Celebrate What's Right With The World

I inadvertently found this video and as a photographer, I was really able to relate with it. I'm not saying this will appeal to all people but IT CAN. I also learned that this was already "around' since 2001 and is being used in training, management and leadership seminars. I believe that most photographers have their own unique way of looking at this world and it doesn't really come from a technical vantage point because of our understanding of light and shadows, our tools of the trade, timing and so on and so forth but from within, that emotional connection that makes us excited to hold a camera and shoot anything that moves our spirit. Personally, I feel the connection when looking through a camera's viewfinder and realizing that as I press the shutter, I'm thinking, "it is working". I don't mean the shutter but the process of being successful in capturing the images. Believe me, it sometimes starts with "it's not working" and I have to dig dip inside for that creative juice to flow. We also have to be in the 'ZONE' just like athletes who perform at their very best.

After watching the video, it strengthened the thinking process but also gave me new insights, new paradigms on how to capture an image that at first you're not seeing but also on the 'possibilities' an image can have.

Here's a brief description of the video as found from the LINK.

In this 22-minute short film, "Celebrate What's Right With The World", Dewitt Jones (world-class photojournalist for the National Geographic) asks: "Do we choose to see possibilities? Do we really believe they're there?" He assures us that there is always more than one right answer. Celebrating what's right with the world helps us recognize the possibilities and find solutions for the challenges before us. This inspirational, best-selling film utilizes stunning photography and powerful dialogue to help viewers approach their lives with celebration, confidence, and grace. “As I celebrated what was right with the world, I began to build a vision of possibility, not scarcity. Possibility... always another right answer.” - Dewitt Jones

Celebrate What's Right With The World

History of my Photography

Above you'd find a collage of some of my favorite photos. Some coming from my pre-digital days. This is just a mixture of what my photography is all about. I will make a separate collage for my portraits but this collage includes 'stints' with photojournalism, landscape and nature, action shots and 'others'. You might want to click on the photo to enlarge it.

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I was about 7 or 8 if I'm not mistaken when my Dad gave us siblings a plastic camera that takes 120 roll film. I think it was an Agfa camera but it was just so long ago that I'm not even sure what it really was. It's no longer with any of us I believe but that started my interest with photography. At that age, we treated it more of a toy wasting film on wherever we wanted to point the camera to without any regard to any technical consideration when taking pictures.

My dad was a photo buff. He even had some darkroom equipment that he passed on to us esp. my twin brother Gary when we were in high school. My brother was more interested with photography and he was even involved with the batch yearbook while I use most of my free time playing basketball with my friends. But during my junior and senior years in HS, I was carrying a camera in my bag almost every day. I was even able to persuade my HS friends and also basketball team mates to pose for me so I can take their solo pictures. It was working fine until a classmate pushed my bag too far on the table and down came my camera, a little broken but I also learned how to fix it's mechanical parts by opening it's bottom plate. It was a Konica Autoreflex 35mm camera with a 50mm Hexanon lens. It was just sort of lent to us by our Dad but we never returned it until it's demise. Then Gary was gifted by my Mom I think with a Pentax ME Super that from time to time I would borrow.

During college, photography took a back seat but I would still occasionally lug a camera around especially during events I was involved with.

After college, I was able to buy my first own 35mm camera and it was a Nikon N4004 from my earnings. That renewed my interest with photography. I ultimately moved to a Canon EOS A2, Nikon 8008s which is still with me and a medium format Mamiya RB67 before I started shooting primarily digital. I have already sold the Canon and the Mamiya equipment last year since the price was really going down so fast when dSLRs where becoming more advanced and more reasonable in price.

I am still very involved with my craft, trying to learn whatever I can to shoot better by studying whatever I needed to learn. Yes, it's very technical but I have always believed I have a good eye for compositions and that's a plus factor for me. Now that I'm concentrating more on portraiture, the learning just never stops. Now, it's just not clicking the shutter but becoming my own lab since I just have to make use of what digital photography offers. My, the learning curve is very steep but it's worth it.

I still have a 'not so short wishlist'. Yes, a very good photographer can shoot with any available equipment but having better and more versatile equipment helps a photographer shoot better photos.

Photo Tip #2 - Depth of Field and Placement of Focusing Point

In photography, there is this very important term called 'Depth of Field'. An object in sharp focus will have a degree of acceptable sharpness in front of it and behind it. That distance from the front up to the back of the object in focus having acceptable sharpness is the depth of field.

The depth of field will depend on three factors namely, lens focal length, aperture and distance to subject. To keep things simple, generally the wider the lens, the smaller the aperture (higher number F/ stop), and the farther away you are from the subject, the greater the depth of field.

In most consumer cameras today, there are different picture taking modes you can use just by turning the 'dial' to any of the ff.: Portrait, Landscape, Sports, among others. Portrait mode is when the camera sets the aperture to a bigger aperture (lower number F/ stop; i.e. F/2.8 or F/4) thus creating a more selective focusing technique where the depth of field is shallow. Landscape mode is completely the opposite, the camera sets the aperture to a smaller one (higher number F/ stop, i.e. F/11 or F/16) where the depth of field will be longer. All things being equal, the shutter speed will vary to accommodate the change in aperture.

Now when confronted with where to focus in a scene where you want your subjects (i.e. group of people) in focus from the subject closest to the camera to the subject farthest away from the camera, lock your focus (see photo tip # 1) slightly in front of the midway point of your subjects' positions. Why? Generally at any aperture, there is about twice the depth of field behind the point of focus as there is in front of it. You just have to meet the minimum aperture setting for the given situation.

In the old film days, those manual focus lenses have a 'depth of field scale' built in but they're not available now, not even with autofocus (AF) lenses. If your camera has a 'depth of field' preview button, use it. This is just harder to use in low light situations but if you understand the principles I've mentioned here, you can do without it. It's just more important to focus properly when you're nearer to your subject as depth of field is shallower.

Photo Tip #1 - Where and how to focus

Blurred shots are common! It's good that we're using digital now. We can just delete...and delete and shoot again. The problem is, not all shots can be re-taken thus it's so easy to lose that special moment picture.

One cause of a blurred shots is camera shake attributed to 'unsteady hands' or 'moving the camera away when the shutter isn't finished with it's action yet'. This can easily happen when the shutter speed is slow (in low light conditions) and it would be better to use a tripod or any tool to increase stability.

Another cause and this is for 'out of focus' shots is the use of a wrong focus reference point. You can have steady hands but if you're not doing it the right way then you will still have 'oof' pictures. Auto-focus cameras have that small square or rectangle frame in the middle of the viewfinder. That is the camera's reference point on where to focus. I've seen pictures of two people together in a nice location, perhaps a view of a mountain behind them but the people were 'oof', and the mountain is 'sharp'. Why? The focus reference point was not at the people and in this case it is the mountain. Your camera's focus reference point should be at your main subject. The shutter button should first be pressed halfway as you use your subject as a reference point. The best way to do this is to focus on the eyes then press halfway to lock the focus. The eyes should always be sharp especially when you use selective focusing technique (more on that next time). After that you can recompose and then completely depress the shutter button. When you lock the focus, most likely depending on your camera, you're also locking the exposure thus it's easier to have better exposed shots!

What to expect from this blog?

I feel that one of the reasons I've started a blog is to update family and friends with 'what's happening with us'. I also intended this to be like a historical journal of moments in life that I don't mind sharing with people who care to read. Hopefully 'Blogger' has all the necessary precautions to safeguard all the information that every blogger writes on their blog meaning back-ups. Fortunately, I also found a way to personally back-up my blog/website. To continue, it would be nice to look back and learn from what I've posted and experienced through the marvel of an online journal somewhere in the future.

Like today, David came home announcing that he was chosen together with a few classmates to participate in a spelling bee for 2nd graders. First time he's going to join the said contest. I'm just not sure how serious he is with the spelling bee but of course we will help him prepare for it. I think it will be in a week's time.

Not everyday will there be a spectacular event in our lives that merit posting in this blog unless I really ran out of topics to share that I'll be tempted to just post about anything. But I'd like to cover things about my interests that I feel will be worthy of reading by anyone, I hope. Perhaps sharing photography tips for the casual photographer such as techniques, workflow, and the like. How about interesting news especially about the Philippines and Filipinos? Interesting products? There are just so many topics that can be covered and when I feel that I can contribute articles consistently as in day to day that are specific to shall I say 'photography' then I'll just start another blog that will target photo enthusiasts but I'm not ready for that yet. For the meantime, these tips that I'd like to share will be seen in this blog and once a week (I'm thinking about Friday), I'll be posting photo-related articles that will help anyone improve their picture-making ability and anything pertaining to the art of photography.

Not to offend anyone but we are quite aware of what a 'bad' photo is. Bad exposure, out of focus, empty space that doesn't mean anything, distracting elements in composition, etc. If you think you'd like to learn more on how to improve on this subject, keep visiting this blog. I will try my best to keep it simple and not too technical.