7 years with the devices and social networks being as good as they are.

When someone holds up a mobile phone to take pictures, nobody really takes much notice, someone with a DSLR in there hands do stand out if there in an area where they are the only one taking photos so it does attract attention and takes someone to so bold to do so. But if your in a place where tourist are in their swarms with their DSL's or DSLR's, nobody takes any notice, strange isn't it. But as practice to do street photography, its a great place to start and importantly build your confidence in taking photos of people, children and animals.

In three ours you can capture around about 170 or more images, that's plenty to work on for a three hour session. If you take the part of watching people and using your camera to capture those moments or interesting people, you can build up those all important skills.

A street has not just the tourist but the shoppers and the people on their way to work, or on a lunch break and those benches filled with with the people taking the weight off their feet that I mention earlier. So when you spot something you have to time yourself lifting viewfinder to your eye and being in the right focal length that's near enough and lastly nobody getting in the way of the you pressing that shutter.

What I've learnt is a few things to that you can do to get things ready to be able to capture that shot.

If you have a camera that you can adjust the viewfinder to give what's called eye relief which is where you can see the info that's around the edge of the view that you see while taking the photo. Most people close the other eye when there taking a photo, but you can adjust it so that you can have both eyes open. The advantage is that when you see the image you want to capture you can see in front of you things or people that might get in the way, you can time it so that you can view through the viewfinder and then see when then object or person is going to pass so you can get that image.

The other thing is playing with the focal length so that you know roughly what it will be if 25 feet away and say another point that's only 15 feet away. So again when you see an image, you can turn the focal length up as you bring the camera up to your eye, it helps safe time in trying to get that focal length almost there and saving lost of time.

Just these two things can help and does take practice which you can do at home or in the back garden or in a park.

To move up your game to not needing the tourist to kinda hide behind just needs you to be subtle in your approach. Going up to someone and asking if you can take the photo can seem a bit daunting but what's the worse they can, no, so you move on. If your taking photos and someone asks you what you photographing, then be up front and tell them your doing street photography, but you don't have to go into the whole technical side about it all, if there that interested let them google it.

As it stands in the UK we don't need permission to take photos and until that day changes we should snap away, but if they ever did and this goes for the rest of the world, how do you stop all those people that includes us from not taking photos, its un policeable.

I hope that maybe someone finds this useful if its a thing that they want to have ago at but has never been sure on how to go about it. There is some great and interesting people and moments out there waiting for you to capture, so have fun and get out there and have a go.

Thanks for reading, AndyD  

Vivian Maier The Unseen Photographer

This is my own personal tribute to a photographer that I think we all aspire to be as good as, I have no images to post with this or any writings, just my own personal thoughts after watching the BBC program called 'Vivian Maier: Took Nanny's Pictures?'

Firstly it's so sad that this wonderful lady never got to see how we the public that have had the chance to see some of her images have taken to her work as an amazing street photographer. Today we have the digital cameras and all the software to make our own works to stand out, she on the other hand would take some of her rolls of film to the local chemist that used to arrange the processing of images. Its seems like our world and her world have collided as her works that are still on negatives or even on rolls of films are being process by today's technology and post processed, I wonder how she would feel about that.

As we know that all her works were in boxes or suitcases that were in storage that she paid heavily to store all these items and then when she ran out of money the lockup buyers moved in and bought up these storage units with no idea what they had. What is so so sad is that all her work has been broken up and as the company that bought the storage units throw away her personal writings that probably hold the key to who Vivian really was and what she thought of the world around her. 

Its clear that she was very much a lonesome person even though she worked as a nanny and the children that she looked after as a nanny really don't seem to know much about her apart from her roll as their nanny and at times she took photos with her Roloflex camera.

The thoughts of today is that she spent most of her money on rolls of film and the Roloflex camera only took very few images but her hit rate with no miss shot photos was amazing when you see how hard it was to use the camera that she had. Those of us that have had ago at street photography know how fast pace the street world around us is and how you have to instinctively see the image before it happens, for her it was almost like she had a third eye and was extremely good at seeing the image before she took it.

With the images she captured that are close up, it would seem that she almost melted into the street as she was able to capture that natural look and was able to see the thoughts   that was going through the person mind as she was photographing them. She also had the talent to approach her characters to ask them to take their photo, she didn't have the untrusting thoughts of people as today's street photography has.

She was able to capture images of herself is so many mirrored ways that, but each one that I've seen she looks so stern and almost lost in a world that had so many different things going on with it. She seems to be in the right place at the right time, something today we wished we were able to do, but life was very different in her era and she showed the world of the streets from all sides from those that almost had nothing to those that had everything. Some of her characters could of seen her as an easy target to relieved her of her bag or camera to make a few bucks, but it seems that the people she approached saw her as no threat and was happy to be part of something, if only they knew what they would become in the images that Vivian captured.

Her skills too me was to see the world around her, to take a step back and actually look. The very fact that most of her work was B&W she was dependent on the shop she would take her rolls of film to, would do a good job that she would keep the images. We don't know if she was able to process her one rolls of film.

I think from what I've seen that she was a very private person, the fact that know one knew who she was or her work, it makes me think how would she feel knowing what has happen to her work, the fact that people are paying thousands of dollars for one picture that would of covered her rent for more than that month, that she could have had a comfortable life, specially in her last years of her life. At the end of the program one neighbour says that she looked like a bag lady,  is that how she wanted it to be, would she have been able to cope with the huge media attention that has grabbed the photographic community today, we will never know and maybe that's a good thing.

Now that we know of and her work, is it fare that those that have parts of it that they bought for a couple of hundred bucks should hold onto it and make their money from her silent and unpaid for work. Would it not be better to be put in a museum so that the world can see for free as she did in taking the images in the first place, she asked for nothing and got noting but the sole of the images that she captured over her lifetime.

Thank you Vivian Maier for being the person you were and bless you for capturing a world that many of us aspire to be able to do in our own lifetime as growing photographers that like you started with the minimal of equipment and have learnt so much from your personal images over your lifetime.  

Thank you for reading, AndyD