Shutter Mike Photography

In case you are in the Gilbert, AZ area anytime over the next few months stop by Bergie’s Coffee Roast House in downtown Gilbert (just north of Joe’s Real BBQ) to see art from the members of the Gilbert Visual Arts League – including me.

The GVAL’s mission is to

create a venue for local artists to show their work and be recognized for their talents. The league strives to increase artistic awareness and appreciation in their community and surrounding areas.

Part of that mission includes working with local business and venues to secure space for artists to display their work and Bergie’s is one of those spots.  This is the first time one of my photographs has hung in a public place so I am not sure what (if anything) to expect.  But it is still cool.

My photograph is of a green door in the El Presido area of Tucson, AZ.  It is on the north wall of the main room.  The art will be on display through July 31st.

Google has come out with yet another “tool” (or is it s toy?).  This time it is a quick little gadget in You Tube that lets you create 30 second videos called Search Stories.  The idea is to tell a story, about anything you want, through Google searches.  its a great way to just have fun or to potentially do a little promotion of your photography or any business really.  Here is one I created.

The composition rules in photography all serve the general purpose of engaging the image’s viewer with the image.  That may be through getting an image that follows certain standards of beauty or enticing some sort of interaction from the viewer.  The purpose of leading lines in a photograph is to lead the viewer’s eye through (and occasionally right out of) the photograph so that they view the image as the photographer wants them to see it, starting at point A and following a specific path to see the image as the photographer saw the scene.  Leading lines are also used to bring the viewer’s  attention to one particular point in the image, generally the main subject.

How the leading line is achieved and what is used to construct it is completely up to your imagination.  Railroad tracks are probably the most common example of a leading line.  But fences, roads, the edge of a building, or a row of similar objects can all make a leading line.  As mentioned in the Framing the Subject post the “rules” o f composition are not absolute so much as they are guidelines to use and expand upon to produce images that are appealing.  As photographers we have to interpret and often break or reconstruct these rules to get the images we are after.

The image in the upper right is using the yellow lines of the road as the leading line to start the viewer in the lower left corner of the photograph and leading them to the center and the sunset.

The photograph of the tunnel above is simply directing the viewer’s eye to a termination point of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Finally, the image of the path on the right takes the photograph viewer from the shade to the light and finally the museum building at the end of the path.  In this photo one could argue that the path, or the leading line, itself is the subject rather than termination point of the museum.

In photography, composition refers to how the elements in the frame are constructed and arranged to result in the desired final image.  There are many “rules” of composition in photography that are designed to produce an image that is appealing to the human eye.  Of course there is no one thing that is universally beautiful.  So these rules are not absolute so much as they are guidelines to use and expand upon to produce images that are appealing.  As a photographer you have to interpret and often break these rules to get the images you are after.  They do not have to be, nor are they meant to be, set in stone and followed blindly.

A good (and relatively easy) rule of photography composition to start with is framing the subject.  Simply put, framing a subject in an image is a photographic technique similar to physically framing your image in a picture frame.  Only in the case of photography you are using elements in the image to frame the part of the image that you want to draw the viewers attention to.

When you are composing your shot look for natural elements in the scene that could act as a frame for the main subject you want to draw the viewer to.  It does not need to be a solid, four-sided physical frame however.  It can be an implied frame, a hint of a frame on only 2 or 3 sides or anything you feel is appropriate for the image you want to make.  Remember the rules are made to be broken.

Bouillon School – Miami, AZ

(Yes, there is a Miami in AZ too – minus the ocean)

f/5.6 – ISO 100 – Focal Length 55 mm

If you sell on eBay and take the time and effort to produce photographs of your auction items there is a new policy coming down the line that you should be aware of.  The official eBay statement reads as follows:

Starting September 1, 2009, eBay will begin selecting sellers’ photos for inclusion in the eBay product catalog. If your photo is chosen, an attribution including your user ID and a link to your profile page will be included on the product details page under your picture each time it’s displayed. This attribution can give you significant additional exposure.

If you’d rather opt out of this program, please do so through My eBay as described here. To ensure your pictures are not considered for inclusion in the eBay product catalog starting September 1, you need to opt out by August 31, 2009 at 23:59:59 PT.

You can opt out any time after that as well, but any pictures we select starting September 1 during a time you are not opted out may continue to be used in the catalog at our discretion.

To some people the potential link traffic and exposure is a good thing and this will not be a problem.  The key here is, if you do have an issue with it, you have to opt out or your photos are up for grabs for eBay to use.  However, if your photos have a watermark it has been said that they will not be used in the eBay catalog.

Just in case you might have missed the fine print when signing up for eBay here is their policy on who owns the photos you post in an auction:

When you give us content, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable (through multiple tiers) right to exercise the copyright, trademark, publicity, and database rights (but no other rights) you have in the content, in any media known now or in the future.

It takes a lawyer to understand all of that.  Just something to keep in mind when you are posting your photography on eBay or most any other website.

Photographing certain bridges (but not all bridges) in the New York City area is prohibited.  They include the Triborough Bridge, Verazano Bridge, Whitestone Bridge and Throgs Neck Bridge.  I’m not familiar enough with NYC to know the significance of these bridges over say the Brooklyn Bridge or the George Washington Bridge.

What is interesting is that a search of Google Images for Verazano Bridge results in over 55,000 images and the Metropolitan Transit Authority website has a picture of the bridge.  It looks like the genie is already out of the bottle on this one.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about “Photographer’s Rights,” i.e. what am I allowed to shoot and who, if anyone, has a right to stop me or confiscate my equipment or photos?   If you are a photographer, especially since 9/11, with anything more than a point-and-shoot camera you could potentially find yourself in a situation where your right to photograph something is questioned.

Not too long ago I was in downtown Phoenix and was stopped twice in one day.   Once by a security guard and once by a Maricopa County Sheriff.  The security guard had undoubtedly seen me on a security camera as I was photographing the exterior of the Bank of America building on a Sunday.  She was very polite when she approached me and simply asked what I was doing and told me “They don’t like you taking pictures of the buildings.” I did not argue the point at the time but thought it was strange since it was a public plaza (Collier) and a skyscraper in downtown Phoenix that had certainly been photographed before.  A simple search on Google results in its own Wikipedia page and a street view of the building on Google maps.

For the second incident later that day I was photographing some public art outside the Maricopa County Courthouse when a sheriff officer pulled over.  Again, he was very polite (and a little bothered because they made him stop on his way to lunch). He asked what I was doing, if it was for business or personal use and to see my identification.  Again, I was not taking pictures of anything secret or not meant for public view.  In fact, the new court house tower has a live web cam watching the construction process.

My encounters with the “law” were minor, but they have certainly made me cautious and think twice about what I am photographing.  So I did some research to get the facts straight.

There are two very good sources available that explain your rights as a photographer and what  you can and cannot do.  Print, read and carry one or both of these in your camera bag.

The Photographer’s Rights by Bert P. Krages (Attorney)

Legal Rights of Photographer’s  by Andrew Kantor

Here is a brief recap of your rights as a photographer in the US.

• In general, if you can see it, you can photograph it.
• Public places are fair game to photograph.
• You are free to photograph private property as long as you are standing on public property.
• You can photograph people, including children, without their permission as long as they are in a public place and do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
• Private property used as public property such as malls, churches, and office lobbies are acceptable to photograph.
• Public infrastructure (except where expressly prohibited by law) such as bridges, airports, public utilities and transportation are all fair game.  There are some exceptions when it comes to military bases adn nuclear power facilities.
• Police and security guards cannot require you to delete your photos or confiscate your equipment (if you are being arrested there are exceptions).  This requires a court order.
• The Patriot Act, Homeland Security rulings and anything related to “9/11″ do not prohibit photography.
• These rules apply to taking photographs, publishing and selling them after the fact gets a little more complicated.  But this is covered in the two documents above.

I was in San Diego last week and wanted to try some more night time photography.  Since one of my favorite subjects in architecture I thought the historic architecture at Balboa Park would be a good place to try out some long exposures and see what I could get.  Many of the buildings, especially those along the El Prado walk, are well lit at night.  Their Spanish style architecture makes for a great subject against the dark night sky.

Before I get to the photos, here are a few things I learned that are key to producing good night photography:

• It is very difficult to do without a good tripod.  The one I had at the time was broken and would not extend all the way up.  Crouching down to try to see through the view finder is both uncomfortable and makes getting a good shot harder.  (But my new Induro AB2 has since arrived. I am anxious to try it out and will let you know how it goes.)
• In addition to the tripod, a shutter remote is an invaluable tool to help avoid camera shake.  They can be found online for very little money.
• Take a flashlight, or some source of light.  I did not and it would have been very helpful for seeing the tripod’s level and camera settings.
• Experiment with different shutter speeds and apertures.  Take the camera off automatic. I am working with digital photography so the cost of film and developing are not an issue.  Take as many as you need to get the few good ones.
• Watch a tutorial video such as this before you go out shooting.  I didn’t, but it would have been helpful.

Casa del Prado Theater

Casa del Prado

Botanical Building

I realize I am late to the party – and far beyond fashionably late. But I have recently discovered Twitter. Well, I of course knew it existed; I just never really understood it and could not imagine how it might be useful to me. FaceBook has provided me with all the play by play updates of my Internet circle that I needed.

But I can now say “I was wrong,” and the usefulness of Twitter is becoming more and more clear to me. Although I am pretty certain that I have not even scratched the surface as to all it potentially has to offer. But I can see it looming…

My recent venture into Twitterdom got me to thinking about how Twitter and other bits of the Internet can help me improve my photography and get a better understanding of the fundamentals and techniques of photography.

So here are my Twitter and General Internet Tips for improving your photography skills (I am sure these can be expanded, to some degree, to any hobby or obsession):

It is all about the Who!
With Twitter, who you are following and subsequently who is following you is critical. It is easy to get carried away and start following people willy-nilly. I have gotten off track already, but the majority of those I follow are related to photography or design.

Read, Read, Read
I didn’t make this connection at the beginning, but what better way to expand my photography knowledge than to surround myself with others that do what I do. It can get addicting and a bit daunting to try to keep up with all the twitted information. But in just a few days I have already found so many resources and sites and bits of information on the web that I would not have stumbled upon on my own just by reading the tweets of people involved in what I am interested in, photography.

Use Your Tweeps
Don’t just read what everyone else is posting. Contribute. Post your photos and ask for feedback (or don’t ask, but someone is bound to offer it anyway). Ask questions, inquire. Most of these people are twittering because they have something to say (although some have way too much to say and some a lot of nothing to say) and enjoy saying it. Try posting your latest shot with TwitPic and see what advice or critiques people offer.

Beyond Twitter
Forums are a great way to connect to other people that share your interests. No matter what you are into there is certainly a forum out there focusing on it. I came across my first forum through Twitter. I just started using it but so far I got some suggestions for a new tripod and have a photography assignment I’m going to try.

Flickr is another great way to share your work with your fellow photographers. There are more groups than you could ever explore. Find a few that are common to your interests and share some photos. See what people say and what advice they offer. Be sure to offer the same advice to others that post.