Sunday, February 15, 2009
I suck at the Rule of Thirds (and how i plan on fixing it)
The Rule of thirds is something every photographer should use when composing images. Being self taught, I never really paid a whole lot of attention to the rule, and getting initial praise for my shots kind of encouraged me not to practice it. I haven't been happy lately at all with my composition and found myself disappointed with a lot of recent shoots. Part of the mistake was getting a focusing lens that was made for architecture, and the grid on that kind of threw me off. I since switched back to my default focusing grid and now have to 'relearn' to shoot again. Also to help, I looked up this photoshop article about how to set grids in photoshop so it shows you the rule of thirds. Its under edit---> preferences--->guides, grids, & slices. Set a gridline for every 33.33 and sub division 1, and you get a perfect rule of thirds grid on every document you open. Now you may ask why didn't i just get a focusing screen that had a rule of thirds grid on it in the first place? Because Canon doesn't make them. I don't know why.. maybe it's because they think anyone who owns a camera should already know the rule really well? There are third party companies that do make focusing screens for the rule of thirds grid, but of course they don't make it for the 5D. Anyway once looking through a bunch of my photos, and the ones I consider 'great' I found out actually follow this rule, whether I was trying to purposely shoot it that way or not, I don't know. I took a few other photos that I admired from other photographers and found that the majority of them did follow the rule really well. So that being said, how do I practice the rule of thirds? I decided to take a picture of the grid with my camera, and display it on my LCD screen. I then took a screen protector, which is just piece of protective sticky plastic coat and attached it to my LCD screen, displayed the grid, and marked the main focus points with a sharpie. Now I know this doesn't help me while taking the shot, but I will be able to look at the LCD screen now and find out how far off or how close I am to the rule of thirds grid. Hopefully this will help me in my composition and help train myself a whole lot better, and for those of you who want to improve their composition and using the rule of thirds I recommend doing this, as it is a fairly cheap way to get the points on your camera! Anyway wish my luck in my 'retraining'
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Daily Deviation Musings
So I sometimes post to Deviant Art, but have taken down the majority of my gallery there, mostly because I think the site has gone downhill and is dominated by kids who like to consider themselves anime artists and artists who think they're artists and have things to say. So that being said there are a lot of people on it, and like many people on the net think they're gods gift to criticism and artwork. Anyway I did this piece with the lovely Miss Manders from model mayhem
, and like months later it gets featured as a daily deviation and I didn't even know about it. I log in to my account and see that i have 700+ messages which are comments on a picture/friend adds etc. After browsing through the comments I'm mostly amused by people, and then the ones that criticize it the most, I look at their art and it looks like 5th grader did them. Some people didn't have any clue who Hunter S Thompson was, and some people thought they knew exactly what he'd think about it, and some people didn't 'get' it at all or realize the reason why its set to San Francisco, was because it was SHOT in san franciso.
ANYWAY, i guess yay for more exposure?
http://darkctyle.deviantart.com/art/Fear-and-Loathing-in-San-Fran-95432860
to read their comments
, and like months later it gets featured as a daily deviation and I didn't even know about it. I log in to my account and see that i have 700+ messages which are comments on a picture/friend adds etc. After browsing through the comments I'm mostly amused by people, and then the ones that criticize it the most, I look at their art and it looks like 5th grader did them. Some people didn't have any clue who Hunter S Thompson was, and some people thought they knew exactly what he'd think about it, and some people didn't 'get' it at all or realize the reason why its set to San Francisco, was because it was SHOT in san franciso.
ANYWAY, i guess yay for more exposure?
http://darkctyle.deviantart.com/art/Fear-and-Loathing-in-San-Fran-95432860
to read their comments
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Two Hearts in 3/4th Time
I'm not sure how this whole grid system is working out for me.. I thought I'd be better at it but now it kinda feels like i'm just ripping off another photographers stuff who I admire. Some of these from the day were pretty nice, but i think i spoiled myself too much with the flash system luke and I worked out and once you go flash... you can't go back or something of that matter... that and I can't seem to shoot with natural lighting anymore... cuz I seem to have forgotten how.... but yeah next week is planned 'Polyester Fables' (name pending) part one. and Red Riding Hood Redux for me. Found a great location though...
These shots were kind of 'test' shots for me to get the 'look' down for the next week, I don't think they're really quite there just yet... but it is easier for me to work with a photo thats properly exposed rather than just luck of the draw and photoshop... so yeah probably going to go back with artificial lighting. Christina kinda looks like Jena Malone haha..
These shots were kind of 'test' shots for me to get the 'look' down for the next week, I don't think they're really quite there just yet... but it is easier for me to work with a photo thats properly exposed rather than just luck of the draw and photoshop... so yeah probably going to go back with artificial lighting. Christina kinda looks like Jena Malone haha..
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
David Knight : Videodrone
How do you meter for a key light and a television screen? Let me tell you it's not easy... and it still didn't come out exactly how I wanted to but pleased with the trippy results anyway, kind of a big brother meets videodrone... check the flickr for the rest
Check out David Knight's Music here
He is currently promoting his 3 piece online album Mandala and it is available free to download. Also he will be playing at the Bottom of the Hill with Ambience, Good Hustle and Panthelion on January 14th. All great bands. Support local music!
Check out David Knight's Music here
He is currently promoting his 3 piece online album Mandala and it is available free to download. Also he will be playing at the Bottom of the Hill with Ambience, Good Hustle and Panthelion on January 14th. All great bands. Support local music!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
2009 and on
So I think it's high time I actually make a blog and update it, and I seriously promise to do so every time I shoot, and hopefully people will read it, ask questions, etc.
First order of business, posting about the last shoot I did, and first official one with this fashion/stylist/makeup and hair person I met through JamieLeigh on Model Mayhem. Her name is Christina Keelan, and you can visit her blog and model mayhem site. She's done work for Total Skull (Sherri Moon Zombie's clothing line) and sister site Lipstick Prophets, amongst countless other things you may have seen and not really known about.
So in order to prep up for the upcoming year and long term project we're working on that will hopefully culminate into a fashion show, a book, and a gallery showing (we're somewhat ambitious for not having done anything quite yet)
The model I used for this is Corinne, who has been one of my main models from the start of my photography career. The evolution of it all can be seen on my flickr in the Corinne set, and you'll see how I've progressed over the years.
The original idea involved mirrors, and colorful makeup, and that's really it for an initial concept. I don't have a studio to work with, so everything's kind of set up on the fly and sometimes, situations such as backdrops or room settings plain just don't work, but with the backdrop we had (12 dollars from Fabrics R us) this is what we came up with. Overall I'm pleased, and I know Corinne was happy because she always wanted to do crazy hair and makeup.
First a little behind the scenes shot:
and for the final product:
Lit with one grid spot (I love grid spot lighting at the moment)
Check out my flickr for the rest!
First order of business, posting about the last shoot I did, and first official one with this fashion/stylist/makeup and hair person I met through JamieLeigh on Model Mayhem. Her name is Christina Keelan, and you can visit her blog and model mayhem site. She's done work for Total Skull (Sherri Moon Zombie's clothing line) and sister site Lipstick Prophets, amongst countless other things you may have seen and not really known about.
So in order to prep up for the upcoming year and long term project we're working on that will hopefully culminate into a fashion show, a book, and a gallery showing (we're somewhat ambitious for not having done anything quite yet)
The model I used for this is Corinne, who has been one of my main models from the start of my photography career. The evolution of it all can be seen on my flickr in the Corinne set, and you'll see how I've progressed over the years.
The original idea involved mirrors, and colorful makeup, and that's really it for an initial concept. I don't have a studio to work with, so everything's kind of set up on the fly and sometimes, situations such as backdrops or room settings plain just don't work, but with the backdrop we had (12 dollars from Fabrics R us) this is what we came up with. Overall I'm pleased, and I know Corinne was happy because she always wanted to do crazy hair and makeup.
First a little behind the scenes shot:
and for the final product:
Lit with one grid spot (I love grid spot lighting at the moment)
Check out my flickr for the rest!
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