Ray Baker
All Landscape Photography is Local
Thomas P. “Tip†O’Neil, Jr., member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years is credited with the line “All politics is localâ€. And Like politics, all landscape photography is local.
Sometimes photographers give a universal feeling to a shot so that the viewer will never know where it was taken. Sunset shots can be like that. After all, the sun is setting somewhere every second of every day.
A little goes a long way
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand why people are precise and caring about some things while completely abandoning any semblance of responsibility for others. Take my partner for instance. She is a qualified registered nurse with an eagle eye for anything that bears the slightest resemblance of dust. Out comes the vacuum cleaner, the polishing rag, or the bucket and mop. But when it comes to her car, nothing seems to matter. It just functions and if it gets a bit grubby yours truly has to deal with it or nothing happens. That’s how it is.
So what has this background got to do with images, you might well ask? To see more you will need to subscribe to the tutorial…
If you ever wonder what you should be shooting, get a farm. I mean this in the photographic sense.
I am not the first to suggest that all photography is local, nor that if you are a serious photographer that you should take your camera with you everywhere you go, nor that the best light in the day is in the morning and afternoon when you get those beautiful 45 degree slanting rays of sunlight. There is beauty everywhere. There is photographic material everywhere.
Once upon a time, Photoshop ruled the roost of image editing software. However, Adobe’s, Incorporated (what some say) inflated prices and callous disregard of its user-base has created a backlash. While the lion’s share of photo image editing work – particularly in the professional sphere – still happens on an Adobe product, many image artists are beginning to explore alternative software as well. In most cases, the software was already out there before Photoshop was invented. Having said all that, many swear by Photoshop (I often use it too) and use it for unique work or projects.
One of the ideas which are crucial to becoming an expert photographer is understanding the difference between a camera and a human eye. Our eyes are fixed to a narrow range of abilities – we have no choice in what magnification our eyes see with or what ranges of light they use. Nature gave us so many abilities and that is that. But cameras are an artificial contrivance we’ve cobbled together, with the aim of capturing images permanently. They aren’t bound by the constraints of nature.
You wouldn’t think so but winter landscapes- or snow scapes – are one of the most challenging to photography enthusiasts. The difficulty can be that the average light tone of a snow scape is a lot lighter than what a medium grey tone is. This can put your meter readings out and give you an incorrect reading. In cases like these the snow is underexposed even though the camera may be telling you the exposure is just right.
‘By any means, get a shot!’ should be your philosophy if you wish to make it big as a paparazzi. But if you are dealing with someone like Britney Spears who likes to give the paps a call before venturing out of her home, then it’s ‘no poblemo’. But sometimes, you do have to call on your good old tactics to get that prized celeb photo.
The web, thanks to the advance of technology, is slowly evolving from a textual to a visual media. This has opened new markets for image professionals, and, unlike graphics work, photography is in more demand because it requires actual skill. If you’re interested in being a fine art photographer, there is no better time to launch your career than now.
Masters of fine art photography make bank. Their work gets splashed across the trendiest magazines. Their galleries get linked from Boing Boing and Laughing Squid. Their work gets exhibited in museums and galleries and other places affiliated with fine art photography associations. A professional fine art photographer can expect to make six figures within the first three to five years. But as a fringe benefit, fine art photographers get to go everywhere.
Let’s face it, sometimes people do want to leave their existing boring role in life and do something they like for a living. I was one of those. Each day just became worse in the job I was doing. Hey…but I needed the money and there was no other way back then (at least, that’s what I thought). I later learned how ridiculous that way of thinking is, and I wished I’d listened or more importantly, READ more on what to do. More on that later…
The presence of computers in the home, the Internet, and digital cameras have brought us a new category of professional: the self-sufficient home freelance photographer. Before the Internet, this would have been a prohibitive venture; you’d have to send printed photos in the mail, and you’d have to correspond with publishers and buyers. On the … Read more