A Portrait Photographer’s Guide To Coaching Clients

Lightstalking is a site that offers lots of advice and ideas for photographers. Often we find that what their contributors writes about directly echoes what we teach in our classes so we feel we are in touch with what Lightstalking has to say. This article by Tiffany Mueller, a professional music and fine art photographer, she blogs at Life Is Unabridged,  is about helping clients to pose better when they are having their portrait taken.

In our Portrait Photography course starting on June 6th we spend quite a bit of time explaining how important this is, we give tutorials on how to pose people and how to show people how to pose, that sounds the same thing but it isn’t. You might not be lucky enough to live in Oxford and so have the chance to attend one of our courses so this article by Tiffany will be of help.

©Keith Barnes   Portrait of John Duggan

Click Here: A Portrait Photographer’s Guide To Coaching Clients

Is It Worth Sticking With Flickr?

Flickr is fast approaching it’s ten year birthday and has had over 8 billion photographs uploaded to it but in recent years it has been overtaken by services like 500px, Instagram and even Facebook when it comes to deciding where to share your photos on the web. It’s not so much that Flickr was offering a bad service, it was just offering almost the same service as when it started up.

After rumours that Yahoo! may be looking to let Flickr go or even close it down a new CEO, Marissa Mayer, was appointed mid-way through last year and things have started to change. So is it worth sticking with Flickr? Let’s look at the pros and cons…read more here

On Lightstalking  Mark McGowan writes. Mark is a UK based urban landscape and architectural photographer, looking for the hidden details of city life, trying to show the city from a different point of view. You can visit his website here.

Alison Ryde

The Oxford School of Photography Flickr group can be found here

Click Here: Is It Worth Sticking With Flickr?

7 Basic Tips That Will Make Your Stock Photographs Sell

On Lightstalking this useful article by Rachael Towne,  a professional photographer and editor of Photoluminary.

The microstock model is a relative newcomer in the world of commercial photography. Previously, only an elite few were able to make a decent living with stock photography since it required a lot of specialized training, expensive equipment and the elusive knowing the right people at the right time. The advent of digital photography turned this traditional stock world upside down and has made it all but obsolete. Anybody with a decent digital camera and a basic knowledge of photography has the potential to earn money with their photos now. However, in order to really make it big and earn a living with microstock, there are some things that are very important to know and do.

Click Here: 7 Basic Tips That Will Make Your Stock Photographs Sell Like Hotcakes

7 Detailed Tutorials that will Improve Your Indoor Portrait Photography Today

Over on Lightstalking Amber Ketchum  has collected together 7 tutorials that will help with indoor portraiture. Amber is a professional photographer from Ohio. You can visit her on her website.

Indoor portrait photography can be a bit challenging, especially in regards to lighting choices. When it comes right down to it, lighting in photography is a science. One little tweak in the position or type of lighting can change the entire tone of a photograph, for better or for worse. Below is a list of some of the best online tutorials I was able to locate, based on indoor portrait photography. Each one has something unique to offer, but what I was really focusing on was finding articles that complimented one another and collectively became one large and useful tutorial. You will likely find something for yourself here, whether you are a beginner or a seasoned photographer.

Here is a link to the article

If you live near Oxford I would recommend our Portrait Photography course that specialises in natural light portraiture and will definitely help you make fantastic portraits, here is a link to our course details, new dates will be available shortly

Bill Brandt was a master of natural light portraits

Click Here: 7 Detailed Tutorials that will Improve Your Indoor Portrait Photography Today

15 Thoughts on Fine Art Photography Composition

By alainbriot on Lightstalking

What are the most important aspects of composing a Fine Art Photograph?  The answer to this question certainly varies from photographer to photographer because each of us places more importance on some aspects than on others.  What follows is what I personally consider to be the most important aspects of Composition….

Much of what Alan says I think is fundamentally true and good starting points to think about photography as a medium for art. I do think that art is a much wider subject than can be addressed by consideration of composition, the definition between fine art and photography as a medium for art is a strongly debated. Just search ‘define fine art photography’ to see how difficult it is to nail a definition. Wiki says

Fine art photography is photography created in accordance with the vision of the artist as photographer. Fine art photography stands in contrast to photojournalism, which provides a visual account for news events, and commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services.

We don’t have to believe or agree with everything in the Wiki world though.

So basically is anything that is not photographed for the purposes of making money art? But that can’t be correct, just look at a site like Flickr to recognise that most people using cameras are not artists they are at best recordists.

These are questions we pose of our students in our Intermediate Photography course, our aim is to stretch their understanding of photography and to encourage them to incorporate these ideas within their own work. To help them to stop just recording what is front of them and to start using their cameras as a means of expressing their ideas.

Here are  of Alan’s suggestions about making images with the intention of creating fine art. As I say I don’t disagree with any of these but I don’t think adhering to a set of rules can create art, fine or otherwise. I think that art is in the intention of the creator, therefore if you intend to make an image that is more than mere representation then you are attempting to create something with art at it’s foundation. Using Alan’s suggestions may certainly help.

Rhine 2 by Andreas Gursky; this is the most expensive photograph ever sold and is considered by some criteria as a pinnacle  of photographic art. What do you think?

Click Here: 15 Thoughts on Fine Art Photography Composition by Alain Briot (With Photos)

Travel Photography – A Different Point of View

By tom dinning, Tom is one of my favourite writers on photography and here on the Lightstalking site he gives some of his tips on travel photography, as he says

“Who doesn’t like to travel. Certainly none of the photographers I know. New experiences, new opportunities, new photos with which to bore the relatives on your return home…….

But are they boring? Are they purely descriptive? This is where I went, this is what I saw, this is what I did. How many shots of London Bridge or the Opera House have you seen already? So, then you go searching for the new angle and find another dozen or so photographers are also there. “

Here are some suggestions that might make your photographic experience just that bit more enjoyable as a photographer.

 

©Keith Barnes

When I travel I try to have an idea or theme that I keep an eye open for. Often it is satellite dishes, they are everywhere, these are just a few from my trip to Laos, you can see more here

The 7 Common Habits of Remarkably Talented Photographers

From that other excellent antipodean photography blog, Lightstalking, we get this article by

Tiffany Mueller,  a professional music and fine art photographer. She has been published in various publications including magazines, art journals, as well as photography books. She blogs at Life Is Unabridged.

I think I probably agree with everything here so read on

One of the best ways to improve yourself is by observing the habits of those you find to be inspirational and talented. In doing so, we hope to learn what it is they have done that helped them achieve success. Of course, there’s no set route to the top of the photography game, but if you were to do a case study on the habits of some our favorite photographers chances are you’d find some very similar habits among them.

Here are some of the greatest photographers ever just in passing ©Magnum photographers

Click Here: The 7 Common Habits of Remarkably Talented Photographers

 

Composition in Photography Tutorials

Well finally we get to see some sun and very welcome it is. Of course the shoot I had to do today was indoors in a church, so low light and candles but at least the walk back to my car lifted my spirits.

We are soon starting our Composition In Photography – Seeing Pictures course (06.03.2013) but some of you who don’t live in Oxford might find the commute rather long so here are some online tutorials that might be interesting

http://digital-photography-school.com/digital-photography-composition-tips

http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/composition/master-the-art-of-photographic-composition/

http://photoshoptutorials.ws/other-tutorials/photography-tutorials/10-important-tips-improve-composition-photos/

http://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/04/05/4-rules-of-composition-for-landscape-photography/

http://oxfordschoolofphotography.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/how-to-use-natural-frames-to-enhance-photographic-composition/

http://www.lynda.com/Photography-Photo-Assignments-tutorials/Foundations-of-Photography-Composition/80299-2.html

Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VRwyZ2CPQw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMTRQjAl-m0

 

 

Wildlife photos: How to take the best shots

From the BBC website we have this

Even though the latest digital cameras can take dozens of photographs within a matter of seconds, and reveal instant results, it is still not as easy as you might think to snap a winning image.

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition – run by the Natural History Museum and BBC Worldwide – receives thousands of entries. With the 2013 entry deadline approaching, what could you do to make your images stand out? Watch this slideshow – click here – to get some expert tips.

Enter Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 now and take part in one of the world’s most prestigious photography events. The competition is open to professional photographers, amateurs, young and old, worldwide until 25 February 2013. Full details here

Adults may enter up to 20 images for £20.00.  Entrants aged 17 and under may enter up to 10 images FREE.

Here are some other great tutorials that will help you to get great shots

12 Great Online Tutorials on Wildlife Photography

10 Tips for Improving Your Wildlife Photography

 

 

10 Photography Grants and Scholarships for Amateurs and Professionals

The last thing from Lightstalking this time is an article by:

Jacob Maentz

I’m a freelance travel, culture and documentary photographer based in the Philippines. My passion lies in creating images that communicate a strong sense of place and cultural awareness in unique, challenging situations. You can see my work at www.jacobimages.com

For many of us photographers, whether hobbyists or professionals, there are times when additional resources are needed to continue or progress our work. Photography projects can be very time intensive and often require a lot of financial resources to see them to the end. I am a big believer in hard work, but without financial support our hard work can often go nowhere. One avenue of finding those financial resources is through photography grants or scholarships. I have complied a short list of ongoing photography grants and scholarships for those amateurs, students or working professionals. Again, this is a short list and there are many others out there if you search for them. Those listed below cover most all genera of photography, but most emphasis editorial, photojournalism and documentary.

Here are just two of the grants available, go to Lightstalking to catch the rest

Focus for Humanity (FFH):
FFH offers a Fellowship of up to US$5,000 for a non full-time photographer keen to focus on photography as a career and probably within the humanitarian or cultural field, but who needs that final push or help to overcome that last barrier that is stopping them turning full-time. The fellowship is awarded by means of a competitive portfolio review and an assessment of an online application form.

Getty Images:
Getty Images offers two types of grant. The first, Grants for Editorial Photography, is available to both professionals and students. Since 2005, they have awarded five Grants for Editorial Photography annually to professional photojournalists. Each grant provides $20,000, plus editorial, logistical and promotional support. They also award four student grants of $5,000 per year to photojournalism students at accredited schools. The second, Grants for Good, consists of two grants of $15,000 annually, to cover photographer, filmmaker and agency costs as they create compelling new imagery for the nonprofit of their choice.

Click Here: 10 Photography Grants and Scholarships for Amateurs and Professionals