Good? Great? What's the difference?

This a serious post... well, it's going to try and be... 

I've found myself in a bit of turmoil recently.  Something that has really bothered me on the inside.

What makes a great photograph?  What makes a good photograph?

Professionals, art designers, those "in the craft" can answer this.  They can tell you about the lighting you are using, the style of light you are using, the details of the picture... the exposure... why a picture is "great" (or at least good).

That's great... I strive to be there.  I want to shoot GREAT photos!

But there's a problem with this... these are only a few individuals that are in a circle - a select group that as an amateur I'll never have access to.

I'm left with the "general public".  You know... the monsters that made American Idol famous... or that Glee show.  The people that watch shows about someone named Snooki or The Situation.

The heartbeat of today's pop culture.  The same people that YouTube their favorite videos, tweet about where they are at every waking minute, Facebook their deep thoughts from their smart phones while they are sitting on the toilet.

I'm as guilty as the rest.  I constantly am playing with my phone like a child with A.D.D.

So this begs the question... as an amateur photographer... this is your market... your group.  And they have no idea (or care?) about lighting, focus, etc, etc, etc... 

I say all this because of this weird trend I see.

The "Facebook Syndrome" I'll call it.  I made it up - but follow me for a minute.

Anyone can post pictures of just about anything... at anytime... from anywhere.  Uploads a picture of you at a baseball game... check.  Upload a picture of you at a birthday party looking pretty... check.

And here's where the "syndrome" bugs me to death... A blurry picture of someone sitting in front of their bathroom mirror, lips puckered up, hair teased... and they get 200 comments of "how great they look".  

Others spend years dedicating to the craft of photography.  Thousands of dollars on gear... Hours of set up... Strive to raise that bar... All for what?  Nothing really... haha

I laugh (or at least type that I am laughing) because of the oddity I find behind it.  

Am I walking down a dying path?  If so... I have a few thousand dollars worth of gear I should probably Ebay away.

I suppose the same can be said about music, right?  Everyone's got their own taste.  Me... I "hate" a lot types of music.  I am NOT one of those "Oh, I listen to anything" types.  Far from it.  All my favorite bands probably died from a drug problem in the 70's.... (insert heavy sigh)

Onward I strive to hit that moment of photographic nirvana.  That perfect picture... If even only for myself... 

Who knows... maybe someday that small circle of those "in the know" can be my guiding hand...

Till then...  the only star I'll dance with is my wife.  She's my shooting star!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - please feel free to leave a comment!

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com

Aim for the whites of their eyes!

Have you ever been looking at a magazine, book, ad, whatever... and thought, man - that person on the page looks great!?!

Well - ignoring the exposure and lighting for now - you know why that is???

You have to aim for the eyes!  When shooting people aim for their eyes... 


Think about it for a moment... I'll wait... 


---one minute pause---


Man that sounds just horrible.  Okay, I'll skip all the lame jokes.  Being as serious as I can be (which isn't much)... If you look through your friends Facebook pictures - they are probably a grade above a Kindergartner with a box of Crayolas.  And why is that?  


Well for one - they probably haven't read any of my blog (shameless plug... but tell your friends anyway!!!).  I attribute bad pictures to a few simple things; you can easily do these things to take better pictures.  


One... as we said... shoot'em in the eyes!  If your camera has a focal point in that nifty LCD screen - that's where you want the person's eyes at! 

 
Some cameras (most point and shoots) have that "auto focus" function.  If you are really serious about your picture - turn that off.  You may have to take a minute and look at that 400 page book that came with your camera... but... 


Seriously, turn off that auto focus and aim for the eyes.

This is a picture I recently took of our friend Michelle.  She is just gorgeous... Very striking features, a lovely smile, and wonderful eyes!  You think this picture would look good if I auto focused and the camera said "Hey, I see those dangly-ear-ring-thingys, let's focus on those!!".  Or... what if the camera had a fetish for noses?  I'm just sayin'... 

People love looking at pictures of other people... and people love to look the picture in the eye.  There are always creative reasons to not aim for the eyes... but... 


When you shoot people (insert lame joke)...  shoot them in the eyes!

 
Now for the second part...

How to hold your camera to get that focus nailed down.

So - we shoot people in the eyes... and you want the best chance at nailing the focus!  Right??  The correct answer is "YES!".

So... How should you hold your camera?  It may be one of those cameras worth a life savings, or maybe something you stole from your friend at some outing...  Surprise, a picture of my butt.  Anyway... 
 
Here's how to not hold your camera:

Why is this bad?  Well... we could talk about physics and statics and all these other engineering concepts... but... the simple answer, you are holding it out away from you.  Your arms and hands aren't that stable.  They really aren't.


If you hold that camera up by your face (aka, to your eye)... you have your arms supporting it and your face... and guess what your face is attached to??  That's right... your body... if it's not... you should be reading a different blog right now.  Just sayin'... 


Okay... 


So you got that?


Aim for their eyes... and stabilize that camera!


As a side note, I used a tripod to shoot Michelle.  Sharp pictures are fun to look at, blurry pictures should be deleted!!




- jermz


www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com

Delete is your friend

Ever watched that show on A&E called Hoarders?

It's pretty intense really... People just holding on to junk.  Garbage.  Stuff they just can't get rid of. 

If you're like me - you stop and wonder how people get that "out of control".  You may even feel sorry for them (I know I do).

They just collect all this stuff and won't let it go!!!

Luckily those of us in the "civilized" world don't do that... or do we??

Blurry... Nice... We love blurry pictures

Welcome to the digital age - where "they" tell you it's free.  Just take pictures until your thumbs explode and your memory cards are full of the 13,000 images you took of your kids birthday party.  Just snap away!

Download away, put them on one of your hard drives, your memory stick, leave it on your camera's memory card.  It's free... What's the harm!?!

First off... Don't hoard horrible pictures!  STOP IT... KNOCK IT OFF!!!

Do you really want to keep 12,948 pictures that are blurry, poor lighting, exposed with a Crayola set, or just plain bad??  Really?  You like looking at garbage pictures?  

You my friend are a hoarder... in the digital age!

I realized recently that I was hoarding bad pictures.  I had a hard drive full of garbage I didn't need.  Missed focus, poor lighting... just bad shots.

"I might need a random shot of ___________ someday".  Really??  You need a blurry grainy picture of you and your friends out dancing at some random club?  Really??  Seriously??

Good for you... Delete your garbage!  

Let's do it together... I just put 3707 files into my digital recycle bin... over 11 gigabytes of crap... 

3...2...1... Delete!!!!  Refreshing I might add... 

Don't keep garbage, it's gross... what will your friends think?

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com

Giving Back... For Free... The Gift That You Want to Keep Giving...

Giving back.  It's not like re-gifting a fruit cake from Aunt Helen.  Or the gift that keeps on giving... yeah... well... there's a joke or two about that too...

Anyway...

Today's lesson is pretty simple:

Don't be afraid to GIVE BACK.

Recently I was asked to do some shooting at my church (with a camera of course... sheesh).  I mean the Holy Spirit can get you crazy... but not stupid...

The concept is simple - shoot people for a directory at church.  Get their name and snap away... Other than trying to match names with faces (thanks Honey!), it's really pretty simple.

Sure, some people would say "that is beneath my talent" or "that's dumb, you're doing it for free".  Yeah... free... and "wasting" my time downloading and cropping the pictures too.

But guess what... that's what it's all about.  I will be shooting hundreds of people.  Sure the shots aren't glamor shots by Deb... But that's not the point.  The point is helping where there is a need with something I like doing - and can do.

On the business side of things - you never know what this could bring.  Someone sees you acting professional with "professional" gear taking pictures... well... If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... I'm just sayin'... If you don't do it because of the "giving" spirit, do it for the free advertising!

Don't be afraid to shoot some things for free.  I'm a big fan of that whole "paying it forward" thing. 

As a side note - if you go my church and need your picture taken, I'll be the guy with the camera up front shooting away like mad.  There's two of us, I'll be the guy who seriously needs a tan!

- jermz

www.jermzphotography.zenfolio.com