ChinaCoop PhotoBlog

Is a picture really worth a thousand words? Should photos speak for themselves or does the photographer need to guide the interpretation? Should we combine photos with words? Should we even have captions?

Yes. Wait...no. Man, I don't know.

There are many answers to each of those questions. A photo may be worth a thousand words, but depending on the content of the photograph and the audience viewing it, just which words could be hard to determine. The photographer needs to determine what the message is and communicate that. If words are needed, use them. If not, don't.

Continue reading "Photos and Words" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 06:35 AM | Permalink

Well, I talked briefly about controlling the shape of your aperture in order create cool shapes in the out of focus regions of your photos. I had experimented some with it, and thought I had the perfect situation to use it. It was the 4th of July and I had a start shaped aperture in my bag. So I gave it a run...a very short run. Here is what happened

Continue reading "Broken Bokeh, Nice Vignetting" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 12:20 AM | Permalink

I mentioned in the last entry that I had shot a point-and-shoot camera on manual to enable me to shoot night shots. Now, that particular camera did not do "manual" like my SLR does manual, and probably there are many different ways "manual" is implemented on compact cameras, but the basic theory is the same.

I will tell you what I did using another of the photos from that night.

Continue reading "Compact Camera Manual Settings" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 03:43 AM | Permalink

I decided to challenge myself some and shoot a series of night shots for my mother-in-law all using the compact camera she was using. It is a Canon A720. It was nice enough, though I am not a big fan of compact cameras.

Continue reading "Night Shots with a Point-and-Shoot" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Pipes of Glory" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 03:44 AM | Permalink

Here are a couple more photos from a friend of mine that I wanted to post up here. I really enjoyed these two, if for no other reason than he is obviously stretching the boundaries and trying some new and creative methods. It has a startling effect on the view...at least, it did me.

Continue reading "Black & White Not Gray" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:45 AM | Permalink

What is the "green box" mode found on so many cameras? I was exploring that on my mom's camera the other day trying to figure it out myself. The simple answer, which can be applied to most cameras it seems, is this: the green box is the "let the camera do everything" mode, fully automatic, brainless operation.

Then, I accidentally found a mode which interested me much more, the P mode. When I am shooting on my camera, I rarely go for the P or "program" mode, but it has one interesting trait when compared to the "green box" mode. P is the automatic metering mode. So, how is that different from the green box? I wondered myself.

Continue reading ""P" vs. Green Box Mode" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 04:04 AM | Permalink

I have a lot to learn when it comes to nature photography. On a recent short trip to Georgia, I went out in the morning to catch some of the very late-blooming foliage. The colors are nice, but I would rate this photo, the best of the lot, as background noise.

Continue reading "No Pointers on Nature Photography Here" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:05 AM | Permalink

I just realized, I could probably go on for ages about this last wedding. I felt like I learned so much, and honestly, I do not think most of you even care about all those details. While I am on the topic, though, I do not want to move on till we have taken full advantage of the opportunity while it is still fresh.

Are there questions you have? Wonder what I did to solve this or that problem? Have you noticed certain issues with pictures you have taken at weddings that annoy you? I certainly do not know everything, but feel free to bring up those questions and we can take a crack at solving some of those.

Continue reading "Your Wedding Photography Problems" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:01 AM | Permalink

Since the couple did not seem too particular about the photography of the wedding, I decided to pretend as if they were. In other words, I wanted to put the highest expectations on myself, in an effort to force me to stretch my photographic ability and help me learn something in the process. That is exactly what happened.

After the day was over and I had a little time to think through the experience, the biggest problem I had was too shallow a depth of field. The effect was great in a way: the background was nice and blurred and the depth of field really drew the attention to one person the in the photo. The problem was that only one person was in focus, rarely even two.

Continue reading "Lessons Learned in Wedding Photography" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 11:06 PM | Permalink

I think weddings are one of the ultimate photographic challenges. Not only is it one of the most important days of the couple's life, but also, there is only one chance at shooting those great shots.

I have heard enough friends complain about their wedding photos that I hesitate before saying yes when asked to shoot a wedding. I am more than willing to say that I am far from a wedding photography professional. I love it, and from a purely selfish point of view, I love the challenge it gives me as a photographer. What I (and all of us) have to keep in mind is that we are gambling with somebody else's "perfect day", not our own. So, proceed with caution.

Continue reading "Wedding Photography the Ultimate Challenge" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 11:59 PM | Permalink

I had someone ask me how to choose the right angle from which they should take their photo. Well, that was not exactly a question out of the blue. We were talking about angles, trying new angles, and using new angles as a means to adding a new dimension of interest to our images.

Absolutely, we should try different angles, but there is no answer to the question of which angle is best. There are pointers, to be sure, but I even hesitate to mention those, for fear that we will find the key to making our photographs look just like everybody elses or possibly never attempt to excercise our creativity in the first place. Forbid!

Continue reading "What Angle is Best?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:56 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Control the Shape of Your Aperture" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:13 AM | Permalink

A friend just wrote and asked for a little advice on a cafe photo shoot. I thought this topic would be helpful for a wider audience:

A friend of mine is doing an intern sort of thing at a new cafe here. She called me up the other day and said the cafe wanted some pictures taken and asked if I could do it. So I said yes. It was just a quick call to see if I could do it, and she said she would call back later with more specifics. So, I'm assuming it's photos of the food and/or the cafe itself.

Do you have any tips for doing a better job on this kind of photography? I'm already planning to take a backup (a Canon film SLR) just in case for some random reason they want a large print of something, or in case my Nikon D40 encounters troubles. Better safe than sorry, I always said. Anyways, just wanted to ask for tips, as I really want to do a great job on this!

It all depends on what they want and expect. Let's look at it a minute.

Continue reading "Taking Photographs for a Cafe" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:58 AM | Permalink

Adjusting your camera's f/stop (aka aperture, f-stop) not only controls the amount of light entering the camera by opening and closing the hole through which the light. The choice of aperture also has another side effect: control of the depth of field, or the depth of the photograph that will be in focus.

I was taking a few photos while friends of mine worked on a project and realized later that I had accidentally taken excellent comparison examples of two different depths of field. So, I will put them up as a way to see more clearly how altering the f/stop changes photographs.

Continue reading "Depth of Field Comparison" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:56 AM | Permalink

I received another photo from a friend to evaluate here. Here are his comments on his photo:

This was a 9 second exposure using my tripod. I was originally intending to get the cars on the outside road shooting from inside my complex, but when I saw a car coming down the driveway from inside our complex I quickly hit the shutter release. I was using a wider aperture so as to get stuff in the background more in focus, and in that sense it worked although do you think it would have been better if I had left it out of focus? Anyways, I really liked the way the taillights have a sweeping fiery pattern.

Continue reading "Night Motion Shots" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:42 AM | Permalink

I enjoy reading the musings of Herbert Keppler on his "Speaking Frankly" blog on the Popular Photography website. He often posts his notes and writings from days gone past, and it is interesting to see his perspective today and yesterday, comparing photography now and then. In some ways, we feel everything has changed, yet in other ways, it is just the same discipline with new tools.

He dug out one such comment from his 1969 "Keppler Files" which speaks about the automation of cameras:

Continue reading "Are Cameras Too Automated?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 07:33 AM | Permalink

I will readily admit that I am quite new to the world of flash. Simply because I could not afford one many years ago when I started taking photos, I just got used to doing without. In the mean time, I fell in love with natural light photography and the tones available without that awful flash.

Then, I saw good flash photography. I saw the light. Ha ha. And wow, what amazing things can be done with flash! So, though I still prefer natural light photography, I think it would be silly to ignore the development of my skills in using the flash. So, I am starting small, using what I have, and trying to be creative.

Continue reading "Getting the Most out of Built In Flash" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:43 AM | Permalink

A budding photographer friend of mine sent me this photo he took during a high school "field day". At first glance, I just have to smile. Not only is it a good action shot, but since it is a sack race, it gains some bonus points for abnormal content.

How could he make it better, though?

Continue reading "How Do We Shoot Basic Sports Photos?" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:08 AM | Permalink

I have really gone through a rebirth in my photography, especially in the last month or so. I have heard folks say, "Well, of course I cannot carry around the big, clunky SLR camera everywhere, so I just take the compact camera." Once I had heard that enough times, I started believing that the SLR is not worth taking out for everyday shots.

Sometime earlier this month, I finally said "fooey!" to those thoughts and actually started carrying the camera around with me, pretty much everywhere I go. I have gotten some funny looks, but I have also gotten some great photographs. Here is a photograph that never would have happened had I not just had the camera on hand while waiting for my wife in the market.

Continue reading "Hip Shot in the Market" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 10:17 AM | Permalink

My budding photographer friend sent another photo my way for a bit of critique. Here are his original comments on the photo:

The school slaughtered a pig for us, and some of us roasted the meat over bonfires. Several kids set sticks on fire and began swinging them around, so the slower shutter speed was cool for the shot. For some reason it doesn't look as sharp on the computer as it did on the camera's LCD, but I still like it. I wish I could have got one of the kids in the picture clearer, but oh well.

Continue reading "Boys Playing Around the Fire" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 09:58 AM | Permalink

I ran across a quote today that emphasizes something I value in my own photography. The late war photographer, Robert Capa, said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough".

This small precept could completely renovate many of the non-inviting, dull photographs out there. A close and personal face shot is much more valuable than picking some speck out of the crowd. Not only that, but even if a telephoto lens is used to bring a far subject in close, the lack of depth in the photo still somehow communicates a lack of closeness.

Continue reading "Up Close Photography" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 08:49 PM | Permalink

A friend and fellow photo experimenter, just bought a Nikon D40, which is a serious upgrade from my loaner all-manal Vivitar. He and I were already sending e-mails back and forth with photos and comments on each other's photos. So, since I was already writing far too much for an e-mail, we decided to just move that information here to benefit all.

Continue reading "Children in a Chinese Village School" »

Posted by ChinaCoop at 11:24 AM | Permalink