Comments on: How To Make A Mark With Your Photographs

By: SK.Hussain

SK.Hussain — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:57:47 +0000

Very fine tuts,Thanks to APN team.Please update lens terminology,How Nano fecility is useful .
Once again Thanks a lot for educating me.

By: kym

kym — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:43:21 +0000

Hi Mark!!
By no means am I a professional, but being an artist, I know sometimes the talent is there, and sometimes it isn’t… I think that is normal… But there are alot of times, when I’m in a rut and I just want to get out of that rut, but I find nothing interesting to shoot as well… Thats when I take a simple subject… Anything really, I’ve used a piece of fruit, a wine glass, a tree, etc… and I move in really close, to the parts people don’t normally see with the human eye, or don’t take the time to see…. It could be a reflexion in that wine glass, it could be the colors in a piece of fruit….
One Saturday morning, it was very cold, and I was a bit depressed of the fact that a long cold winter was on its way… It started to snow, and instead of getting down on that fact, I picked up my camera and started shooting… A snowflake fell on the railing next to me, I started taking shot after shot after shot of this one snowflake till I got it out of my system….. This photo of the single snowflake, brought the most compliments I’ve ever gotten… People started really admiring my creativity…. and got me out of my rut…. [img]http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/photo.php?fbid=1596303081505&set=a.1404492086350.52636.1653828978&theater[/img]

By: Paul Perano

Paul Perano — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:42:14 +0000

You do seem to have a problem Mark.
A flat landscape then pushes you towards dramatic weather or possible buildings on the horizon that become “a point of focus”.

Try using “the rule of thirds”. Perhaps you can place the horizon on the bottom horizontal third. A building at an intersection along the bottom line. Dramatic clouds, etc. filling the remaining two thirds.
If the clouds are moving fast use a tripod and make long exposures to use the cloud movement. Perhaps towards you or on a diagonal across the image. Try different times. Start with 5 seconds then double it and double it again, etc. You may have to use Neutral Denstiy filters to slow things up. Even a Polariser can drop your speed down a stop or two.

Use your roads for perspective shots. Or if the you have areas of low hilly terrain with roads there maybe be oppotunity there too. Use long lenses to compress the distances and bring the hills closer together or wide angle lenses to make them appear much further way.

Ok these maybe a bit cliched, but they can make for strong images.

Weather can be emotional powerful in an image and the worse the weather the more power. Try using a red filter and shoot in Black & White. The clouds will leap out of the image and smack you in the face ! Sure you can try this in Photoshop, but try doing it the hard way too.

Repetition and one item that is different is also a strong compositional tool too. Place that item at a strategic point in the image and it is amplified.

So study the rules … no … the guides to composition and the dull and your flat land may become a lot more intetresting.

Good luck
Paul P

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:17:52 +0000

Hello,

I’ve really enjoyed reading the articles on this site. Very informative and inspirational to the beggining to average photographer.

One question: How does one find subjects of interest in areas without much interest? This is a problem I have where I live. The land is flat, few rivers (of beauty), no mountains, ocean facing south, etc,etc.

By: mariko

mariko — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:00:48 +0000

ilike your site.your doing a great job.

Rgards,
Mariko

By: Sanjoy

Sanjoy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:22:33 +0000

hi,

This is an amazing site. Your are doing a great job.

regards,
Sanjoy.

By: 6 Suggestions for Photography Hobbyists — apnphotographyschool.com

6 Suggestions for Photography Hobbyists — apnphotographyschool.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 17:51:15 +0000

[…] Very important. You must know what kind of results you want. Sometimes it purely a matter of luck that a photo comes out to be a surprisingly amazing. But do your homework. Visualize what the camera will see and how you’d want to capture it. Planning your photos goes a long way in getting you photographs that leave a lasting impression. […]

By: peter k

peter k — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:42:37 +0000

Hi Paul ! I think you’re a bit optimistic with the rate of 1:36 (roughfly 3%). I remember I’ve read an article from a National Geographic photographer and he was telling there that he considers himself lucky with a very good shot (we talk about proffesional level) per month ! And I think that photographers like Guy Tal or Mark Adamus or Alain Briot (and so on) who sell each copy for several hundreds of $ have also a very very low percent of quite stunning shots. That’s the way it goes. Art is a very hard work. I (well, as a begginer) have maybe a handfull of good shots – or what I think that are good shots! – from more than thousand shots chosen to be kept on the hard disk (much more made their way to the recycle bin!).
And, in the end, as you say: Good Luck and Good Shooting,
Peter

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:16:15 +0000

One of my night class tutors told us, “The usual success rate is about 1 in 36. No matter how good you get the rate stays about the same. As your 35 discards get better your expectations increase.”
I can go for an afternoons shooting and come back with over a hundred images. If I get 3 or 4 images that I am happy with then I class the afternoon a success.
So do not expect every shot to be fantastic – you will be very disappointed very quick. Just shoot the best you can every time and try and work out why you do not like the image. Don’t forget to use the metadata for the image so you can view the camera settings for the image – this may reveal mistakes or suggestions on a different approach.

Good luck and good shooting,
Paul

By: dodong flores

dodong flores — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:22:54 +0000

Nice tip! This is a great site. As I like photography, I will subscribe to your feeds…

By: Mel D

Mel D — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 06:16:05 +0000

Great tips, thanks a lot. :)