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Photography & Words – On Better Photography With Peter Eastway

 

“Have you noticed how all photographers have favourite stories that tell of being in a certain place at a certain time and making a photograph that really excited them? People love to hear these stories.” 

 

Recently I had a wide-ranging conversation with Peter Eastway, a great Australian photographer and the publisher of Better Photography magazine. We talked about visualization, the creative process, and how words can be useful for photographers.

Here’s an excerpt … 

Words Can Help 

John suggests that writing is far better at describing intangibles than photography. Sure, we can make photographs that represent love or freedom, but the language we’re using can be ambiguous. Not every viewer will pick up on what we’re doing. Many will have their own interpretations, so perhaps our own use of words in association with our photographs can make things clearer. “I think it depends on the kind of journey you want to create for your viewers. I was just looking at Eliot Porter’s Antarctica book, and I was surprised by how heavy the captions were and how dense the text that separated different sections in the book was. It’s not right or wrong; it’s just one kind of experience. However, a problem with words is that they can limit the viewers’ experience by not leaving enough room for the viewer. But words that are open, generative, and don’t close things down can be very engaging. “I think a lot of artists are uncomfortable with words because it’s not a skill they’ve developed. But good words have helped me understand art much better. They didn’t destroy the mystery; they enhanced it.” 

Think of an artist giving a talk at an exhibition or presenting a slide show of images. Would you expect the artist to just sit there and say nothing? Or would you want to hear what’s going on inside the artist’s mind, inside their heart?  John has a slide show about Antarctica on his website, and his voice-over provides an added dimension to the presentation. With the words, I felt I knew a lot more about John, his personality, and his approach to photography. There was a synergy. 

But if you have never written about anything in your life, how do you start to write about something that can be as personal as photography? It can already be challenging enough to show our photographs to others; now we’re supposed to write about them as well?  John has some practical suggestions, beginning with telling a story. “Have you noticed how all photographers have favourite stories that tell of being in a certain place at a certain time and making a photograph that really excited them? People love to hear these stories. What it was like to be there? What were you thinking? What were you feeling? What did you learn? You don’t have to say or write big fancy words or even have it all perfectly composed. You can keep your language really simple, just like you talk. One of the things you can try is to imagine you’re having a conversation with a mate and tell them the story. Transcribe what you say and maybe clean up the ‘umms’ and the ‘ahhs,’ but it doesn’t have to be fancy language. In fact, simple direct language will communicate with other people better. Most people get turned off by ‘art speak’, and most people do not want to read a 3000-word essay. But we love short stories. In fact, the human brain is hooked on them. So, telling one of your stories is a great starting point, and having hung out with some of the ‘greats’ of photography, you don’t need a lot of them. They were constantly telling the same stories. Dad had half a dozen stories he’d tell time and time again. How many celebrities did Arnold Newman photograph, yet he generally used the same small number of stories.” A short story can be used as a caption or an introduction. It allows you to position the viewer closer to you so they better understand what your photograph is about, but, as John emphasises, without making things so tight, there isn’t room for your viewers to use their own imagination. 

Read the full article. Visit Better Photography Issue 111.

How To Change The Perspective Of Anything In Photoshop

Learn how to change the perspective of anything using the Perspective Warp.

00:00 – Introduction
00:15 – Perspective Warp in Photoshop Guide
04:30 – Perspective Warp and Compositing
06:05 – Change The Perspective of a Room in Photoshop
08:20 – Change The Perspective of a Building in Photoshop
09:25 – Apply a Logo in Perspective in Photoshop
10:28 – Apply a Graphic in Perspective to Multiple Planes

Find more from Jesus Ramirez’s Photoshop Training Channel.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

New Ways To Light Up Photos In Camera Raw & Lightroom

“Colin Smith shows you how to use masks in Lightroom to change the lighting in a photo. Create an easy rim light, flood light and more. Change a photo to look like the sun is shining.”

The Only Way to Steal Photoshop Color Grading That Works 100% Of The Time

“Easily copy color grading styles using ‘Common Sense’ in Photoshop! Learn how to logically approach color matching using several techniques and create your own steps that get the best results based on your image and what you wish to achieve.”

3 Ways To Adjust A Skies In Lightroom and Photoshop

“Look at three ways to adjust your skies in Lightroom and Photoshop. Each works a little differently, and some make automatic selections – which works well sometimes. While others require a little more work but can give better results.”

How To Mask Curves In Adobe Lightroom Classic

“Adobe added Curves to the masking tool in Adobe Camera Raw, but has yet to add the same feature to Lightroom Classic. Here’s how to cheat and apply Curves using the masking feature in Lightroom Classic.”

Join Us Online Feb 3 – 5 For A Fabulous Night Photo Summit

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For years, the great folks at National Parks At Night have been hosting an online symposium on night photography.
3 Days
35 Speakers
38 Sessions
1 Year To Watch Replays
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Feb 5 at 3:45 EST
I’ll present a new seminar
Naked Eye, Camera Eye, Mind’s Eye.
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I’m delighted to participate this year. I’m also psyched to see many of the presentations, including Joseph DePasquale’s Unveiling The Infrared Universe With The James Webb Space Telescope.
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7 Tips To Help You Crop Your Photographs Better

A crop can make a good photograph great. There’s an art to cropping that every photographer would be wise to master. Here are seven things to consider.

Align

Horizon tipping? Level it, which will crop edges a little or a lot, depending on how tilted it was. Similarly, it’s best to keep other significant horizontals and verticals parallel to the frame. Perspective correction will distort elements within the frame unequally to do just this and crop edges unequally. (In these situations, plan to crop and shoot a little more than you need.) If, on the other hand, you’re trying to create an imbalanced topsy-turvy effect to add dynamism, tilt them substantially. A lot looks deliberate. A little looks sloppy.

Distraction


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4 Alternatives To Cropping Your Photographs – Both Old And New Ways

Original

Edges Darkened

Edges Retouched

 

So you don’t want to crop your image. What other alternatives could you consider to minimize distractions? Here are four.

Color - LHS

Contrast is an eye-catcher. So, if you don’t want elements to catch the eye, reduce their contrast. There are three types of contrast; luminosity, hue, and saturation. Depending on the situation, you may need to use one, two, or all three. Take your clues from the overall image and the immediate surroundings of the elements you’d like to direct attention away from. Rather than sleight of hand, it’s sleight of eye.

Blur

One of the strongest ways to deflect attention from an element is to blur it. The more you blur it, the less focus it will demand. Blur it enough, and it will disappear into its surrounding field of color. Take care to manage transitions between blurred and sharp areas convincingly (as if the blur happened in camera rather than in post-production); if they aren’t handled well, the blur will stand out as artificial and attract attention rather than reduce it.

Distort


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This One Photoshop Tip Saved My Sanity!

Matt Kloskowski offers a great tip that makes saving files in Photoshop easier.