JJP Designs | Photo Ninja

Since I first went digital I have had a policy of never deleting in camera. I wait until I get home, offload all the images, and review them on the computer. This policy has never served me better than it did this week. A friend asked me to walk him through the various camera settings and help him understand what each did and how each impacts the resulting photograph. We walked out to a spot on the campus where we work and took shots as we went along with varying settings so that I could explain what was happening in each shot. I took a set of shots and explained to him how, for instance, the change of aperture or focal length made the differences in the resulting images. I then had him take the camera, make similar setting changes, and then take shots to compare to the ones I'd taken. We then talked through what happened with each shot and how to accomplish various results by changing settings and/or physically changing your relationship to the subject. It was actuall...

I distinctly remember seeing, truly seeing, the shape and quality of the light. I don’t even really recall seeing the bird or the table specifically… I remember specifically seeing the light and the shadows. That is what we are always told in photography – to see the light. I knew that. I practiced that. I've even tried to teach it. But that was the day that truly, deep in my photography soul, it … clicked. Wow! I didn’t even see that pun coming, but it was AWESOME when I looked back and found it just sitting there starting back at me. That is what a photograph is – a record of the light present at any given moment. More specifically, a record of the shape of the light… the contrasts that create the shapes we perceive. That’s really what we, humans, excel at – detecting contrast. We are also AMAZING at detecting patterns… but that’s for another blog. ;) We have a really hard time seeing a camouflaged animal because there is a lack of contrast. It’s much typically much easier fo...