Tag Archives: Portraits

The street photographer who showed no pictures

Vivian Maier - Outstanding street photographer

Vivian Maier – Outstanding street photographer 1926-2009

A new documentary reveals Vivian Maier.

A new documentary has been shown on British television. It tells the tale of Vivian Maier. A lonely nanny, she spent most of her career photographically documenting the streets of Chicago in her spare time. She was unsung as a photographer, unknown to almost everyone, unrecognised as an artist. She died as a virtual pauper in 2009.

Within a short time of her death the most astonishing hoard of photographs was revealed. Her belongings had been sold off at an auction. The chance find by a keen photographer revealed the work and fortunately made the find public. With the most detailed care and exquisite vision she pictured her subjects with both passion and journalistic fervour. She pictured some of the most painful poverty and opulent richness of Chicago in the 1960’s and 1970’s as well other places in her travels.

Now her photographs are selling for thousands of dollars a piece. This new BBC documentary showcases her insight and some of the more interesting photographs from her fascinating body of work. It also tries to get an in side look at her life – a secretive and largely unknown story which few people were involved in.

With over one hundred thousand photographs in the collection it is an incredible find. Almost a complete record of her work is available. She showed her work to very few people. Most of the shots were never printed.

The enigma that Vivian Maier represented is almost the same clichéd story of the pauper artist of previous centuries. Unrecognised until long decades after their deaths these artists often represented important interpretations of their eras. And so it has proven to be with the work of Vivian Maier.

She had little family, very few friends and only the contacts made through the jobs she held as a nanny. She was largely unschooled and a European immigrant to the USA. Yet with extraordinary wit and dedication she taught herself English apparently through going to the movies and the theatre and mixing with people. She also appears to have taught herself photography – there is no record of a photographic education.

The amazing thing about Vivian Maier was her dedication to the task. The BBC documentary chronicles her life – what’s known of it. But it also raises a lot of questions about what motivated her. Clearly she was a lonely person. Obviously she loved photography and the streets of Chicago where she spent most of her life. Beyond that we know little.

She had the most incisive skill with a camera and great insight as an observer of people. She went everywhere with her equipment, obsessively capturing everything in which she saw meaning. Her main interest was in the people she met – her qualifications for undertaking the work were non-existent. Yet over the period of fourty years she proved herself to be a great artist.

Hit rate

Many of todays digital photographers don’t realise what really lies behind a body of work. According to the academics examining Maier’s work she had an excellent hit rate. One very famous photographer once said…

Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.

Ansel Adams

…yet Vivian Maier apparently managed many, many thousands of high quality pictures on her large format Rolliflex  External link - opens new tab/page camera.

There is something interesting about Maiers hit rate, dedication to photography and the detail of her work. It says a lot about her as an artist. Artists spend years learning, experimenting and often apprenticed to other artists before their work begins to mature. But their dedication is by necessity, absolute. And, their progress and interests can be charted by the type of work they produce and how it varies and changes focus during their careers.

The character of an amateur body of work

Amateurs by contrast to professional artists have much more spotty bodies of work. They do not have time to dedicate to devoted study and development. Years of experimentation and concentration on particular aspects of their work is not possible. Family life, work, the simple needs of normal life reduce the amount of work a typical amateur can put into developing as an artist. Typically amateurs tend to be more erratic in their interests, or they concentrate most of their work on one focal interest.

Vivian Maier apparently dedicated pretty much all her personal time and a good proportion of her work time as a nanny to her photography. As a result her achievement is similar to a professional artist. Her work is of a similar standard too. Her work appears to exhibit a gradual and focused experimentation and development much like a professional artist.

Dedication and concentration

A large proportion of Vivian Maiers work is still unprinted. Most of it is still unseen by the public at large. We clearly have a lot more to see and to learn about her. Most of her life is a mystery, much of her story untold.

One thing is clear. For someone who was clearly a very talented street photographer she had a lot to teach photography learners about concentrated dedication to the things that interest us. If we really want to get to the bottom of what interests us as artists, we photographers need to be pretty single minded.

Have fun with your photography, but remember, the way to reveal real truths, like street photography, requires some pretty deep interpretation.

How to see the documentary

For those of you who have access to the BBC iPlayer you can still see the full Vivian Maier documentary for the next few weeks from the Home page for the “imagine” series of arts documentaries  External link - opens new tab/page (posted 05/07/2013).
Update: This documentary has now been taken down from the BBC site. However the link above now goes to the “Imagine” series website so you can see what is coming up and some past episodes are sometimes available on BBC iPlayer.

Other useful Vivian Maier resources

Here is a link to the BBC website where there are two clips about this documentary…
Vivian Maier: Who Took Nanny’s Pictures? Clips and other information.  External link - opens new tab/page

Want more on Vivian Maiers work on video? Here’s a Google search for YouTube videos about her…
Search YouTube for Vivian Maier Videos  External link - opens new tab/page

Vivian Maier on Wikipedia  External link - opens new tab/page
Vivian Maier – Her Discovered Work  External link - opens new tab/page

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Do you understand the play of light on faces?

Video

Video

Understanding light involves seeing it on your subject…

That understanding comes from seeing light in different environments. Next time you are outside look at the light and shadow on the faces of people around you. Look for light/shadow relationships and look out for light playing on the face – how it moves around as the face moves in the light.

The play of light on faces is interesting, but often ugly

When you study faces and light together you will see that there are some pretty ugly shapes and shadows created by light on the face. We are programmed to follow edges, lines and contrasts with our eyes. Oddly, we see these on faces all the time but tend to ignore them.

Normally we ignore the ugliness of bad light because we have no control over light on other peoples faces. And, our familiarity with the face turns off our attention to light. It allows us to forget that faces can be pretty ugly in bad light or a bad position relative to the light.

Somehow, when we translate a scene to a 2 dimensional picture, these shapes, contrasts and lines created by light on the face become more obvious than in real life. They seem to take on an ugliness that we normally do not see.

‘Picture-awareness’, what we see on pictures but not in real life, happens in a lot of things. With faces it is pretty important. For photographers doing portraits it can make or break a picture. Becoming familiar with the concept is important if you want your portraits to succeed.

How to use natural light and fill flash Portrait tutorial

In the video Tony Northrup shows how light and shadow can be changed to your advantage easily and simply.

Tony Northrup  External link - opens new tab/page

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Simple portrait tips, excellent advice

Simple portrait tips - Excellent Advice

• Portrait by Bambi Cantrell •
Simple portrait tips: seeing the person, seeing the light, seeing simplicity.
(Image from the video)

The best portraits show the person

When photographer and subject gel the magic of portrait photography bursts forth. Bambi Cantrell just bubbles over with enthusiasm about portraiture. And, she gives simple portrait tips and great advice. See the person, see the light – make it simple. In this short video she explains about her portraiture. Really worth watching for the enthusiasm and the advice.

Wedding & Portrait Photography Tips & Advice by Bambi Cantrell

This video is all about simple portrait tips although Bambi also includes wedding photography ideas. But much of wedding work is about portraiture.
Marc Silber – Silber Studios

Simple portrait tips and light

The simplicity in seeing light passes many beginners by when they are starting. These simple portrait tips reveal how light can be used to good effect. But in real terms many of the most important tips about photography are lost if you don’t get great light. So follow up these simple portrait tips with a study of light – especially in your portrait work. Check out these Light and Lighting resources, articles and links

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Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photographer and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photogs.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.
By Damon Guy see his profile on Google+.

Seven easy tips to improve your group photography

• Boys Group •

• Boys Group •
The humble group photograph can be much improved by a few simple steps.

Simple steps lead to great shots…

With groups you must go a little further than with straight portraits. Getting people coordinated, a range of different settings, beating the dreaded ‘blinks’, great sharpness… Check these out, go the extra mile.

Planning

When doing group shots a few ideas up front helps. Some simple ideas about cohesion, commonality and framing can make your shots more compelling. Clear ideas about how you want this particular group arranged will enable you to get them quickly into place. Groups, by their nature become impatient quickly. Preparation moves things along keeps people on the ball. Have your location scouted and know where you are going to place your group. Have a good, simple background ready. Make sure you have adequate light to work with. Location is everything.

Settings

Remember, groups require a wide view and you need some depth too. Set your aperture too large and you risk the back row being out of the zone of sharpness. Most groups are best photographed at f8 or even better f11. To get the sharpness work with your shutter speed up reasonably high. 1/125th minimum – better 200ths of a second. Go higher if you don’t need flash.

Bigger groups always have a certain amount of movement. Higher shutter speeds help to freeze the action. The problem is, high shutter speed and small aperture leave you needing flash or extra lighting. There is always a trade-off. To compensate you may need to raise your ISO.

Sharp shooting

Shooting at high speed will help freeze the action. It will not steady your hand. If shooting a big group, especially for formal shots, it’s best to use other sharpening techniques. Consider these sharpness…

  • Using a tripod
  • Use mirror lock-up function
  • Image stabilisation off (not needed on tripods – it creates vibration)
  • Auto-focus off on a tripod after the group is focused (it creates vibration)
  • Operate with a remote shutter button or use the on-camera timer

A tripod saves time. You can arrange the group and smooth the shot through. If you have more than one group, your camera is always set up when it is on a tripod. It helps smooth the flow.

Light and shade

Overall light in the scene is important, so is the shade. When taking pictures of groups you are taking a wide angle view. The group is often spread out. It’s easy to miss that one or two of the group are in the shade. Or, with a camera mounted flash, the shadows from the flash fall harshly onto the people behind. Trees, buildings, other people, towers, street lights – any number of objects can cast unexpected shadows which are difficult to notice. Flash casts shadows you don’t see until you open the picture on a computer later. Look carefully at your group. Arrange them to be in clear, consistent light. Make sure any lights or flash you are using treats all the members of the group evenly and fairly.

Clothing

So often with groups you have no control over clothing. If the event is formal the clothes often have a stiff and upright feel. People don’t relax so well in this situation so you will have to set the scene and pose them accordingly. It is not easy, especially with family conventions or a preset plan. Where possible let them arrange themselves with your help. People will be most comfortable next to the people they like and know.

When a group is coming together informally the clothes may be wildly variable in character. What matters when working with a candid group is the fun arrangement of the group. Try to get the group to look dynamic and together. This will offset a strong clothing variation.

The prize giving

• The prize giving •
If the group feels comfortable and you work with them they’ll help make a great picture.

Organisation

Groups, especially close up, look odd if the faces are at different distances from the camera. They are close enough to us to look fine. However, the lens plays tricks on our eyes. If they are out of line – at different distances, but close together – they will appear to have different head sizes. Try to make people in each line of a group stand evenly down the line.

Sometimes the classic, short in front taller to the back works fine. Other times it is better to actually mix up short and tall – especially with different generations. It is much more natural for grandchildren to be arranged with grandparents than stuck on the end of the line because they are small. Putting children between adults also provides an opportunity to have a shorter person behind so as to break up a line up – to make it less formally arranged.

Close family groups, and friends, often look good leaning together, or heads together. It is very intimate to touch heads.

The dreaded ‘blinkies’ strike every group shot if you are not careful. The bigger the group the more likely that someone will blink. Overcome it with a little group control. Ready to shoot? Tell them you are going to help stop them blinking in the shot. Tell every one to shut their eyes. Count to two, tell everyone to open. Count to two. Press the shutter. Everyone will have open eyes. Explain it first so they know what is coming. It will make sure they all have eyes open long enough for you to get the shot.

So, with all these different ways of organising the group make sure that what you have is comfortable, natural – never forced.

Posing

Organising the group is about positioning and location. Posing is about personal stance and comfort. You, as the photographer, need to direct the group. But on the other hand you have to work with the people you have before you. Try to make it fun. Get them to relate to one another. If you have time, especially with candids or informal group, get them to experiment. Handshakes, greetings, hugs, arms around each other, standing in groups – the idea is to make ‘that’ group look good. Another group might not look good with the same poses. You should work with them, discuss ideas with them, respect their thoughts. They probably know each other better than you know them and will make the best suggestions. It is your job as a director to pick up on the most effective shots from their ideas. Consider what you know about them, consider their ideas for their poses – then work together to make the shot just right.

Getting the right feeling…

Working with groups is more than just lining them up. You have to consider the time, place, light, shade, the settings and the technique. But the best shots still come from the group itself. If the members of the group are comfortable, having fun and feel natural about their poses they will make sure you get a good shot. Work with them, help them make your picture work.

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By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

Engaging portraits – it’s all in the hands

• It's all in the hands •

• It’s all in the hands •
The hands are very important for directing the eye around a portrait
Click image to view large
• Portrait 4 • Kayte Allen on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

Make your portraits draw the eye…

Here is a quick tip with lots of examples. To make your portraits flow and to help direct the eye to the right places use the hands to help direct the viewers eye.

Up and down loses the eye

The typical beginners full length portrait shows the subject standing upright, arms limp and lifeless at their sides and a sort of half grimace on their faces. Coupled with a portrait-aspect crop this disaster is a straight-through for the eye.

Despite what charms lie below the face, we look there first. We seem to be programmed to do it. Then we follow the rest of the body down with our eyes. IF everything points downward our eyes continue to the feet and then we lose the eye out of the bottom of the frame.

The hands can use the power of lines to redirect the eye

The eye is trained to follow lines and edges – these are places where contrasts are the most obvious and there the eye can see the differences in light and pick out detail. This is the power of lines in Composition – they literally create tracks that the eye follows.

The power of the lines in upright, long portraits is to direct the eye downward and out of the picture. That will always happen unless some form of stopper can be used to direct the eye to where the main interest lies. No better way to do that than with arms and hands. They can be used to stop the eye progressing downward by placing them across the body or they can be used to direct the eye back to the face by pointing upward. They can even be used to direct the eye around to follow the curves of the face and head as in the portrait above.

Some long shots

In the next few pictures you can see how the eye is directed out of the picture by the vertical lines, the portrait crop and the stance of the subject…

• The Photographer •

• The Photographer •

Mum - the loving supporter

Mum – the loving supporter

• Portrait by Virotutis on Flickr •

• Portrait by Virotutis on Flickr •
While this is an interesting picture and has a fun aspect to it, the whole image works to force the eye downward. It is a great picture, but the direction to the eye is almost undeniable.
Click image to view large
• Portrait by Virotutis on Flickr •External link - opens new tab/page

The hands can change everything…

Consider now the way the subtle lines and positions of the hands and the arms redirect the eye back to the face in these shots. These portraits have so much more to offer the eye because the hands bring us back – prevent us from going out of the image.

• Portrait with the hat •

• Portrait with the hat •
The hat acts to stop the eye getting lost upwards. The arm and hand
act to keep the eye returning from the lower end of the shot. The enigmatic smile
provides wonderful interest. A thoroughly engaging portrait.
Click image to view large
• Portrait with the hat • by DeusXFlorida on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

• Portrait by GummyPiglet on Flickr •

• Portrait by GummyPiglet on Flickr •
The wonderful light, the great use of the arm and hand and the lovely expression create a circle for the eye. Out down the arm and back to the face. A great shot.
Click image to view large
• Portrait by GummyPiglet on Flickr •External link - opens new tab/page

• Portrait by Benjamin Ballande, on Flickr •

• Portrait by Benjamin Ballande, on Flickr •
The strong framing with the darker top and hood act to allow the eye to stray downward after the face. But the upward arm and the hand around the face creates an endless cycle of interest around this lovely portrait.
Click image to view large
• Portrait by Benjamin Ballande, on Flickr •External link - opens new tab/page

• Portrait by natali Antonovich on Flickr  •

• Portrait by natali Antonovich on Flickr •
The technique works on men too. The eye naturally comes down the shoulder, and is drawn back up the arm to the face again. An interesting character in this one.
Click image to view large
• Portrait by natali Antonovich on Flickr •External link - opens new tab/page

Portrait workshop, I by Vicco Gallo

• Portrait workshop, I by Vicco Gallo •
The sweep of the hair, the collar and hint of jewellery act to take the eye out of the picture. In the nice of time the thumb sweeps up the eye and the fingers divert us back to the face again. Engaging!
Portrait workshop, I by Vicco Gallo, on Flickr External link - opens new tab/page

The hands and the arms rule the lines

We have an almost pathological need to go to the face or hands with our eyes. The rest is almost incidental. Used properly you can cycle the viewers eye endlessly in the portrait. It is a great technique and one that really satisfies the eye.

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By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

The top twenty phototips that you should know

20 spots - twenty tips

• 20 spots – twenty tips •
Click image to view large

Learning photography is about…

Doing the simple things really well. Although there are a lot of things to learn, the important ones are a few things you do over and over again. If you improve them you will automatically improve your photography.

Work on these to make the biggest improvement
  1. A proper stance will provide a proper, steady hand-held camera position.
  2. Go everywhere with your camera. Use it every day – improve every day.
  3. Learn with what you’ve got, better equipment will not improve your skill.
  4. Three essentials – camera, lens, tripod. Learn to use them all equally well.
  5. Get close, fill the frame, your shots will probably be better.
  6. Think about every shot before you push the shutter button.
  7. Count to two before taking your camera away from your face.
  8. Never just look at others’ photos – do a critique every time.
  9. Work on your composition skills at least as hard as your technical skills.
  10. Be inspired by other photographers, but develop your own style.
  11. Discuss photography as much as possible with other photographers.
  12. Look for contrasts in colour, light, shape and other variables.
  13. Declutter your shots, show it as simply as possible.
  14. Use natural light as much as possible – get to know its properties.
  15. The rule of thirds works more than 95% of the time.
  16. Try different perspectives, points of view and heights at each scene.
  17. Vary shutter speeds, ISO and aperture settings to experiment with exposure.
  18. Make people, and especially faces, a central study in your photography.
  19. Great photos can be found everywhere – you just need to look out for them.
  20. Be completely obsessed with the study of light and the language of light.

If you pay attention to these important tips you will find your photography will develop.

Photography becomes a way of life, but don’t make it the only thing in your life. You need other interests to bring new perspectives into your photography.

Most of all enjoy what you are doing. Photography should be fun… don’t take it too seriously. Laugh a lot.

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By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

A simple lighting technique with lovely light

The mobile phone light... soft and effective.

The mobile phone light… soft and effective.

Table-top photography works with soft light.

When you are doing still life shots you want soft, gentle light. Exposures can be longer so you can create lovely gentle shadow graduations. Your mobile phone provides an excellent light source for this. Here is how it is done.

White source image

The basic technique is to put a bright white image onto your mobile screen. When you display it on the mobile screen the illumination produces a white light. This is a wonderful, quite localised soft light for your shot. The steps in detail are…

  • Open your favourite image editor
  • Create a new image (approx size 800 pixels by 600 pixels)
  • Paint it brilliant (pure) white
  • If you are on your computer save the image then upload it to your phone
  • If you are on your mobile phone save the image to a known folder
  • When you want to use the light, display the image on screen

The white image on screen produces enough illumination to create the light you want for your table top image.

Other ways to use your mobile as a light source

Of course many mobiles are also capable cameras in their own right. So here are two other ways to use them:

Photographic light: Lots of mobiles have a “flashlight” app. This will allow you to use the camera flash as a photographic light onto your still life scene. Many on-camera (pop-up flash) flash units are very strong and have a harsh light. The flash on a mobile is often much softer and sometimes is coloured to be a similar colour to daylight (approx 5500 Kelvin). This ‘daylight balance’ is a great light and worth using if you have it. Prop your phone up with the flashlight app activated and start shooting.

Coloured light source: Traditionally coloured light is produced using colour gels. However, some apps on mobile phones can create both a white light or a range of other coloured lights. One such app for example is: Tiny flashlight + LED. This is an app. for Android phones, but there are other apps. for different operating systems. If you cannot find a suitable app. you can produce a colour image like the white one above. Store that on your phone and open the image when you want that colour light.

Versatile

While the light from the screen of your phone might not be very strong, for a long exposure that is not too important. The light is wonderful and soft. As it comes from a wide source it creates lovely wrap-around shadows. These are just great for still life. Other features of phones can help with the lighting for your photography too. So, have a look at your mobile in a new light – see what you think.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.