Photos & Patience 1
Man, I'm sorry. I had no idea it'd been two weeks since my last post. I have a multitude of excuses, I assure you. Photographs, sports injuries, Austin — my stand-bys. Actually, I blame work.
Look at me. Short, declarative sentences. Bloodless prose. Groveling before my audience. Soul-sucked. And now supplanting worthwhile content with flashy art in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
So this is what I've been doing with the rest of this week. I re-scanned and meticulously worked this photo and the one of my aunt Susan for my portfolio:
(Original here)
The picture of Nick going nuts at Jamfest is one of the few times I've ever been 100 percent certain as soon as I pressed the shutter that I had taken a great picture. I practically sprinted back downstairs into the crowd, where I remember Kriston was the first friend I saw.
I rambled something like, "I got it, man, oh shit oh shit, I got it." But I only knew this because, as you can see below, I hit the elements at just the right time. That took a lot of waiting , along with a few prelimary shots just to make sure I had something from that perspective. Here are my last three shots at it, and you can see how the picture just wasn't quite coming together until Nick did his thing:
As a tip, you should always try changing your perspective on any photo you really want to get. If you look through my almost finalized portfolio, maybe one or two are taken from eye-level. Digital camreas with their LCD screens are great for letting your move the camera around and try different angles.
Anywyas, for a long time, I was satisfied with this picture, thinking I had nailed it.
Oh, no, no, no.
Your equipment really does matter in photography, and I was working with subpar scanning gear. I had nailed the idea, but my "print" was terrible. That's another thing, most famous photographers were either darkroom masters or had a bunch of darkroom groupies to work endlessly on tiny tweaks that make the difference (see the versions of my aunt's picture above). Check out the original working of this photo:
Blech, that looks nasty.
So, the short lesson: get good equipment, learn how to use it. Knowing what you're doing technically is the first step to being able to take a unique perspective on a photo.
Look at me. Short, declarative sentences. Bloodless prose. Groveling before my audience. Soul-sucked. And now supplanting worthwhile content with flashy art in 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...
So this is what I've been doing with the rest of this week. I re-scanned and meticulously worked this photo and the one of my aunt Susan for my portfolio:
(Original here)
The picture of Nick going nuts at Jamfest is one of the few times I've ever been 100 percent certain as soon as I pressed the shutter that I had taken a great picture. I practically sprinted back downstairs into the crowd, where I remember Kriston was the first friend I saw.
I rambled something like, "I got it, man, oh shit oh shit, I got it." But I only knew this because, as you can see below, I hit the elements at just the right time. That took a lot of waiting , along with a few prelimary shots just to make sure I had something from that perspective. Here are my last three shots at it, and you can see how the picture just wasn't quite coming together until Nick did his thing:
As a tip, you should always try changing your perspective on any photo you really want to get. If you look through my almost finalized portfolio, maybe one or two are taken from eye-level. Digital camreas with their LCD screens are great for letting your move the camera around and try different angles.
Anywyas, for a long time, I was satisfied with this picture, thinking I had nailed it.
Oh, no, no, no.
Your equipment really does matter in photography, and I was working with subpar scanning gear. I had nailed the idea, but my "print" was terrible. That's another thing, most famous photographers were either darkroom masters or had a bunch of darkroom groupies to work endlessly on tiny tweaks that make the difference (see the versions of my aunt's picture above). Check out the original working of this photo:
Blech, that looks nasty.
So, the short lesson: get good equipment, learn how to use it. Knowing what you're doing technically is the first step to being able to take a unique perspective on a photo.
posted by Matt at 11:31 PM
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