The Shutter Second, When to walk away.
The emphasis on being a great photographer is always there. Creating goals and achieving them should always be what we strive for. Working hard plus blood, sweat, and tears is a necessity. Yet all this should be second in life. The shutter… Should be second. Photography is important, but it’s no comparison to living your life.
The idea is this. You photograph to live, not live to photograph. Does that make me a sell out? Does it make me less committed to the craft? Some would say yes. Yet without the ability to live there is no photography. Without a life wrapped around family and friends, God and community, or whatever you live for … your photography will suck. Yes, suck!
It’s your ideology, family, and friends, pain, love that will ultimately drive and influence your photography. Without these things creativity may present itself difficult. Yet with these things you may find photography less important. My son Huntington has been sick the last couple of days. Not just sick like taking some Tylenol sick… But sick like …get admitted to the hospital sick. My life the last couple days have been wrapped up with his recovery. The last thing on my mind has been photography, lighting, the newest dslr… Whatever. Photography is the last thing on my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I love photography, but there’s so much more than the shutter.
Spending sometime away from the shutter is just as important as perfecting the craft. I challenge you, dare your … walk away from your camera for a couple days, weeks, maybe a month, breathe and come back.
The results may free you!
Fashion Shoot for Joey Quan – Behind the Scene
Check out our latest shoot a Joey Quan Designs. Photos and video by Open Iris.
Are you in Focus? Getting your lenses sharp!
I was in a fashion shoot a couple weeks ago and I was really excited about how things were going and the overall feel of the shoot. Nothing could ruin my flow, as the photo gods blessed my shoot.Now keep in mind I’m no Zach Arias or Chase Jarvis, but I love what I do and I work hard at it! As every good photographer does(or should)I backed up my photos and started to peep in Lightroom.I started noticing that some of my photos seemed a bit soft.I was so tired and spent from the shoot, that I didn’t think much about it and went home.I had a conversation with a friend who’s a DSLR video freak and told him what I had experienced.His reaction was the same as mine…lol.whatever.I think his exact statement was something like “you are trippin”. As I went through the photos I had noticed a couple more soft images from that same lens. Nothing to waste,but soft.It could have been really easy to blame the AF system of the 5DmII,but I didn’t go there.Instead I found the most amazing tool that will calibrate your lenses and make your photos tact sharp.It’s a tool called LensAlign MkII . It calibrates your lenses to the body of your camera and yields amazing results.In the photos below I calibrated my Canon 5DmII with a 24mm-70mm f/2.8 lens.The end results were so fantastic.If you look closely at the 0 mark on both photos you can see one is a bit soft and one is sharp. The greatest thing about this kit is that it’s easy to use.If you are a professional, or get paid, you owe it to yourself and your clients to invest in this or something similar. You can always send your gear to the manufacturer, in this case Canon, and they will calibrate for a fee.I’m not sponsored by LensAlign, I just really loved this kit. You can buy the LensAlign MkII here.No matter if you’re a wedding photographer, fashion photographer, or nature photographer, this kit will improve your focus.If you have any questions about the kit or equipment used just reply to the post and I’ll try my best to help you out.I hope this helps!Now go and create better photographs.
Gear Used:
Canon 5DmII
Canon 24mm-70mm f/2.8
Manfrotto Tri-pod
LensAlign MkII
Creativity. It’s not the camera that counts.
I was sitting at my local coffee shop that I often frequent and caught myself listening to a conversation to the right of me. Who isn’t guilty of such things? The couple was talking about the latest and greatest camera, and if they only had it. The continued to talk about all the awesome pictures they could take, and how they would be recognized as great photographers if they only had the best camera. It was quite a euphoric feeling for the both of them.Wishing, hoping, dreaming… that they could… if only… I began to laugh on the inside knowing that even if… Even if they had the the best cameras in the world it wouldn’t change the fact that cameras don’t make you creative. Sure, all your tools foster creativity , but they do not create it! Let me say that again, “they do not create it!” Creativity is whats inside you, that no one else can create. Creativity is doing something that no one else has done. Creativity is you! If we can all can take a lesson in creativity it would be this ; You aren’t creative because you watched the latest and greatest YouTube video, nor is it a new piece of equipment, it’s the thing thats inside you that is screaming to come out. That’s creativity. Creativity is only harnessed,held back by our inability to let it out, not by a camera. Our lack of creativity shouldn’t be blamed upon what we don’t have, yet upon our ability to set it free.
Open Iris Photography Web Commercial
Nate and Sarah Engagement Video
Capturing Emotions
One of the hardest things to do as an artist is capture and convey emotion. As a photographer there is a difference in taking a picture and capturing a moment. All of us at one time has taken a picture and couldn’t stop looking at it because it captured more than just an image, it conveyed something with much more depth and emotion. Before I take a photo I always ask myself, what am I trying to say and convey with this image? I don’t complicate the process, but I always have a vison in mind when shooting photos. I’m not one of those shoot from the heart type of guys and hopefully I get lucky with the results. I know my camera and my vision, and I use that as a spring board to create images that say something, mean something, and last. The image below was the result of the above. I had a vision, I know what I wanted to convey, this was the result of that.Good photographers plan thoughtfully over the images they take. The better you know your camera and understand photography, the more you can put into the creative process.
Low light Photography
Nothing sets the mood better than candle lit rooms or low ambient light. Some of the greatest moments in weddings/events take place in these settings. It’s really important to have a photographer that can shoot and adjust for these types of moments. Furthermore, nobody wants to flip through a bunch of dark and under exposed pictures. The simple solution would seem to be the flash, yet a flash can overexpose and produce harsh lighting on it’s subjects. Plus, if the moment is intimate sometimes a flash can distract or take way from the mood. I recently shot some photos at a church where a flash could not be used and the lighting was low to set the mood. So I adjusted to the low light and exposed for my subjects face and the results were fantastic. The photo below really says it all. I was able to capture the mood and emotion by adjusting to the environment. When looking for a photographer make sure he/she is able to shoot excellent quality photos in all situations.
“Polaroid For Fun”
Before there was digital there was Polaroid. Instant gratification with every shot. Polaroid holds a special place in all of our hearts! Here at Open Iris Photography we love the vintage feel that these camera’s produce. We love them so much that we offer them as an add on to any wedding or event. Imagine how many cool pictures you will get from a wedding reception with Polaroids at every table. Plus we like the creativity and fun factor they add to any wedding or event. If you are wanting to pick up a Polaroid camera for fun check your local thrift stores, Craigslist, or even your local camera shop. In Bakersfield you can actually buy Polaroid 600 film at Henleys Camera. You shouldn’t pay over $50 for the camera but the film can cost anywhere between $15-$35 for 10 shots. So get creative with your wedding plans and consider Polaroids, or just go get one for fun and shoot till your hearts content.
