Welcome to a brief insight into our Protrack 3 event and the art of shooting directly into the sun.
The whole idea of producing a great photograph is one of total balance. Balance of design, balance of lighting and proper balance (positioning) of yourself in relation to the subject and background. Lens choice is also a major consideration to a great outcome. Thanks to Billy-Ray Stokes, one of our students on the day, for this great pose of Nicole. At one stage I thought he might have her doing hand stands, however she threatened to go home so he started to behaved himself. lol..
Billy-Ray was not going to settle for any old (ordinary) pose and I was totally impressed with his perseverance and also that of Nicole’s. When Lauren, another attendee, chimed in with the female perspective I knew we would get some great results across the whole team. In fact I was so impressed with this arrangement that I quickly pinched this shot while the others where still getting organised :)
I’d like to say that it was a pleasant day out but in reality the conditions were really, really lousy despite the sun being out. The wind was freezing and blowing at better than 35 knots. Sand was flying everywhere and I’m so pleased that I carry a roll of Glad-Wrap with me. I loosely wrap a piece around my camera to keep the sand out and it always pays off, especially against salt spray. I know Nicole looks “pretty as a picture” perched up on the pipework like she is, however the truth is it was really tough going. Ever sat on a piece of pipe for better than 15 minutes or more with the wind threatening to knock you off and into the water? Now that’s balance. She also near froze to death, but battled on regardless. Perseverance personified.
Protrack 3 is all about shadow control and control in general. Any photograph shot against the sun will render the subject as a silhouette against the background. A silhouette is for all intentions and purposes (and in this case) an unwanted shadow. Design, lighting and camera control is what all the Protrack photography courses are about. However, there is one other overriding consideration: PERSEVERANCE and the desire to push through, under all circumstances, to get the MONEY shot. Your knowledge base gives you the confidence to see past the obstacles and win the day.
Then a great capture is ready for balancing again with Adobe Photoshop.
Enjoy!
Rob Miller
Thanks to all those who came from far and wide to the photography and Photoshop seminar in Shackleton on Sunday. Kathy Morris and I had the pleasure of spending a fabulous, long day amongst a terrific group of enthusiastic digital photographers on a very cloudy but fine Sunday. All of you who were there have already heard from me via email but this blog post is a nice way to showcase some of the pictures we set up and experimented with, including the shots we took in the wheat paddock when it was almost too dark to see! Thank goodness for high ISO sensors.
Big thanks from me to everyone who made it a huge success. An event like this took a lot of organising and there were many, many of you who contributed. Kathy’s spacious photography studio was the perfect venue and access to areas outside gave us plenty of areas to practice our photography.
Mel was our amazing first time model who made it easy for everyone to shoot, learn and get great images. You all saw just how lovely she is when I projected and edited a couple of images in Photoshop after the shoot. The finished images are on this page to click and enlarge (including the orange backlight flare shot which is a lucky accident that’s too nice not to use :)
I’ve included a landscape image I took on the drive out from Perth on Sunday morning. Next time I’ll give myself more time to shoot—there are photo opportunities around every bend that I didn’t have time to stop for.
See you all for the next seminar.
Stay tuned.
I had a fun time in Fremantle today doing a Photoshop demo as part of a training course. I met some very cool, enthusiastic people getting skilled up with camera settings, shooting techniques and seeing a tiny part of the creative power my favourite software. Great mix of people all enthused about digital imaging, just like me.
Didn’t I see a couple of guys from Perth’s top rating FM radio station soaking up some skills too? Brilliant bunch so keen to learn!
Click to enlarge
I spent 15 minutes during the afternoon grabbing some shots to use for my demo. I like to work files up for a group who see the same location as me so they know what was shot and see how I handle the files on the computer. There’s nothing really special here—I shot and retouched them all in about 30 minutes but still get a big kick out of making pictures in the digital era.
I worked four pictures up to show, two of them are posted here.
I’ll see some of you guys and girls for the next Photoshop course on Saturday October 9. I’ll include some of the techniques I showed you today.
The whole idea of producing a great photograph is one of total balance. Balance of design, balance of lighting and proper balance (positioning) of yourself in relation to the subject and background. Lens choice is also a major consideration to a great outcome. Thanks to Billy-Ray Stokes, one of our students on the day, for this great pose of Nicole. At one stage I thought he might have her doing hand stands, however she threatened to go home so he started to behaved himself. lol..
