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Breaking the Rules

Creativity, Photography  Comment
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breakingrules
In his book Photography and the Art of Seeing, Freeman Patterson offers excellent advice. List all of the rules of photography. Then break them. If you do this, you’ll develop a better understanding of the medium.
I recommend you take this advice one step further. List all of your rules of photography. And break them. You’ll either find confirmation that what you’re doing is right for you or you’ll make new breakthroughs. You’ll develop a better understanding of your personal relationship with the medium and your unique way of looking. Keep going. And revisit this list frequently.
Find my lists in my PDF Breaking The Rules.
Find more resources in my Lessons here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Things That Make Images Weaker

Workshop  Comment
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bad
During reviews in my workshops we discuss what keeps some images from working better and how they could be improved.
Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.
Avoid these thing and make your images stronger.
Lack of Focus (Not Deliberate)
Limited Depth of Field (Not Deliberate)
Motion Blur (Not Deliberate)
Chromatic Aberation
Noise (Not Deliberate)
Posterization (Not Deliberate)
Lack of Shadow and/or Highlight Detail (Not Deliberate)
Color Contrast Between Elements Not Strong Enough
Low Contrast Light
Cropping Seems Accidental Rather Than Deliberate
Distracting Elements on the Frame
Almost Centered (Neither Centered Nor Significantly Off Center)
Too Many Competing Lines
Shapes Merge Becoming Unclear
Shapes Rendered Without Volume (Not Deliberate)
Too Busy (Complexity Lacks Structure)
Simple Subjects With No Counterpoint
Secondary Elements Distract From Primary Elements
Image Enhancements Call Attention To Themselves
Text Competing for Attention
Text Creates Unintended Commentary
Graphics (Text/Images) Not Integrated Into Image
Cliches
Insincerity
What else would you add to this list?
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Things That Make Images Stronger

Workshop  Comment
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good
During reviews in my workshops we discuss images made in terms of what makes them strong and how they could be made stronger.
Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.
You can use any one or more than one in combination to make your images stronger.
Form
Simplicity
Structured Complexity
Gesture
Leading Lines
Interesting Shape
Clean Shape
Deliberately Incomplete Shape
Clear Figure Ground Relationships
Overlapping Planes
Strong Recession (leading lines, overlapping planes, figure ground, color)
Texture
Pattern
Structured Fields
Minimalist Fields
Selective Focus
Archetypal or Evocative Proportion
Contrast
Clean Frame
Spaciously Placed from Frame
Touching the Frame
Cropped by Frame
Palette
Color Interest
Light
Luminosity Contrast
Hue Contrast
Saturation Contrast
Content
Significant Detail
Shows Subject’s Process
Shows Media Process
Clear Stage, Actor, Secondary Character
Action
Decisive Moment
Story
Unresolved Tension
Mystery Left to Be Solved
Emotion
Emotion of Subject
Personal Emotion
Emotional Interaction
Color Mood
Atmospheric Mood
What would you add to this list?
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Iceland 2010 – Participant Images Second Reviews

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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Iceland2010_reviews2
We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Iceland 2010 – Workshop Participant Images First Selects

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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Iceland2010_reviews1
We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Lighting Midnight At Iceland's Glacial Lagoon

Destination - Iceland, Workshop  Comment
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raggimidnightlagoon
Ragnar th Sigurdsson treated us to a midnight display of lighting techniques at Iceland’s glacial lagoon Jokullsarlon.
Multiple exposures for multiple Photoshop layers. Fantastic light. Glowing icebergs beached on black sand at tide line. Venus on horizon. Magic.
Taking artificial light into the field is just one thing we explore in our workshop. Have you ever tried it?
If you’re in Iceland, next Saturday is the annual firework display over the glacial lagoon.
Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.
Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Hubble Site

Websites  Comment
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hubblesite
“Hubble Site contains a gallery of images harvested from the famous telescope for over 20 years. Images are free to download in a variety of sizes. You’ll also find out how color is added to each of the images, which are originally captured in black and white.”