thank you
I well i'm so glad to see as many people this class
anytime I do a class you always wonder if anyone's going to show
up so it's nice
see some friendly faces out there I want to tell you a bit about this class white
why I decided to do it in the first place
it's weird about composition when you talk about photography because i think
it's our general nature to to want to take a class on how to use our cameras
rather than how to compose and i'll give you an example
so I i I'm doing seminars since 1993 and when we started one of the seminars that
we did was ADA seminar on design on graphic design and I i wrote the
curriculum I taught myself and in the history of our company
it was the biggest success and most miserable failure of anything we've ever
done
it was a great success in that the people that came to it
absolutely loved it people coming out of the day and said this changes everything
for me / - they're blown away
the problem was our average attendance for our seminars at that time was 400
500 people a day and this was 63 of the happiest people you've ever seen
so we dropped our attendance by like 350 people so I i would ask people and say
you know
wow I'm surprised to see so few people come out and I'm like it because of the
day was really structured it was designed i literally had a class on
typography a class on working with color a class on laying out magazine's a class
on advertising
they're like five different classes and so I went with the end of the day that
was such a disaster i stopped and said hey can you will not leave yet
and just let me ask you a question so we finish the dance that ok it's officially
over
now I'm gonna ask this question oh why aren't there more people here and so a
guy raised his hand and said well at the time everybody used pagemaker as before
in design
you know and they said well everybody else in the office said what we already
know pagemaker and I'm like really
and so yeah this and he said well yeah and everybody kind of the echo - yeah
that they felt like if they learned how to use the design software they were
designers and so that's what the
and that's when I realized holy County it is very hard to get people to look
past the software or the hardware
- what makes design and so I went to the next city
it was supposed to be like a ten-city tour was two cities and was only because
the other one was booked we couldn't get out of it
I went to the second city asked the same question and get everybody together at
the end and they said yeah everybody in our office said they already know
pagemaker I'm like not a pagemaker day so so that's when I realized it was
really early on that it's it's our nature to just want to learn the
hardware stuff but what made me want to do this class today was that I i got a
book on composition and it got delivered to my house because I publish a magazine
a lot of other book authors will send the other publishers will send me books
to look at and so I get this composition book i'm thinking okay this looks good
had a beautiful cover on it I said I want to see what the book looks like so
open up and very good photographer wrote the book really great i'm looking
through and I go wow this is really good but as I'm reading it it just hits me
it's it well what do you think the chapters were leading lines rule of
thirds patterns
I'm thinking is 2012
how are we still teaching the same things if you could go back and get a
book on photo composition from 1943
what do you think the chapters would be leading lines rule of thirds the pattern
like wow how can this all these things in photography have evolved but when it
comes to this one really really really important area that's not about the
camera and it's not about the tools we have involved in this at all
so I call Mac laskowski you guys have seen that here at the conference call
Matt and I said hey Matt I got a book on composition made me what you think the
first three chapters are
he's like I don't know rule of thirds he's like it's just that's how we're all
programs i got man there's got to be a different way to teach composition
because here's the problem and this is when it really this is when this class
was born
i'm looking at this guy's picture and has a picture of a lighthouse and it's
very nice lighthouse is a very good i mean the whole book is good stuff and
they had this lighthouse and they had this perfect white picket fence leading
to the White House and it said leading lines and it was right on the money it
was a perfect example that showed your you're like yeah let's have a defense
leads you right -
to the lighthouse and then I thought to myself what happens when someone buys
this book and they get okay i got it i can understand leading lines they get
out to the world to a different light house and there's no fence
they're like oh man now what you do
there's honey we got to go to a different light house there's no fence
so I started realizing that you know these things are still literal and i
also look through the rest of the book and here's what I realized about the
book the book really wasn't i want to be critical about another author's once why
I'm so not saying his name because he's not doing anything any other book has
never ever done and he's very very good but really what he did was this is what
the book really was
here's a really great photograph that I took and here's how I did i t
it's kind of like almost telling history instead of instructed on how to do the
future
so that's why I wanted to do this class and I wanted to come up with a different
way to do it
and so that's what we're about that's that's kind of the idea behind the class
and now i do want to do something I don't want to discount or dismiss the
actual rules that all these books are written on but i'm going to save you
some money
I'm going to teach you the five things that every other book teaches you in
five minutes
so you'll never have to go buy a book on composition because you're going to get
your all that money's worth in five minutes
because honestly teaching the basic rules of composition if you can't teach
it in five minutes there's a hole bigger issue
so let's go ahead and start first rule of composition you want a great shot
got to have a guitar in it
ok that's not reason all right that's why we're going to cover the rule of
thirds i know a lot of you know this is not don't worry that's why I'm doing
this quickly so I'm gonna jump over to photoshop real quick here we go
all right and and here so here's what the rule if you're if you're brand new
to this here's what the rule of thirds is so theoretically you put up a in your
mind you divide the image into thirds and if you wanted to make a more
compelling shot of this guy you wouldn't stick him in the middle of it because
that's where any person that had no photography anything would stick like a
fight if I had to shoot this guy and my daughter was there with me she six
i would say honey you take the camera and put him right in the middle of the
photo right
that's what we would do that's what the average person that they can get they
get you perfectly aligned in the middle
that's what the average person does and if you do that you will have the average
looking shot
so here the idea is you don't want to put them in the middle you would maybe
put them over here and there you go look
rule of thirds he's on the left third or you put them over here or if you're
short
maybe down here
but that's the idea the idea is you put your subject at the apex of one of these
corners here that these are the happy spots that make make more interesting
more dynamic stuff all right that's the third
I one last rule of thirds thing to teach you how about landscapes or landscapes
instead of putting the horizon line dead in the middle like everybody else would
you're going to take this horizon line and either put it down low
if the sky is really interesting or if this guy is kind of boring
you put it at the upper third ok that's the rule of thirds so that's number one
rule number two is leading lines so leading lines are like that little fence
that leads your eye down there
see look down there something interesting bright light
so but what happens is you can't always count on leading lines leading lines one
of those things that happen to be there and if they're there you can make take
advantage of the rift or not you know you hopefully red red lines will appear
and show you where to shoot
so all right next one filling the frame
all right this is once in every single book on composition they're like you
know don't get don't be way back there and I was easy to fill the frame it
looks much better and more dynamic
it's true i mean it does you can argue with in these rules you need to know
these rules right
but that's it you know this this is not very dynamic this is the same guy
a split second later it's it's a lot more dynamic all right then there's
patterns patterns are great manners when you see something you know
repeated again and again we're drawn to them but the the holy grail of shots is
when it's interrupted when all of a sudden you see a pattern of all the
yellow ones and then there's a green one in the middle of it it's so interesting
and what was really amazing about it was it it was angry and I just changed in
focus you huh
so anyway
there's this program i don't know if you've ever seen it but it does amazing
things
so so that's the patterns if you can you go to the beach you see a bunch of white
umbrellas make one of them red coaching
ok the last one is is my least favorite but but it's the it is using frames is
is basically putting something inside to trees or two windows or something in it
and it kind of frames the artwork but that's that's really it
but so those are the five things I said we're going to use five minutes i think
we only use three but you get the idea but but there's a lot more to it than
that and i think if you have these tools and you have to have these tools because
it will help you when you're out there but there's something more and I think
the problem is this
well like when you look at some of these great photographers work I think that
that we think that sometimes like a really great photographer you know
they're like they're out on location and they just take a look over there they
take a camera ago
one shot perfect i'm out here and that but that's how would we know because
that's what we see you just have the feeling like guys like james l and joe
mcnally walk around and take one shot
click gold they walk for 20 minutes click
perfect click genius yeah
so one of the things I wanted to talk to you about was that that that doesn't
exist will probably existence some somebody somewhere but for everybody
else
there you have to do something different and that's what I want to talk to you
about which is you have to work the scene
unfortunately i don't know anybody and again i know a lot of photographers
don't know anybody that is a one that takes one shot
there's a lot more to it and so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to show you
the reality of some of this stuff but before I do this I need you to help me
with something
ok please raise your right hand and repeat after me I promise
not to think less of Scots photography
after what he's about to show me
all right because what I'm going to do is I'm going to show you an entire shoot
i'm going to show you like me walking around and struggling to get a shot
which is it's not the exception to the rule it happens every single time i go
out i wish i could go and just go to channel walk away with something but
i've been in some of the most beautiful places in the world and taking some of
the crappiest shots you've ever seen and it's it's very frustrating to me right
to be in front of this incredible thing and go
how can I be this bad I've got an expensive camera
so seven let's take a look of some just disaster shots I took of the Taj Mahal
now
so here's what happened I I done some research and and we may I realized that
if you get there really early in the morning first there's like virtually
nobody there
and so i got up at like four thirty in the morning and there's literally when
the doors open to the Taj Mahal there's eight photographers
they are waiting to get in and I'm thinking man I've got it made
unfortunately it was absolutely socked in with pea soup
so they all were kind of the this was their first day I've already been there
two days taking horrendous shots and I'd seriously did not have a single shot i
like from two days of shooting in the dense fog so i get there this morning
and I got the jump on all these other guys I run to this spot I get down on my
knees I set up a tripod i do it when i think i could set up a tripod i think i
just got down on these steady then I'm like taking these terrible shots and so
I start going through the chute and here's what I realized is your state
you're sitting it is foggy yeah but it's the Taj Mahal and I'm taking shot after
shot look at my my
they'll see the and I'm like this stinks and so what do you do you have to work
the scene you actually have to stop and go okay i'm standing for this amazing
thing and it should be just amazing i know it's foggy but who cares that can
be kind of cool
you've got to stop and try different things so what I did basically was has
to work the scene
so for example it's just we're going to kind of look through here and say okay
so here I tried really really wide
I went in a little tighter and go okay that's maybe better i think it is better
and look they're still nobody there
and then I went back wider thinking that wasn't good
and then in tighter but look there's a little variance there and now i have a
walkway here I kind of moved a few feet
this ban all right maybe I'll go tight
so now i go tight because I mean you you know there's something there
and so I i I'm trying all these things i'm doing a mental checklist of what
they can do
so I go in really tight with like a i only use one lens for travel 28 2 301
lens i never change the whole time and I go and go okay this looks good except
for there's looks like dust on my sensor here
ok birds and then
okay this isn't good either this isn't good
oh gosh that the tourists have arrived just need some in Photoshop
that's not getting stupid
I mean but you know it here's the thing you're trying and you know what's bad is
the more you try the more embarrassed your get you're looking at the back of
your camera trying to make sure that no other than what the tourists see is the
back of your camera
you're like huh so I'm going but I'm like kind of going around and trying
different angle like man are you kidding me
so I I walk up there and there's virtually as a couple people there but
virtually nobody there so I'm trying to go through this mental checklist of
working the scene
so what is working the scene mean it means when you're standing in front of
something that you know has potential
this building should have some potential that you're trying to shoot why you're
trying to shoot tight
you're trying to change your camera angle you're just going to keep working
it instead of just walking away and going on you can't get a good shot of
this
so now here i am i'm sitting on a step trying different ones now i'm laying my
camera on the ground you know you get desperate when you start just putting it
on the self-timer
please let it be a good yeah so I lay it down and I'm making my way around the
building and it's just it's so frustrating i'm like i can't believe i'm
alone
the Taj Mahal and this things and so I make my way around like okay well that's
now that's actually the first one that i think is kind of cool and and and the
this is kind of distracting these people over here if only there was a tool that
would make that go away
but anyway so I'm starting to think okay well this is I'm starting to get in the
right direction because I've tried all these different angles and I didn't give
up
all right I walked to the front of the building or that's actually the back of
the building its looks like a lot like the front and then back here again and
i'm here and it's now variations I'm trying to think
ok this is that's not good so as I'm walking around the side of the building
their mosques on either side of the of this and and I see over here to women in
very nice and you know
colorful of Indian traditional indian outfits and and they're crying and I'm
thinking who this is maybe someone has died or something horrible and so I'm
going to make my way over there just to kind of see from there and I go over
there and I'm like hey this isn't bad this isn't a bad view now the women are
still crying over there and so it's a little distracting
so I I just went over there and said hey shut up no and no no of course not
No so right now I'm starting to think ok well there might be something over here
this isn't a view I usually see the taj mahal from the mosque and you're in fact
I want my whole life and never realized they were monsters the Stars Mahal is
basically a mausoleum and on either side of these mosques so and you have the the
guy like cleaning up here with the broom and I'm like ooh this is good guy with a
broom
so here they are they've actually started walking now and so i'm now
sitting on the steps of the mosque where they were crying and started going hey
now this is actually starting to look good now it's taking me a long time to
get here
all right and then I'm trying different ones i'm in tighter
I zoom out wider I'm going then I'm back here again
I'm like okay look at this isn't bad look at this
who better so you see what the pattern is that you're just trying different
things are not sure which one of them is going to work but then you go ok that's
not good
all right but then all of a sudden you get - 1:00 you're like it needs some you
know contrast different things but but that's not bad when you finally get to
that one that's the one you finish in photoshop now so well it well i'll show
you actually show you what i did in Photoshop here in just a second but at
some point now i want to say about the crying women because there's something I
didn't tell you so I see them crying I you know I feel really bad like what I
want to respect their space as I get closer
they're not crying they're laughing hysterically because they're not Indian
women
it was to Japanese tourists dressed as Indian women
I kid you not and so I kind of followed them around for a couple of minutes and
shooting them in there laughter but I was believed that they weren't crying
you're feeling okay
just you know some horrible things that happen but as i get too close to the
step there like to take a picture of each other with their phones and stuff
so I'm all right so here's the shot that we started with which is it been so but
at least compositionally its okay its tilted a little bit which usually is it
good for landscapes but again if only there was a program so i would just jump
over to photoshop real quick with it and i'll just show you it was it's actually
fairly easy
well it's going to open up a camera rock that's wrong shot and always I say
that's rosh hashanah just bypass this camera that's interesting
okay well you know what I can do i'm in i'm in Lightroom right so i would just
open it up in Lightroom zoom back out
i'm using this like I've never used the program before here we go all right
let's go to the develop module here we go
so so what I would do this to bring back some contrast and things i usually start
with the exposure first and the exposure is it's already kind of blown out a
little bit maybe i'll take it down the contrast slider and lightroom 4 actually
works i don't have you ever noticed in the contrast and like lightroom three
wasn't attached to anything you move it back and was like does this do anything
is like it's completely unattached but it does look it does stuff in enforce oh
that's much better
maybe pull the highlights back a little bit and I just you start from the top to
bottom and just come down if you want to open up the shadows little you could
maybe it whites and blacks like the white black points
so I noticed that when a photo looks washed out I always reach for the blacks
that really usually does a pretty good job in helping things out but clarity is
this amazing slider so much better in in lightroom 4 and basically what it does
is it if you have texture in the photo it really helps it it just brings out
all that texture and then maybe a little bit of clarity
I mean a lot of vibrance and that that's basically what I did I went added some I
went grab the the adjustment brush and then paint it over this with more
clarity
so you can go here and say no no I need extra clarity and you can do it again
and say you can hit the new button i need mega clear
that's all right I won't put you through the 45 minutes it took me to add 75
layers of clarity but now we'll jump over to photoshop real quick and and
we'll just college just show you how kind of how I finished it off there
so then you have this spot healing brush which is designed to remove individual
tourists and seven like
Sorry Sorry offices
she's persistent she spent a lot of money it's a long flight and then I
actually got rid of these two over here like these big things is like tree crew
korea creeping in from the side
I can't get rid of that and he's just a few more clicks and then the rest of the
forest will grow in and let's see what else we did so
oh there's a guy sweeping there was a guy sweeping I did after the hardest
thing of all of this was fixing this star right here
so what I did was I went to the the star select tool and just kind of stole this
right here
all that i didn't do that better job than I here we'll just grab this and
you're thinking what the heck does this have to do with composition
it's fixing really important things that would make you can just flip it
horizontally look oh and I'm going to just tweak it to make it fit because i
can
so isn't this like really kind of messing with what's really there
yes it is and then I'm gonna go to levels and just make it may be the
mid-tones a little darker so it it kind of blends in alright so i did some of
that stuff just to kind of fix this stuff up and lastly you know you have to
sharpen it absolutely to death
and so I probably did a high-pass sharpen because it's it's it's it's what
the Taj Mahal demands offset good choice
i love when I choose the wrong filter other high pass i'll just type in a
random number like I always do I have up for and switch to maybe soft light or
overlay on be nice and punchy there we go so it brings out some of the detail
there
alright so but that's the basic the spiel and I made it a little more
colorful and you know stuff like that but that's kind of basically what I did
as far as getting rid of people and getting rid of things but it's
compositionally wise
you almost have to have a mental shot list because especially when you're
struggling like if you walk up and take a great picture right away it doesn't
really matter you're like great this is awesome
but if you're struggling that's when you need to go okay what do I need to do i
need to work this scene I didn't shoot it from different angles
I need to get down low I need to see if i can get up high
I need to go sit down lay down climb up on something you need to go through this
mental checklist of things up
shoot it in tight to get the details i'll give you another example real quick
here let me just jump over to the library module and I want to grab these
trees so trees there in sweden swedish trees
so I'm walking around this king's palace it was another one of those situations
there was nobody there and I take this shot you see these beautiful rows of
trees you're thinking this should look a whole lot better than it does i take a
wide shot and it doesn't look good
I take another one just to try different you know exposure and then I go really
wide and it's actually getting worse so i'm looking like a look at this like
there's a bridge down there and I'm thinking well maybe i'll try the
opposite and come trying to work it because i'm standing in front of these
beautiful trees like come on there's something here and then I got a little
closer
same exact place same everything all I did was change the lens got a little
closer yet and you can see the bridge that we were looking at down there but
what a difference it makes just by saying I'm going to try to work this I'm
standing in front of something that I think looks good
I just have to kind of work it a little bit to find out but i want to give you a
better example about what this is and something to really think about when
you're out there shooting
so I'm i am in on vacation this last summer with my brother and we go by this
this one place and i'm walking i'm late i'm supposed to meet him and we're
supposed to go back to the hotel and I'm walking by this scene and I go home and
I'm already late so I'm like and I stopped and I take this horrible shot
and i'm thinking why would even do
why did they take that here's the key
if you stop and take a shot something got your
I but when you pick up your camera
it doesn't mean that what ever caught your eye your lens is set to what that
was
right like something made you go so I SAT there for me and said well maybe
it's that at the end
man there's nothing that makes a shot more than two air conditioning units so
I'm like well crud i like because I i had to stop for a second ago why did I
shoot this what was it that made me pass it and takes two steps back and go huh
and so I got to think it was these doors at the end but the air conditioning
units make it look bad
so wyd was just horrendous in tighter is not bad in tires even better and I think
that's what it was
I think something stopped me in my tracks and thought well that's it and
all the needs is a little photoshop now what's the difference between this one
and the other one because this is subtle compared to what I did the other one
well really one thing I got rid of the the metal pipes here
these pipes are kind of distracting so I call the the maintenance guy and they
were gone shortly thereafter
it's not a killer shot but it at least it was something that caught my
attention maybe think there's something here
so if you're I caught it don't just do it because here's what happened
I would have been click I look at that shot and go
yeah nothing and move on right cause that's what we do and I do it all the
time myself but now I try to listen to that little voice that said something
made you stop here
something said there's something here and that's when you know I need to work
the scene and that's all at that point you're just working that so i'll give
you another one
so we were in and a lot of these are travel related but because i'm never
home
so we are in actually with the whole family in in Italy and we're all sound
asleep and my wife gets up early and orders breakfast and I'm I'm Sam sleep
she wasn't honey honey honey why you got to shoot the breakfast
I'm like what will happen honey this is most beautiful breakfast from room
service that's ever been served
you really you got to get up and shoot this breakfast I'm like okay I grab my
camera
all right and and this is the breakfast and I get up and now when you're
standing there in front of it you're like I'm about to eat this
this looks amazing and then I hold my camera up and I'm like and I take this
shot and I literally looked back online
it looks terrible but then i get a look at my wife honey it's it's it's it's not
let the right way
it's gets back let's look at the other who
ok so back leg is better so I start taking pictures of what this looks
amazing and I'm getting a series of the worst pictures you've ever seen
and I'm like who knew tell I'm like distracted you know that's like totally
not having anything now to do with photographer
all right so then I go well mmm this looks good but looks like i'm about to
create a still life like you know in photo class
I'm like oh and don't know
so i'm making my way around maybe it's the butter so i'm i'm desperate now
because my wife's looking at me like I woke you up you better do something good
I'm like she woke me up I better come up with something you
so now i'm shooting you i never get pressure like you know for my wife to
like make photos but there was pressure this morning so I'm moving around the
table you okay look there's some swirly stuff that's not bad
I was starting to look like still life again who all still life
still life from seven meter millimeters further back
all right it's not bad huh
I love cheese
all right now this this is the best looking one so far
so now so I'm working this table right you can see what I've done right I
changed the angle
I've changed my physical position zoom in zoom in really tight but now I
finally get to one shower look at the back of the camera go
ok now it's really time to work because i'm getting close
that's better that's a lot better because now it doesn't really look like
a still life because the fruits out of focus
who that's much better nope
there it is now you finish that one in Photoshop
they really do much to it but add contrast but there's there's the before
and the after
but it's hanging in my house
I see it every day at breakfast time and my wife's like I love that picture up
like you don't know what I went through to get that picture on it but again it's
just one of those things is a of of taking the time to realize there's
something there's something beautiful in front of me and I i'm just going to have
to go through a mental checklist of what to work now arm
I have one last real quick one for you and it's just I'm just gonna rip you
through it because it's the same idea but i'm in in Malmo Sweden and and this
is my first shot which looks terrible of this incredible building it's like 50
stories tall and it turned they called the turning torso and i'm shooting it
from all these different locations
trying to find out ok I don't like that one and and looks like it's growing out
of that building
so I'm just you can see oh I kind of like that one
so as I'm I'm just trying different terrible trying different things going
to notice tall wide try different ones moving my way around this building using
the Sun getting super super close
supers icon like that was super super far away so but that's the same thing i
just wanted to show you again
this is you knowing there's something there and just not giving up and we can
I can I actually kind of like that one right there
but and not not giving up until you know that something's there now that there's
more to this of course what happens if it's not landscapes what happens if it's
not travel then how do you do this with people
well like this so i'm actually show you the grid here so you can see but so
you'reyou're this is in the studio and so you have a subject that looks good
cool outfit cool hair and makeup and you but you're still varying things you're
tall you're wide you're in tight
you're doing the same exact things that you do with a building or anything else
look now you're three quarter length and then back in tight and look now she's
dancing
all right in there oh how she's gonna fly with that would have been a good one
and now you're going full length
it's all the same shoot the same outfit but your varying the different things
and i'll just show you the grid and you can see how the anatomy of a shoot goes
and then look your back into the head shots and then you're back to two-thirds
then you're at three quarters
you're very you're doing the same things you would do any other time you're not
just gonna sit there and go
folding folding folding full-length unless you're on an assignment that
requires for a full-length shot like I have to have a full length for this then
you do it but you do the same thing with people
now you also i'm gonna give you another just some advice about just shooting
general is i think is photographers that we sometimes set out in the morning to
do a particular shoot like I'm in this town and I'm going to go find this
mountain and that's the shot i'm going to come back with and so I i was in
Crete i think it was and i'm walking around with my wife and I and I see this
little pond with a little boats in it you know the little like harbor and I'm
like up
stillwater harbor gotta go went down there and it just took the war shots of
these little boats you've ever seen
and so I turn around from as I'm as i'm leaving the boats and and I saw this
where was it would be called
oh I've written it down having no it's not in a black bottle area so I saw this
so this doesn't look very good but that's because this is what I came upon
but I thought look at that it's almost like a photographer put it there
yellow wall red black
the the base it's almost too perfect so I start shooting it wide and it's just
looking horrible
ban ban getting there
and now i have to work it huh
just sometimes shooting something still just turning the camera side with it
adds a little energy to what would be you know if you notice a lot of food
photography is taking that way you know because sometimes it's just you know
it's a strawberry you know but you turned sideways it's a tilting
strawberry
all right when I found the 1i like that's the one you finish in Photoshop
and all we added really was you know contrast and sharpening but I went out
looking for the boat shots but you have to be open to whatever else happens not
just say well the boat shots were any good so now we'll just leave the this
area and and so sometimes we get pre programmed to do to look for something
now
so what happens if if you're out there shooting and you look on the back of
your camera and you're like it's not working
how do you know it if you're done or not if you don't like what you see
and something drew you there you got to keep shooting
and this is why I'll see sometimes somebody spend 10 or 15 or 20 minutes
shooting one area and you're like you know move along and all but you know
what that's not really what our thing is our thing is not how much ground we
cover its to stop and find out what's there and if our head for whatever
reason tells us something there we have to stop
so what do you do when you get close like when you at some point you get
close
you've worked you've worked the the scene right we've done
camera zoom in and zoom out turn wide turn to alternative shoot I we've done
all that stuff
the next thing you do is your going to work the settings so now you're going to
work the setting so let's let me go over to that
so this is where you're going to start varying your f-stop to see if if a
shallow depth of field versus a really wide depth of field makes a difference
so I see these rocks as we're walking around but that's kind of cool with
those rocks and that's exactly the sentence i said so then we'll like then
I thought hey I got the rocks and focus and the background over
what if I focused on the background let the fuck the rocks out of focus
stupid idea look at this is stupid photo of the day so but this is where you
start this is where you're going from like f 2 2.8 to f/11 if it's at night
you'll take it all the way to f 22 get the little star light you know the star
bright and the lights and stuff but you're going to also
you're not just going to vary your settings are going to vary your white
balance white balance is a creative choice now there's proper white balance
was like when you're in the studio you wanna you know make sure that you're
doing a product shoot for like water and you want to make sure that the that
there
the color is exactly right that's that's from you know when your white balance
has to be regular
but that's the only time in life that white balance has to be right on the
money the rest of the time it can be really creative
so we're going to we're going to vary our r f stop
we're also going to vary our white balance we're going to use exposure
compensation you know James L
i did a class with J&J in the class said I always shoot bracket always shoot
three shots and look at j just as a joke and go do a lot of HDR j
no but jay says the reason why i like to shoot bracket it is
I never know whether I'm gonna like a particular scene darker correct or
brighter and he goes but if I shoot bracketed when I bring that the images
into the computer
I can instantly see which one is the right one without ever touching a slider
without ever wondering because think about it looks like you took two hundred
and forty shots right
are you gonna go to every one of them and try to stop darker and stop writer
you're not going to touch that slider I wouldn't have time for that but if they
already come in you can go oh I like the dark one who you might wind up choosing
one that's a stop or two brighter they would never choose so it is a good
strategy
it takes a little more processing power because I mean more hard drive space
because you're gonna be uploading a lot of images also if you're shooting in
jpeg in your camera you've got picture Styles ones that make your pictures look
more vivid
if you're shooting landscape you can switch to landscape picture style and
your stuffs gonna look sharper and more vivid it's like to drop the role of lv
in there by changing your picture style
so while you're there in front of it and you're starting to get close and you
already tried all the work that
work the scene now work the settings i'll show you just a couple more shots
here
so here here's where I'm trying to I went wide I tried different it up stops
all right kind of like where this is going super nice job on cutting off the
pots there and there's the parts again that looking good
that's getting better look . 3 here 3 here in a little doorway to finish that
one in Photoshop looks like that
the only difference is is I i made this little brighter brighten up the rocks
there's before there's after there's a hanging in my house so it's just from
taking that extra time to a couple extra seconds to do that up now so we've
worked the scene and we worked the settings
what do we do next this is really important you gotta work the sharpness
once you start to get okay okay okay i'm getting there this is it this is it this
started looking good
if that photo isn't sharp it's going to go straight in your trashcan light
so at the end of the day when you get close to thinking okay this is good then
you gotta really all of a sudden pay attention to the sharpness now actually
have a little thing to show you for that i can get to my thing it's called sharp
so at this I was shooting this Cadillac and we took this Cadillac in savannah
georgia to this
we rented the camera rental Cadillac I saw it literally in the Travel Magazine
like rent a Cadillac and drive around all day long i'm like what you just
drive it to the street for an hour and so this cobblestone street in the middle
of nowhere we set it up but once I got to where I started to look good you can
see look at the focus its it's a little off it's all soft right i mean let it
it's not that soft let it let it draw here at a higher res and the word
loading area and no it's that crappy so i thought i thought was just needs to
load no offense but but at that point when i started to get close to think
okay now it's time to actually worry about the sharpness
now it's time to to put it on a tripod to really make you know make make sure
it's looking the way you want and then you finish that one photo
so there is a point where the sharpness is really important
now let me ask you to tell you about this why would you just shoot with the
tripod all the time why would you just you know here's why because as
photographers we take a tripod with us
here's what we do we get to a scene we set up the tripod
chances are nine times out of ten you're going to shoot from that position either
the entire shoot for you shoot with from two feet of it you'll just you'll plant
that thing like it's a flag on the moon
now if you wait and scout with your your DSLR you'll try different things
we'll shoot around to get over here just shoot tall and then once you say okay
okay this is it
now you take out the tripod because now you're in position now you're like I'm
working the scene now I've worked the scene i worked the settings now I'm
doing the sharpness
that's when you pull out the tripod because you will restrict what you'll
shoot if you pull out the tripod too early
so why do the landscape workshops lot of photographers will run out there and
they'll start putting up their tripods and you can look at an hour later and
they're in the same spot and so just walk around first get your spot
shoot a bit and then when you see because it's not like you're going to
shoot
I mean the landscapes not going anywhere you're going to shoot at five or six
times to go home and I missed it
so it's it's one of those things where don't put it down too early already a
couple more things I want to give you a couple of practical tips about
composition they're just more like the rule of thirds but not really the rule
of thirds practice for a practical aspect i want to show you this one
so my brother took this shot and I took the same once i saw his and and I said I
said hey bro did you not see that satellite dish
I don't know how much that's bringing to the Shah and he said oh of course i saw
that i shot it like this
I'm like dude that's nice right there
all right so here's the thing if I had a point to one of the things that that I
think was the biggest eye-opening moment for for learning photography was when
you realize how important eliminating distracting things from the background
is it ruins more great photos the background is as important as the
foreground
because you have a background is going to trash the foreground so it's it's one
of those things where being being really aware of that makes a difference so when
he he saw that he saw this thing but I went
this is what i'm seeing my mind's eye right here this is what he shot and this
is what we stand there looking at so but just zooming a little tighter and being
aware he wasn't aware of this air conditioner
I'm like hyper aware of that air conditioner all i can see in this shot
is the air conditioner
if you can get to that point where you're really scanning the background
then you will compose and just move over a foot
you're just gonna move just over a little bit and zoom a little tighter and
boom the whole air conditioned now could i remove that I mean could you go into
Photoshop and move it
you could but it actually is a stronger competition because you've also got this
little chair over there and then one should probably clean that out
this is a tad of chair there but it's the simplicity that makes the shot
now I'm another one for you real quick and that is this one
all right this is another one of those ones were moving a foot one way or the
other so I'm looking at this shot and it should be really beautiful
look at this powerline gay stupid stuff so I shoot and I know who i love i love
where the ship is kind of in between these two power line stupid stuff
I back up a little go with a wider so you don't see this stuff as much but
it's still there
stupid oh this is nice though over here
ok all look look right there
what is it with air conditioning units
look more air conditioning units they're multiplying but literally just moving a
foot or two in the other way can fix it up so just by moving enough over here so
I don't see the air conditioning units changed all comes it made it simpler it
made it less distracting I didn't have to clone anything out and have to spend
the extra time in Photoshop just by going there so that's another one and
little one last one
also forget people forget to move the photographer so we're having lunch
that same day and what's the word on what I'm looking for it is
I'm telling is my brother Jeff also on his bro jam and we're shooting these
good photographer to get a camera right there
so now he is he's actually quite good so we're we're we're hanging out and i'm
taking any sense but take a shot at me he steps up and takes a shot and this is
my father-in-law's ear right there
so I like to keep that as many photos as possible so i'm shooting him and I'd
take the shot him and I see this over here
I'm like well it's pretty cool I should shoot that
so I kind of like this except for one thing
it's got a stupid background right it was it was looked cool here on my I see
all this blue but look where I'm standing
so i have to do is move over a little I didn't do a single thing i didn't change
your camera settings do anything just moved over a little
I just was but I only moved because I'm sensitive to the background and then I
thought I could get a little tighter in there make it move it over a little bit
use the rule of thirds and it is a better it's a much stronger shot over
there than it was in the other place
all right I just want one couple last little things we've got 15 minutes i
think we can actually finish on time for a change
ok the next one is one of the most important things that I I thought I hope
to tell you today and we'll just we'll leave Jeff on in the background
so one of the most important things is the importance of of being a good editor
I'm teaching a workshop at at a big workshop i won't mention the name of it
but one of the things that this workshop is you
you are required to make a presentation to the entire school
so every instructor one night gets up and does a presentation they also invite
the local public and so I take my class and we go to watch one of these the
first night and this guy gets up and he is shooting for a very large you view
her i would if i told you they were you go yeah
shooting for these people and he gets up and does the slide show and he starts
off of the whole crab we're watching is like that's good
this guy's good he puts up a shot that looked like one of the ones that I said
I'm in trouble and I'm like em and then the next one is kinda like ya and hoo
I mean it it ran the gamut from wow really great shot
- okay shot - ninety shot at the next morning we
meet in my class tonight
I started the class by saying so what do you guys think of that photographer last
night he's he's pretty good right
and the whole class is coming
I go he wasn't good because look we shooting for
and they're lying yeah nobody i'm like so I said well what was it and somebody
said well he had a lot of bad shots
I said yeah but he had a lot of good shots
they're like yeah I said okay well today's lesson will be about becoming a
good editor is absolutely one of the most important things you can do for
your own photography is being able to determine what's a really great shot
so for example i'm a friend of mine put it in his portfolio on a website and he
put up a tee pictures on 20 then you clicked second page 20
next page 20 next page 28 e pictures and i'm looking through mins be on the first
page is some pretty good shot
second page third page for people so I asked him I said what's what's on your
first page he goes all those are those are my best shots and I said okay what's
on your second page she's like well those are the ones that weren't really
good enough to be on the first page
I said so this is your second best work he's gets kind of quiet I said what's on
your third page
he was well those you know where ones that maybe i did a while back and
they're not you know I said what's on your fourth page
he's like all those are the ones like when I first put on my properly they
were there they are kinda out dated and they're not that good
I said why would you have a page with a collection of your photos that you tell
me are not that good
I said so why don't you just delete page four
he's like well yeah I guess I could do that
I go because here's what happens I go to your web page and i look at page 1 i'm
like wow this guy's good
then look at page two and go who I stand corrected
if I hadn't click the page to my pain of use a photographer would be like this
guy can shoot and then the second page says well maybe not the third page says
he has a lot of really bad days ago
so if you if you removed pages three and four so yeah your best photos your
second-best good and not so good if you removed
not so good and good how would people view you as a photographer and he's like
well I mean probably better
I said okay why do you have a second page
why do you show your second best work why would you in your portfolio have
shots that you say aren't good enough to be on your first page
you're saying they're not good enough to be on page one or the be on page one
so that's what i want to die I want you to think about i think it's one of the
most important things when you see professional photographers working
they're showing their portfolio you go to see a slide presentation for some of
these amazing photographers
they're usually masters and only showing you their very best work and when you
see 20 photos that are just amazing
what is your thought about that photographer that's an amazing
photographer
they're not smart enough to show you 22-23 I mean they're not there they're
not going to do that
that's what I said that exactly backwards they're smart enough not to
show you the shot that's not that good that was and this one didn't come out
the way I wanted it to
I i did portfolio reviews today saw some very good photographers
you know we also do the photoshop world conference and we see a lot of images
there but they get the level of images that we've seen throughout this entire
conference here is is is just phenomenal way above what I'm used to seeing
and so I did for one-on-one portfolio reviews every single person that I've
reviewed today will thankfully had really good work and there was nobody
there that was weak
they're all had really strong stuff but everybody had photos in there each
single one of them suffer from the same thing they had a few too many photos the
photos that were you'd see wow great great great
what happened here who took this did you have your camera to a friend all of a
sudden was out of character with the other stuff that they did so it was I
didn't have a lot of camera technique to tell people I didn't say you need to buy
a better camera you should use this lens
or that it was a lot of like you need to really focus on getting 20 images that
rock or 24 images that rock
now if you're thinking to yourself what if I do wedding photography and sports
and travel that you can have three portfolios give him - 20 piece you know
and make them very distinct this is wedding this is travel the sports
so that's fine if you have now ideally if you really want to do to do it it's
the hardest thing in the world to do a shoot three different genres but i'm
only going to use 24 shots
aight from each one that's really really hard but you know what that portfolio is
gonna rock
it's going to be better than having three the other ones it's a tough
decision to make and you don't always tell people if you can't do it yourself
hand it to a friend and somebody else that can make the choice for you cuz I
people think I can't cut any more of these
I cannot cut them like I'll get him all right
ok up you know what what a perfect analogy is think about this how many
times right has a band come out with with an album right
remember what albums were ok so this is before we do a digital download
but they will come out with an album and like the first song was really really
great and the second song was good the third song was kind of weak but the
fourth song was good
what happened in every album when you got to the tenth and eleventh song right
they were like nobody listens to the 11-track and if they did a double a
double album you're like oh no the second album is not going to be terrible
you know it and that's because it's the same way if you take bands like like
Aerosmith or my personal favorite but Juve so you take these bands that are
incredibly good classics thank you
and and they can't come up with 12 like super kick but I love and they're all
going to be on the radio hits
we got to do the same thing with our work and realize that there's a certain
number of members can put in and then it falls apart after that how many one time
ok where to look at now
so your job really when you're editing isn't to come up with 50 good photos
your job is to look at 50 photos they look the same and come up with one
you just have to take away one single image you don't have to get any honestly
your portfolio nobody wants to see seven shots at the same place
taken from slightly different
angles you know here's this this amazing church and wherever and you shot it from
your 15 different angles here's the inside there's the outside you know it's
in your portfolio you're going to have to pick and choose and choose one of
them all right wrap things up we got a couple just a couple more into the wrong
page
oh here's another thing and then this would be just advice in the bigger
picture is to stop trying to find a technically accurate shot
we keep trying to say is technically accurate we we we didn't we didn't clip
highlights and we didn't clip the shadows and we didn't do that kind of
stuff but find your emotional response to images like when I tell people there
how do i know which is the right one I go which one do you like
you know when you're trying to break it down technically and I think that's what
we want somebody to say there's there's a very easy way to judge whether this
photo is good or bad does it use the rule of thirds
did you use leading lines is it exposed properly
some of the best photos are exposed horrendously remember going to photoplus
east and I walk in the door and here's this big painting in the gallery right
in the front door of a photo plus and it's just unbelievable photo with a
completely blown out sky just clipped to death and you can sit there in front of
it and go
how is this hanging in the gallery look it's all Clift who cares
it's a fabulous photo it's the one that photo plus chose to be the one that you
see when you walk in the door of the conference doesn't matter that is
technically correct as it is it the kind of shot that makes you smile are
interested you want to know the story you feel great it was just it was that
kind of a shot
this is it and you know what sometimes you also don't know which shot is the
one when you're shooting it like you're out shooting and you're like I don't
really know that this is the one you know sometimes you do know the ones
sometimes you're like wow I can't wait to go see this
I don't have it if you happen but I've been out shooting and I think I've got
the one and when i finally get back and look at it
no it's just totally not it but then some other one I didn't think of is my
favorite shot from the whole shit happens right happens sometimes where
you go back and you're like I thought there was gonna be a throwaway shot and
it's the one hanging on my wall
so I definitely came to think but i'm going to give you the most controversial
part of this now
Oh before I do just real quickly and this might help you just in the bigger
picture is look at the photographers work that you admire and take a pencil
and paper and do this and I promise you if you do this it will help your
photography by looking at there's find out who your favorite photographer is go
through their website and as you see a photo of theirs they love literally take
a pencil and write down what it is you love about it
ok it was wide angle it had you know I he was shot down low
because what you might find when you start analyzing the photos that you're
in love with is that you're shooting everything wide angle and you're
disappointed with your photography because what you really like in reality
is closed up
you might find that the reason why your not happy is because what you're what
you're shooting all day long
isn't really the kind of photography that you like but if you look at the
people's work that you like and analyze and write everything down it's backlit
it's this together
you may realize that this you know what I love backlit shots
how many back with such as a shot in the last four years 0 then you know the next
day to go out and start shooting the thing that turns you on about other
people's photography you want to see their stuff in your photography but you
won't know unless you actually take a pen and write it down and that's really
really important
sounds stupid but I guarantee you it's an exercise if you do it
it's going to affect the way you think and look and then at least you'll know I
know what I like and and if you could if you answer the question like what kind
of photographer you like and you go I don't know but I I know it when I see it
how are you going to make shots that you love
if you're not really sure what you love so take a few minutes and do that
that'll make a big difference but um
here comes the controversial part i'm going to tell you something it never
ever heard anybody talk about
I never seen anybody talk about it cause it's too controversial and that is this
sometimes the best shots your favorite shots shots you see are not based on the
lighting not based on the equipment not based on the photographer
sometimes it's based on the subject and I want to give an example of that and
you'll see what I mean
so let me just Bop out of this and we're going to go to
right
what is it
I guess I should look at my list here
oh there it is all right
this lighthouse is in florida and i think it's a naples florida
it has been called I'm not joking the ugliest lighthouse in the world
I don't care what time of day you go there
I don't care what kind of light you have I don't care if it's the most magical
light that has ever shown on that lighthouse
it is never going to look like this this is that this charming lighthouse in
Maine where it almost looks like they said well photographers might be coming
let's put a little red shack right up front to office and make sure we leave
the lights on early we turn them on well before they need to be turned on
I mean here this is a beautiful little Lighthouse you cannot make this look
like this
I don't care how good the light is on care what kind of camera you have I
don't care if you don't like it m9 it won't get to there
so this burger is very very simple
it's shot with very flat light right like a light probably straight in front
of it on a white background
it has a burger cheese lettuce and tomato and looks like maybe a little
onion on a sesame seed bun
this is the exact same lighting setup
it's exactly the same
it is hamburger cheese lettuce tomato on a sesame seed bun
why does it look so much better than this is this which photographers better
a or being this guy could be ten times better
but this guy had to shoot that burger
this guy
think about it seriously this is serious stuff because so many times I have
somebody black bring up
show me a landscape photo and it's just in this terrible location like this
doesn't look like you're going to get in moab or in Arizona or in Yosemite
because even if you shoot in great light because the subjects not good
so so here's a great example for you
so this is just a very very simple daylight portrait nice diffused late in
the day
I'm not going to change the lighting at all nothing changes the next shot is
taken two seconds later I mean five seconds later at best
no camera settings change know anything
so that this is my photo assistant Brad I have my joking 5,000 shots or Brad
like this every time we go to shoot we're getting ready to do a test you
before the model cums on Brad poses in the light and loss how to tell him
Brad I can't tell if it's good light or not do so here she is right there
because it's the same light it's exactly why doesn't the light look beautiful on
Brad and brad is a beautiful man but he's a man
one more time look on
ah I and I know it's kind of funny because because Brad mugs for the mic
every single time I'm serious so Brad but for two years
uh before I'd rather meet I think three years now he was two years with joe
mcnally and Joe and I swear we're gonna put a book together called the many
faces or Brad
I've got so many of these it's insane but but the idea is though
why does she look better because it's a better subject I'm sorry Brad
all right lastly right in the church pretty Church pretty bride church is
still pretty
here's Brad
here she is in the Church of different spine
outside like outside come on now she's back lit
I just over exposed a little like I did the explosion conversation
all right when a little over look it's the same exact he's standing in the same
spot zoom in a little closer look at the same tree
I just zoomed in a little closer on her than I did on Brad
it's the same shot why doesn't look very very very much the same and then of
course just for fine
we're seeing around the church I seriously I got a million of these
so anyway but but that's the reality of it is and and I was going to show you
what i know we gotta wrap up so i just want to show you one last thing
so and and i hope this will help too and it is the name of the image is a way to
solve it
here it is so this is one of joe mcnally shots when I see the shot i love this
shot every time I see it but I tried to do that thing where I figured out what
is it i love about this shot
so I mean it's well lit Joe is is the magical unicorn lighting
so you know it's well lit and this looks like natural light coming in here but
it's not it's a flash
he's got another flashback here and you could say well he is tipped the
composition a little bit right so it adds and some energy when I'm saying
that you always do that because you know it's understand you've got a an
out-of-focus shell depth of field
so if i'm writing this all down and go okay what really makes this is that it's
well lit cool seen it
you know what it is that makes this photo and the lighting is brilliant just
brilliant on is nothing about Joe what makes this picture is him
if you put my face there in that same exact hat no one would ever see this
photo in the history of man i'm not kidding right
you wouldn't you - you put me there and I and I go and he tilt the camera and
every single aspect is exactly the same
this would never be on Joe's website because this guy is just got he's got
character
he's got depth Joe got a great subject and I think we discount this
so much in locations in locations where we shoot travel and when we shoot people
we discount the fact that sometimes it's not incredible lighting
it's not an incredible location it's an incredible subject and that's the
reality of it is joe says it best if you want to shoot more interesting things
stand in front of more interesting things right
he's standing in front of a very very interesting guy all right we've got to
wrap up what was the last thing i want to say so just to wrap up real quick
so um joel grimes teaches at Photoshop world very great honor of you know his
work is tremendous photographer does a lot of compositing for big sports
companies and stuff
he teaches a class on compositing one of the students actually goes and shoots
the composite the next day comes back to the workshop and says Joel take a look
and says what do you think it's my first one and Joe looks Jolla San Diego's mrs.
this is your first one seriously this looks really really good you have to
really really done a good job with that and they're like really is like yeah
now go do that three hundred more times
think about that because the end of the day we can read books on composite but
you thank you for coming to my class and all that but at the end of the day we
have to practice this stuff there i met people today that have a built-in knack
for photography like some people are born with be able to sing they did just
open the mouth thing that never took a lesson never studied in the hole comes
out of their mouth right so I met some of those people today and doing my
one-on-one portfolio reviews but at the end of the day the only way any of us
are going to get any better is to practice
I hope today that from this class that you'll start thinking about these things
when your next shoot you start thinking about working the scene is something
stops you and put you in your spot you're gonna think
ok there's something here and I pray that you will work hard enough to find
that image because what i really want you to do is to get the kind of images
that you always wanted to get thank you guys very much
yeah