Travel Tips

The key for the general person to get that standout photograph is to keep hacking away frame after frame until the subtleties of the face blend into a natural, wonderful expression. Lately I've been working on my "fashion" portfolio, getting provocative or sexy images that you might see in a magazine or calendar, but without the artificial lighting and software manipulation. Nothing but pure natural light, natural conditions and a natural model.

On the other hand, my mother-in-law thinks (or has hinted to my wife) that I am headed to Purgatory with this kind of work. Soon (she fears) I'll be doing nothing but graphic nudes, get caught in a porno-sting operation and do a long prison sentence. Often I am braver than the model; often the model is braver than I. When the latter happens I work quickly or in private locations so my apprehension diminishes.

After being on a photography website for three weeks I've decided to try my hand at work I've never done before. . .using the macro setting on my digital camera. The results are mixed. The focus is difficult to get on the right element in the photo. Ordinary objects can become surreal objects under the right settings. . .as my experimentation continues I'll keep trying to perfect these techniques.

I general prefer for a portrait to showcase the person in whatever mood they happen to favor. The edges to me are ideal when they are dull, blurred, textured, but quite unobtrusive, not robbing the subject of much or any of the viewer's attention. Then again, sometimes a startling background can enhance or complement the subject better than something more subtle.

The Best Pictures Don't Have to Smile

I like classic moods in portrait photography. It's usually best for someone who doesn't have the on-demand smile to work with a few mood expressions or set-ups until they get comfortable with a clicking shutter.

On Valentine's Day this year I bought my wife a bouquet of flowers, thick with blossoms in pink, red and white. As usual I like to photograph delicate, intricate or colorful things, so I tried my hand with the flowers. None of the pictures were as vibrant as some pictures I've taken of twilight berries. On the other hand, colorful birds usual photograph well. Not graced with delicately veined petals, their feathers instead make up the detail, and their plumage provides all the colors a photographer could want, especially when standing in front of a colorful backdrop or natural setting.

Everyone enjoys the change of colors that Autumn brings. Hardword forests cover nearly two-thirds of the lower forty-eight states, giving everyone from Maine to New Mexico a chance to thrill at the fall spectacle. Most of us in rural areas know of local creeks or quiet woods where the leaves turn red and gold, while those in the urban quarter usually know of several parks where the settings are equally colorful, especially when the planners used every available resource in their designs. The fact that most of us would sorely miss our urban parks if they were converted to parking lots makes me often wonder why we don't fight more aggressively to preserve our national parks. The pleasure derived from each is merely a matter of scale.

If you've got the perfect building, even those inept at the camera can achieve nice results. For most people however, they try to frame the entire building into one shot without losing edges or getting undesired objects into the frame. For a church in Oklahoma, an overall aspect is generally the best. For churches in Europe, a microscopic lens will show what the average album misses. Zoom in so close to the gargoyles that the skin seems to breathe. Close in so tight with the masonry that the stone exposes its grainy mosaic. Look for the unusual, but look through extreme lenses.

Birds are by no means the most colorful or detailed animal one is likely to encounter either in the wild or in some protected preserve (I ignore the word "zoo" here out of respect for zrim). The radiance and sheer detail of mammalian pelage is no less notorious than the plumage of the most exotic birds. Good photographers (sometimes at great risk both to their person and to common sense) go out of bounds to bring a big-game gallery to their private dwellings -- for two-dimensional proof of their markmanship rather than three-dimensional trophies I find so deplorable.

Everyday objects have some luster or novelty when viewed in a different way. I don't suppose the results would look too grand for a coffee ground to photograph his realm from the depth of an empty mug, but a spider's view of its entangled prey along a glistening web would be among the thousands of photos I would love to see. Brick siding has a familiarity well known, but the individual bricks have a pockmarked symmetry not normally studied. We've all seen snowy images but seldom the detail of snow and ice themselves. Thousands of colors dance in the ice of these comparatively colorless limbs.