Meet Brian Smith, an exceptional celebrity and portrait photographer.

 

Brian Smith is a Pulitzer prize winner who has photographed one luminary after another: Bill Gates, Anne Hathaway, Samuel L. Jackson, and the list just goes on.

In our interview Brian discussed his process for getting intimate environmental portraits that truly capture the essence of his subjects.

He gives down to earth tips for portraiture that can be applied to photographing anyone, not just movie stars but every day stars who deserve to have a great photograph taken of them, for their personal 15 minutes of fame.

With a career full of accomplishments he speaks from experience which behooves any photographer to pay attention to and take notes.

Brian Smith’s photography is featured in the beautiful book titled: “Art & Soul: Stars Unite to Celebrate and Support the Arts”.

“A generous portion of the proceeds from the book will go to advocate funding of the Arts and Arts Education through The Creative Coalition, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social and public advocacy organization of the arts and entertainment community.” Source: http://briansmith.com )
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Art & Soul: Stars Unite to Celebrate and Support the Arts | Brian Smith (Photographer) Robin Bronk (Editor)

(Click on the above book cover to purchase from Amazon)

In one of his videos, Brian Smith mentions that he uploads photos from shooting sessions unto his Photoshelter website to have them available for viewing almost instantly.

If you haven’t check them out yet, I highly recommend you do so, because, with any doubts, Photoshelter is a complete photo business solution.

Furthermore, they have such an easy process:

• Upload your photos
• Select your website theme
• Market and sell your work.

Cannot be more simple!

If you already have a Photoshelter website, do leave your feedbacks and links in the comments section below. We would be delighted to view your photography.

Until next, happy shooting and all the best!

PS: Here’s the link to one of my photography collections on Photoshelter: http://janicedugas.photoshelter.com/

As mentioned inside Shelton Muller’s photography tutorial video that I’m sharing with you today, ‘ depth of field is a powerful tool for telling the viewer that which you consider to be significant in the image and highlighting the subject.’

Depth of field picture comparison (Shelton Muller)

Click on the arrow below to watch the video (more than 411,000 views so far).

For more great resources and popular photography tutorials, I recommend you take time to hop over to => Total Image .You’ll be in for some great moments inside the wonderful art of photography.

Want to know more about Shelton Muller? Click on this image. It is worth the trip

And if you have some photography tips that you would like to share, do leave a comment below, as we would love to hear about it.

Until next, happy shooting.

Janice

Have you ever tried to take close-ups of a small cluster of flowers only to find out that your subject looks blurred? I did, and was wondering what I was doing wrong…

Blurry image

Was I too close? Was it the shaking of my hands? Or the shaking caused by the breeze?

Trying to find a solution, I consulted the user guide manual that came with the purchase of my digital camera (Canon PowerShot S3 IS ) and upon checking out the different shooting modes of my camera, I discovered the Macro Mode function, symbolized by a little flower. 

When selecting this shooting mode, it tells the camera  that I want to focus on a subject very close to the lens. The camera will consequently select a large aperture to decrease the depth of field and  keep my front subject in focus while the background will not be. 

sharper image

How close you can get to your subject depends on the model of your camera, but almost all digital camera will allow close-ups of small cluster of flowers or other small items.

Another reason for blurry images is the movement of the camera. Pressing a shutter button causes vibration, so be sure to steady the camera with a tripod. If not convenient to do so, bring the camera close to you, hold it with both hands while squeezing your elbows to your body, take a deep breath and hold it, depress the shutter halfway to lock in the focus, and shoot!

To help reduce hand shake vibrations, you could also set your ISO higher to get a faster shutter speed, but the risk involved here is to get a grainier image when ISO is set higher than 400.

Talk soon.

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Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984)

“A good photograph is knowing where to stand.”

When you first experience taking photos, you point your camera towards your subject, center the scene, and press the button. It’s fun to see the results, but at one point in time, you will ask yourself, how can I take better pictures?

You don’t take a photograph, you make it.
Ansel Adams

Landscape of the South Field by Ansel Adams (1943)

Well, the most useful tip you need to know to start “making” photos instead of “taking photos” is to apply the rule-of-thirds.

"rule-of-thirds" grid

Imagine your photograph divided into horizontal and vertical sections, as a tic-tac-toe grid. Check your camera to see if grid setting is available and have it constantly display in the LCD screen.

Now, if you are taking a photo with a vertical subject, align your subject with one of the two vertical lines of the grid. Similarly, if you have an horizontal subject place it on the horizontal lines.

As you can see in Ansel Adam’s above photograph, the vertical subject was aligned with the left vertical line of the grid and the horizon was aligned with the horizontal line.

Now you can create eye-catching compositions and transform your digital photos from simple snapshots into professional works of art !

Read more on Ansel Adams, one of the most celebrated and famous landscape photographers in the world. His pictures are pure poetry in their magnificience!

Now time to get out there and apply this simple, but so very important photography tip to get your images to tell a story!

Talk soon.

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Scottish SPCA car - Glasgow- Photo Janice Dugas

There are certain circumstances when it’s preferable not to apply the “rule of thirds” (*) to gain better composition when shooting your photos.

For example, think of  a car in movement  or other fast moving sports.  In this case, it is better to center your shot, to be sure you do not miss it.

If you are unsure what the focus of the shot should be, shoot wide at the highest resolution!

You can then crop and frame best inside your favorite photography editing program such as PaintShopPro or Photoshop. Much like carving and shaping out a sculpture.. you “make” your photos.

Get out there and practice by doing it. There are no substitutes for practice and experience.

Rule-of-thirds by John R. Daily

(*) Definition of the “rule-of-thirds”:

Imagine a tic-tac-toe board : two horizontal and two vertical lines trisecting an image with four intersecting points.

To have your photos look more interesting and dynamic, place the main subject off center and away from the center of the frame.

Talk soon!

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Technology integrates more and more in our everyday lives. With photography, for example, we clearly see how the revolution caused by digital photography impacts on the way we take pictures.

We are most likely to be surprised nowadays to learn that someone does not have a camera than the contrary, and many newcomers to the art of photography are asking:

How can I take better photos ?

Ansel Adams, well known American photographer, said : “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

Then, the real question is =>  How to better “make”  a photo?

As an introduction to some basic techniques, I invite you to join me in viewing this video produced by LoganTV in which Logan explains the three fundamental camera settings you absolutely need to know about if you want to increase your photographic skills.

Now time to go experiment with these settings and learn how to “make” better photos!

Talk soon.