Photography Composition & Portrait Photography Masterclass - Learn To Master Your Photography

1. Introduction: in this section. We're gonna look at creative photography. We will start with a brief history of photography. Then we're going to explore the art of seeing. We're gonna explore how you have a natural ability already to be a good photographer. We'll explore seeing the light, controlling the light, capturing the light and processing the life. We're also gonna explore the core principles of composition, the basic rules of composition. We're gonna look at color photography, black and white photography controlling the frame. We'll also look at abstract composition, a never gonna explore creative portraiture. And we're gonna look at finding yourself as a photographer figuring out your identity as photographer, so lots to go through. Let's go have a look at the course. 2. Module 01 02 Is It Art: what is up the definition of well, according to wiki eyes a diverse range of human activities in creating visual, auditory or performing artifacts, artworks expressing the offers, imaginative or technical skill intended to be appreciated for their beauty or emotional power. But when it comes down to it, there's an objective standard of beauty. And then there's a subjective interpretation off beauty. So when we talk about, uh, we have to look at it both objectively, is it are in the broader sense and subjectively do we appreciate it as our order over? People appreciate that as art. So when we think about objective beauty, that is those things which are beautiful and obviously beautiful, and we all respond to them. But then we can have a subjective interpretation of what we think is beauty on. One person will look at one thing and think isn't beautiful, and another person will look at it and think it is beautiful and there's a subjective interpretation, so have to understand there's a difference between objective beauty and subjective interpretation of beauty on what we're going to try. Follow as much as possible in this course is the objective beauty inherent in good art are used to be defined by creating that which is beautiful. But in post modern times, the term has changed so that it now represents an interpretation of what is is very subjective. So we're gonna take the position in this course off the objectivity we mentioned earlier. But we have to be aware of this objective aspect. We have to be aware that people want to interpret our according to their own standards. But I make it very difficult then to create good photography because everyone standard is different. So what we need to do is we need to focus, as I said before on the objective standard. Now, one of the things we have to understand is that whenever we create image, we are first of all appealing to the mind of the viewer. So we're trying to create an intellectual engagement with them. This is where the language of composition comes in because people have a built in recognition of what good composition is, and yet they will not be able to articulate that subconscious awareness of what could composition is. So what we want to do is want appeal to their mind. We want to appeal today in a ability to see good composition we can get them engaged in. That image is, even if they don't understand what exactly is we're doing. They can't articulate it. But essentially, deep down, they'll be able to recognize intellectually that we've created a good composition on a beautiful image. A little note here. This course is no back crying. Perfect images, perfectly technically correct images. This course is about creating interesting, well composed images. The appeals to people. It's a bit like the difference between a mechanic look in a car and a two year old looking a car. So we're going back to this idea off. There is an inherent ability within each of us to recognize beauty to recognize good composition. You see, when the mechanic looks at the car is completely different. When the child looks a car, the child can recognize car can see car can identify car but cannot articulate car in the sense of describing what, exactly, is and how it works. Mechanically, they cannot grasp the engineering inherent in the car. Only the mechanic or the engine eq and do that. But if we take that child and teach them the mechanics of the car. The concept of car will become much deeper. A much richer, much more complex on What we're gonna do in this course is we're gonna help you unlock your in bill awareness of composition you're gonna develop from a toddler in tow. A mechanic in terms of photographic composition. We're gonna help you unlock the inbuilt knowledge you already have in you. And we're gonna help you to articulate their toe, understand that toe break that down into its logical components. So in the beginning, all you'll see his car. But by the end of it, you'll be able to see how the car is engineered. Now, one of the things we need to understand is when we create an image, we are also appealing to the emotions. This is a fundamental aspect of our of the objective standard of our If you can communicate and you can discover emotional capture that and put that in an image in a way that you can internally identify with and then communicate that for using visual language, compositional language. Then you have created an image that people will respond to. Tapping into the emotion is key when creating images that we can actually call artistic No . One of the other elements of photography is the observation of time. One of the most important things to understand about our is that our happens in time is influenced by time records. A moment in time. You are essentially freezing time for that moment on recording that moment. Think about your childhood and all the memories you have lost, and you have to concentrate on them to remember them. If you've got photo album and you look at that photo about all of sudden those memories, they're going to be triggered back. And you can actually jog other people's memories with your images because they have got something stored away tucked away the help them relate to the image that you're sharing on . When you create that image, are they gonna relate? And remember, the experience Doesn't matter. Is 10 20 years ago or yesterday. They were relate to the image because there is something in them, a memory, oftentimes that will link to the image, and now we created a connection. So photography is a time traveling device for both the photographer on the viewer 3. Module 01 03 A Brief History Of Photography: So let's have a look at the brief history of photography in 18 37. Louise Dig. Yeah, I hope I'm pronouncing that right creates the daguerreotype. The French government awards him a state pension so that he can share his discovery. So this became one of the first reliable public processing methods that the public and access This is really the birth off. Photography. Andi processing off photography. And then we skip forward till 18 61. And then James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates a color photography system that people can use now. Louis Daguerre He produced a black and white system. So in 18 61 we get this color photography system the first usable color photography system . In 18 88 the first Kodak camera is produced, and Kodak is a company that wants to take photography into the mainstream. 1900. The Kodak Brownie box camera is made available to the public, and this caused quite a reaction because before the Kodak Brownie camera, you have to be quite rich to actually get involved in photography. The equipment that chemicals that time. This wasn't something for the working class. This was something for those that have the time and the luxury to be able to go out there and create images with Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 comes along and all of a sudden the general public have a camera they can afford, and now they can start taking photos on what that meant was all of a sudden, photography became something that was available to the masses on knows. Entrenched in the traditional view of photography. They look down on this as spoiling photography for the elite, the great unwashed masses when now getting involved in photography. In 1907 we see, the Lumiere brothers produced the first commercial color film, the Auto Chrome Plate and 1924 life markets, the first Fe five millimeter high quality camera called a Laker. And that's still going to this day. But it's a very interesting standard because of 35 millimeter is in reference to the size off the film. The Lights introduces this camera with this fact five millimeter format, which is still used today whenever someone says it's a full frame camera. If you hear that time about DSLR, I'll say it's a full frame camera. It's 35 millimeter equivalent, so It's 1924 when that standard was brought out on set on that has been pretty much carried fruit all the way to our present time. And they're still being used today in 1931 Harold Egg attend developed strobe photography at M I t. So this is flash photography where you fire a bright burst of light and it freezes motion and you can capture that with your camera. In 1936 you get the development of Kodachrome, the first color multilayered film. We've got a 49 year gap here on. Then Minolta sells the first SLR camera, which stands a single lens reflex. 1990. A dope photo shop is released. So for those of you that are lovers of photo shop, look no here. That was 1990 that that came out on that revolutionized photography and how people edited images. And in 1991 Kodak released the first digital SLR, the first single lens reflex camera that didn't need film. But it was actually a modified film camera on Nick on F free so you could see Kodak is still involved. And in 1999 the Niccum d one, the first true DSLR camera is released from a mere sum of $6000. Fortunately, the prices of cameras have come down quite significantly, as well as improving on that first camera in 2007. The first iPhone is released on January Knife, and the iPhone wasn't necessarily the first to have a camera, but then the first started marketing their cameras. Well, the 1st 1 to actually start putting out there that you have a camera in your pocket and that create the same revolution that we were talking about with the Kodak Brownie camera. And since EB photography has become the largest hobby in the world, everyone has a camera on them, whether it's an iPhone or smart phone. Nearly everybody and anybody can access photography, and you can even edit images on your phone. So we've come a long way from Digger and his chemicals and expensive equipment. Nowadays, anyone can take a picture. Everyone has access to photography, and that's that the way it should be 4. Module 01 04 The Great Debate: So let's have a look at the great debate. Is photography, art or science, truth or fiction? And just a little note for you all the images in the course of mine, unless identified as belonging to someone else. And a lot of these images come from a website called Unspool Ash, where people share their images so that others can free to use them on. We're gonna use them to illustrate the concept. I'm also going to use some of those as well as my own images, to help you to understand how to take a good image. The great debate. Is it our or science? Is it true for fiction? This is the great question and the debate that has influenced the photography community since its very inception. Is it are, or is it science? It's actually both, but the photographic community has struggled to cope of this simple truth. Instead, trend into extremes in their pursuit of overall identity for photography, where you place yourself on this spectrum is completely up to you. But in this course there's gonna be a heavy emphasis on artistic vision and creating an image rather than a forensic approach to photography. And when It's a forensic approach, I mean a scientific approach, and that will become clear as we go through the course. See, photography came from purely scientific footing. It was the capture of light across the scene, and it's early. Exponents were often scientists and inventors, which influence the early identity of photography on this persisted throughout much of the 19th century. In fact, in 18 90 Peter Henry Emerson called for straight or natural photography in his book Naturalists. Photography for Students of the Are So that basically means you taken image as is You don't do anything to it. You don't photo shop, you don't change. Photography is a capture of a moment, and you shouldn't interfere in what is seen. And that is the argument of straight photography. But in 18 69 a book was released on Argued for Pictorial is, um, this is the art of communicating an emotional message for an image that manipulation off the image. To get an end result was just a part of the artistic process. Henry Peach Robinson was basically contending for photography to be recognized, as are against some of the photographic society's desire for its remains. pure straight photography and in 18 90 to various groups seceded from the Orthodox groups that were assistant on straight photography on the secessionist movement was born. We had these two really strong groups of use the photography, the straight photography on pictorial ism. Straight photography. You capture what you see. Pretoria. Liz Um, you create you allow your mental image be projected onto the camera and into the editing. Now he was famous for creating images by compositing them from two or free different images . A process carried through into photo shop today on one of his most famous images is fading away from 18 58 and it's a somber, emotive image of a young woman passing away. But it's actually built up off at least free, different images. And if you look at the light, you will see that this image doesn't quite work in terms of the light, the light on the patient's face and the light on the lady on the left. There's too much difference that is, to Brighton Lady on the left. It's very soft on the lady on the right, says a hard light, soft in a soft light source been used So this is one of the first compositions, and Henry PH. Robinson took this image and basically was a major influence in this movement. And then we come to modernism. In 1932 we see the rise of the X 64 group in New York, which were, in all intents and purposes, a group of straight photographers, which included Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, John Paul Edwards, Sonia Nice Caveat, Henry Swift of William Van Dyke. Their focus was on pre visualization and recording the scene as accurately as possible, although they all edited tones in the dark room, which is very interesting because there is no image out there that hasn't had some editing done to it. Because how you expose how you chemicals and these images will define how dark and light they are. So there's a little bit of hypocrisy in the fact that you taken image and you have to process it. There is a process, so you do change it in its essence, and it's the same for cameras. When you take modern day cameras. When you taken image on, do you take it? J. Peg. That camera's already a pride. Certain editing sense. Saturation levels are sharpness levels to the images. Part process image for you says no such thing as true straight photography in the strictest sense on what I find are running because this is then referred to is modernism, when in fact it actually harkens back to straight photography, which was the oldest form. It was pictorial ism that was more modern, that came after straight photography. And then, from there we can see influences of the major art movements on photography for at the rest of the 20th century. But these movements, straight photography, tore realism. We're very specific to photography, and that's what we mentioned them here. We're not gonna talk about Cubism on deck on all these other artistic influences are happening for at the late 19 for Fruit of 20th Century because they were outside of photography. What we're focusing on here is the movement within, so all these over movements outside had an impact on photography. But these are the two movements that people still fight about today. It's very interesting, and that means that when we see arguments being made, we can understand that's coming from straight photography. The principle of taking an image as it is, and pictorial ISMs, which is creating an image. And that's really the difference is taking an image versus creating an image that photography has always been considered the poor cousin of painting or over traditional forms of art. Maybe it's the time investment. Maybe it's a mechanical nature, but it's often been ignored as a genuine form of art by the art community. When Kodak releases Brownie Camera to the general public, the masses, like we said earlier, suddenly have access to a camera. The professionals didn't like it. Untrained, an average of Tofas were running around taking pictures of all sorts of random stuff. We're very poor compositional skills, and we can see that the portrait painters of the late 19th century what practically put out of work by the professional photo studios. As the price of portraiture came down, it was much cheaper to take a picture, a photograph and develop it, and for someone to sit there, actually paint a portrait. This made it even harder to separate the artistic merits of photography from casual photography and get it recognizes an art form because basically artists are saying this is rubbish. This isn't our There's no time taking you just snapping a picture. And we see this throughout the history of photography, as we see technological advancements allowed photography to come into the hands of the general public. There's always this resistance from the art community, whether it's outside of toffee or within photography, to recognize that people of simple iPhone, for instance, can take and create artistic images. There's always been a bit of snobbery in terms of photography being identified as Ah, so here's the question. Do we make an image or create an image? Oh, he's straight photographers or pictorial lists. Now both approaches to photography are gonna teach you something very different about photography. And you have to, in essence, master than both. You have toe master that ability to taken image to see an image in taking capture it on the technical ability needed to do that. You have to master being able to see an end result that's not necessary in front of you. You can see where you're gonna taken image. So should you be a straight photographer, should you be a pictorial ist is completely up to you. And that's the beauty of photography. You get to decide 5. Module 01 05 Activities Module 1: So here's some activities. Now, Activity number one, you're gonna want to create a course journal. You can use a Pinterest board Google dark, old fashioned piece of paper, whatever. But what we want to be able to do is record everything as we go through this course. And there's gonna be activities that we're gonna ask you to take, which you can record in your journal. And also, there's some questions you're gonna have to answer, which we would ask you record in your journal. So whether you do it the old fashioned way with pen and paper or whether you do it in some cloud based system, strongly recommend right now creating the journal and carrying these activities out on the reason being, you will get so much more from this course if you carry the activities out. If you actually process the activities actually do the activities you're learning will be much, much deeper. Activity number two find an image, engages your mind and make some notes on why you found it. Mentally stimulating activity number free. Find an image that engages you emotionally. Make notes on why you found it emotionally engaging Activity number four Explain what pictorial ism is on what straight photography is in two paragraphs of paragraph each in your photography journal 6. Module 02 01 Introduction Module 2: in this modern gonna look at the art of seeing We're gonna look at the ordered universe, the built in beauty detector that everybody has in them. We're gonna look at the importance of light. I'm also gonna discuss photographers Playground. So let's go and have a look. 7. Module 02 02 The Ordered Universe: a visual language made up of laws of light geometry and beauty runs is an undercurrent, fruity universe, understanding that learning that language helps us to not only see the world around us in a new light. It helps us to create visually powerful and compelling images by looking at creation by understanding the way, light and composition fundamentally work at the level of transcendent law. At the level of objective standards, we can discover a richness and beauty that we might have missed before. It's like waking up from a dream where ideas and force and emotions are all jumbled up together. And that's how we see the world. That's how we view photography, the one they realizing that all these bits of information is actually part of a world of order, a universe of order, a universe with meaning, a universe that can be comprehended. The university can capture what is going on in a meaningful, on logical way. Because of your awareness of these laws, there are laws that govern lie external to us. They're transcendent, they transcend our subjectivity. There are laws are not just functional, but also beautiful. When we start seeing those laws in operation with such see form and shape, light and contrast external to us. We start to see the built in beauty and order of the universe. We awaken to the beauty of creation and the essential truth of light as a source on reveal er of that beauty at an intellectual level. Knowing these laws are there helps us to rationalize and understand the universe the same way we would understand maths or physics. The foundation of our photography, the very essence of what we stand on, is part of the very nature of the beauty of creation that surrounds us by understanding, light and laws of light, photography becomes a journey into one of the most beautiful studies. That man can engage in the observation and recording of light as it interacts with matter around us. The external laws are there, but they have to be observed. They have to be seen subjectively so understanding how we consume the visual language around us. Is it paramount if we want to communicate that same visual language effectively? So the first part of the engagement process with any image is the eyes, the eyes of the century of the individual. They guard the mind and heart and filter everything in and out to create something that the eyes can respond to. It has to be of a standard that when he seen by someone who is not filtered out, think about Social Media Stream. You'll scan fruit images in that social media stream, and you'll saw the images very quickly into images that you like and images that you don't like at this stage. In the consumption of those images, your mind is making some very fast, subconscious decisions about what you like and don't like. It is deciding what is compositionally pleasing your eyes, your primary filter. They are on guard duty, and they saw images fast, and we're bombarded with images every day, constantly online. And everywhere we go, the eyes, in conjunction with the subconscious will sift through that noise on will select a very small amount of information to let fruit, so that gives us often times just a fraction of a second to communicate the appeal of our image when we share online. If the image gets past the century, the guard it will now move into the mind. You'll start to consider it at an analytical level, you will start to engage of it intellectually. This is where most interesting images sit. The viewer will see the image, make a mental judgment about it and decide they like it. Intellectually is a pleasant curiosity, a pleasing image. You have mentally take the approval in your conscious mind. You see, the previous phase of the eyes was subconscious face, but now you're moving into a conscious decision. Now you have mental awareness, and you have mentally assented that this is an interesting image, and the next stage in the consumption of an image is a point where our awareness of it gets a response from the heart. So for an image to move to the heart for an image to elicit an emotional response, it has to contain emotional value. That has to be emotion conveyed in the image that you respond to. When you viewed image. It might be evocative of an experience in your past. It might create an emotional picture of something you aspire to or desire, and if it contains this emotional element, it moves from being an interesting image to a pleasing image in the viewer's perception off the image. So We're capturing the emotion by communicating shared emotion, experience or shared emotional values you can reach right into the viewers. Hard on elicit an emotional response that is communicated in the image. Emotional connection is exceptionally powerful and lies at the heart off good images of frat image to be received and to be really appreciated. Creating emotional connection is fundamentally important, and this is the final stage. The hands when the viewer takes ownership of your image when they touch your image. This is the highest level of engagement, so this touch can take many forms, but usually it is encapsulated in the viewer taking action. They go from being passive to your image to being active in engaging with your image. This could be a comment about your photo or maybe a re share on social media to be a comment on your block on email. It could be the order of a print if you're selling your photographs online or a booking of a photo shoot if you're a commercial photographer, whenever there is an engagement, whenever we've course someone to take action and use their hands after seeing our image, that image has achieved its ultimate objective to illicit a positive response to someone else. It's been approved by the eyes past the century of the mind accepted into the heart on that of you has taken action with their hands. It's gone. Eyes, mind, heart, hands. That image is now elevated to great in the viewer's mind. They want to interact with it to put their prove on it. And it is action that Externalizing oven internal reaction that moves an image from an image image that could be art. You see, we don't get to decide whether art is good or not. The viewer ultimately decides by explicitly stating their appreciation. The art world has formula rises and people make a living by being an art critic. What we have to understand is the art critic is anyone that consumes that content. Our viewers are all art critics on. They decide whether your image is acceptable as art 8. Module 02 03 Beauty Detector: you already have the ability to see and respond to beauty built into your mind and heart. This is a subconscious. Awareness of good composition has been built in, but it's not yet been trained. Is not been brought to the fore is not been brought out of the shadows into the light. Have you ever wondered why we can all recognize a beautiful face? Beautiful features in an individual? Why a sunset will elicit a response from anyone that takes the time to pause and look while baby animals look cute. This is your intrinsic awareness of beauty and operation, your ability to see and when you begin to understand that you already have this inherent ability to see and appreciate beauty, that by training your awareness of that by bringing that all, you can transfer that into producing beautiful imagery of your photography by learning the language of composition that resides deep inside you. But helping it come from the subconscious to the conscious. You will learn to be intelligent about the language of composition, to be intelligent about your observation of light by training your consciousness to comprehend what your subconscious already sees but articulate in the laws of composition, of light, of beauty, the language of composition. You will tap into that deep reservoir of knowledge that you have locked away inside you on . Discover your own natural aptitude and ability for photography. Importance of exercise. Once we know those laws are there, once we start to see them and understand them, comprehend them. Once you bring them into the conscious from the subconscious, we don't only have to know them, but we have to exercise them. And I think this is why some people seem to be born with the ability to be artistic whenever they're presented with are your CDs. People like practice say exercise that everybody has the same capacity to build muscle, But some people have spent a time and some people haven't. So we're like an athlete. We have to train our mind the way an athlete trained their body. Until we have composition memory much like muscle memory, we will become so familiar with the laws by practicing them that they will become a fundamental part of how we consciously view the compositions that are all around us all the time. We will see natural compositions. We will be able to see beautiful images because we have trained ourselves to do so now. One of the fundamental blocks that we have is that we actually see in video. When we look at scene, we are seeing it in video. We're seeing many frames of information. Photography is a single frame, so that means we have to adapt. How we see we have to pause. We have to slow down and actually savor the moment, its ability to slow down and take the time to look and to see that separates the great photographers from the average photographers have to frame the moment. We have to concentrate in the moment on isolate the single scene were trying to capture. We have to learn to switch off the video camera in our mind and switch on the stills camera . One of the other things we have to overcome is selective focus. We have an innate ability to see the whole scene. Yet Mr Details in the periphery, then when we have a look at the image, the element we were trying to capture, that we're trying to communicate that drew our attention is all of a sudden crowded out. We have to learn to see all the elements in the frame, how they relate one another, how they impact one another on. We have to switch a selective focus off so that we can see beyond their, which initially got our attention. 9. Module 02 04 Let There Be Light: everything we will discuss in this course is fundamentally about light. In the Abrahamic traditions. The account of the creation of the at the very first command uttered was, Let there be light. Think about that for a moment. Think about the logic of that. Nothing can be done. Nothing could be initiated in less light is first present. If you want to create anything you need light, and that is fundamental to photography, the photography assed clarion call should be. Give me light without light. Photography is impossible on. An image essentially consists of free elements, the light of subject on the background, and I include foreground here for ease of concept. Those of the core elements light subject background. And when you break an image down into those components, it helps you toe analyze each of those individually. It helps you to understand the structure and each individual element as its own unique function in the image on. One of the things to understand is you're not taking a picture off the subject. You are taking a picture of the light falling on the subject. You don't actually see the subject. What you see is the light bouncing back off off the subject, hitting your eyes. Different materials and elements bounce light at different hues and different brightness and different situations. Black does not bounce like absorbed like hence black is a mere absence of light on. This might hurt the brain a bit, but we have to see that there is magic happening with light all around us. And if we can learn to spot the magic, we can create. Magical image is the most fundamental scale of photography, and learn is seeing like and how it falls on the subject. This is the foundation of all creative photography and composition is the foundation off photographic skill. So your background is your stage is where your actors will make their presence known. Every image has a background, a stage, a place for the subject to express themselves against a context for the image. A background could be a simple color background or a complex background. Oftentimes, a simple background is the better subject will stand down. We'll talk much more about that later on. A background should always compliment the subject. You should always be secondary to the subject and should have the correct weight in the scene in relation to the subject on overly dominant background. What caused the subject to disappear, but a background that has the right weight. The right balance will make the subject stand out. Each image has a specific subject. Where is the attention drawn to? What do you want the viewer to see? The image should be focused on communicating that core subject. The light should be used to illustrate that subject. To draw the item that's of it. Highlights subject. And when your view is lead to a clear subject, they will be able to exp LORD subject. So it seems a simple question. Well, why is your subject? Your subject might be a person, a texture, a patent shapes on observation of light itself. But the key thing to understand is the photographer is that you need to ask yourself this question. Whenever you're taking an image, what is my subject? What am I taking a picture off here? Is your subject dominant? It is important that your subject is dominant so that it can be found in the image. It's important that the eyes drawn to the subject there are many ways we can achieve that on once we understand the visual language of photography, that will become much clearer. But the key thing to make sure of is that your subject dominates the image visually and emotionally. So when we start pulling it all together, we need to observe the light we need to see have a light falls under subject, and we're going to go into all of this in much more depth. As we go through the course, we need to choose our background. We need to be making a choice about the background, were using or controlling the background using technical skills. And we need to select a subject we need to choose are subject to make sure that we understand what subject in the images. And I really must emphasize this that a lot of times people taken image because they've seen a subject, but they're not being conscious of what that subject is. Something in the image attracted them that took the image, but they're not conscious or what is it Just noticed something there that they like. We have to learn to be very conscious about what subject is because that changes how we treat everything in the image he is free examples off positioning. We talked about the light falling on the subject. We talk about background on. We talked about the subject itself. So this image, the subject, is the Children seen some lovely light. I've got a quite neutral plane background, and now my subject is on the stage. My subject is well, I want them to be on, have taken the image. And this is at the essence of street Photography is about setting the stage and letting your subjects enter. And then we've got another image in the same place Now have cropped the figure on the right a little bit. You'll see later. What? Its image isn't quite correct, but wanted you to see how sat in one place and taking these images. You can see it's the same treat the same light. But something else is happening. I'm setting my stage, got my background. I've got my life on my subject, enters in and then eventually a subject comes along is really pleasing to me. And now I have an image where all my planning comes together or my observation. All of my awareness of the composition of balance starts toe work. We've got some nice rim light on the dog. We've got some nice gesture in our subject who's obviously thrown something for the dog. We've got that nice light. We've got a simple background. The image works. It's simple. It's not complicated. All because we've applied the free principles, subject light background. These are the free elements were looking toe have in every image. We have to subject very clear what the subject is. It's a man throwing something for the dog. That's the subject. The dog and the man of the subject were very clear about that. We have the light. We have the right light so that they can be seen on. We have a simple background to give it context to show where this is happening. And that is how we pull those free principles together, that we're going to explore in this in much greater depth as we go through the course. But this is just gonna help you understand those free elements. If you aware of them, subject background light. That's the essence of every good image 10. Module 02 05 The Photographers Playground: So let's talk about the photographers playground that street photography is where good photographers develop themselves. The key to becoming a good photographer is to practice your photography in the wild to get out there and take pictures on. We all have this massive playground where we can go and take images and practice what we've learned. And it's called street photography. Don't way until you finished the course. This court should be gone over several times before everything really starts to sink in. You want to start taking photos today? Start being inspired today. Get out there and take photos. Don't get bogged down with the equipment gear lost his way. You just lust after the equipment. You spend most of your time on your photographic hobby, looking at cameras on the Internet and equipment on the Internet that you can spend money on if you're spending more time looking equipment on the Internet, that actually taken images and I understand you need to invest every now and again. But if you're just looking and what we call lusting after equipment, you're missing the point a bit. You should give yourself a little telling off so that you can just step away from that and actually focus all you need. But good photography is a simple camera. The smaller is a more discreet It is. The easier is when you first I'll a simple smartphone or an iPhone will do. You're learning to see, observe and capture. Better tools will improve your ability to do there. But don't let that slow you down or stop you from Stein. Your photographic journey. There are times when you won't even have a camera on you. You might be sitting at work bored, but you can practice your photography look around, see images, practice taking photographs, practice seeing. Remember the core skill your learning is learning to see on. All you need to learn to see is your eyes and your brain. And this is why smartphones are so good. I've got very expensive equipment, but I've also got an iPhone, and whenever I'm out, I've got that phone with me. I can take a picture any time on people so usedto iPhone pictures being taken. Long time. Let's assume you're taking a selfie. So when you're getting used to going out there and you're starting toe, take pictures of people and it's starting to take pictures of situation that feeling a little bit uncomfortable. If you feel like that, just start off with a simple iPhone or smart phone and get used to being out there being in the environment. But like I said, you always have opportunity to practice your photography is your brain and your highs of the best piece of equipment that you've got. So let's talk about permissions whenever you're out and about in a public place you want to check. The laws for your country in the UK were legally allowed to shoot pretty much anything as long as we're on public property. But we have to be careful in their sensitive sites where there's risk of terrorism. And if you're there is often a good idea just to explain what you're doing politely. Two policemen so they know what's going on going introduce yourself. So I am just taking the pictures of these buildings. Check us. Okay, you guys, if it's not, I'll move on and just see how they respond in what they say so well that the laws on your side you don't be gay around argue with policemen. So basically in the UK on the U. S. But check your country and don't just take my word for it. You are responsible for how you actually take images. If you're on public land, you can take pictures of anything that you can see from public land. Now there are certain rights to privacy, so it's not a good idea to be poking and through the window taken some a picture of someone who are in that private house. But you can pretty much if you're on public land. You can take pictures of most sinks. When it comes to private land, you can take pictures, but if they ask you to stop, you have to stop. But you have an implied permission up until that point. Now, one of the things we have to understand even know we in public. We can take pictures, anybody. We can take pictures of people of Children, but when we do that, we have to use discretion. Although the laws on outside when we're shooting images of people, if they get offended or upset, we just want to withdraw quietly. We want to be careful that were not seen to be subversive, so don't sneak around own the public space taken image. Make sure that people can see that you're open about what you're doing now. They don't have a right to delete your images in the UK in the U. S. I don't have a right toe touch your camera equipment. But if we're sensitive and if someone says, Oh, what you do is our Sorry if you're not happy opposite this, I'm not breaking the law. But if you're not happy, I just delete that image. Would you like a copy of the image? What you do and I just took a nice image of you. Would you like a copy of the image? Give me your email address. I send your copy of the image is really nice and just trying. Engage with people, but always practice discretion. And when it comes to model releases, when we're taking pictures off someone, we want to sell that in some way, shape or form. As an image we have toe have. Their release is called a model release, and it's the same with the building. You can take a picture of any building in the UK and us if you're on public blend. If you want to sell that image. You have to be very careful. Check out the permissions for model releases in your particular country. Being comfortable with street photography. The simplest tip is its own. The location. If you're the 1st 1 that and you are standing there taking pictures and it's clear, take these on. Someone walks into the area. Then, psychologically, they are invading your space. But if you're sneaking around and trying to creep up on them in their space, that's when it's going to create tension. But when you're in that space, own that space, be comfortable in that space. I never Little thing is, if you're uncomfortable and you just want some help relaxing, there's the 20 degree trick was where you focus on something that's not the subject but the same distance. Focus on there and then slowly just plant fruit a shot. Take your image, carry on polling through. Don't just leave your camera stuck on the subject for 10 minutes on. Everything you can do is absolutely taking pictures of things around you so that they can see that you're taking pictures of objects and things like that. And then when you take a picture of them than not as aware. Now we're not trying to be sneaky. We want to catch a people in their natural states and natural poses and natural emotions, and people seize up when they see a camera. One of the things I will often don't know all the time. Sometimes I shoot my iPhone is I will use a longer lens, a lot of street photographers. I know you need to get up close. I actually like a longer lens and we'll talk about choosing your focal length later on in the course by actually like a long lens. One of the reasons I like it is I can actually take images of people just behaving naturally, and that's when I get my best images so long. Lens can really help if you're uncomfortable. If you've got a deer Salah, there's lots of different ways to get out there and take images under street and be comfortable. But the most important thing is when someone sees you taking a picture, just smile, make eye contact, just be friendly, initiate friendliness and people were often just respond in a friendly manner. But don't be frightened. Don't be frightened of being exposed or being challenged. Orbit spoken. To be confident, understand the laws for your specific country. Shoot in public spaces. Be careful when you're on private property. Act with discretion. If you're going to sell the product unit, gonna need to get model releases and make sure that you're comfortable in the environment. You're shooting it, and once you've done that, you're gonna have some fun. Now one of the things we have to understand what street photography is, something called the decisive moment by a guy called Henri Cartier Bresil. Now we can't use his images because of copyright. But what it essentially is is the moment when everything comes together. It's the moment when they think happens in your frame that you're waiting to happen. So it is very similar to what we showed you earlier, where you're waiting for something to happen. You picture stage and now someone comes in. So here we are. I've seen this person sitting on the bench. I love the way to see is really close, like the breaker, like how all reacts and I'm now taking images now at the corner amount, I can see this lady approaching from the left, so she approached, await away in a way. And then I take that picture at that moment. That is really important. To understand is that when we taking images on the street a lot of time, we're taking a position. We're holding that position. And then when something happens in that, what something happens in our space were taken the image because I'm taking the image and I'm controlling what's in the frame. I can then identify the key moment. And with this image you'll see was that precise, that even the shadow itself, from the woman on the left is not touching. The woman on the bench is not lost in the bench in any way, shape or form. It can still be seen, so one other things to learn to do is tow. Practice the decisive moment. Find a spot where the light is Good way. You've got a good background on wait for your subject to come in, especially if you're neuter street photography. This is one of the most fundamental core skills and of course it comes back to that principle. Your they're comfortable in that space. People are entering your friend. People are entering your space on that puts you in control. Now one of the most powerful things you can capture is the emotional moment, the emotional connection between people with the emotional value in a situation. One of the basics of photography is we want to see those emotional moments. We want to see activity for interactions between people, interactions between people and animals, interactions between animals. These are the moments that make great images, and these are the moments of people respond to. Remember if we could get a heart response with our images, that is the moment. So when we're taking images and portrait, we're not looking for a staged shot where, you know the person is perfectly posed the way we want them looking for genuine emotion in that moment. Genuine connection. And that's what creates powerful images, move away from posed images and find the emotional moments, which is really a subset of the decisive moment. Those moments that tell a story 11. Module 02 06 Activities Module 2: So here's some activities. Activity number one. Take a picture of someone like you observe coming for a window or from an artificial light source. So what I mean by that is we want to see the light says that light comes in. Just take a picture of the light itself activity number to find a subject, animals or inanimate, and take a picture of light falling on that subject. So we wanna just find a coffee cup. Stick it on a table where there's a nice window like taken image as we go fruit. Of course, we're gonna explore this in much more depth, but let's start. Let's just get out there. Let's just get taking pictures. Start practicing activity number free, find a background and take a picture of that background with no one in it. And then I would recommend you take another image of someone in that background as they walk into that background activity. Number four. Name the free elements the old pictures contain and make and no off those free elements in your photography journal 12. Module 03 01 Introduction Module 3: in this module. We're gonna look at the concept of seeing the light the most fundamental skill a photographer has. We're going to look at the different hard, light and soft light and learn how to identify between two. We're also going to explore color temperature. 13. Module 03 02 Seeing The Light: seeing the light is the single most important skill a photographer can learn. It is the very foundation off photography. All good photographers learned to be observers of light to be light hunters, so to speak. If the light isn't right, a good photographer won't even raise that camera. So when we taken image, we're taking an image of the lights falling on the subject, and this is a really important concept to understand. So in this image, the subject is the Wardrop. But what we're actually seeing in this image is a light reflecting off of that Wardrop. So when we take a picture off this, we're actually taking a picture of the light falling on the water drop reflecting back into the camera. In this image, we've got quite a bit going on. But that place, our eyes were probably drawn to the bridge. Is the light falling on the bridge is going to draw? I we can see that we've got a light source in the actual image. You've got the light on the lighthouse and we've got some light on the waves. But I would argue in this instance that the subject is actually the bridge because that is where the contrast is between light and dog is what the photographer has emphasized as the main subject. In this image of some strawberries, we can see the light falling on the subject. We've got a light source on the left side of the image on that is sweeping across, and it is the light that draws out the texture in the strawberries. It's the light that creates the highlights, and it's the absence of light or the lower levels of light on the right hand side that create the shadow. So it's the light falling on the subject that creates the interest in this image. And this is one of the things we have to learn. We have to learn to see and identify and be intelligent about the light falling on the subject. We're not so much worried about the subject, but we're more worried about the pattern and type of light. There's being shown in the image in this image. We've got a little splash of light that goes across the road, and that's where the photographer is trying to draw attention to is trying to draw attention to that little bit of like going across the road. It's the light falling on the road that creates our interest. Now we do have some bright trees in the background, and they're also a secondary element in the image. But really, where the photographers trying to place arises on that road. Now, if you're not conscious and looking for that, you're deceiving, which fingers good. But when you actually look at it in terms of analyzing the image to see where the light is , we start to realize that the photographer's intention is for us to be focused on that road . And again, what we have here is we have an artificial light source at night. It's a very, very clever image by the photographer, because when we look at it, we could see a lot of color weeks, a lot of richness, and we can see a lot of light. But when you actually start to look at it, it's the light falling on the people on the subject, illuminating the car. It's a light as it interacts with the objects actually creates the image. So now what we have is we have a really nice light on the customer's faces and in this instance that light sources actually being included in the image, which makes it such a clever image. But it's the interactions of the people around the car waiting for some food. There is revealed through the light falling on them, and that's what good photographers can do. They can see on image if its image didn't have the light. If the image was in daytime, this image won't be strong, but because the night because the light is there because it's falling and touching on all the subjects and illuminating them. And now they stand out in the image we can begin toe, enjoy and appreciate the image, and it's the light falling on the subject. What we've got is actually quite a hardline sense of the direction of the light falling on the subject and then behind the subject. We've got deep shadows, so it creates quite a strong contrast on a lot of interest. So I really, really like this image. But again, it's not a picture of a food truck. This is a picture of the light fully on the subject. Now this one is interesting because this is a photograph of tour aeroplanes on the light isn't falling on the subject. But what the photographers done is use a light in the background and is used the absence of light to illustrate the subject matter. So although this isn't like falling on the subject, it is the absence of light but creates the image and do some light in the image of some little glows and highlights here and there. But it's the observation of light that's made the images, the background, the sky that colors the richness. So what the photographer has seen here is light, really good light. And then he see also seen the absence of light on the aircraft, and that is what has created a stunning image. 14. Module 03 03 Hard Light: So let's have a look at hard light. Ah, hard lights. Orth is a small light source that creates a hard shadow. Now this often froze people. The sun in the midday sky, if it's in this guy by itself, is a small lights off relative to you. Now the sun is huge, but it is actually a small light source in the sky when it comes to taking an image, and it's often fools people. But that small light source will create a hard shadow, which is why it is cold. Hard light on a lot for talkers will shy away from hard light, but it's one of my favorite types of light when we want to identify hard light. Well, we have to look for is hard shadows, and it is really as simple as that. That is how you see hard light. So let's go into the studio and have a look at some hard light. So here we are in a virtual studio on. What we want to see here is we want to see that we've got a small light source so we can see we've got. If we look at the light here, you've got very small light source here. So the light yourself is very small in size shining on our subject. So we just got one light source very small, shining on subjects that What does that actually look like? So let's have a look. So this is the image. This is how that, like in a studio setting, would fall on the subject. So what we've got, we could see we've got very bright light here. But what we're looking for is the shadow, the hardness of shadow. You see, when we see a small light source falling on the subject, we're going to get a very, very hard shadow in this image. It's so hard that all we've got a large area of shadow on this side. So the light is falling. It's very directional on, then it cannot get past the notes. So the light travels in a straight line, hits a subject and can't get past the nose. So that is what hard light would look like if used in a studio. And you'll see the same lighting when you're out with sun with artificial light sources. If it's a small light source, it's a hard light source is gonna create dark, hard shadows. So let's have a look at some hard light examples. So in this image, we've got some paper. But it's the hard light that creates a hard shadows around the edge off the paper and also reveals the texture in the paper itself. If you have a light shining directly onto this from above, from where we're looking now, so from our perspective those shadows would disappear. But because of light has come across from the side, so it's coming from the top left. We can see those hard shadows, and it's that which brings out the texture and the shape of the items. The hard light creates hard shadows, which creates the definition in the image and brings out the detail in this image. We've got the sun coming from the top right across the sand, and that is how we can see the texture. We can see the light on the shadow. We can see bright, light, deep shadows on. That's what you'll often see in a hard light situation. And that's what brings out the texture, which is pleasing to us. If we didn't have that hard light, this image would just look very flat on un interesting. But the shadow and the texture in the sand is revealed because of the hard light source, and in this case, it would have been son. Now, here we have a landscape that I've taken and you can see here that is hard, like a lot of people shy away from hard like. But what I want to point out here is the texture in the baskets. So if you can see the rope in the lobster baskets, you can see that texture is there. There's a lot of texture. There's a lot of detail and also in the buildings in the back. If you look at the church tower, for instance, it really stands out because of a highlight and shadow. We could see the direction off the light. We could see the direction off the sun, and it's a sane. All throughout the image is the highlights on the hard shadows that enable us to create visual interest in this image. Now this might well have worked with some flight, but because I wanted to emphasize the texture in the lobster baskets, hard light is much more suitable for this type. of image. So in this image, we've got this cheeky starling. He wasn't frightened of me in any way, shape or form. But what hard light will do with bird photography is it will bring out the detail in the feathers. So whenever you're taking pictures of birds, you want to see the favors. You want to see the detail, you want to see the texture. And again we have a hard light source here, enabling us to see these really, really important details. And this is why I say to people, Don't be afraid of hard light. Don't run away. A lot of photographers say we've got photographed your and golden hour where it's a soft gold like That's incorrect. Yes, that's a great time to take images. But if you start to learn and understand hardline how to use him, what is good for you can go out in the midday sun and take great images on its learning to see that hard, like learning to step beyond a very narrow view of what light is. Their neighbors also start creating some really interesting images other people will miss. This is a hard like portrait. Technically, it's blown out on the hat. Technically, we've lost the detail in the white, but I like the hard shadows. I like the almost abstract nature of this image, and the reason I'm showing you it is to show that portray its ideally are taken in soft light. But hard light will give you something completely different. Hard light allows you to create some really, really interesting portrays. So in this image were drawn to the lips and the chin. There's a sense of mystery of wantedto be able to see the rest of the face. But you can't because as a photographer, I've made the choice to show. I've shown so experiment with hard light where people wouldn't even use hard like now, one of the most important things to understand is that silhouettes work best when there's a hard light source and this is a seaside shut on. We've got a very strong sun high in the sky, and you can see it's very high because of the shadows under the pony. Andi, the woman who's holding the pony If you look on the floor, the shadows are very close to the subject. I'm not stretched out. That means the sun is very high above them, but there has enabled us to take a really, really powerful black and white image. And this is one thing to understand. If you put the sudden behind your subject and it's a hard light source, that's when you start creating some really compelling, an interesting silhouette. Shots says something to guy on practice. Make sure wherever your subject is that there between you on the hard light source and you are going to start getting some interesting silhouette. So that's a classic use off hard light. Now crush lighting is the process of having the light skim across the surface. So in this instance, the light is coming across the image, and it's creating the really hard shadows, which you can see in the brick. But most importantly, you can see around the lock on its because we're lighting it across the subject that we get this really hard shadows when you're out and about. Look for light that skims a subject. There's nearly in line with a subject, but slightly off and create is really strong shadow. So once you start learning to see hard light and sit falling on the subject, you could start to use it in your photography and have some really interesting adventure. And like I said, I love hard light. It just brings out things that soft light does not bring out. So when I see hard, like I get really happy grabbed my camera and I'm out there on encourage you to do the same . 15. Module 03 04 Soft Light: so soft line is like that is diffused or is bounced around said they hits the subject from all sides. So soft light comes from a large light source, in other words, so let's look at the cloud in the image above. The sun is a hard light source, but the cloud in front of the sun scatters the rays and soften that light source and turns it into a large light source on. The reason I'm using the sun on the cloud to illustrate these points is because whenever we go into the studio, we're trying to replicate this cloudy day of soft light or a bright day with hardly so now we have eight this cloud. As a large light source. We can see what it starts to do to the shadows, the shadows they're going to soften. So if you remember in the last image, it was very hard. But in this image, the very soft shadow from the tree. And that's because the light is wrapping around the tree and getting behind the tree almost and softening. The shadow now softly, is particularly good for portraiture, especially female portraiture, as it removes lines and texture and Smoothes the skin out waiting photographers, for instance. You have to work very fast. They tend to prefer cloudy days because the light is soft and even not having to fight against hard light and moving the subject so much so saw flight is much more forgiving, much easier to work with, especially when it comes to taking images of people. So here we see an example of diffused light, which was a term we use before. So diffuse light is a light source that is shining through something else that softens it. So in this instance, we've got soft, diffuse, panel of way material that the light is shining through and in this instance now to diffuse it is larger, then the subjects. And now we have a large light source because it's bigger than the actual subject itself. And now we're gonna get soft, even wrap around the subject, so that's diffused the light. That's when the light is diffused through something else and falls on our subject. Now reflected light is different because reflected light is light that hits something and then bounces off of that and lights are subject. In this instance, we use a reflect and we can see the reflector is larger than the subjects that light is going to wrap around. The subject is going to soften, and you can see what the arrows The light is bouncing in all directions. And that's how we get, like going around much more with hard light sources. It's just very direct and very hard, and you don't get that light bouncing around the edges because the light source is smaller than the subject. We've got the sun bouncing off the panel, reflecting onto the subject so you can see this in images where the light is bouncing off a wall, the sunlight bouncing off a wall, and you can use that as a light source. And this is often a technique that commercial photographers, professional photographers were used to understand how to use reflected light. When they're in a hard light situation, they will move someone into an area where the sun is not directly an image but it shining on a wall. And we used the wall as that light source to soften the image. So let's go have a look at this in the virtual studio. So here we are in the studio in the virtual studio, and we can see we've got a light source that is much larger than the subject. So now we're going to get a lot of wrapping around on this subject. We're goingto have a soft light, so let's have a look at what that image actually looks like once has been taken. So now we have this soft light source. It's a diffused light because the light is coming through some material in the studio Strobe, and we can see straightaway that it's a lot softer. We could see some tonality here. It's not as bright as a hard light example we gave earlier. We're seeing a nice soft shadow on the nose, on the cheek and on the neck. So now what we've got is a soft light source, and this is going to be much more pleasing as a shop for female subject. Now, if I was gonna take an image of a male subject, I would use hardly and draw out the lines and the grittiness of the male subject. But the ladies like toe have soft light. Soft light will take five years off of any subject. That's what soft light will look like on the subject. We can see if we look at it carefully. Learn to observe the light. We know we've got a big light source. That's the biggest clue. But then we can also see the softness in the shadow and the way it gently moves from lit too dark. It is a nice, soft, blurred edge to the shadow around here, so that's a soft light example. So in this image it's a landscape, and we've got a really soft light on the subject. The ridges are very soft and flat, so landscape photography, although hardly often brings out much more interesting detail. You can also use soft light as a way of creating interesting landscape. So this is a candid portrait. So this is just a portrait were out and about, and there's a very soft light in the sky, and you can see because there's not much shadow. There's not much hard shadow on the face, and this is just using natural light. This is just using the light in the sky. So it just goes to show that if you learn to take images in natural light, hard and soft, that actually teaches you how to do studio photography Because all you're trying to do is actually replicate what you would do outside. So this image was taken in hard like conditions. So we moved the subject under a tree into some shadow where the light was much softer and we got this really nice soft portray. So it just goes to show that when you're out in hard, like conditions by moving your subjects and we're gonna talk about this much more later on by moving your subject into a more suitable location where the light has actually changed, we can take interesting images, and in this instance, we can see how the soft light is removed, texture from skin and now have a nice off porcelain effect to the skin. And this is what the ladies like. So here's a studio shoot, and we've got some stuff like soft like and helpers to communicate innocence. It can help us to communicate softness and gentleness. And again, we've got that softness. We got that porcelain feel in the image I just wanted you to see. It wasn't that much different between this show on the previous shot in terms of softness in the skin. Here is a image with soft light. This is a restaurant, and there's some light coming through a window. Now whenever you're taking an image indoors, if you've got a nice large window that the sun is shining through, you can create really nice soft light. But I think the notes is this. When you're looking at the window that the light is coming through, the sun cannot be in the window itself, because if the sun is shining fruit, you've just turned that life source into a small light source. You have tohave the light coming through the window without the sun visible, and if you do that, you'll have a large light source and then you'll get this beautiful soft light. And here is just a candid portrait in our home, and you can see we've just used a soft light. We've moved a subject back a bit from the soft lights that are coming into shadow a little bit more to control the amount of shadow on the face. But we've just used the patio delight from the patio to come in to create this nice, interesting image of this young boy. When you start being able to see the light and seeing how light is falling on the subject. Seeing soft, light, hard light You're starting out to move the subject toe where you want them to be, and that is when your photography really starts to change. 16. Module 03 05 Colour Temperature: So let's have a look at color temperature. What color temperature is basically light has certain wave limbs and temperatures, and those temperatures change as we go down and change the appearance of the light. So a 1000 Calvin, which is a measurement we're going to have a very hot light candlelight type of light. But 1500 Calvin, we're gonna have tungsten light. And then we're going to see 2500 Kelvin early sunrise and we moved to household bowls noon daylight. Cloudy day. They turn shaped twilight, so at night it gets very blue and it's very cold, and it's important to be able to see the temperature of light because it affects the mood of your image. So when we look at white balance, white balance refers to what color's your whites are. If the light shining on your weights are not 5500 k they will pick up a color cast. So to prevent that coming through, we can match our cameras color temperature to the wives, especially if you're shooting in J. Peg, which smart phones and iPhones will shoot it, and now you can adjust your white balance in your camera to match the color temperature you're actually using. If that's what you're trying to achieve now, DSLR cameras will shoot in something called raw format, so that's an image that is completely neutral in terms of white balance. So you can actually adjust the white balance later, and you can adjust same post processing. So that's why a lot of professional photographers will shoot in raw, because then they don't have to worry so much about white balance. They can fix that later. If you're shooting in J. Peg and you want a certain look, then white balance is something you need to be aware of. But to build us today, the software editing programs, even on smartphones, even apse of really good at working with white balance. I don't need to worry about this, but it's all powerful learning to see the light of understanding what type of light you have. And then, if you want a certain mood, you want softness romance. You're going to be going for candle at times of the early sunrise, and then, if you want sort cold and gritty, you're gonna want daytime and twilight, and if you want really neutral and you're gonna want, like, noon day low in this sometime. The sky and the light is actually white, so be aware of color temperature learned to see what color of light is out there, but don't get bogged down with it. It's not incredibly important when it comes to creative photography, but it does help to understand that in and enable you to set the mood. And to be honest, you'll learn a lot about color temperature. When you're editing your images, all of sudden you go, Yeah, this should have been a bit warm or that should have been a bit cool. I would have liked it to be like this that elected to have this sort of tone of light, this white balance on that's when it was really start coming through. 17. Module 03 06 Activities Module 3: activities, and I encourage you to keep doing the activities. Guys, it's really gonna help. I'm teaching. Go in and you will learn much faster if you carry out these activities. Activity number one Taken image using a hard light source activity number to take an image using a soft light source. So that's something that's larger than your subject. Provident. Smaller, as in the case of hard light activity number free. Take a J peg image of the same scene with two different color temperatures. Now you're gonna have to be able to go into your camera and adjust the white balance to see the difference. And even smartphones with right app will allow you to adjust color temperature. If you don't have that functionality in your camera, all you need to do is taken image and then take into some software that allows you to adjust the color temperature on. Watch the changes as you move the color temperature up and down the scale. Activity number four right down in your journal what white balance is and how it affects your images 18. Module 04 01 Introduction Module: the second fundamental off photography of learning photography is learning to control the light on the way we do. That is by working the scene, we can move our feet waken move a subject we can move the light itself knows that a free core principles we have to understand when it comes to learning to control the line. So in this module we're gonna look at that and grasped that so that we can become a much better photographers. Let's go have a look at these in depth. 19. Module 04 02 Working The Scene: So that's something. Look at working the scene. They're free ways that we can essentially work the scene One, Move your feet to move your subject and free Move your light. These are the free elements we can have control over on by breaking it down into this simple system of feet subject light, we can control any lighting situation. Often we can only control one of these elements, but being able to recognize that and they was us to get the finished image much faster. So, for instance, I might be doing some street photography. I can't control the light. I can't control where the sun is. Maybe I'm taking an image of my subject and they don't know that I'm taking an image of him , so I have no control over them. Then what I can do then is I can move my feet on. That will change the scene and allow me to control the light on whether lights falling. So that's how it works. When you in the studio, you control all of these elements. The further you go away from a controlled situation, the less control you have over each of these. But you're typically always at least how one of these to adjust. And this is how you work the scene. You move your feet, you move your subject or you move the light. And once you've learned to see a light, this is the next step in learning to become a master photographer. And this is one of the most exciting part off photography learning how toe work the scene. 20. Module 04 03 Moving Your Feet: not a one thing we can always control is moving our feet, changing where we are in terms of the light on the subject. Weaken change, a position we can change our perspective. A simple way to practice this is to shoot were fixed focal limp. So that means a lens that doesn't zoo. So it's something like an iPhone or a smartphone or prime lends on a DSLR camera is by moving our feet, we see things and opportunities that we might not have seen before. When you change your perspective in the image, you are changing the viewer's perspective of how they relate to your image. You see, you are the viewer for them, and you take them on your journey with you. So when you choose to be where you choose to place, your camera is the deciding factor on how the viewer will consume your image. They will see what you want them to see, so if you move your feet, they're going to see something different. You give them the opportunity to see something they might have never considered from that particular angle or location, and you can create additional interest in your images so getting in front of the subject is probably the most understate. An obvious angle is the position of conversation, and it can be overlooked by photographers looking for an interesting shot. By engaging fully by looking into the eye, we get connection if we're photographing a person or an animal. Now this is accepted in terms off portrait photography. This is a standard, but we can take that and we can apply that to street photography. We can apply that to any type of photography. Get in front of your subject and this is the most challenging for us because now they can see us looking at them. But we did talk about some techniques you can use when was talking about street photography earlier in the master class, so you can take an image from behind your subject. You can create really interesting storytelling image as it often communicates movement with what is in front of the subject, often becoming the subject. So by moving around the subject, moving into a different place, we get a different element of storytelling. By moving to the side of your subject, we can create observational image as now we're interested in the task where the activity the subject is involved in. This is another great way to produce storytelling in an image. By dropping below your subject by shooting upwards, you can create a sense of power, a sense of authority in the subject. You can create dynamic portrait and your notes in this image. We haven't gone really, really below the subject. We're just going slightly below the subject so that the subject's eyes are looking down as a sense of power. We've brought in this skyline behind the background, and we're communicating here strength and dynamism. And that's one of things we can do when we go below the subject. But we don't have to be sitting underneath, looking at the subjects nostrils to create this effect. We can create it with a very subtle movement, and as a contrast here, you can see we're slightly above your subject on now machine is lifted up. This is very flattering in portrait photography when you lift the chin up because it stretches the skin on the face and it will draw the skin much tighter and is very flattering. And if you're in an environment where there's something interesting in the background like this. You can see the streets behind. You start to create context, and you can create even more drama and add more power to the image by including these interesting elements. But again, no, it's It's only a slight elevation. We're not shooting the top of his head. It's a very slight elevation, these air commercial images. So this would be a job. What we have to go in, taken image very quickly and get out because he's very busy people. And these are some of the things we can do really quickly in those situations to get really interesting and compelling images. So now we've got the bird's eye view, and when we shoot straight down, we can create a sense of scale of how small things are, how big the world is. The bird's eye view can also be used in portraiture product photography, and it's pleasing because it is not the normal view that people see. So you give them a perspective and an experience that unfamiliar with. So if you're scared of heights, you would never see this perspective unless you took advantage of this photographer doing this for you, and then we can take the an interview. This is where we look at the world is and then we can see things that people don't often see by looking straight up as Children, laying down and looking up a disguise. A part of our creative playing is part of growing up. And what child hasn't lain down on their back and looked up at the stars at night, order clouds during the day and start to feel that they were falling off the earth? This is why we must learn to change a position to change our perspective, to look up. We'll discover things that other people miss. So when you're out and about, just port, look up and see what you see seem. Most leftovers never look up, and they miss some wonderful opportunities. By getting up close, we create a sense of intimacy. Sometimes intrusion, depending on how to subject, reacts if it's a portrait, for instance. But it's here. We can see the pleasing details off resonate with us as we view those things around us. We have a natural tendency to zoom in when we see something we like on that appeals was and to our viewers when we do that for them through an image. So sometimes you need to get close to stuff. Now. Macro photography is an extension of that. That is where you get really close up on often involve special lenders that can focus at close distance. Many lenses need at least a meter before they focus. He can't do macro photography with every lens. But iPhones, for instance, have a macro function, learning to see the microscopic around us learning to really look at the tiny details can create some powerful images. Like I said, if you've got an iPhone, it's a great tool to practice as it does, allow you to get quite close and focus on your subjects. Shooting from a distance. This is great for creating a sense of scale for creating a soap opera of a scene. You'll often need a long focal length for this type of perspective, especially if you don't want a lot foreground in your image. But if you got that type of equipment is a beautiful storytelling technique very good for landscapes where you want to communicate scale, so shooting from far away, seeing what's in the distance, learning to look into the distance and see what's there is that very important skill when you're learning to move your feet when you're learning to adjust and change a position as you're taking your images. 21. Module 04 04 Moving Your Subject: now moving your subject is extremely important for portraiture. This obviously assumes of level of control over your subject. But what you can also do is wait for your subject to move into the right place. If you do street photography on what you essentially doing when you do, this is your choosing, what background they're gonna operate in, as well as how you want them to look in the image. One of the most basic skills a commercial photographer it develops is to move the subject into a simple background, an area where they remove all distractions, whether in a studio or on site. This image was taken in office by moving the subject in front of a plain, simple wall. We control the image, not the other way round, so it's important to understand this is just in an office. This is an environmental portrait where we've seen a simple background and we've moved the subject in front that background to enable us toe, isolate the image and create a simple corporate portrait. This is the basis of product photography of, well, simple backgrounds are moving the subject, as in the case of this Victorian mourning dress, so When I say morning, I don't mean early in the morning. I mean morning, as in terms of funeral. That's what this dress would have been. Four. After the partner passed away, they were dressed in these black dresses for a period of time. But we can see this is a straight on shot. But now if we add the next image, we start to create a different look, a little bit more interest. We can see the gap through the arms with shape of the waste. And as we move around, we can see the side we can see. Now we're accentuate in the trail of the dress. Just by turning a subject slightly, we start to create some really interesting images, and now we're going to see the back of the dress. We're gonna start to see something that we wouldn't normally consider. And finally we have a full shot of the back and we can see the sweep of the dress as it falls down. So as we go through a simple exercise of just turning the subject, we create interesting, compelling and different images toe what we would normally see. So if you're practicing portraiture with a friend. Get them to stand in front here and then just get them to turn just a little bit and take a Siris of images as they turned and see how each different angle looks. So sometimes you want to provide context. Sometimes you move your subject so that contacts is communicated in this instance is clear in this image that this is London we wanted to communicate. It's a corporate portrait. We wanted to communicate their location that they're in the heart of London. And to do that we have to communicate to an international audience, the red telephone box and also the underground side. So by moving a subject into an area where there's additional information that can help communicate something by providing context, we can make the image much more communicative and help our viewers understand what it is they're looking at. And now we create disparity, or what's known is just position in this image. We've moved our subjects in front of a background is not quite right. It's unsuitable for the image. We're pushing an extreme, and we're gonna talk about juxtaposition much more later on in the course we want to create that disk parity between the subject and the background, and by moving a subject into that location, we create something interesting. So by cropping our backgrounds when we take out images, we can create a different sense of perspective and intimacy. By bringing a subject closer, we make it more intimate and vice a versa. We can move a subject just by cropping in tighter. We can bring them closer or we can move them away. We can crop out background by zooming or by moving our feet. And we can create a sense that we've actually moved the subject when actually, what we've really done is moved ourselves. Subtle movements, often times in photography. People concentrate on really dynamic large movements. But if we create the tiniest movement, weaken dramatically, change an image in this, portray with just create a little bit more warmth on the right, a little bit more interest with a subtle till it ahead, a slight turn of the head on a tiny bit more of emotional warmth. All of a sudden, you've got very different images. So when it comes to take images of people and you're controlling subject subtle movement, tiny movements and getting people to move in tiny movements is really difficult on the technique I often uses mirror. So I look at them and I'll say, Do what I do And then I move my head a tiny bit and tilt it tiny bit and they'll copy that have followed up but subtle movements when we're moving our subject concretely. Eight Incredibly dynamic differences between two images Calling for emotional change in your subject is a powerful way to get them to move, to get them to change position in this image, were drawing up the happiness that have of a newborn on the way that really changes their faces and their body language. Now, sometimes when we're trying to move people, if we ask them to express an emotion or we start talking to them about how they feel their whole body language changes on, we can create some compelling portrait situations, so engaging them in emotion, asking them how they feel to express their feelings is a great way of getting people to move on, relax into an image, but crane dramatic movements. We can bring out the best in young subjects and animals. By moving the subject quickly. We can create a really sense of action in our images. So getting us subjects to relax in front of the camera is often achieved by letting them expend some physical energy, which in and of itself creates dynamic images. So with Children, getting them to release some of their energy helps him to calm down. But also the very act of asking for that drama creates some interesting and compelling images. Now, obviously, when we're freezing action, we're gonna want high shutter speed most of time. We're going to talk about that a little bit more later on. But one of the things we have to appreciate is that changes in movement, getting a subject to move is really going to improve our images on. We want to get them to move in natural ways. We want to get them to relax and be natural, and that's one of the biggest challenges. So these techniques that we've shared with you here, there the standard ways of helping people to relax into an image and create much more compelling image just by moving a subject 22. Module 04 05 Move Your Light: so one of the things we can do is move our light. Now. This tends to happen when we move into very conscious semi professional photography. We were buying lights, but we can do this just by switching lights on and off. If you're in a house and there's a number of lights, you can change the mood of a portrait, for instance, just by trying all the different lights in the room. So one of the things that core skills I commercial Tuggle learned is moving the light. Even if you decide that you're just gonna be an enthusiastic amateur, moving light is a skill you need to have an understanding off. Now, one of the things we need to understand is that light travels in a straight line, is a journey that light take. Now Light will travel in a straight line until it hits something that deflects it. We need to understand this because this is a key concept with learning to control life, because then it becomes about angle and diffusion. It's like playing snooker with light. You learn toe, hit the ball onto the cushion. What angle it will come off seeing what light is doing, and how is entering the scene on bouncing off for defusing is the key to learning to see the light, and we touched earlier on soft light on, we looked at diffusion on reflection and how that changes and spread like out and create a soft light source. And how a small light source, Ah, hard light source create strong shadow. But what we want to do now is we want to go into the studio on, learn to see and understand direction of light. So what we're going to start with here is back. Little like this is light that is behind the subject, as you can see shining on the back of our subject, and that's going to create some interesting rim light. So let's have a look at what type of image this is going to produce when we have a light source behind the subject. Now, as we can see, what we've got here is what's called rim light. It's a classic rim light. We've got glow of light just around the edges, so the direction of light is coming from behind. And in all these examples were going to be using hard light because that helps us to see and understand direction of light so we can see here that light is coming from behind that you might think, Well, that's obvious mouth. But we have to understand the importance of direction of light and how that affects the subject is gonna help us to start thinking about what light is coming from when we're seeing a subject in a lighting situation that we're not in control off or where we are controlling it on the different light effects were going to get. That is a backlit subject. So in this image it's behind and to the side so we can see where the light is. So let me zoom in because we could see we've got a grid on there to keep it really focused on narrow to help the illustration, and we can see where it's coming from. That's coming from behind and to decide, and just the way you try and anticipate before I show you what that might look like in the final image. Just take a moment, trying to think what that's actually gonna look like, what you expect to see that's gonna have a look see if he was right. So here's the images. You can see it. Shining fruit is a small amount of light touching on the agent on the cheek and on the hair . Tiny bit of rim. Very directional, very focused. And we can begin to see that as we move, the light around was starting to light up the face on the skin. Let's have a look at the next one. So now we've moved the light to decide the direction of lights coming directly from the side. Unless see what image that producers now you can see is we're coming around. We're starting to get a lot more light on the face. Now is a little bit hot here. We could probably turn the light down a little bit for the purpose of the illustration. This is fine, and this is typically what was called split lighting. But we can see we've got light coming round. It's creating 1/2 shadow right for the middle because it's directly on the side and it's important toe. Learn to see the subtle variations and sometimes not so subtle variations. So when we're out and about, we can move a light or we could remove ourselves in relation to the lights that we come around a bit and get different angle on the subject. But the courting here's to see the change. This makes. So let's have a look at the next one. And now it's a much stronger angle, and we could see the lights Stein to fall on the subject's face. Sometimes you can't see the light source, but you can see a shadow on the wall and that will tell you the direction of light. So now we're starting to get some interesting light falling on the subject. Now we're getting into the range where we start thinking about taking some compelling poor traits. There is a hard shadow because we are using a hard light source, but we can see now that the light is starting to fill the face up. Remove the light around the subject. Let's have a look at the next example. So here we have moved behind the camera behind the photographer, and it's coming directly over the shoulder of the photographer, so to speak, and it's shining directly into our subject's face. So now we can see the direction of light, so let's see how that looks. So now we're seeing a very even shadow under the chin over here so we can see where the lights coming from. We've got this shadow behind as well from the head. So the direction of life directly in front is very, very obvious. Some look at the next one. So now we've got a light underneath, shining up into the subject's face. So this is, Ah, light. It comes from underneath and shines up as we can see. Let's see what that does is we change the direction of light for this rather interesting angle. And now we've got quite a spooky effect. This is a typical effect that she used in horror movies or anything where you wanna communicate center danger. And this is quite in a natural lighting parent. We used to seeing a light come from above. This is why it disturbs light from underneath doesn't make that much sense because typically light when we see is the sun in the sky. It's lights in a room that you usually nearly always above us. So that's what we used to see it. So this creates a little bit of disconnect, a little bit of tensions he can create some interesting images by using a direction of light like this. So in a final example, we have a light above the subject directly above when we concede it's going to do something quite interesting. So let's have a look what this does when we change the direction of light so that the light source is above the subject. So, as you can see, the light is lined up the hair and the nose and part of the shoulders on the chest area. So what we've actually got here's the direction of light that comes down. So learning to see direction of light, learning to see intelligently and understanding as a photographer will enable us to use it and to control it. And by moving like around a subject, we can create some really interesting, creative and compelling images. 23. Module 04 06 Activities Module: activities. Activity number one. Take an image of a single subject from free. Different perspectives. Activity number two. Taken image of a subject where you place the subject where you want it to be in the background. Activity number free. Take free images of an item with a torch As a light source, you might have to get someone to hold it for you. One from behind one from the side on one from the front. Write down in your journal for activity number four. The free elements of controlling the light A. Write a paragraph about each element explaining the core concepts. 24. Module 05 01 Introduction Module: in this module, We're gonna look at capturing the light. So as a photographer to certain skills, we need to learn a technical. So we're gonna look a camera. We're going to look at the free levers that control any camera we're gonna look at I s o shutter speed and aperture and get an understanding of those levers on how we can use them in our photography. 25. Module 05 02 Your Camera: So when it comes to your camera, the best camera is the one you have with you. Most people, when they start photography, they start at capturing the light. And if you remembers, we've gone from this master class. You've gone through the process of seeing the light, controlling the light, capturing the light on. Then we'll move on to processing the light. As of October, as we learned, most people jumped to stage free. They never learned to see the light and control the light before they worry about capturing the late. So if you're in this module and you haven't seen the other modules, it is better you go back and start module one a. Work your way up to this. But now we're ready to start exploring capturing light and understanding how cameras work. So when we look camera choices, they pretty much follow this order. In terms of what we can invest in. We can start the basics with an iPhone or a smartphone. It's a great first camera is accessible, you always have it with you. And then we can look at the point and shoot these 10 toe work well in good light. But they have a small sensor, often have a zoom function, and when buying one look for a camera that has an optical zoom and not an electrical zoom. These air usually cameras. You just throw in your pocket and take with you. And if you lose air more, they get damaged is not the end of the world. And then after that, there's something called a bridge camera, and this is good for practicing manual mode on a budget they tend to come with. The lens is attached to the camera. Already, they look a little bit like a DSLR. You can't change the lenses, and they don't tend to be as good quality in terms of build or the images that taken that you will find in a DSLR. And then we've got micro 4/3 cameras. These have a smaller sensor than a DSLR, a smaller form factor, but they often come with interchangeable lenses, and you can even use lens adapters. So sometimes you can you can nickel ended on Liza's well and there, step up from a bridge camera. Recently, what we've been seeing is a lot of muralist cameras, so these are cameras that have replaced a lot of the mechanical operations within a DSLR with electronic technology. Now, in my opinion, is still being developed and not quite there yet. They tend to have a low battery life, but that's not too much of an issue by a couple more batteries and make sure the charge and you've got among you. But they still fail to compete with deer saliva in terms off controlling autofocus. There's some advantages to them, but I still think personally that DSLR are on the top of the hill when it comes to what's available out there on when we buy a DSLR camera. We wanted by when we have good lynch choices and a good center. And a lot of people don't realize this is that a lot of new bodies air coming onto the market price camera bodies. They've got this and they've got that. But when you actually look at the availability of lenses, there's not much choice available. So when you buy a disallow, make sure there's plenty off lenses, and then we come to the film camera, which is really a throwback. Now. Most people work in digital, but they can be fun. But In my opinion, if you're learning photography, avoid them. Better learn with a digital camera, which isn't gonna cost you lots of money when you make a mistake. So with a film camera, you're by a lot of films and your process them and it will get very expensive very fast. With a digital camera. You don't have that issue. So recommend when you're learning, learn with some type of Elektronik camera and for the sake of discourse, nearly all the principals in this course can actually be practiced with an iPhone or a smartphone. So if that's what you have got used that So what am I shooting with at the moment? This is actually going to really help you to understand this course, because these are the cameras aren't currently using. I'm very practical about my camera choices. So let's have a look at each of these in depth, and I'll explain why I've got them on where and when I use them. So the first camera for me is my iPhone success. Plus, I've got a success. Plus because it's gonna image stabilization on the camera. The success doesn't know. No, we've moved away from 6.7. And you might even be watching this training course. One. IPhone 10. When you buy your iPhone, try and pick something that has a good camera or a smartphone. If you're gonna buy a phone, you got a great opportunity to actually get yourself quiet. Decent little camera thrown in with a bargain. Got this with me all the time. I use this all the time to take images. It's always there. It's not my favorite camera, but it is one of always got with me. So therefore, it really the most versatile. So this is my little food. UX 10. This is a little camera. This isn't actually sold anymore. You can actually buy. This is no longer made affect up to Expert E. But what was unique about this little camera is it had a really, really decent little sensor in there. My memory is that 2/3 inch sensor, so it's not massive center, but it's a definite step up from the iPhone. Now, this is my street photography camera. This is the one I carry around. It's very discreet. I can take anywhere. It's not huge. It doesn't scare people. Well, I really love about this camera is, it's got a good range. It goes from 28 millimeter, which is quite wide, up to 112 millimeter equivalent. So when I'm out and about on the street, this gives me a pretty much everything I need to take an image, and it's got this amazing little mode called xar mode on it when you stick in that and it pretty much figured that your exposure for us, it's very much a point and shoot. And I love this camera for the ease and discretion. I can take this absolutely anywhere, and people don't really give me a second glance and not looking at me thinking, Here comes a professional photographer is going to take my pictures like that Guy's got sweet your camera. What's that about? And the styling is old. So what? This is really this is It's a very high end point and shoot camera. I think a regional paid about £500 to this when it first came out. They still fetch very good money on the second hand market because they're so popular. There's lots of little cameras out on our point and shoes. If you're going to take a step up from an iPhone. This is where it encourage you to start. I wouldn't worry too much about moving to a dear Salah too quick. Something like this for creative photography is absolutely fine. It takes good quality images. The I s own is good, and some of the newer cameras that are replacing this get amazing results. A lot of them up notice they only have a focal length of 24 to 70. When you were appointed Shoot. I don't think that's quite long enough. So if you can pick up something that's 28 to 1 20 I think Cannon do a point and shoot was 28 1 20 Something like that. Something relatively small. Stick on a strap. You carry it around all day. Perfectly fine. Great little camera. If you're gonna get into street photography, you haven't got a huge budget. Don't go to DS Alaska like expensive real quick. You got 500 maybe 6 £700 budget. You'd be amazed what you can get some amazing or cameras out there. They're going to give amazing image quality. You get a nice depth of field when use them in the right way. Know what's good in the DSLR? Obviously, but the great or cameras. But this is my favorite camera. And thats could be really interesting because I got a big gun at the end of the show. You in a bit you can see the kind of five d mark free. But when it comes to street photography, which is what I love to do the most this is a camera I often reach for somebody. Next time I'm gonna show you is my seven Deny This is an older camera. Now it's a good seven years old, but it's still a decent camera. Some of the modern cameras that we're gonna give you the same sort of image quality even better than this is gonna be the Canon 80 D. Why do I buy Canon? Broadway causes that lens range. You've got so much Len drink. So this doesn't take the best images in the world. Doesn't take that most technically best images, but it's got faster. Oh, focus is still a good camera, But what I've got on this is the 18 to 200. Now, this is my serious street photography camera. Now, you can imagine that when I'm out and about to start pointing at this of people, you know, it's pretty obvious that I'm taking pictures. It's not as discreet as a Fuji X 10 but it gives me an 18 millimeter at the Loren angle of view upto 200 millimeter. So this is what's often called a super zoom. Now, lot photographers Well, look at this lens and no scream of horror and now said it's not the best quality is not the sharpest lens. It's an all thing. It's an everyman. And that's exactly why I like it, because when I go out with this, it's a step up in terms of quality from the X 10. But I don't need to change lenses, and I love the way this with a simple shoulder strap. So take away because these can be quite heavy these day s laws, and I can take that to shoot with that all day long on its 18 to 200 Lacker said, the lens isn't the best lens in the world is not cheap land. There's not the best lens in the world. The body is no longer the best body in the world. But you know what? It gets the job done on. I'm more interested when I'm using this equipment. I'm trying to create creative images. I'm not trying to make sure that my camera is the absolute best technically in the world. And I'm not overspending. I can take this out and I can use this and get images. Good images, consistently all the time. Now I've said I'm a commercial photographer so we can talk about lights and everything. But most people, if you're going to get a light for a camera, this is something I recommend. Little old young, you know, join his flesh will set you back £80 for one of their decent ones on that Absolutely brilliant. I've got a number of these. I can use them in different ways. If you're looking for a flash against save you money, don't go overboard when it comes to equipment. These are absolutely brilliant and a great first street talk that a great for shooting indoors. And I just want to show you a little black, foamy thing on the front. This camera is a piece of foam on a couple of hair bands on the back basically what I can do this. I can put this on my camera, face up to the subject. I can bounce light up into the ceiling. Andi, list little I in the room. You need a close sailing like a bounce off a wall on what happens is you think about direction of light. It's gonna go onto the wall, can make the wall a large light source, and that's gonna show into my subject. So this on top of my camera enabled me to use hard, light, small light source for bouncing into a large light source and that creates a soft light source. So when you get there, salon, you get to that stage, something like this is perfectly fine. I think Cameron, Nick on products are way overpriced. I do think the Chinese, in this instance for creating these items because they do the job of you 16 years have never let me down. Very, very good flashes. So that's a young you know. This one is a young neo y en 565 he actually buying on Amazon and IV a great little flashes and think about flash. Recommend that that's all I need in my bag in my camera and my flash on that is what I use from most of my commercial work. When I'm doing 100 Portrait's and I have to be on site, I just take this and that, that's what Like after sealing off a wall and I'm good to get most of the shots, you're going to see what I say. Its commercial portrait in this course is using justice on my main camera body. So that brings me to my main camera. This is my top in professional grade five D Mark free. Now the five d mark forward just come out for me. That's overpriced at the moment. It doesn't really do anything for me beyond what this already does. No point in what grading whatsoever. This is a phenomenal camera. I think we're the best cameras that's ever been made itself strongly. I regard the five d mark free on on this. I've got a big 72 202.8 lens. That's a very fast throughout the rage, but as you can see, this is big and bulky. Do take this out and I do do some street for totally with it on when I do, the images are absolutely exquisite. Don't get me wrong. This compared with 70 in the 18 200 millimeter lens. No comparison Image quality on this is absolutely phenomenal compared to the iPhone and food. The extent this is gonna leave them standing Good lens on that. You know, it's about the city of Sigma 7200. I haven't got the camera again. This lens is a good £1000 cheaper if not mawr than the cannon equivalent. Maybe Sigma Sigma make great lenses, is slightly less sharp at the bottom end, but for at the range is nearly identical for £1000 less. And I use this commercially great lens. Now my kitbag consists off. I usedto have loads and loads of lens tilt ships and things. And then I actually started to think about it. What I actually realized, what I ended up using two lenses all the time because even when you're out shooting, swapping to lenders over is a paint. So I've got this one. My trusty old 24 70 Canon Mark one. There's a mark two out now, but again, they're overpriced. Great little lens between these two. I'm going from 24 wide to 200 on a full frame camera. That's my kids. When I'm out doing corporate candid portraiture, this is it, and everything is that gives me a gonna need some 24 wide to 200. That's pretty much when I looked all over lenses, I ended up selling them to finance other projects. I wasn't actually using them. I just be these two. But this lens is my absolute favorite. So here's a tip for you. If you're on a budget and you want a good portrait lens you don't have to buy. This is quite expensive, but any lens that that goes 55 to 200 or 55 to 50 around those ranges. When you go out to 200 move your feet back and take a portrait. You will be amazed that sort even at F eight and again we're gonna talk about it. You'll be amazed where you can get out of a camera, lends a long, focal lens. Compressed background will show you some examples. There. You can get some really, really amazing shots. So as you can see consistently in all of those choices, it's really about simplicity. The camera, for me is secondary to the creative process. I could give a beginner a canon five D mark freeze. Put the 7200 on on that body for him. When I bought that camera, that was a £3000 body. I When I bought the lens, it was like a £1500 lens that dropped in price. Now a little bit, so I can give them what cost me 4.5 £1000 on. They go out and take images. I take my little food. You extend. Leave my iPhone on, I guarantee. At the end of it, we have a look at our images, my image. It will be better because I understand the visual language on that's the important thing to understand. When it comes to camera choices, camera is a tool. Some of them are better than others, some of more convenient than others. But the end of the day for talking happens here in the mind. On were just sticking summit in front to record that when we go through the camera choices I've made, I've got the iPhone. It's always with me is a great little camera I can get shots with that. I've got the food. You're extend, which I love to take out when I'm being very purposeful about my photography, but don't want to carry a big heavy camera around when I want to go out. I've got the Karen 70 in the 18 200 millimeter lens. That's my utility equipment. That is gives me incredible range in terms of the types of images I can actually capture. But then, when I really, really want high quality, I could bring out the Big Gun, which is the five d mark free. But again, I'm keeping my range selection down. I'm not getting caught up in what's called Gear last. Well, we're just going out, and we're lusting after GM with spending all that time looking at gears we mentioned earlier in the course. I'm not doing that. It's very practical, simple flash on my camera, which I showed you, which is not an expensive one. Very practical, very simple, because I want to take created images on I encourage you to do the same. Don't get bogged down and equipment. The most important thing you can learn is the language of composition. How to see light. How to control that have to capture light, how to process light. When you do that, you'll be able to get amazing results with practically any camera that's fit for purpose. 26. Module 05 03 The Three Levers: now manual mode is important to learn. Your camera went set to auto mode has a small chip that is trying to replace your own brain when it comes to control in the camera. Now there are times when auto mode is absolutely fine, but you understand when you're using it, why you're using. So I was talking about my food. TX 10. I can walk around, see a shot grab it is auto, but the auto function on it. It's phenomenal. It's really good, even sometimes that I find it's not right enough. Switched to what's called program mode on the foodie extent, and I'll switch it up. And now I'm going to control my exposure, and this is essentially what we're doing. We're going to control our exposure using manual mode or using assisted modes on understanding how the camera works and how it affects our creativity. And the types of image we can get is fundamental. So with manual mode, there is a mechanical learning process we have to go through so that we can learn the principles of taking a well composed and well exposed image quickly. It's like learning a martial art or learning to drive. You have to practice until your body learns how toe operate automatically, and that's a key thing. To understand these air physical skills and you get used to a camera, you'll find it very hard to move off that camera because you can instinctively just go to the right controls on operate the levers. We're going to teach you and create really compelling images, and it becomes second nature. When you first learn to drive. Everything is conscious, but after a while become subconscious and you just do it instinctively. That's what learning to control the camera is like. You learn how to use it and you learn how to use it well, so let's have a look at the free levers. You have free levers that you can push and pull up and down, and that is going to increase the amount of lie a decrease, the amount of lie your camera is capturing, and those free levers are called I S O Shutter Speed and Aperture. Now, one of the hardest things when it comes to photography is understanding and learning these levers and how to use them. But we are going to go through that and explain that to you, so try not to get too bogged down in these terms. It might be that you take this section going, do some photography, come back and re watch it, and then it will start to make a bit more sent. But let's have a look at these terms and start to understand the free leaders. So the first thing we have to understand is something called stops of light. In this image, we have I s o shutter speed and aperture. No, I s o your base. I so low size. So will probably be 100. But let's just say you got a camera has got 50 I s So I will explain why all these are later to move up to allow more light in. We moved to ice I 100. We move up again. We moved toe. I say 200 each one of these stop of light. Now what confuses people is that they use different measurement types on This is where it gets complicated for people. But if we look, I so 50 I so is our lowest 102,400 is our highest. And then we've got shutter speed. Each one of these goes up the stop. This is confusing because you start a 1 8/1000 of a second and you go toe 1 4000 and then you keep going up and eventually get toe one second, two seconds, four seconds, eight seconds. But each of these measurements each of these is a stop. So there's free levers. So the shutter speed, although it uses different language, each one of those is a stop of light. And that's your standard measurement. And it's the same of aperture. We start F 45 we can go all the way to F one, and each one of these is a stop of light. They all was 1/50 of 100 everything will use the same language. Then it would be much easier to learn. And this is where most photographers get stuck when it comes to learning photography, because this just doesn't seem to make much sense if you break it down. It's just a stop of light on these measurements of measurements that someone has come up with. Like I eso is based on the chemical exposure values that it will allow you to increase from film days, shutter speed again, going back to old film days and aptitude is the size of the lens. And we are going to talk about his in depth lack of what he said. But just understand that everything increases by one stop of light so we can increase the amount of light coming into a camera any time. By moving one of these levers up one stop and we can decrease the amount of light coming into a camera anytime. By moving one of these levers down. It really is a simple of that. We are just moving amount of light that's coming into our camera up or down in measurements . Court stops stops of life now dynamic range. I don't want to get too bogged down at this point. This is something you're gonna struggles. Grass. Don't worry. Come back to it later when you practice a bit more photography. But I'm just gonna explain this concept for you because it is a concept you're going to come across the term you're gonna come across in photography. So dynamic range is the tonal value that can be captured so the human eye can capture all of the dynamic range from light to dark in the tones. So when we talk about tones, we're gonna talk about them much more detail later on. But she when we get to the black and white section, we're going to see the importance there. But when we see the value of white to black and all the grazing between the human eye has a large dynamic range, the camera sensor and it's starting to get better and better now and within a few years or do anything is gonna be an issue. The camera sensor cannot capture the same range. It can only capture a fixed amount off the dynamic range if we go higher with still only getting the same amount of dynamic range. We're not capturing everything, so that means that we can lose detail. So what happens is when you don't have that element in the image, you're gonna lose detail in the image. So in this instance, you wouldn't be able to see all the detail from the blacks to the dark grey that's outside of that range in the camera center. So when we look at an exposure is about balancing as much as we can within the camera's dynamic range, the white and the black. So when when pulling those levers were trying to get correct, exposure on a correct exposure will mean details of maintaining the blacks and waves. But if we under exposed if our images to dark what happened is like a seesaw, it will fall over on. We will lose detail in the blacks, and now all of a sudden, shadow areas would just be a big lump of black rather than a dark, greater black with some detail in him. And if we overexpose, if we make it too bright when we set our exposure in the camera, we're gonna lose details in the whites on the seesaw is going to be tipped the other way. So we'll have big blobs of white in our image rather than whites. And like grace on most of this has caused because we ever make the camera record the scene to break or too dark, and add that to the problem with dynamic range that most cameras have. We can lose lots of details in the shadows and in the highlight. So when it comes to setting an exposure and that's an old term from camera days is how long you expose your film toe light for in The longer you expose, the more light is gonna be recorded. So how long you set it is going to decide how bright or dark your images. So on the back of a camera, we're gonna have a deer salo or any camera. You probably won't see this on an iPhone, cause an iPhone is an automatic camera, although you can manually control with the right APS. But what we've got here is stops of light. So you can see on the back of your camera you're gonna have a light meter, and it's saying to you, zero plus one plus two plus free minus one minus two minus free. And each one of those is one stop. So if we want to set an exposure, we turn one of our dial's return one of our levers, we increase it by stuff of light. What's gonna happen is the amount of light that comes into the camera increases so we can tell the camera. You've looked at the scene. You said it's this bright, but I think it needs to be here I need to make it a little bit brighter, but its image toe work, and then I can also then go to the other end of the situation. We can move and take it down. I might decide it's way too bright and bring the image down to where I want it to look. And that's how we use the camera meter built into most cameras on the back. The camera is going to say This is where I think the images correct, and we're going to say no, we know Paul one of those levers and move that up and down. So we're going to control the amount of light that's coming into the camera by pulling the levers and checking those changes with our light meter on the back of our camera. So here's the question we have to ask ourselves, Why does the camera get it wrong? Why doesn't the camera just get it right all the time? The reason it doesn't get it right is because the way camera looks a scene, it looks everything and says Mid grey, I'm gonna measure the whole scene and I'm going to set the brightness according to a middle gray, a middle ground between white and black. Now, if you've got equal amounts of white and black, then as in this illustration in mid grade, your camera is gonna be pre correct in its exposure. But if we're in a dark grey situation, maybe it's late in the evening. There's much more black than there is white. Our camera will compensate for that and change the image, and it's the same if it's a very bright sky. We've got a lot of brightness in the image a camera is going to compensate on decide where the exposure is. But now it's just going to create a mid grey that isn't actually correct on. That's where we have to come in, and we have to tell the camera you've got it wrong. Onion increases by stop of light. I'm gonna decrease this by stop of light, and we simply do that by looking at remission, thinking that's too bright. I want to turn it down. A stop is too dark. I want to take it up a stop, but this is the problem. This is my cameras. Get it wrong because it measures everything by mid grey. It assumes that in their image is going an equal amount of white equal amount of black and therefore in terms of tones, even if its color, its store measures in tones and therefore getting it wrong. 27. Module 05 04 Iso: So let's have a look at higher. So the center I s O, comes from the film days and was used to describe the sensitivity toe light of the film in modern digital cameras. I eso is the lever that operates the sensor, so you pull the I so lever and the sensor will either increase or decrease the amount of electronic amplification of light that it will use. And that's important to understand is not allowing more light in. It's just boosting the signal electronically. So why not just bump the I so up whenever you need more light because you introduce Elektronik noise, The more Elektronik noise you introduce, the less clear the image becomes. So in this image, when we zoom in, we can see that there's like these little dots and specks of like gray like crunchiness on that is noise. So we just increase their eyes. So but now we lose image quality because we get in a lot of noise. Now, the more expensive cameras cope with this better, and that's why people buy DSLR. It's because they want to control the amount of noise or they want to be able to shoot at my canon five d mark free. I can shoot a 12,800 eyesight, which is ridiculously high. It practically sees in the dark on the noise in It is there, but it's bearable. And if I come down to 6400 I so if I dropped down to that again, I've got a better image. So the I s o on a really good camera allows me another stop of light. So when I'm shooting in the dark, incredible images, because that lever just reaches much fervid and it doesn't ever cameras. And that's why people will spend a lot of money on the death of that body because of that fact, because of its low light performance on that is directly related to the center and what that also means as well as you can buy slightly cheaper lenses because lenders were big apertures, which we're gonna explain later arm or expensive. But if you could buy a lens, that's one stop less efficient, but you have a camera that goes two stops more efficient. You actually gain something, so the more you pay for the camera that better the higher so the better the low light performance. I s O then could be used creatively to give you nighttime shots where it's dark and the subject is frozen in time. I s I will enable you to take images in the dark you wouldn't normally be able to take if your camera does not perform well so it will boost the signal coming into the camera and make it brighter for you. And the thing to understand is that places change at night when you're out at night and you're taken images of place at night, it's completely different, Like a magical land that appears that you don't see during the day on that. I s o that good. I so is gonna allow you to go out and appreciate those types of places. Create those types of interesting images. Now, you don't always use at night time. We've got some deep shadow in the dark places at a dynamic range of the cameras. Quite good here. It does actually pick it up on the five d mark. Free is not a bad camera when it comes to dynamic range, but we might use the I S o justo lift the image up a little bit Andi reduce some of the pressure on the shutter speed or the aperture so we can pull the levers and get different effects. So in this instance, a little bit extra, I So on all of a sudden I can shoot this image and I can shoot with a relatively deep aperture. I can have quite a lot of stuff in focus. We don't have to have a really wide aperture, very shallow depth of field. So the ISA allows me to be creative and allows me to bring a little bit more depth into this shot that I would normally have. And again. Here's another instance where some cameras would struggle in this type of light that struggle with the quite dark light on the lady's face, and it's quite toned down. A lot's got a hard, like coming in off the top. A lot of subject is actually in shadows of using eso in the camera to increase the exposure in the image, and I don't then have to rely on the other levers what we mentioned earlier and then we could start creating some different images because nighttime images there's not a lot of light coming in is very difficult to capture an image where the images actually frozen. That's why people use tripods because they've taken a long exposure. But if something's moving in the dark or you wanna freeze a moment, it could be very difficult. This was handheld, just sort of. Lights really loved the way this was in the darkness sort of lights. Andi. I could hold this as a handheld shot and take it because of the eye. So performance with my camera. Unless a camera would have struggled, I would have had to slow the shift to speed down on. We wouldn't have had a sharp image. So that's I. So it boosts the light and allows you to shoot in darker situations. It allows you to boost. The signal is coming in on the better The camera is, the better I. So it has 28. Module 05 05 The Shutter: now we come to the shutter on the shutter is actually a physical device that moves across the camera's sensor so it moves across. It's a gate. It's literally a lever now. A lot of modern Miral is. Cameras have Elektronik shutters, so it's moving to the Elektronik. But in this instance, we're talking about understanding the process. So it literally is a door that opens and shuts in front of a sensor and lets light in for a certain amount of time on what it does. He controls the length of time that the sense that can receive light so slow shutter speed might be open 15 seconds. What's the fast shift of speed may open and close in 1 8/1000 of a second if you're using a top end camera, so that's the amount of time it opens and shuts. So why not just leave the shutter slow? If you want more like, why not leave it open? If you slow the shutter speed down, you're letting mawr time in. If you speed the shutter speed up. You are letting less time in, so if you just open it up for too long, you're gonna introduce blood subject will know. Be sharp. The subject will not be frozen in time. And so if it's dark and you have to open up your shutter speed and you haven't got any more ice ot use, you're going to get blurry images so we can use that creatively in many different ways. We can use it to freeze motion, or we can use the shutter speed to introduce Blur, as has happened in this image. What they're basically done is they've put slow shutter speed on, and as the cars have gone past with the lights, it's left a light trail. And then anything in the background that static looks like it's still anything in front is moving is stretched out in time so we can choose the amount of time we freeze by using the shutter lever. So we see this again in this image. The buildings are still, but the clouds are moving. This is what's called a slow exposure. We have let more time in and knows elements which are moving have stretched out on. We can see time affecting them, but those elements in images still remain still. So with this, you would put your camera on a tripod would open up your shutter speed. Take the image for a certain amount of time until you got the desire effect. If you try to do this hand held, your hands are gonna shake. You're gonna move your camera on and you won't get the effects. If you want to do this and you have got tripod, rest your camera on something stable and still set a timer pressure timer so that you're not touching. You're not moving the camera on. Then set a long exposure time and take your image. So this is panning. This is a slightly different technique. This is where you've got a slow shutter speed. But you track the subject with your camera. You literally moved the camera with the subject, Andi. It will capture him less blurred than the background. So this is a creative, another creative way that we can use shutter speed. So we're focusing on creative photography were focused on how we can use the camera to create it. So you've got a really, really creative image here, and what they've literally done is as the skateboarders gone past that fix the lens on him , they're gonna slow shirt to speed, and that just followed him around. Now, a long exposure, which you mentioned earlier, is where you allow light in for extended period of time to create a blurred effect. Again, we're getting use a tripod here, but with an image like this during the day, you're gonna need something called a neutral density filter or an nd filter neutral density and what that's going to do. You put that on the front of your lens and you're gonna take the light down. I've got one, and it can reduce up to 10 stops of light so I can put this on the front of island. Turn that down until it's slowing him out of light coming in and I could slow the shutter speed down Andi. It will capture that movement. Your capture extended period of time. Because what would happen without an Andy filler If I shot scene and had six, you know, seconds or 10 seconds, 30 seconds and exposed for that scene, it would just be a big white blur. So by putting in nd filter on the front of slowing the amount of light on lowering, the amount of light is coming in, and then we can get this shop. So there's some great tutorials available free on long exposure photography to go check them out of images like this interest you not freezing the moment with our shutter speed. A fast shutter speed allows us to freeze a moment to record an incident a fraction of a second very popular with sports photographers, so they look very fast. Shutter speeds. They're like cameras that can cope with a fast shutter speed and freeze that moment. And you can see that here in this image that splashes the water is frozen, is captured on. That creates a moment in time, a record of time on a record off action, a record of a moment of action on. We can get the sense of the movement of what this guy's doing because of what's going on in the background because of this recording of the violence of the war. As it jumps up and sprays in the background, labour photography often makes great use of a fast shutter speed. Birds in flight create a lot of movement. Their wings move very fast and you need a high shutter speed to capture the feathers and the detail. It's actually quite technically challenging, but it is a form of photographer at Do Enjoy, and you do need to know how to set your shutter speed. So it captures a very small slice of time. As in this image and with an image like this 1 5/100 of a second, you don't want to be dropping below that. If you want to capture the image. And I would even go higher, I would start 1 2/1000 of a second if I was going to capture an image like this. And sometimes you're gonna want to find the balance between freezing the image and creating a sense of movement. So you can see in this that the image the starlings in a birdbath just out and about candid for Tokyo Street photography saw this brilliant. But the water drops are not tiny. You can see the stretch of movement, so we're taking this image about 1 5/100 of a second. So it's not super fast, but it's not super slow. And then you get this real sense of drama of motion, of movement because you've recorded that instant in time. But you've decided how much time you want your camera to record on by allowing that movement in the water, you create much deeper sense of emotion and drama in the image on what's actually happening here. If you haven't figured out, these are birds splashing in the water washing themselves, and that's what all the spray is. So that's what we're doing. When we freeze time, we using the shutter to freeze type or to control the chunk of time or the amount of time that's coming into our lens, and then we can freeze motion or weaken stretch motion out. We can freeze the moment or we can extend the moment. We can have a snapshot of time of very precise, or we can have an extended view of type less. What we control with the shutter speed on that moves up stops a type 29. Module 05 06 The Aperture: So now we come to aperture. And I think when I was first learning, this was probably one of the hardest. You know, all this stuff very complex, and it's where we struggled. So, like I said, go out practicing photography. Come back to this later. But the amateur refers to the size of the blades inside a Len. So how wide, how open they are. So we have a small aperture. You will get an F number of F 22 for instance, and that will mean a small hole, which lets in a small amount of light. A large Apatow will have an F number of F 1.4, for instance, and this will mean the blades formed a large hole, which lets in more light. So why not just have a wide aperture all the time? We need to understand something called depth of field debt. Fulfilled is the depth of the scene that is in focus on our aperture effects of the depth of field. A shallow depth of field and a deep debt fulfilled could be explained by looking at this diagram. What we have here is a shallow depth fulfilled, a wide aperture So when the circulars big were F 1.4, we get a very narrow debt for field, very small section, as a very small part of the field will be in focus, and everything outside of that will be out of focus. So the blue area, when the red lines active focus and then a deep depth of field, is there's lots of stuff in focus, so small aperture gives is a deep that fulfilled, and a wide aperture gives us a shallow depth of field. And that's where it gets confusing for it because you think it may be a way around. But no, the wider the hole in the aperture of your lens, the shallow at a depth of field, the smaller the whole, the deeper the depth of field. So sometimes you're gonna want a shallow depth of field and as ever times you're gonna want a deep debt for field. But by adjusting the aperture to control that you're either going to increase the amount of light in when it comes to a shallow debt fulfilled, or you're going to decrease the amount of life you want, a deep debt fulfilled, and now we're signed to affect the amount of light that's coming in because we're prioritizing how much of the field is in focus. So a shallow depth of field is valued by photographers so much so that have created the term of the out of focus elements as Boca. Now it's called Boca Brok Boquete. Different people call it different things, but my understanding is that Boca is the correct pronunciation. It comes from a Japanese word on. What you've actually got is with Boca. You've got a blurred background, and it's the quality of the Boca that you will see a lot of photographers discussed. When they talk about Lenz, they will say, What's the Boca like now? The book is a property of the lens. It means those areas that are out of focus at a smooth and creamy and a nice. And photographers will value that because off how that will make a background soft. And we'll have a look at some examples in a minute. On Boca, a soft background is produced by the lens. It's a function of the lens, so when you have a shallow depth of field, you're going to get a nice Boca with a good Lent iPhone has just come out with some software, and they simulate that is that Valued have actually decided to simulate that by using two cameras. Take two images and then software's gonna merge them together and try and guess If you want good Boca, you really gonna have to get a good Dear Salah to achieve that. So in this image is taken F 1.8, that's a wide aperture. It's a prime lens, so that means it's a single fixed lens is 85 millimeter. It doesn't zoom. It's a fixed focal length, and you can see in this image that the Boca in the background, the softness in the smoothness of the background helps the background to fall away and helps us a drawer attention to the subject. Now there's a lot going on in this background that's distracting. And if we didn't have the Boca there, we weren't using a prime lens here that could go toe aperture F 1.8 zoom lens is best you're going to get is 2.8 most, um, we're gonna operate between 4.5 toe F seven in terms off the amount of actually can have people use prime lenses to get really Boca because you get much shallow depth of field of them. If we wasn't using that in this instance, all that noise in the background, all that visual information in the background would jump forward. You wouldn't see the bubbles and you wouldn't see the subject, so that's how it can help us. So this was taken F 1.8 within 85 millimeter lens, the background colors of flower beds and you can see how has created a beautiful background because of the creamy Boca with the Sigma 85 millimeter F 1.4 length to have shot this with 1.8 you can see Now you've got this nice band of color in the background, and that's actually the flowerbed just really, really, really blood. Now, another thing we could do is we can use a long lens to compress the background and create a very similar effect. So if we use a long zoom, we're gonna get this look. This image was taken F free point to you could have taken this F formed very similar results, but because it was a 200 millimeter lens what it actually does is it compresses the background. So what you're doing in this image by shooting it at 200 millimeter is you're getting The subject is very much in focus, and the background is very much out of focus. You have to allow a little bit distance between your subject in your background. So if you haven't got a prime lens but you've got 200 millimeter lens, you can do things that this is one of my favorite ways of shooting. It's how I justified not having loads of prime lenses. If I've got Roman space, I can create a tuna millimeter shop. We have my tournament meet at Lens, and I can compress the background, and I can create a very nice brok effect. So using assuming will focus on your subject. But you can also drag a distant, out of focus background into the scene and compress the two elements together. There is some real technical science behind this. I never quite got my head around it with symbols, ways to understand this stick 200 millimeter lens on the camera. Even if you shoot a F A shoot your subject, make sure there's a nice background behind, Not too close, and you'll get a nice bloke effect. Now. One of the reasons I like shooting at 200 millimeter is the I in focus syndrome. As a commercial photographer, I like different from the nose to the ear to be in focus in my subjects. And if I shoot F 1.8, I'll have one eye focus, one eye out focused. So if I shoot at F 1.4, for instance, in this image, I might have one eye in focus and never I slightly out focus because the debt for field is so small, it's so narrow, and I don't like that. So in this image, I'm going to step back. I'm gonna use a longer lens. I'm gonna compress the background. And I know my subject is completely unfocused. I'm not a big fan off the I and focus and one eye out focus that some people shoot by just spina prime land, sticking F one point for F 1.8 and shooting anything like that for me. I like to have my subject in focus, and I'm not saying that's right or wrong. You choose hate do I just think enemies looks better when both eyes are in focus and then everything we can use it for. So this image really tough lighting? Candid portrait out about the images shot f 455 millimeters. Now the whole subject is in focus from nose to hear, effort and focus. But the background of bushes because I'm shooting a longer focal length, quite a low aperture F four that blurs the bushes in the background that helps them just disappear takes him out. The image of it, a deep debt fulfilled, is often used for landscape photography as the whole scene is in focus. This creates a sense of depth that you can move deep into the image. So sometimes you want a deep debt for field. Sometimes you don't want that, Bo. OK, you want everything and focus. You want to see everything in the image. If you want toe, create a deep debt for field of a deer. Salar, you need to shoot at between F 13 and F 22. That's the safety limits, although F 5.6 on a 35 millimeter and under will also work. So a wider lens by nature has a deep that fulfilled. Now, a little tip for you. Don't try and figure all this out. What's my depth of field? It's all getting very confused. Market ever. Not really simple. Go on your phone. Look up. Depth of field calculator. Download an app you put in the distance of your subject. You put in your the length of your lens, and that's gonna tell you how much of that is going to be in focus. But the simple way of shooting at landscape, for instance, is set your lenses between F 13 and F 22 and shoot 1/3 of the way into the image. Guarantee that everything is in focus and that's how you shoot the landscape image. Focus one further away into the scene. Everything else will be in focus, and you don't have to worry about the technicalities of it by to recommend you get one of those APS because there's a lot of this stuff going on. All this information is coming in. Like I said, Come back to L. A. A time. Come back to us again and again, and it will start to make sense. This isn't something most people pick up straightaway. It is something that comes over a period of time, and we just have to keep working with it and trying different things and carrying out these exercises. They've used this technique, you will get the whole scene in focus. So in this scene we could see that technique at work. The scene is sharp throughout the image, so the foreground of sharp and we can even see detail in the mountains in the back end up blurry. They're not Boca. They're just detailed. And that is what a deep debt fulfill can do for us. So this type of image, we want to give a sense of the scale we want to give a sense of distance. We want to get the sense that we can travel into the scene and a deep depth of field. A small aperture is going to enable us to do that. And here's another example is an image of taken down hunt Stanton in England, and you can see that in the foreground you've got the cliff and focus on the cliff at the end is also focused. We've got a sense off detail all the way through scene now I know on smartphones. Onda small sense of cameras, most of them naturally supplied deep debt fulfilled, which is good for landscapes but not so good for getting any type of Boca. The smaller the sensor, the deeper depth of field you will get from the camera. So when you're using your camera, think about that. You can use your camera to do landscapes if it's an iPhone but to actually do portrait, it comes a little bit trickier because you don't have that. Boca. You don't have that shell a debt fulfilled that DSLR is gonna provide. And that's where we start to understand some of the restrictions in our cameras. If you remember my little food, TX 10 I talked about earlier. That has a nice little Boca. It's not amazing. Then I go to my 70 and that's got a nice Boca. But I go to my full frame five d mark free, and that's got beautiful Boca. And if I wanted to that type of shop and that was really important me, that's the camera I would grab. It won't encourage you that learn to use the tool you have, and there's different creative ways we can get around which we're gonna explore as we go through the course. The limitations of your equipment sometimes don't get bogged down in this section too much . We want to understand how all the things work on having to react at some of the terminology . But the most important thing is we want to take creative images is actually foundational to that. But it is not as important as the ability to see, observe and choose what type of image you're going to create. 30. Module 05 07 Activities Module 5: activities. Activity number one taken image in low. Lie and observe the noise levels. Observed the grain in the image. Activity number two taken image with a fast shift of speed and freeze the action. If you have a smartphone, shoot in daylight on that will reduce your shutter speed. NASA maps out there that will allow you control. So go check those out. Look for those you want to be able to control the shutter speed activity number free. Taken image with a slow shutter speed of a moving subject. If you have a smartphone, shoot this at night and that will slow down or speed for you. Activity number four right down in your journal. The free levers that you have on your camera. I would write a paragraph about each off those elements. All those levers explaining how the leavers work. 31. Module 06 01 Introduction Module 6: So this module, we're gonna look at processing the light. We're gonna look at the digital dark room, and we're gonna look at my main to photography editing software choices. I use a simple light room edit on a PC or a Mac. Very simple snap seed. Add it on an iPhone or an android smartphone. We've already been through the process of seeing the light. We've been through the process of controlling the light. We looked at capturing the life, and now we're gonna look at processing, taking all of that work and processing the light and producing some interesting images using some very simple techniques. 32. Module 06 02 The Digital Darkroom: the digital dark room is where you're gonna learn a lot about your own photography and observation skills. It's here where you learn to see what you can improve in your photography. What will happen in the beginning is when you start taking images, you'll take images, and then you'll have to correct them in light Roman in programs like Photo Shop. But what happens over a period of time is that because you want to avoid fixing photographs , you will learn to get it right in the camera. So the digital dark room is a great place to learn and improve his photographer, and it's where you'll learn a lot off your court lessons. But what we have to understand is that when we're processing were basically pulling and stretching and twisting the light that you captured in your camera on Nazi essence of editing, adjusting, changing, playing with the light that the camera recorded on, that's what we do in the digital dark room, the Mawr. You get it right in camera. The less time you spend in a digital darkroom, the more time you spend in the digital darkroom, the better you get at compositing. Your image and controlling those things that are in the frame. Now, one of the things we have to understand is raw versus J pic. So a J pick is a camera edited image you've taken the image the camera has already edited that has extracted information has been compressed. You've lost the information, and now you're gonna edit that so most of time with smartphones, you're gonna just be shooting in J pagan less fine. But raw image has not been process, and therefore you get much greater ability to add it. All the information you're editing, the full image of all its information, Robin and a squished set of information, a process compressed set of information. And that gives you much more editing freedom in terms off pulling and sharpening and brightening and darkening. But when it comes to raw deer, solares are where the magic tends to happen. Now, don't worry. If you haven't got diesel, are you gonna be working in J pick and the same principles apply. But I just wanted to explain this concept because you will come across it in photography. Once you understand that you can still work in J pick, you can still get great results. But if you wanted the absolute best perfect results, you shoot in raw and edit it that way. So when I shoot corporate work, I was shoot in raw. Yet when I shoot my street photography allowed time. I'm just in J pic iPhone because in J Peg, my X 10 my foodie extent that produces J pegs. It does have a role function, but don't use it. And then when I get to my dear salat off, switch to raw, So don't worry too much. If you're shooting in J pigheaded in J Pick. That's fine. You'll learn the same lessons. So we talked about white balance earlier, and that's something we need to get right, right at the beginning of editing an image. This basically means deciding how warm or cold we want the whites in the image to be on. Adjust it accordingly. So in this image it's very warm on the right. Very orange on on the left is very blue. It's very cold. You can see that in the water and in the sky. So if we look in the blues, we can see on the left is cold. If we look in the sky. We can see it's warm on the right, and that's important thing to understand. When you're trying to look at an image and you're trying to figure out where the white balance is, look in the yellows and the oranges and the reds for warmth and look in the blues for cold white balance. And that's the quickest way to tell how you actually taken the image on everything we need . Think about when we're taking an image is always allow room for cropping. Give yourself more room than you need when you're taking your image because you're gonna crop it later. So cropping basically changes the nature of the image. How we crop. It changes how the image looks. So whenever we are taking an image, allow a little bit extra room. Always zoom out a little bit wider or step back a little bit more so we can crop it later on this one. The most important things that I can suggest you do when it comes to composing an image. Give yourself breathing space because if you cropped right in and it's perfect, you'll often find that when you actually come to editing the image. We're gonna need toe crop again because that's something that doesn't work in the image. Doesn't quite feel rights, not what Right ballots and haven't left yourself any room. So always leave yourself room for crappy. When you taken image, we talked about exposure. We talked about those levers and we're controlling them Earlier when we took the exposure. We're talking about the overall brightness of the scene. So what we've done in this image, the middle image is probably about the right. Exposure is pleasing to the eye. We've got a little bit detail in the blacks. We've got detail in the highlights on We've got a generally pleasing image. Now, if we drop that 1.5 stops 1.5 stops on the left, we're going to see that the images now darker, it looks too dark. The shadows of the bomber muddy around the barriers on. We can't really see the difference between the barriers and the sand. We move into middle want. That's clear now. What's interesting. We move into the final one on the shadows. Now there's more detail. Lead is difference between the blacks and the grays and that help you understand some of the things we're talking about earlier. But now we've gone one of the half stops over And look what happened to the sky. It's blown out. We've got a big the lob of white. This is what was talking about. Earlier on the left, we got a blob of dark gray in the bottom because we won 1/2 stops under exposed the middle exposure just right on, then ever Exposures to bright Now, often times for shooting in roar. One of the reasons people shooting mostly pull that back. That detail is still lives preserved. J. Peg, you gotta be very careful. You got to get exposure right, But we can adjust that impose. And it's one of the things we're going to concentrate on when we do anything. No, One of the key things we're gonna wanna edit is the contrast in an image. So here we've got free different images of the same subject. The 1st 1 has very low contrast. The 2nd 1 has a balance contrast on the 3rd 1 has a heavy contrast. We're going to talk about tone or values and contrast much more, especially in the black or white sections. Don't worry too much about it here, but what we want to illustrate here. This is really important part of our editing process, and we're going to do some editing in a little while and show you how we might affect some of the things using the software we've described but want to just accentuate here. That contrast is important how it can change an image. So the first images very little contrast if we look at a face that colors or very easy, and there's a balance contrast in the middle, and there was starting to see a little bit lightness and shade and the variation in tone across the face. And then we come to a very heavily contrast ID image, and we can see that the skin tone is very bright, the shadows of very dark. We might like that. We might decide it's very dramatic, and that's what we want. But contrasts dramatically changes the way and image looks, and this is the same image with different levels of contrast, and you can see a huge difference as you look along, maybe not so much between the first and the second, but by time you see the 3rd 1 you could see the effects really start to take hold. To contrast is important tool we have in the editing box that we're gonna use in terms off defining tonal range between lights and darks. Now the next thing we want to look at is sharpening. You can see on the image on the left. It's quite soft. There's not much detail in the textures. There's not much detail in the hair and in the middle. One is a balanced image. And then on the end, on the right hand side is an over sharpened image where we've really, really sharpen the image. And if we looked up close would start to see some sharpening artifacts, and it start looking a bit clumsy. So sharpening is something we're gonna do. Whenever we edit an image, we're going to be doing it to the right level. But it's a very important part because extract the details or you can take the details down . If you want to soften some skin, for instance, on we would do that was doing a portrait of a lady editing a portrait. We would bring the sharpening down on the skin to create softness. Now, one of the things that's very popular is filters. Now. Love photographers will speak out against filters, and it turned like filters, and we apply filters in the editing process. I'm a fan of filters. I light filters. You can have from the filters on with filters what we're essentially doing. We're overlaying an image with a tone or in effect. So we're putting something on top of our image to change the image on a little tip. When you use filters, always ease them off a little bit. You put him on. You think that looks great? Whatever you think is, drop it by 50% when we're editing. We always struggled to see how overpowering filters are until we come back to it, like six weeks later or six months later, we look at it and what but horrified will. I can't believe I put that much filter on that image, so we want to use it. We want to use it gently, selectively and tastefully to stronger filter will look too obvious now going to recommend right now that you look up a piece of software called Nick Software. This is your friend. It's free. It works with light room and folk shop as plug into If you got light Rumor first shop. It's a full set of of filters, black white color, loads of free stuff really, really powerful. When I paid for this, it cost me £500. For the fourth set, Google bought the company and now to give it away for free so you can get it online for free to go and check that out. 33. Module 06 03 Lightroom Edit: So what we're gonna have a look at now is a really simple light room. If you're starting a photography and you want to edit on a PC or Mac, I recommend light room by Adobe is probably the best quick photo editing software out there on a PC. We're going to show you a simple workflow. We're gonna show you how light room already tells you the order and the things you need to concentrate as you go down through the image. So let's go have a look at light room. This is not course on advanced light room editing or Photoshopped editing. This is a course on processing the light. I'm more interested in showing you the principles of editing than how to push buttons within like room. But the weight of designed light room is phenomenal. And as we go down that that's gonna teachers a very simple workflow on how to edit manipulate light. So two important picture or we need to do is go to a library, click on library, click on import, and then we want to go up here and we want to copy our images, and that will bring up our photo structure and then we can decide where in there we're going to place our image and this side. Then we can select where the images are coming from. So if we have lots of images, as you can see here, lots of images going to start coming in, we can choose from there on our SD card Reader would appear in this and now we comport the images. So this is where it come from. On this side is where they go. But the little thing is to move it to copy up here that will throw you if you're new so you can see loads of images coming in. We're not gonna do that now. It's just a quick tip for you. If you're trying to find your way around light room and you're just trying to figure out how do I get little images to actually appear? Isn't a whole lot of Yes, plug Your SD card reader is like I said, pop up on this side on the import function and then select way you want it to go on this side and that SATs we're gonna council that because I've already done that, so I don't need to do that again. So I'm not gonna use a brilliant image here to show you the process. I'm gonna use a so so image that I wouldn't actually spend the time editing or why am I doing that? Because there's a mistakes in this image that we can actually fix. And we can use the light from process to actually take us through That so is really, really simple. Once you've imported it, select your image and then we're gonna move to to develop tab. So now on develop and we're going to see this appear on the right hand side, and it's really, really simple process. All we have to do is follow it down. So the first thing I'm going to do with this image is I'm going to crop the image, so I'm going to click on the crop. I want the original crop. Let me try. I typically like to use a 16 by nine. So let's see if that helps image a lobe because we've got too much information going on on what I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna turn it a little bit. Here is Well, I want this path on a little bit of the trees and I want the subject now, to be honest, the faces really badly lit. Like I said, it wouldn't normally use this image. I wouldn't accept it. Funding a click. Done. So now we're moving a cross. The top row. Now, this is blemish removal. If we wanted to remove anything, I could remove that. Red eye filters were looking above all with that. But what I want to show you is the processing the light function down here. So what we've basically got is we can set color temperature, and we're gonna pick on a white spot that's too bright. Doesn't like that. Always makes me amazed when adobo that you said white balance on a pure works what I'm sure to some technical reason for it. So we want to find a spot where we can set the white balance. Now, just so you know, this image was taken on my little extent, not DSLR image. This is a step up from an iPhone image. A little bit street for talk. We walk around the local park just trying to fight him. Interesting images to take. So I'm gonna do is going to set some white balance. Now do you see a click from that grey and it's compensated and said, I think you need to be a bit warmer and I would agree with that. I think this image needs to be a little bit warmer. So we've sale white balance and now we're going to come down. We can look our exposure. What's our exposure like? Did we get it right where we're gonna just it its fullness? I don't think it's that bad now. Contrast. Let's just take the dial and move to contrast. We like it there. Do we like it there? As we increase the contrast, we move she others in the black. As we go here, we're losing the contrast between the whites and blacks will start to look a bit flat. And then we're gonna do the same for highlights. Highlights. If we could see in that dog down here, if I tell you the highlights up, we can see. Look, my photography wasn't very good in terms of my exposure. I've lost the highlight. So I can do is I can bring that down until detail appears. And I was pretty impressive, really, because this is a J Peg. It's quite robust. J. Pigs. I was a good quality J pig from the X 10 but you see, I've been able to sort of bring down the highlights. Let's have a look at that now. I've recovered some of these issues, not a major issue. With this image, this ghost faces very well lit. It looks a bit like a red blob, so that's not really flattering for him. And that's why we wouldn't really necessary use this image. But it's because he's in the shadow. If it had been a little bit further forward that have been nice but a light on him. But now we're gonna come to the shadows. We can take them down, we can lift them up. So I'm just gonna bring them up a little bit. Just bring a little bit more detail back into the background, and that of whites are the brightest parts in the image. You want to see what's affected. Just dragged the thing backwards and forwards. Now it's not doing huge amounts for me, but I'm gonna put up a little bit. I often will take my blacks down, but in this image I probably just don't want to play too much, cause I'd lose the subject behind here. That clarity is a bit like sharpness due up, More clarity or lesser. Let's move across. That's really a lot of clarity on now. That's really self. So you can see if we had a subject's face, we could soften that clarity by making a selection, and this is a tool up here for a selection. In case you're wondering, you can select that painting and you can bring things like clarity down. Vibrance is the middle color. So if we wanna just lift up a little bit, we can dio. And there we go. You see, we've just taken the virus of saturation is really, really strong, but you can see it just works too strong. Saturation takes the strongest points and takes him up and down, whereas Vibrance will take the mid colors and take them up and down. It's much more subtle, always prioritized, vibrant oversaturation when you're editing. But let's get get big color in there. We want a bit color now Why I am gonna dio It would seem in a little bit because this is bugging me. I'm just going to take the paint tool. I like that. And now I'm just gonna just exposure down a bit. Could make a little bit brighter. But what I really want to do once or taking exposure down is I want to just take the saturation down. He's a bit too orange for me, So I'm gonna take the saturation down. I'm gonna put bit clarity in there on the Perbet contrast. And that's how you just selective edit. You just paint the area. You're good to go. So we're gonna click done. We got a little bit more light in this face now. He doesn't look orange, so that's good. So we're coming down. We're just gonna move down for any options. I'm not gonna bubble with tone curve. We're not gonna bubble. What color? At the moment, we're gonna come back to that in another section. We're not gonna bubble with split toning. That's just a way of basically applying a filter on. We come to detail. So now we can operate on the sharpness. So we might what say we want to sharpen a little bit more, but then if we mask, we're gonna only sharpened certain edge is now. Like I said, it's not an in depth introduction into a light room. I just want to show you how it works in the process and the foot process that put into this because it really helps you to understand the editing process as you move down, you're going to go for a natural process of editing, an image noise reduction. We're going to just take that down a little bit if there's any noise in the image so we could do it. Lens correction here was using a DSLR. It's not gonna work on the extent and then we've got highlight product. We might have a little vignette just to create a little bit of interest. Now that is essentially unedited image we could take into first shot. We could do a few more things, but it's bright. It's interesting. We could just take this down a bit more because that's a bit too bright and we've just create a really simple, semi interesting image. It's not something I would out there. I do love the colors. I love the oranges on the greens, but ever since you just said this is an image and that's why I recommend light room because light room will teach you the process of coming down through the editing priorities, and they put it in exactly the right order so that you can adjust your images. So if you remember, just to remind us we started with a crop, we set the white balance. We did do an adjustment, but we did that later. Local ads adjustment, but we set a white pallets and we went down through exposure. Contrast went into highlights. Shadows, whites and blacks, clarity, vibrance. And then we jump down sharpening noise reduction. And we also put a little vignette on image, and that is essentially how simple light room that it works. 34. Module 06 04 Snapseed Edit: So let's have a look at snap seed. I going to do a very simple snap seed at it. Slap Seed is made by the same guys that made Nick software made by Naked and Google came along and they bought a company just by snap seed. So it's a free app that you can use on your iPhone or your android Really powerful. It's my favorite app for editing when I'm editing my iPhone images and it doesn't have quite the same simplicity in terms of workflow as intuitive as light room, but it is pretty good. So let's go and have a look at it. So here I am inside of me. IPhone. I'm just gonna select snap seat. As you can see on, we're gonna open up this image so you can see I've got this image. We're gonna open that up, and now we haven't image we can start to edit. So all I'm gonna do is press the little pencil button in the bottom. Right, Andi, we're into the editing section of his two section as tools and filters on. What we're gonna do is we're gonna follow the order at the top. We're gonna tune our image First, if we just press our finger on the screen and scroll up and down, we can select each of these. So first we want to do its slide left or right, and we can adjust our brightness. So I'm going to put it about here on. Then we're going to get to contrast. Let's just I like my black, sweet black. So let's just put little contrast in there and all I'm doing slide in my singer sideways to adjust and then under slide up and down on Let go to Saturation. I want to have a little bit more saturation on this because I like the orange now. This is a shop from inside my car. We was driving back from the airport. We just took this image as I'm driving along and I'm hoping you can see, actually, that I've got motion in this image, even with an iPhone. By focusing on the car itself, even in bright sunlight, as we're moving along with picks up the movement in the road and we're gonna accentuate that. That's what we're after. We want to see that sense of movement. Now we've got a saturation where we want it. Ambience. We're just gonna player ambience. Do we get to a place where we like in a lot of time, these edits or just personal preference? What do you like to do? We're going to move to highlights. I'm just gonna boost my highlights a little bit in this. Wanted to be a little bit brighter. I'm gonna move to my shadows. I'm just gonna take that down a little bit. Tends to be my habit. And then we've got warm, which is really white balance so we can go to the blue. Well, we could go to the orange, and I just want a little bit of gray in the road, so we'll probably just take it down a tiny bit. So that's the first step. So we're gonna take that with a ticket of bottom. Right? But let's look at details on what we've got on here is we got sharpening and structure. I'm gonna take my structure up a little bit. And then structure is my overall sharpness. Frightening image and sharpening tenses, sharpened edges. I'm gonna shop in that tiny, but I don't want to do too much. And then that's that done. let's move on to the next part crops. And now I'm going to crop my image. So with this one, I think I'm gonna go of my typical 16 by nine. And I'm just going to select the window. Once I've selected 16 by night, I'm gonna move in until I've got what I want in the image as I look up in a crop, up and down are doing all these white bits in the sky creeping in. I want to include the arrow in the road there. Really Like that. I'm happy with that crop. We could rotate the image in, twist it sideways here. Don't need to do that. Transform. Have a play with that with the brush weaken dark and the light and areas that we paint. We're not going to do that today on this particular edit. And as you see, we're just moving down. Selective allows me toe dark and a light certain areas. So let me just select an area. So I'm gonna select the plus benzos blue in your place that dot there and then I can squeeze in, pinch out Andi as we can see the red areas there, it's gonna be affected Now what I can now do is I've got brightness, contrast or saturation. So what I'm gonna dio turned on the brightness of bear was one of dark in that little legendary want to create a little interesting shadow in the top. Let's just put a little bit more contrast into it. No, but somewhat contrast up there, and I wouldn't probably do that's normally, but I want to show you how it works. Contender Brightness off. Luke. Don't want it to Strunk. We're gonna take Matt with. Done. Now, healing is a very handy tool. This summit in the image you don't like or don't want what you have to do is pinch in. So I'm gonna pinching on the screen. I'm gonna see all these little dots down here, and I'm just gonna touch on the screen and I've just removed those little blemishes. Now, any time I can go up to stop and see where it says five, I touch that and that's going to allow me to go back and select the previous stage of the edit. Let me just put a little vignette on so it's dark in the edges a little bit duty out brightness. So it let's take that. And now I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna put a filter on. Now I know what's gonna work with this image, but all these different filters down here can be used. But I'm going to use a hasty escape and I'm gonna try to different presets until I get something I like. I'm just selecting them, touching the screen, Gonna go into the nature one quite like that. Let's just have a look at the strength of that so I could take that down, I could take it up. I'm just gonna ease off a little bit. Remember I said about Phil's idea. Just ease him off, Take that safe, save a copy, and that is a very simple read it. So hopefully you can see by following the pattern off the workflow from top down, you can create some really powerful images. So if you just being creative, you want to use an app to do some iPhone editing? I recommend that. In fact, just so you understand how much it like this app, I've actually got an adapter for my iPhone, which I plug an SD card into so it's official Apple One pregnancy card in So any images I take on my X 10. I also edit on my iPhone because of an evening I like to sit down and edit with my iPhone in my lap, which you can do. There is a simple, quick flash fruit of snap see, and how we can pull and edit the land when you think about it. Wasn't that much different? Process to light room amaze the core of editing. There are some fancy skills you can learn with photo shop and all rest in curves and layers . But the core of editing creative editing can be done on a simple app, and I think that's absolutely amazing. Extremely exciting because what I love more than anything is mobile phones has given access toe anyone who wants to learn, and you can create some really interesting nice images. 35. Module 06 05 Activities Module 6: So here's some activities for you. Activity number one ed an image with two different exposures and compare them. So just play with an image and move exposure up and down Brian and darkened and see what results you get. Activity number to edit an image with two different levels of contrast and compare those activity number free. Edit an image with two different levels of sharpness and compare those activity number four right down in your journal, the six basic steps for editing any image. 36. Module 07 01 Introduction Module 7: So in this module, we're gonna look at the core principles of composition. We're gonna look at the language of composition. We're going to discuss the subject environment, believing the i emotional responses. I'm also gonna discussed symmetry. So we've already looked at foundation of seeing the light controlling, like, capturing the Latin processing life. And now we're gonna have a look at starting Teoh understand the very basic core principles of composition. So that's gonna have a look out these subjects. 37. Module 07 02 The Language Of Composition: is a language of beauty, off composition. It's transcendent. It transcends our subjective experience. It goes beyond human subjectivity. On this flows for the whole of the universe. We can see it all the time. On when we break that language down, we can see that there are blocks building blocks of composition. And when we learn how to see those blocks, when we learn how to build those blocks, we can learn how to build an image by observing the compositional laws all around us. It's like going to the opticians. They have a machine, and they add one lens to help you see clearly. Then they keep adding over lenses until your site is pin sharp. We're going to go through and add those visual ends is toe our understanding off photography composition. We're going to go through those building blocks. We're gonna learn them individually, learn to see each of those building blocks. Working will learn how to master each one, and it's going to be like going through the A B. C's For one, she learned. The alphabet reading is easy, and this is the coursing toe understanding this. Once we learned the language of composition once we learned the basic building blocks. Once we learn, our A B. C's is easy for us to start creating compelling, powerful and interesting images. 38. Module 07 03 The Subject: So one of the first things we have to consider is the subject shooting with intent, probably the single most important principle in our photography shooting with intent. What is the specific subject of your image? What is it that you want people to see as a subject that my sound obvious? But it isn't when you lift the camera to your eye, you have to be fully intentional about what your subject is in this image. The subject is the baby boots on the father's hands, holding them. Everything in the image is there to help the subject to be clear to the viewer. So the subject in this instance is the boots in the hands, and it is that subject, which you can then form. The story about the image from There is no confusion in this image. The subject is very clear. The image is very intentional. The subject here is a little boy and how he interacts with the waves that is a central focus of the image, and it communicates to something we might remember as a child. When we went to the seaside on, we played in the waves, said a child is a subject, and the subject is communicating childhood memories to me as I take this image and hopefully the viewer. I am very clear about what the subject is in this image, and sometimes what happens is we will look an image and we won't define while subject is, we won't make the mental decision. This is the subject in this image, and when you taken image, focusing on the subject when you compose is going to decide rifled beginning. If the image is going to be any good, you can't make the image good in photo shop. The image to composition has to be good at the beginning, and the key to that is being very clear about what the subject is. When this image is the dog is a dog looking up coolest in the land of giants. This is dog, and he's amidst all these big, heavy feet. It's almost like he's not safe, and he's looking up for reassurance. He is a subject that is what I'm taking an image off. It's so important to be conscious of what your subject is. When you look at scene, you see you'll often subconsciously know that something in the scene has caught your eye being. I'm not sure what it is. You will see a scene and be attracted to it. Something in that scene caught your eye. This is the real secret to seeing, selecting, from your view what it is that caught your eye on what the subject actually is. Your built in beauty detector was warning you that something you are looking at is beautiful. But it is picking out the subject, identifying what the subject is that changes your image from a snapshot to potentially a beautiful image. So in this image, my subject is in the foreground, in the bottom left corner. It is the family. Everything else just adds context to that family looking, exploring the looking, that found something. It's a shared family moment, and then we see other people doing something similar in the background. But I know what my subject is. When I lift that camera to my eye, I selected them is my subject. And then everything else is gonna and to that or subtract from that in the frame and we'll talk about that in great depth later on in the course. But the point here is I'm very clear in my mind when I lift my camera what my subject is here. We have another image. And again, I'm very intentional about the subject in this image, and everything is focused around me clearly identifying and communicating my intentionality about the subject. This was a candid shot. This was me walking around my local park and seeing the ride approaching. I was very aware of the pool of light on the floor, and as a horse walked into that pool of life, I times my shots, the framing of the leaves, seeing the framing around the edges were also intentional. I saw that I zoomed to the focal length. Allow me to retain the framing provided in the scene, and I took the sharp as the horse stepped into the pool of light and you can see if you look carefully. There's a band of light just underneath in front of the horse, and you can see it reflected on the right hand side of the image on the leaves. And I waited till my subject came into that, and I used the light to communicate the intentionality of my subject. I was very clear about what my subject. Waas. When I took that image on that means now it's very clear to someone who's consuming the image, what the subject is. Now. This one's a little bit more complex. Is it the rider? Is it the face on the bike? Is it the other bikes or the people in the background? Because of the complexity of the image, it takes the viewer a little while to figure out what exactly the subject is. And this is a good example of an interesting image that cannot be a great image because the subject is no immediately clear. I haven't been intentionally enough about the image as a very difficult scene. There's a lot going on, but I should have looked at a way of isolating my course subject a lot better, and we're gonna talk about all these principles, much greater depth. But the point here is this isn't a great image, because the subject, my intentionality of taking the image was although I knew that was the subject because I didn't separate from the background because I wasn't careful how it took the image. My subject is then not that clear to communicate over people. Many of the images I'm going to share just to remind you if there is no name on this image , that is my image. I've taken the image. If it's anyone else's image that I've used from unspool ash, which is a great repository of free, really high quality images, I will identify that it's treated. You have a moment you have that moment to capture. But in this instance, it's the boys tiredness. I had a moment to capture that tiredness just a moment while he held that. But I'm very intentional about what my subject here's are very clear about what it is in my own mind. Or when I take the image, I'm mentally filtering everything else out, and this is my final image. I only have a moment. It street photography is candid portraiture. I only have a moment to capture this emotional moment because my intentionality that makes image work. I know what my subject is. It's not the wall, it's not the background. It's the person on the night that seems really obvious, and I'm really over stretching it. But I'm not. You must really nail down in your mind. What exactly is a subject here. And if you look and you don't know what the subject is, drop the camera pause. Look again because you need to be clear what the subject is, because that's how great images are produced. And if you don't know what your subject is, you'll come across in your image. So when I do, commercial work is this ability that enables me to work really fast and create compelling powerful portrays the ability to see the subject and be intentional about the subject. In these high pressure situations, you have seconds to take this image you compose. I'm a little bit, but they're under pressure. There's time restraints. They haven't got all day for you to sit there and get the perfect. You've got 123456 shots and then you have to move on. You have to get it right. You have to be very intentional. What? Your subject is right from the very beginning, and that is a skill that commercial photographer has because they've developed over time with commercial photography. The subject you always very intentional about subject, and it's a skill that you have to learn this photographer if you want a master photography 39. Module 07 04 The Environment: when you're taking an image. Once you've defined what your subject is and you figured that out, the next key principle is communicating an environment for your subject. In this corporate shot, the girl on the phone by herself does not communicate the environment. If she was just there and there was nothing in the background, you wouldn't know where this shot work. This is just a shot of someone on the phone. But when the whole sales team are in the background and they're all standing there on the phone, you begin to see the context of the subject. It's not just a woman on the phone. This is a woman on the phone in a busy sales office. So once we have a subject, we have to make sure the environment communicates the stage or the background of our subject, and we can use storytelling components in this image. We have the mechanic in his jacket. There's only when you see L. Diesel pump in the background. You see the truck is only then that the subject itself starts to have some context. Starts toe, have meaning. Always look to place your subject in an environment that adds elements to the story that communicates the story of your subject in a way that's perfectly clear now. If I'd have took this against the Blackwall, it wouldn't have meant anything, but because I took it in his natural environment in his natural workplace, doing what he naturally does that candidate portray becomes a compelling image off the subject. But it's the environment of making sure what is in the background communicates a major part of story and contribute some story that makes image work. And this context allows you to communicate this story of an individual. It's supplies, meaning in each of these images, the environment itself communicates. Part of the story complements the subject. So with the first image, this guy was a foot truck driver and he loved his job. He loved being a Ford truck driver, so we made sure that when we took a corporate portrait of him, we communicated that we supply context in the environment, and the next shot is a little bit more interesting is a little bit more of a back story. This is a guy who founded a company that makes a really traditional bees wax. He found the recipe in an old Victorian newspaper, and he took that and he made that any start selling it. So he's an older fellow. This is the workshop. It's not really clean. It is old, it's traditional. It's a workshop where people get dirty when they do their work. And we wanted to communicate that we wanted to communicate his age in the context of see, this would have been placed on a website with his story and that would have supplied additional context. But we had to make sure that we communicate his environment. We communicate where he was from in the final image on the right. This was the office manager, but she was warm. She was friendly. She was relaxed. That was the way the company waas, another company, probably wouldn't have liked this image on us to Messi in the background. But this company, it was very much about tradition on all these images of for one shoot. So they're portrays off the employees and you can see the consistent theme each time his we're trying to communicate the background. There's no airs and graces in this image is very earthy, is very natural, communicate in the background but communicating the environment. We add context to how subject in this image that scent of office is much more subtle. But you can make out with the phones and the tables and the edge of a computer screen. You can sense this is someone at work, so even subtle clues. Such a little references can help someone understand the context off the image. I don't see how the image is going to be used is a major factor as well. And in this image of a corporate manager, the office building in the background communicates the role of the individual and provides context in the sense of this is our office area. These are high rise offices. By allowing the into the background, we elevate the subject. We make the subject appear important. If it had been a plane wall, it could have been anyone. But just by a subtle use of background by such a the use of adding some context, we can create and communicate something about subject in this image. We have a show of Siegel now. We could have just taken a shot off the sea go. But it is the birds in the background on the lake that communicate the environment and gives the subject it's stage and is that the communication adds to the story. And in this image, I could have just taken a picture of the person on stage. But it's by including the crowds, that screen that's on his right hand side, all of these elements together that provide the context for the image and make it work. And this was a little bit tricky because what is actually the subject, the subject is actually the guy on the left on the stage on, then the screen and the crowd and everything else. Just add to that and it communicates and accentuate, sir. And if I hadn't added all of those elements, the image wouldn't have been so strong. Sometimes we completely ignore the need for context. Sometimes by removing a sense of environment, we can create an abstract image. We can create something that's interesting in and of itself in terms of texture and form, and then is a village. That's exactly why I've done this was offense Park and I just love the textures. I just loved grain and interweaving and everything. I removed all context on the background. I literally went in and editor. Anything from this image I didn't want in there that didn't just communicate that texture, that grain, that interest. I removed it from the image. So sometimes you have to remove anything that doesn't supply contact. And that's a major part we're gonna be exploring later on in the course. 40. Module 07 05 Leading The Eye: So one of the key principles to understand is the principle of leading the eye fruit a frame, leading I around the image, controlling how our view is lead, fruity image and controlling what they focus on. So let's have a look at how we can direct someone through the frame with some examples in this image, your I should travel to the figures on the left hand side. There are many techniques we can use to do this, and we're going to explore in more depth each of those as we go through the course. But in this image, we do have a strong drawing to those figures, and it is never accidental of images like this. In this image eyes a lead to the castle by the use of the warm colors and strong contrast on the castle. Our eyes are being led toe that as the subject, and it is the use of color and contrast in this image. There's created that desire for our eyes to move to that subject. In this image. Our eyes, a lead to the shell in the hand by the arm diagonally pointing into the frame on, then were held there by the concentric rings encircling and encapsulating almost the hand. So our eyes are lead in body arm on. Then that captured an enclosed by the rings, and now our eyes are drawn to high air of contrast as well, which will be discussed in later on. But eyes have been led to the subject by some simple compositional choices. In this image, the light as it flows through the image leaders from the left corner. It leaves us fruit, a frame into the horizon, and they're very strong, bright leading lines. They guide us through the frame, and they're very strong in this image. Isa led to the boat with the lettering, and then after that, we'll probably find out. Isa led around the boats in the background and then eventually back to the foreground, where we can see a few Siegel's. There is a natural way our eyes will travel for a scene, which we can control by how we place the elements in the scene. And once we begin to see that and understand that we understand how interesting and compelling images can be made by watching where it first focuses on where it travels to after them in this image were drawn to the figures. In the foreground, there's a high point of contrast were always attracted to human body shape. But then behind that, we have a big swathe of white water and then behind that we have the beach on behind. Now we have the buildings in the background. So I isa drawn progressively fruit, a frame, isa lead from the from the front and then moved through into the background. We're controlling the way the viewer sees the frame because we have captured that on. We've been intentional about how our eyes have gone through the frame on what we've seen when we've lifted a camera up and these abstract images were drawn to them in different ways in the first image were drawn down. The bramble to the ripple in the war in the reflection in the second were lead to the foreground by the very softness of the background of the image. We using debt for field to control the viewer's eye. But it is the water drops on the window that we focus on that close, and that mirrors the way we would look at a window in real life. of war drops we might look for. We might look at the droplets on the window, so we're controlling the viewer's eye by choosing what we focus on. So control in the eyes of Meuse River is fundamental to the art of composition, and this is gonna be massive partner. Focus as we explore this in greater depth throughout the course, leading the eye fruit of frame leading the eye for our composition is fundamental. It's powerful, and once you learn to start seeing it, it becomes extremely, extremely interesting, and you can really create some beautiful images. 41. Module 07 06 Evoking Emotion: Now, one of the keys to getting people to engage in an image is evoking an emotional response from them. So capturing emotion is a key component in images where you have a living subject. Capture in relationship, like in this time between father and son is a powerful way of communicating emotion. So when you see moments of connection, you have to grab that moment. You have to be intentional and ready to capture that. That moment of engagement happiness is a compelling emotional experience to capture and communicate. We respond toe visual images with responses that resonate with those emotionally. So in this instance, capturing that moment of happiness creates a reaction in sign of MERS a response. And then we have sadness. Sadness is often communicate with the lips, as in this image or commute, communicate through the eyes, capturing that type of emotion. Ghana's a strong response in the viewer as they read and respond and relate to the body language in the image. So I want to see those emotional moments want to connect with them, and we want to communicate them now. You don't always have to have a human or animal subject in the frame to communicate and emotion. A subject can be emotional just by recording something that we would have an emotional response to. They were built in such a way that we respond to our environment. So if we record the environment in a way that places the viewer in that same environment, the emotional response that we had or was something that they can mimic. So in this simple image, for me, this communicates piece, and it's a really simple images, just some ridges with some clouds, beautiful pastoral, peaceful colors. And that, for me, evokes an emotion off peace. And that's what's important to understand. If you emotionally react to a scene and you capture and you do it justice, that scene will create an emotional response in the viewer. Anger is a powerful emotion to capture, but it can be a double edged sword because people will often recoil from anger. So it has to be careful how we use the negative emotions in our images. Communicating wealth will often draw people. Now you might think wealth is an emotion, but security and safety is, and an image that can invoke that relationship. That connection can create emotional response we associate with its. The next time you were out on your observing you see something. Consider this, Don't you see if you're I seem of your heart measured by the emotional response you have to it. Watch your emotional response when you're taking images because you're going to see things and you're gonna respond to things and surprise yourself how you respond to them emotionally sometimes. And when you do that, capture that moment because now if that create that responsible of you, that will probably do the same with someone else. So here we have a subject of poverty that's very compelling, very emotional. And we respond to that because of our fear of loss. Our fear off, something going wrong were sympathy with the child. Maybe we've experienced poverty in our own life, and we see this in our heart breaks. Or maybe we just have a desire to help the child. You can see how such a strong emotional subject can become a compelling image. I think that when you're taking emotional images, you have to be respectful of the subject, you know, just going around, taking pictures of homeless people and you know, throwing your camera in their face. I don't think we should do that, engage with them, talk to them, help them. Because sometimes you're dealing with a photographer. You're dealing with some very serious emotional states in people and you recording that and you are intruding a little bit into their world. So I think sometimes it's good you taking these types of images to actually take the time to interact with the people. So safety is a strong emotional value relationship. By expressing safety and relationship, we can get some strong reactions to our images, So this image is quite simple. It's not complex, but it communicates so much because it communicates that relationship. Now. Danger is another emotional subject that we will resonate with the next time you look at some images. Just really think when that camera comes up to the ice, really think about the emotional response that you're having, because that is going to create the interesting images. And this is a friend of mine cutting some cake and it was just brilliant. She was playfully being cross, and we caught the moment on camera and absolutely love this image. Look for those fun moments look for those emotional moments, capture emotion and something incredible happen with your images as you learn the habit of seeing the emotion in the moment. 42. Module 07 07 Symmetry: now one of the concepts we need to understand symmetry. There are two basic types of image that we can create. A symmetrical image, andan asymmetrical image. And this is an extremely powerful compositional tall. When we start to use it intentionally, a symmetrical image is an image to repeats itself through a horizontal plane. In this image, the building's air symmetrical on both sides of the image, which creates the compelling image which lifts you above the distracting elements in the foreground and draws your eye down the center of the frame. So these buildings are two different buildings when you actually look at them, they're very similar in design, and it's the photographers intent here is toe have those two elements of symmetry on. It's almost like you could draw a line down the middle of the image, and it could be a mirror image that's not completely symmetrical. But it's the symmetry of those two buildings, which gives the image is power, which leads the eyes down to the tall skyscraper in the background. It's a very, very clever image. This one is much more obvious, is very clear that this is an image that's focused on symmetry on the photographer has been very, very intentional about making this symmetrical image, and this literally could be a mirror image on both sides. Almost there is some difference, and you can see on the sides. But for the center of the frame of symmetry is there now? Here's something interesting. A human face. The more symmetrical human face is the more beautiful review it to be. If a faith lacks symmetry, will not find it is attractive, so symmetrical portrays can be very compelling when we remember this. And if our subject doesn't have symmetrical features, we might want to turn the head slightly. We might want to avoid drawing attention to the asymmetrical nature off their face, and we can create some interesting images by using symmetry by placing a subject in the center with interesting lighting. Like in this image, the image is composed symmetrically. Here's an abstract image, just again, an observation of symmetry. So this is an image of took. I'm just walking along, and I've seen this ceiling as we're walking out and about and just took an image on. The architect who designed this was very intentional about the symmetry on a lot of time we see symmetry in human endeavor. Humans like to make things symmetrical, and we start to see that we can take symmetrical images in horizontal symmetry. Many people cite the rule of fed here and say this image won't work because it's not divided affairs or two fares. The skies and 2/3 and foreground isn't afeard, and we'll talk about more about the role offered later on. But this is actually balance. Symmetrically in the sense of the horizon runs through the middle of the frames, and now we have a symmetrical image in the sense of the context of the background, and that can create some really interesting images. And later on, we're going to be looking at shapes and form in images and how images were strong shape. Strong symmetry can really stand out. Someone asymmetrical Limit is one that lacks symmetry. It's a simple is there in this image we have two trees, but I'm not symmetrical. They're not reflecting weight in the scene that don't have the same strength in to think that a symmetrical in this image we've placed the burden on the far right and that creates the asymmetry is Mt. Symmetrical asymmetrical images could be very compelling. An interesting. So in this image we have both faces turned, so they lack symmetry. Then the balance of the image itself is a symmetrical. We're not trying to put them side by side with breaking up the symmetry. Sometimes we need to break up the symmetry a lot of the time. Actually, we have to break up symmetry to make it look something more than a snapshot. If we'd have had these two standing there face on, looking each of a really boring image. But by breaking up the symmetry by turning the faces but making sure heads are not side by side, we create a really strong, asymmetrical portray which creates interest in this abstract of a seawall defense. I have positioned the bricks asymmetrically that loudy image to breathe on the right hand side of the image. So I've put my focus on the left hand side. But I've allowed space on the right hand side. So we look at this image and we might look at it and we might view is asymmetrical or is it asymmetrical? If you look at the lines in this image, you will see that this symmetry here is a very clever image is actually centre line that runs down for in the middle, and then the other lines stream up very, very symmetrical. So although we initially might think it is asymmetrical air, he turns out it's a symmetrical image and that's what we have to learn to do. We have to learn to see and observe and spot symmetry and asymmetry and be able to identify it in our minds so that when we do see a good opportunity, we take advantage of it and captured her image. Now we can use symmetry and asymmetry together. In this image. The face of the cat is symmetrical, but the composition of space around the care and the use of that space is a symmetrical, and that creates a very powerful image. So when we learn to see symmetrically and asymmetrically as a photographer is going to take our awareness of individual language much higher, much deeper, and we will start to see better images, and we will start to take better images 43. Module 07 08 Activities Module 7: So here is some activities. Activity number one Taken image with an intentional subject. Activity number two Taken image within an environment to communicate context for the subject off the image activity number free. Take an image of a specific emotion or someone displaying emotion. Activity number four right down in your journal the difference between symmetry and asymmetry. 44. Module 08 01 Introduction Module 8: basic rules of composition, the rule of thirds leading lies. In the highest point of contrast, this is the basics. We will be covering much more advanced stuff in later modules. But this is the foundation of stuff. This is the stuff we really need to get a grasp all right from the beginning, because these will be the rules we tend to use most of the time. They're gonna help us Mawr than any of a rule in terms of providing a foundation images. So let's get on with the course. Have a look at these free basic rules of competition. 45. Module 08 02 The Rule Of Thirds: the rule of thirds is one of the most basic laws in photographic composition. This is gonna help you compose your shot and frame your subject quickly. The rule of thirds is the idea. If you place an imaginary line over your image 1/3 of the way in from the frame and put your subject on that line, it becomes visually appealing. That it provides a balance to the image is one of the most basic and simple compositional principles. But it is something we do need to be aware of, and if you place the rule of thirds on both axes becomes even more compelling. Now you have created a nexus in the image, a rule of thirds nexus, a focal point, a visual statement of where the focus should be. A visual statement of where you want the viewer toe look. No, this is not a requirement that you hit both of these axes on. These axes can be on many different size of the frame. They don't have to fall where we've put them here, but especially with portrait work. If you want to be safe, if you want to take a good, pleasing portrait, this is a really strong way of doing that. You'll notice so that where we've chose to go through with the lines as we've gone through the center of the forehead with the vertical line and we've got straight through the eyes with the horizontal line. And that's really important that those other places that you intersect when you use this technique. Now, obviously you can use this technique on other things not just portrays but poor traces the simplest and easiest way to illustrate the principle. The rule of thirds is also one of the foundational AIDS. When creating an asymmetrical composition, it creates a ratio of 2 to 1 in the image, with 1/3 of the image being focused on the subject and 2/3 on the environment, giving a natural asymmetrical balance. Two D image, in fact, is so fundamental that is actually built into most camera displays and viewfinders, so you can use it in camera as a compositional aid. And you can see in this image that there's different nexus points as different places on the image where you can place your subject. And that's the basic principle is you place your subject on one of those nexus points whenever you can. If you place a rule of thirds line over the eye the left eye, particularly as we've seen here, this is what creates the illusion that the eye is following you no matter where you go in the room, says a little tip for you there with candid portray, it's in crowded spaces. The role of First can help you get pleasing image quickly and help you get that asymmetrical balance quickly as well. You'll notice in this image that I've put the focus point, the nexus point on fruit, the I your notes in this image. Although I haven't used a nexus point, I've used a line, so we've got Rule Affairs line coming down. We haven't got a rule of thirds next point swinging across a candid portrait. You moving around quickly. Sometimes a background doesn't allow you to do that, but I still use rule of thirds here to go through the eye and create that natural balance in the image. And that's the thing to understand. With the rule affairs, it helps create in natural balance a pleasing balance in the image. It is also a powerful visual aid with street photography, where you have to compose very quickly when you don't have time to stage or to move your subject. So in this image, what we've got, we've got the skateboarder moving fruit of seeing very quickly. I've seen him coming very quick, sharp on our very quickly composed him on that rule of thirds access and again that is helping us create that asymmetrical balance to our image. And we've landscapes. If you want the foreground to be dominant than the standard approach is, toe have 1/3 of the images the sky and 2/3 as the ground. So if you're out and about on, do you think the foreground is more important in your landscape, then you want to push the foreground up so it takes 2/3 off the frame. When you look a scene and judge, if the sky is very plain and ordinary, then you're probably gonna want to accentuate what's in the foreground rather than what's in the sky. But if you've got a really dramatic beautiful sky, you might want to go the other way. So in this image, for instance, I've seen that the cloudburst, the rays coming through the cloud and his beautiful light on the secrets. The cloud has drawn my eyes. It's a light coming through the cloud that's really made this image for me. So I want the sky to be dominant in its image. I want to use the role of first to divide my image up of frame in such a way that the part of the image that is the most powerful is shown. If you imagine if I'd have swapped Lissy of away and you only had 1/3 of that sky, ask yourself this question. Do you think that would have been a dramatic or is powerful? No, I don't think so. That's a really good way of helping you to balance. And composer Landscape is a sky dramatic if not shifted up into the upper furred. Now, one of things we have to look at, as well as the role of fourths and fifths. No money for totals. Talk about this now. The rule affairs is not the be all and end all of crane nexus points. We can also divide our images by using quarters and even fifths. So here's an example of the rule of fourths the object of interest being placed on the line of fourths. This creates a lot more space in the image, especially powerful. If you're cropping your image to a 16 to 9 ratio, which is my favorite ratio, that's the ratio of a widescreen TV. And that's the ratio of the YouTube video playoff instance. But we're using rule of thoughts. We create even more space in the image. And here's the rule of Fifth Again. We're create a sense of drama when we push it to the extremes like this. But don't be frightened to use it in this manner. Don't be frightened to compose beyond the rule of thirds. I particularly like using a lot of negative space and the images and you'll notice I have actually broken my role here. And you'll understand why late when I said earlier, When you take a landscape to push up at the sky isn't interesting. Well, in this case of skies and interesting yet, I've given it approximately 4/5 of the frame will explain that when we come to negative space later on in the course, I'm sure you're gonna find very interesting, and then we can take it to another street. Now we've got the rule of six. And as you can see with the rule of six, if we look at the image very little of interest in the sky. In this instance, all the interest is in the foreground. It's on the rocks, it's on the waves. And for those of you that are interested, I took this image of my little Fuji X 10. That little street camera. Good light. This is some of the results you can get. What? He's high end point shoes nowadays. I don't feel restricted, but you can see here I've just used the rule of six. The rule of thirds is really powerful, but allow yourself to explore. Allow yourself to move to the different fractions. The fourth, the fifth. The sixth creates, um, interesting balance in the image. Here is a poor Trevor singer where we have used the rules of force to create a lot of negative space. And I think by do so we've created a lot of interest in the image. And if he was using this image for something else, you're going to repurpose it in some way. You've got lots of room for text So we are gonna be talking about negative space later on in another module. But I just want you to see that sometimes when we place a line over an extreme position might be considered extreme position the role of force here, for instance, we can really create some interesting and engaging content when we've got good subject matter. So whenever we using news rules, the rule of thirds don't get too bound by them. And everything to realize is when you start using the role of fourths and fifths and six a lot of the time, you will crop that in post. You would define that when it comes to the editing stage, because you typically won't have those ratios on the back of your camera to help you a little bit practice and it'll become instinctive, and you won't need the lines that you won't need a nexus point. You will just know to leave a little bit extra space when you're taking your image and then crop it into the rule of further reinforce the rule of fifth. So those lines are falling over your subject order nexus. The cross is pinpointed where you want it to be so have fun with this, but don't get too bound up thinking everything has to be governed by the rule of feds. 46. Module 08 03 Leading Lines: So now we need to talk about leading lines. Leading lines draw and point me I by incorporating leading lines and our images, we can lead people to the subject that we want them to view. So in this image, for instance, our eyes are drawn into the background on what makes this image particularly. Work is it's a symmetrical composition. Using leading lines define that symmetry. Leading lines actually create an illusion. When we look at this image, we see in Freedy the images falling us into viewing it as Afridi image. But it's actually a flat two D image, but leading lines takers into the frame. They create the illusion of depth. So in this image, the light trails are taken into the image on. We get a sense of foreground and background. We get sense off near and far, and yet it is a complete optical illusion because you're actually looking a two D image, which could be a little bit mind bending. So that's what leading lines can help us do. They can help us to create a sense of depth in the image. Leading lines can take us fruit, a scene and give us a sense of destination. So in this image, by including the path winding fruit of seen, the viewers eyes and naturally led along that path and fruit that sink architectural objects can be used to lead our attention to subjects. So stairs are a natural source of leading light. So in this image were lead upwards by the leading lines. And there's lots of leading lines. That's the section to the right of the steps where the arrow is. There's also D the handrail, which leads us up. All of these help us the focus into the frame and help her viewer focus into the frame. Architectural objects. Lines can be a part of the subject itself, like in this image where the lines themselves, the lines of the building, lead the eye upwards, and that's the important thing to understand its lines lead the I. We follow them naturally, whether there curvy or straight lines, we're gonna follow them that through our eyes it's Bill into us to respond, tow lines on to follow them to their destination. It's a fundamental objective law the all of us have built into us that we follow. So this an example of where We talk about the laws, objective laws of beauty and of symmetry and of asymmetry. We follow them subconsciously, but as a photographer we become aware of them. We can create some really powerful, compelling images on we could see in this image. The eyes lead up. The eyes led through the frame by the simple light. We started the bottom on. We moved to the top. We do all of this subconsciously. So if we can capture this in our image of viewer will do the same. And if we can give them a viewing experiences, if they're there, we can place them in the frame. They'll respond to our images. Leading lights help us to do that. Now lines can also be organic. In this image, we have a Siris of lines that point the I to the right side of the frame. Now those lines that a cloud of Sief front and then the stones washed up on the beach. So when we're looking for leading lines there in nature as well, we can see them and identify them. And then we could start to create some interesting compositions because now we have these lines that this image would have been a little bit better if it had been a nexus point in the image itself. But unfortunately, because of what was on the edge of the frame, couldn't quite get that. I suppose I could have moved a little bit and got a better angle. But I just used this image not because it's a great image, because it's not a particularly strong image, in my view. But it's a good example of looking for leading lines in nature itself. Now, sun rays can also be used as leading lines in this image to raise shining on the sea, provide the direction for your eyes to travel. Then add to that the line of the breakers going out into the sea. And we have two sets of leading lines drawing our eyes to a particular place on the image. And this is where our eyes probably gonna most naturally goes. We're gonna lead the I, too. So in this instance, we got two sets of leading lines, one artificial on one natural, and we could see how they impact the viewer's experience by following them. Sometimes the leading lines are the subject. In this image. I saw the tracks on the beach, and the lines themselves became the subject or really liked how they interfered with the natural order of the beach. How these tire tracks move down into the water when you're looking at leading lines, Sometimes you can make the leading lines themselves subject. And it's a great exercise to practise your awareness of leading line, just to go out and take some pictures of lines just for the sake. Just really abstract exercise of taking picture of line straight, wavy crossing or different types of lines. I would encourage you to do that, and you can get some really interesting images. I particularly really like this image because off the abstract nature off the lines, strong elements can also serve as leading lines weaken crest sense of depth. In this image, the post in the foreground leading into the background creates a sense of depth. It takes us fruit, so there is a implied curve. Leading line as we go through. There is not a physical line, but there is an implied line unless emit, weaken use in our photography. When we're out and about to create some interesting images again, this is not super strong image, but it's a good example of how we can use objects, the mirror, each other, to create a sense of depth and to lead the viewer's eye through the frame. Leading lines can also create a sense of movement. It pushes are subject fruit the scene. So in this image, there's not a lot of blur, so we're not giving a sense of movement, but the lanes themselves as he moving fruit. They help to communicate that he's traveling in a direction, and it's really a simple as just including the line of the wall on the line of the curb. And now we can imply destination of movement in the image. Now leaving lines can create really powerful visual elements in and of themselves. In this image, we have a boy playing with a balloon, but all you can see is the balloon strength. But it is that string itself that creates the interest and draws the eye to the child. So leading lines are very powerful, basic part of composition and should be in every photographers tool bag. They lead the eye fruit. A frame creates sense of depth and create a sense of additional interest in your image. Now think to yourself, if this image didn't have the ribbon, would it be is interesting. 47. Module 08 04 The Highest Point Of Contrast: the highest point of contrast is probably the single most powerful role of composition on will often cause an image to fail or succeed because the eye is drawn to the highest point of contrast in an image. So if your subject is not defined by being part of the highest point of contrast, often that image will not work on. This is fundamental to leading the eye for the frame. The highest point of contrast oven image is where the biggest tonal variation between light and dark exist in the scene. So in this image is the cloud that is where the I first goes to. That is a star of the viewers journey. From there, they will travel around the scene, and that's because it has the brightest part against a dark partners, not against the darkest part. But the ratio of difference is very high, and because of that, that's where we go to. So where we see the biggest ratio of difference between dark and light, that is where I will be drawn to. A lack of clear contrast in the scene can create confusion for the viewer, and if they're confused, they will leave the image in this image. I wanted the stone troll heads as I saw him to be the subject of the shots, and he's looked like trolls to me. These look out trolls buried in the sand, looking out to sea. But because of the water, the highest point of contrast, the eyes pulled away from them, and the viewer is tourney between two competing points of contrast. In fact, they are overpowered by the point of contrast. I don't want them to look at. So now that Isa Tauron they don't know where to go in the frame. And now that bounce out of the image because it's too much information. The natural beauty detectives blaring away saying, Not beautiful, not beautiful, not beautiful. So though we have a really interesting subject because we have something else in the frame that draws our attention away from that because the highest point contrast, it ruins the image, and we're gonna be talking a lot more about what is in the frame. Let it run into course. But one highlight here had the highest point of contrast can negatively effect an image, and this is why blowing out the highlights getting the highlights too bright in an image can ruin a potentially interesting image in this sharp. The light on the leg is too high and your eyes are drawn there, which is the wrong place to draw the eyes. And because of that, the image breaks down as a visual experience. The contrast should be on the other foot. That is where we want the subject eyes to go. But the highlight on the leg creates a real distracting element. And now the eyes and not going toe where we want them to be. And people look at that image and they will instinctively know it's not a good image, but they won't know why. But now you know why. And you could start including it in your talking. It gets exciting. It gets powerful because all of a sudden you start to realize that these things really affect your images and you start to control that and your images are gonna be so much bad because of it. Now the photographers, I is often drawn to the contrasts of consciously and was sense that they can see an image based on that. In this image. The bench and the duck provide the highest point of contrast, but the bench wins because of its dominance in the scene. It has a higher area of the highest contrast in the sea. It's very dark, and it's surrounded by very bright water. But the duck is much smaller and it's a secondary subject, and in fact, in this image it might have been stronger to actually remove the duck completely in for a job. But this is a really important concept to understand when we're looking for the highest point of contrast. Sometimes the mass of the dark and the light will choose will dictate what is the area of the highest point of contrast. We can use this principle to put the eyes exactly where we want them in this image that is right on the bird's beak, drawing you into the birds Gay's. We have a very high area of contrast. We have the beak on the black around it Now. We could argue that the black area of the been on the cream area of the wall behind it is the highest air of contrast. But because they're very neutral, our minds filter them out as uninterested ing Andi automatically go to the styling. It just treats that been on the wall as a canvas, as the way of mind works on rejects are in favor of the beak on the head. So when we're looking for the highest point of contrast, even in animal subjects will often see there's something that we can focus on on draw our attention to our viewers attention to. Now we can use this to great effect when we capture a highlight or a catch light in the eyes of a subject. In this image, the high contrast of the skin and hair provide an area of contrast, and inside of that of the eyes, which is an area of very high contrast, and the catch lights in the pupil's bring in our attention to the eyes. So we have a layered effect of the highest point of contrast, the hair and the skin drawers to the face. And then when we come to the face, it's the eyes, particularly the left eye, which is larger and takes up mawr based on the face just because of the angle and doesn't have the hair covering it. So it's a larger area from where to draw the highest point of contrast. So, uh, gazes drawn to the I we are drawn to the highest point of contrast now. Therefore, when we take a portrait image, we're gonna wanna make sure that if we are capturing the eyes, nice point of contrast in the eyes were drawn there on our viewer is naturally going toe be drawn there, and we share the image with them. It's a really good example. Again. Off the highest area of contrast is the hair in the face, but they become part of the frame, and then there's a choice between the two eyes. But because the subjects right, I from my perspective is larger. That becomes the place we go to first when we look and then we go to the over. I'm now in this image we're using a black background on that really centers the viewer's eye on the subject. And again, you have the eye with the catch line, and that becomes a center of damage and the focus of the image. So this is very similar to that last image, because the black around our subject, by choosing a black background, makes the subject the highest point of contrast again, we'll ignore that as the main campus and would be drawn to the most dominant an interesting element, which is the I. And then you'll probably notice we then are drawn to the lips because there's a higher contrast now around the lips. I think it's probably the single most powerful compositional law that you can master when it comes toe creating images in getting our viewers to engage and connect with our images. Once we understand this, candid portraiture becomes easy because we will always make sure our subject has the highest point of contrast contained in it. So in this instance, this is a candid portrait little boy running around grabbing his picture. Andi, I'm conscious of the fact I need to get his eyes. I need to get catch lights in his eyes. So that means I need his face face in the right direction. When he's in that direction, I take the picture and I hope you see how all the visual loss start to work together. How we start to get the rule of thirds going on here. We've got the catch lights, the highest point of contrast. All these things start adding up, and we even have some very subtle leading lines in the background pushing our eyes to the frame. Here are just the basic compositional elements, and we can take a candid portrait like this where we just snapping away in natural light and we get some really interesting and pleasing images. Even studio shoots take advantage of this simple principle. So in this image, for example, he's wearing black, so we're gonna put him on a white background. We're gonna center in the focus. We're gonna create him. That's the whole subject as the highest point of contrast on again. Then when we look, it is, eyes and his face were drawn to. His eyes were drawn to his right eye. From my perspective, that's the area of highest contrast on his face. You can see there's a little Paul of highlights under that I and then you get the dark eye , and that's the largest area. So that becomes a place where your eyes naturally drawn to. So this principle is fundamental, oh, types of photography, and we'll also then start editing our images to accentuate this so we make sure that involves the highest point of contrast in this image, I have deliberately darkened the already dark background so that the roses don't have any competition, and that's important to understand what we understand this principle, we're going to start playing in post production as well. We're going to start making sure the eye goes where we wanted to go later on. In the course, we're going to show you this image to illustrate. Never point, and you're going to see the original image. So you gonna understand this point a little bit better. But basically we don't want anything to distract from a subject here. And this is just me walking around. I'm down the seaside, see a nice roads of some nice light. I could see the high contrast on it, take the image. But it's not until I get it home that I can edit it to the place where I want it to be. So in this image, the lights falling on the girl's face is a candid wedding photography, and that creates a high point of contrast between her hair on the lovely light falling on a skin on the cheek boats. We must try and make sure that that is the dominant area, so you do have some high points of contrast in the background. But they become canvas points. They become stuff. You filter out the fall away because the contrast in the face is so pleasing. So that's really important to understand. Sometimes you have a busy scene and you'll have some high points of contrast. But if the subject itself, I'm very clear him and we talk about being clear about what the subject is. Her face is a subject her looking up at her future husband. This couple is now married, her face looking up. That's the subject, the light falling on the face. That's the subject because it's so strong. If we do have some distracting elements in the background, they tend to fall away. But if the distracting element in the background was larger was brighter, it would cause a major problem. In this image, it appears like the bride is the subject of interest. It first, But the confetti itself, the hearts in particular in the confetti of the subject on the viewer, begins to realize that once they get beyond the bride's face, so we have a primary and secondary point of contrast in this image, but it is a secondary in this instance that takes the image beyond the bridal portray. So, yes, the bride's face is the highest point of contrast. But sometimes it could be something else in the scene actually adds and compliments that also has a high point of contrast. Now you'll notice that their secondary elements eyes are drawn to them afterwards, so we don't want them to be as dominant as the primary focus. But what's interesting here psychologically, although the bride is the primary, is really the confetti and in particular, the love heart that I want my viewers to see. That is my subject. Once we understand this principle, we can start to create some really powerful and beautiful images. This is just a simple, candid portrait at a wedding reception. I just saw someone. They looked at me. They just come out of shadow into some beautiful light in the reception area, and I took the image that technically it's not that sharp, little bit blurry. But it's really strong because I've understood the highest point of contrast, and then when I've edited it, anything that was in the background, I didn't like was even faintly there. I just dark and I got rid off. So now we have a really pleasing image. I really like this image. It's one of my favorite images, and yet it's so simple. And in this simple abstract and taken with not particularly great camera, I sort of contrast and immediately knew what was going to do with the image when it came to editing. You have so much fun with this, with the highest point of contracts practiced by taking a really bright and start shapes abstracts. But get out there and have some of it and learn it because this is really gonna set your photog great. Apart from 99.9% of other photographers and their work. Now, in this image, we have rule of force. We have leading lines, and we also have the highest point of contrast. Now we can argue the highest point contrast is actually there in the barrier. But again, that's gonna disappear. We're going to see that's canvas we're not gonna fill today. That's not distracting. It just adds to the image. But the subject himself is actually quite high. In contrast now, the lighting was a bit flat that day would have lights in a little bit more light in the water, and then I could have edited the image so that he was a little bit darker. But we still got a really interesting, compelling image. I just love the look of his hat and hear him paddling in the war. There was a juxtaposition toe that that really worked for me. But it was the leading lights, timing it so that the wave hit his ankles before I took the image, making sure composed him in the right place and making sure I could clearly define my subject by being the highest point of contrast in the frame. Like I said, no, we've got the black breaker go for the war is actually slightly higher, but we do accept that as canvas. Our minds will filter that out. It's only when we have something in the background that interferes in contradicts or doesn't add to the image that that becomes a problem. And we're gonna be looking at everything in the frame, ever adding or subtracting from your image in a late election, and now you're gonna join that one. I just wanted to tie these free principles together and let you see how they all work and how we can use them to create some really simple, compelling images. 48. Module 08 05 Activities Module 8: activities. Activity number one. Taken image Observing the rule of first and remember that your phone or your camera is gonna have a rule of thirds guide, so use that you can ever taken image of a rule of fertile line or rule of thirds. Nexis. Remember to share these images will be guys. I've got that Google plus community I mentioned at the beginning of the course. So you want to share your images and get some feedback and some guidance. It's a mini mount. I send you a link to my community. Activity number two. Taken image using leading lines over as the subject or pointing to a subject activity number free. Taken image of a subject using a high point of contrast to drive the viewer toe that subject in the frame. Activity number four right down in your journal. A paragraph explaining each of the free fundamental roles 49. Module 09 01 Introduction Module 9: in this module, We're gonna look a color photography. We're gonna look adventures in color, hue, saturation and luminosity. We're gonna understand those terms. We're gonna look at the color wheel also going to discuss using color. I'm also going to show you a really simple color at it. So let's get on, have a look at all this and learn how to use color to take some really interesting how awful and engaging images. 50. Module 09 02 Adventures In Color: color. Photography is a beautiful part off photography, but it is often the hardest to master, as color is take for granted and very rarely looked and considered photographically on. Understand how colors interact to each other as a photographer is a central on. Once you learn to do that, you will be up to produce some really stunning color images. This is one of my favorite images off Stanford Bridger Place in England, very close to me. And it's the use of color, the use of autumn colors that really makes this image powerful and learning how to see this . How to edit this had to draw this out is really gonna help you create some beautiful photos . No one of the things to understand the basic things about color is color communicates temperature as a really fundamental control. That color gives you is how cold, or how warm and images. In this example, the Grace Guy communicates. It is a cold, sunless day. The sky, however, is not completely gray, but it's a very de saturated blue on blue communicates coldness as we looked at white balance. This image then becomes a cold image on. We were spawned to it. In that way, when you introduce reds and oranges and yellows and the warm colors that really starts to convey warmth. So in this scene you assume that the weather was actually quite warm because the warm colors and tones. So by using warm colors, we can get very positive responses to our images. We call some may color the subject of the image. A view of photography will often respond to color in a photograph when the color is a subject. Without them even realising why essentially the color itself becomes a subject, and if they like that color, they will respond to the image. So in this image, even though the leaves on the subject is actually the red in the image, that is the real subject on the thing we will respond to when we view an image in this image, we see a lot of information all at once, and normally this wouldn't be pleasing because of the I not knowing where to go. But because the colors are so strong and interesting, this image moves beyond the simple composition and becomes a study in color. The photographer who are seeing shapes would have been drawn to the colors in this frame, so this image then becomes an exploration of shape and color. But it is all the mixed colors. The palette of colors that seem toe work well together. The muted tones, the warm tones, the weathered tones of these picture frames that we respond to. So then it becomes an abstract in a sense of color, even though is very clear with subject is. But it is very well seen, but a photographer now. In this imagery, muted pastel colors make this an image that the eyes drawn to. Yes, we have some drops on the balloon, and we have some high points of contrast caused by the drops in the balloon that draw the eye. But it is the balance of these tones in the image. It's a mix of these colors that make the image work, and when you think about it, when you buy a pack of balloons, those balloons are often grouped in such a way that the colors work together. So it's almost a naturally pleasing composition. When you take those balloons and you taken image of them together like this because someone has already predetermined some good color relationships. So that makes this very interesting image just another level. Because now we're seeing the result of someone else compiling these colors, creating balloons out of these colors and in some of photographing with that event. Now, in this simple observation of color blocks, the color becomes dominant to the eye on because the colors complement each other, we'll explore why that is the case. We are attracted to the image, so we've got some really nice complementary colors. We got some really strong shapes on these all work together to create a very interesting image that we respond to very ordered is very structured on that Pills are built in beauty detector, and we're gonna talk about later on how to break an image like this down compositionally and has use abstract principles to compose an image in a much later model in the course. But this is a really interesting image because of the way color has been observed and again notice. Someone else has decided to use these colors and paint these colors on this building, and then someone else has observed that there has been an artistic expression originally in paint the walls And then there's been artistic expression in the photographer. Seeing that and capturing that, and that for me gives the image even more depth. So when color is used intelligently, even boldly, we can create beautiful and compelling images. I believe it's one of the profound ist and greatest adventures in photography. Toe learn to see color for color sake alone as a pair of glasses in the opticians, we mentioned that earlier we put all these different layers of glass into the holder until we can see the writing on the wall. When we go to the optician on, When we apply along the different rules and we add them as lenses, it deepens our breath as a photographer. But when we start see color, when we start seeing as a subject in of itself in its purest form and by learning to push and pull color in the editing process, I think photography becomes really, really exciting and interesting and pleasing for the photographer, for the viewer 51. Module 09 03 Hue Saturation Luminosity: What we need to look at now is hue, saturation and luminosity. Now we need to get a little bit technical here because we need to understand these terms is we're gonna find them in photography, but they're not that complicated. When you understand what they actually means, let's go and have a look at them. So we're gonna break all of these down. We're going to go from one by one and explore them. And by the end of it, I guarantee you're not going to see color the same way as you did before. So Hugh is the term is basically the name of the color. So in this instance, we have a red circle, a green circle on a blue circle. Red is a Hugh Greene is a hue. Blue is a huge visa. Constructs is the labels replace on those colors. That's what Hugh means. It's just the name of the color, and we're gonna be talking about RGB later on as we go for it. Of course, saturation refers to the density of the hue. What a density of the color. Remember, hue and color mean the same thing, so by changing the density of a color by increasing its saturation or by decreasing its saturation. We changed the look of that hue or that color. So in this image we start with a red and then we reduce it to 66% and we start to lose similar saturation. And then we reduce that to 33% of its original saturation. These are actually a variation of the same color. All we've affected is not the hue. We haven't changed. The hue well we've affected is the saturation. And this is important when it comes to editing, as we can increase or decrease the strength of the saturation a lot of time on control, how that color ever fits into the image or dominates the image. So if we had a situation, we had a really bright red in our image and it was taken it attention away from a subject we could reduce. The saturation on reduces dominance in the scene. Luminosity refers to the brightness or the darkness of the hue. So by decreasing the middle reds, if we look at the middle red, if we decrease that by 20 points in photo shop, we get a dark red and increasing the luminosity by 20 points. In a program like photo shop, we get almost orange cast to the image, so this is another control we can use in our editing. So that's really hue, saturation and luminosity. Hugh is the color. Saturation is the intensity of the color, and luminosity is the brightness of the color on these free controls, when it comes to editing are images and playing with color allow us to pull our image around and pull it in lots of different and interesting directions. 52. Module 09 04 The Color Wheel: so let's have a look at the color wheel on the various ways we can use it. Create compelling color images. Primary colors are exceptionally powerful when it comes to photography on can be used in many ways. In this image, we have the classic red yellow blue primary system displayed in these house colors. But there are some issues when it comes to discussing primary colors, which we're gonna need to cover when it comes to choosing primary colors. There are two main systems the art world uses are wybie red, yellow, blue as the primary colors, and this comes from how paints mixed together. So if you mix paints to get all the other colors, these air that chemical colors, you're gonna need to create the other colors. Now the media world uses RGB as their primary colors red, green and blue. And this comes from how image sensors capture light and how monitors display that light. So without getting into the science off wider, different, we have to decide which of these two we're going to use in this course now. Color theory is actually based on the R Y. Bi model from the art world, so when it comes to composition, in my opinion, is actually better to use that as the base of selecting a scene. Editing, however, favors the RGB model because it uses the media based primary system of colors. But seeing creatively and using the color wills that been used in artistic learning down through the centuries will benefit greatly as we are approaching photography from the creative side in this course rather than the technical. So we're going to years are wybie red, yellow, blue. Now some people argue that the primary colors are red, yellow, green and blue. I don't really want to get into that, but we have to understand why there's some confusion. Love is just to do with the way electronic sensors emit light and how to die. Odes emit light and how the sense of themselves a buildup of RGB cells when they taken image. So that's why it tends to be there. It's just based on the science of how to reproduce light electronically. And like I said, the art world is mawr hat use primary colors chemically, but we're just going to use our wybie because that is accepted standard in the art community so let's have a look at primary secondary and tertiary colors on the color wheel . Help us understand some of the terminology on where these colors fit in the color wheel. So we've got the primary. We've got blue, red and yellow on there, what we consider the most dominant colors on the color wheel. And then we had the secondary color. Studies are the colors that sort sit in between our primary colors. So we've got violent. We got green and we've got orange. And then we've got the tertiary colors. So these are the colors that sit in between a primary and a secondary. So we have blue, violet, blue, green, yellow, green, yellow, orange, red, orange and red violet. And we can see him. This simple color will. There was started to divide and prioritize colors and give them different levels of importance. When we apply that to our photography, it starts to create some really, really interesting results. So primary colors can be very strong in an image. When we focus on using a soul primary color as the subject or the background, we can create some really compelling images read. It is a very, very strong primary color, probably the strongest, and can often be made the subject in its own right. As we can see in this image here and as an accent color, it can also be extremely powerful in this image. The red is very strong against the cream of the light blue background elements, and it provides some really beautiful accents, and it makes the image. But it's a really strong observation of primary colors being dominant in the scene. So then, is the subject off this image, the door on the windows or is it the red on in this image? The subject is actually the red because it's so dominant, that's where your eyes are drawn to. The other thing about red is that is an excellent attention getting device on will often override the rule of the highest point of contrast because it's so strong, even with a tiny amount, like on this hat on this child's head. If there are no ever competing strong primary or secondary colors, it draws the eye on. This technique was used in Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List, where selective color selection was used, so the only Reds were showing against a black on white background. A small dash of red can create a really interesting focal point on an image. Yellow is probably the least used that the primary colors might be considered as the weakest, but it does have some interest in usage is when you start to study how it is used in images . Whenever you see a heavy use of yellow is nearly typically in nature photography. Yellow flowers. Yellow insects are very popular and can create interesting images. Even know. Yellow for me is a poor cousin of all the colors. Strong yellow backgrounds are hard to find, but when you do, that can be very visually stimulating, especially if your subject is dark and creates a natural contrast against that yellow. So if you do see a yellow and you do street photography and there's a nice yellow background, take advantage of it. Use it. You don't see him that often. It's really interesting. One other thing to note with yellow is it often works best when the luminosity of the yellow is quite high, so brighter. Yellow's always work better than the dark. It yellows when you're using it as a primary color, Attention getting device. Now we will often use blue in our images, and then they're often a part of the sky in the sea, and it's the most common usage, and it therefore lends itself to a very natural, strong background color. In this image is a blue that creates a strong visual message that enables the goal to really stand out, and we will often use as a background image. But we'll do it subconsciously and again is that beauty detector. A blue sky is a beautiful thing that's built into us so as a photographer will often seek ways to use that as a natural background. So with this image really like this image down Seaside? See this young couple looking over sunny day on the beach? Look up perfectly blue, Beautiful backdrop, and I probably couldn't have got better backdrop in a studio. So it took the image, and it's that blue as a simple backdrop that's made the image work you can also use. Blue is a strong anchoring element in this image. The Blue provides an interesting point of focus that helps the door to really stand out on balance. Spooky Window. This obviously creates an ominous look, I probably could have gone a little bit brighter on this blue when I edited by Was trying to go for a spooky look. You'll know is in this image that the blue is the primary color, and it's not competing with any other primary color or even any secondary color, just tertiary colors and muted de saturated colors. And therefore it creates strong visual interest in and of itself as an object of primary colors. So when you're out and about, look for those instances of primary color on when you get really strong. One. Take the time to share with me. Remember, I've got that Google plus community. Just email me for the link. I'll send you a link for that poster images in there, and we can have a chat a bone. Now we need to look at complementary colors, complementary colors of those which lies opposite each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors can be used to create strong visual interest when used together, so he is an example of a red and green used together. The primary is the red and the second color of green helps the primary red really stand out When you look at this as an exercise in color observation, there's just two colors here. That's all there is, and that's what makes it so powerful, so interesting. You know, it doesn't matter that the head of the insect is actually out focused. What matters here is red itself is read this beautiful red in nature inbuilt beauty detector response to that says That's beautiful against another lovely green tone. Again, we say that's beautiful on all suddenly saying, This is a very beautiful image and it purely based on the color, because if you looked at this image, technically, you would say that head is not in focus. But it doesn't matter because it's not about that. This is about the observation of color that the photographer saw and recorded, and you'll often find complementary colors in nature. So in this instance, received the violet flower where it's complimentary color on the other side, which is yellow. They have this really beautiful natural. The current off complementary colors blue and orange, work well together that complementary colors on the color wheel and can often be seen in sunset shots like this one, the warm from the cold, complementing each other, which is really interesting. So have a look for those complementary colors. Try to observe them as you're out and about take images off. It hasn't exercising color observation, and now it gets colors are those colors They're next to each other on the color will. So in this instance, we have a primary into tertiary colors. Group together, you're struggling remembering us. Don't worry. You can download color wheel APS so search for color wheel on your iPhone, your android and you can actually download color wheels that you can look at have of you as you're out and about taking images and remind yourself of some of those different ratios and those different combinations. But when we taken image where we have free of these colors very close on the wheel, you don't see him that often. These are quite difficult images to find, but when you do see him, it's recognizing. When you see these tones are very close together is an allergist color schemes. We can get some really interesting images, so obviously what we've done here is reviews are red or blue and a yellow primary colors, and then we've created analogy ist color scheme off those in these selections. It doesn't have to be like that. It could be any free colors together. So here we have a red analogies color scheme with violence and oranges. Being present there very close to each other on the color wheel and that becomes very pleasing doesn't have to be exact. It just has toe display that range. So here is a blue analogous color scheme. It's got touch of blue violet and a hint of blue green as well as the blue on those colors , working together, pleasing to the eye. So here we have a yellow analogous color scheme. We have a touch of yellow, green and yellow orange in the scene, and that creates a pleasing color composition by do recommend. When you start playing with these, download up, get that color, will have a play with it and start to have a look at this principal. When you're looking at a magazine or you're looking at food packaging anywhere there's design. You're gonna start to see these elements. These colors used together so it's really good toe, understand color wheels and start observing different types of color and how they relate to each other out in the real world 53. Module 09 05 Working With Color: So let's have a look at working with color. As a photographer, we have to learn to work with color. We can hide behind black and white, and I'll upset a few people by saying that. But you know, I'm a photographer. I think is really, really powerful if you choose to back what started this fight. But even when you do that, you still need to understand color fairy, believe it or not, because when we go into the black and white section you're going to see it's actually our understanding of color that enables us to create good black and white so you can get away from it. You can't hide from color. You have to understand color photography. What we need to do is put on our colored glasses now and start looking at some images once we begin to seeing color. Once we begin to understand some of the basics of how color works, we could start to look for color as a subject in and of itself in our photography, and especially how people have used color, you know, there could be a journalistic quality to finding how people use color, as in this scene, Did they all paint there houses to a plan, or is it just a random pattern of people creating a shared cultural identity? Very interesting. But start to see the colors in your composition and around you start to explore and look for color Compositions. Photographed color for the sake of photographing color make color itself the subject. A splash of color. Here's a street for trophy image Remember, we talked about that primary red. How strong it is. Well, here you see it. What I've done here is I've found my background and I set myself up. It's a street photography image, and this is the typical basic technique of street photography mentions before I set it up a framer image, and there's lots of people walking backs and forwards across my field of view. I'm own in the space. They're walking into my space. There's no issues there, but then this young lady walks past, and she's got this really nice bright red jumper on, and that just draws the eye. So by carefully timing by composing, waiting for that primary color to enter the scene, I've got this really pleasing images. One of my favorite images and have timed it very carefully, so that stride is where I wanted to be. She is against a darker section should not covering the lamppost. She's in a very specific spot, managed it just time that and get that in the right place. And that was really, really, really pleasing. But essentially what I was doing here. I was waiting for some color toe. Enter the scene and here's a different shot from the same location. But this time again, I'm waiting for some color. But this time it's the red on the violet on that becomes a subject at the scene, especially the juxtaposition of the old gentleman carrying a lilac bank. There's a juxtaposition there again, you've got that red primary, which is so strong I'm waiting for the color. Enter the frame and just a reminder. Remember, those primary colors will identify and communicate what the subject actually is. So in this instance, we've got high point of contrast on the lady's hair. We've got a very red bag on. Then we've got the lilac bag on the gentleman behind, so they become the subject and they're very strong. And effort. Nelson is just a compliment. In addition to that subject in this image, it's the touch of orange, or should I say, the dominant amount of orange in the shop window that drew my eye. Hence the title of a street photo is something in orange, but what we're really taking a picture off here again is someone else's use of color. Someone has been artistic and have arranged these colors in the shop window. In this boutique, all I have to do is see that and see someone interacting with that. And I've got the shock. So be aware of other people's artistic arrangements on what they do and I think is a great compliment and then photograph there because that's an appreciation of the time and effort have taken to create something that communicates their observation of color. And when you do that, you can begin to create some really interesting images. Sometimes you might want to mute the colors in the sea, so in this image, the slightest bit of color is going to stand out. So in this we've got the yellow, which is quite bright, but the really the biggest, largest dominant section is gonna be the orange leaves on the floor. And then this helps the leader I from the bottom, the frame upto a subject, which is the old gentleman in the autumn off his life. Now another thing to look out for its color blocks. Color blocks are very pleasing to the eye, especially when we see them with very strong primary colors. In this image, whichever entitled Ode to the Matrix, I was reminded of the choice that had to be made in the movie The Matrix between taking the red pill and the blue pill. So this then became about choices. So for me, this image takes on a really interesting aspect. But because their doorways there's an implication here that there's a choice. But if they just been gray weather worn, boring doors, the image wouldn't work. But it's a fact there, red on their blue. What makes the image strong? It's a strong use of primary colors, and then we've got some strong oranges. Secondly, colors in the tree above as well. So then we've got some really strong visual element now would probably like the doors to be a little bit closer together, but unfortunately couldn't move them compositionally. That's where this image breaks down for me a little bit. I wanted to show just a simple observation off. Some primary colors can make interesting you. It is so sometimes it's just simplicity of color. In this image, we have four main color ranges. We have the stone floor, the black edges, the white lines and the orange walls on because it's a really simple composition because there's only four colors really in. This is very graphically pleasing. Look for really simple color combinations and you can create some really interesting and compelling images like this. And I really like what the photo was done with this image. It's a really good observation, but what I really like about it was the original architect's design is actually what's being photographed. So again, we're seeing that principle of seeing her. Someone has played a manipulate with color. What we have here is a very organized image. One of things we have to consider is weight of color in the scene. In this image, we have two complementary colors in terms of the main colors and that being the red and the green. But what's also important is the weight of those colors in the sea. In this image, the red and the greens take up approximately the same amount of space, creating a really nice balance. So when you look at it, don't look at the scene as objects. Look at it as a just a simple composition of color on blocks and shapes of color, and that's what this would talk for its seen. Here's Reactor two has taken an image up, and we've got some really beautiful. And again it's quite simple is not lots of colors in the scene, but a color that are there are very strong and a complimentary. One of the things we can use with color is bands of color. These could be used to separate a seen as in this image, where the sky in the landscape are separated by the bright orange is so look for lines and bands in nature. In architecture, we see strong sections of color that can really create some interesting ways to divide an image up color can be used in a completely abstract pattern, and when everything don't be afraid to push and pull colors until you get the effect that you want. In this image, the family is out of focus due to a slow shutter speed. But then the colors become much more important, and we can carry an image beyond the normal into the abstract just by simply using strong color. Pulling the color in our editing process and prominent primary color can create very strong visual interest in this image. The blue creates the visual interest in the white elements. The blue becomes the canvas for the white, and that's why we need to learn to see the color around us and see how it's influencing the frame now repeating colors in the scene. This is a really interesting except to do as a street photography exercise in this image, that girl's hair and the red door very close to each other in color so I could see the door . I could see a lady walking. I'm just trying to get into position quickly enough to get both in the frame, and it almost implies that that's where she's going. The red hair is going to the red door. This is a classic technique in street photography, of creating deep visual interest by creating relationships in color between different objects. Look for strong repeating colors in a scene not in the same object in different objects, and that becomes very, very interesting high luminosity colors. In this image, we have very high luminosity colors the breakers set against a very dull de saturated background. This can create very interesting photo opportunities, as were drawn to these points of colored light. Simplicity in color choices can lead to very strong abstract images, as can be seen in this simple composition. There's not a lot to this image. It's very basic in the amount of colors there is. But it's a very interesting image to us because it's an exercise in color observation. Now it's gonna touch on what a monochrome is. A monochrome is an image that's a black and white than a tone is added, so it's a single tone throughout. It's essentially a colored black and white image, and it's included here for reference so that when it comes to editing, sometimes you can add a bit of color to image and just change the feel of it a little bit from a simple black and white into a toned image. And it was very popular back in the film days when people are editing filled wasn't lots of different things you could do to edit film, but adding a tone, creating a monochrome creating a different variation on the black and white was very popular, and you can do this much stronger than this is a very subtle use of the technique. So I just want you toe go out and start seeing color as the subject itself, and crane images that an observation in color for colors sake. 54. Module 09 06 Simple Color Edit: So let's have a look. A simple color at it in the light room. Now we've already gone through the basics of using light Romania. So I just want to show you some color controls so that as you go through and start editing images, you see how easy is to play with color and to bring out and tone down colors as you edit them using light rooms. That's kind of a look. Now, if you remember, we looked at this image earlier in a previous module, and I think we all agree it's not great image. But the reason I'm going to use it is because it's got a lot of color in it so we can start pulling those colors around. And I want you see on screen how simple it is to edit color images in light room. So we've already done out of adjustment. We've already done a main adjustment, and we showed that in an earlier lecture. But now let's just go in on. What we're gonna do is we're gonna come to the color tab here. We're just gonna open that up, and then if we select color here like this, we get all. And if you're not seeing all of them, just click me all button here. Now, what we've got is do you remember we talked about Hue, saturation and luminosity under Start it up and I'm gonna start with some rates. How long we grabbed the red dial. I'm gonna pull it this way in that until I see glamour reds are and you can see around the bottom off the path. That's where the Reds actually are. But by changing the huge, I'm actually changing the color of the red. So what I want to do here is gonna pull the red over, and I'm gonna put on it quite deep in quite bright. Now, next thing I can do is I can take the saturation. I can push it up, I can take it down. And now what we're doing, we're deciding how bright we want it to be. A I'm gonna put a little bit more saturation in there and then we've got luminosity. So do I want it to be bright or dark? So let's look at the reds and I'm gonna take them up on down. I don't little bit highlighting my reds or do we want a little bit dark. In fact, I think I'm gonna leave it a little bit dark. I cannot change again later. Now I'm gonna come to the next part. We're basically working down the color will here. So now let's find my oranges where they are looked very dominant. So what I want this is an autumn picture so it could leave the orange. Where is I Could just push it a little bit more. I'm just gonna push across, and then saturation is the same. You know, pull up the saturation a little bit, and then luminess I think I have the car into a little bit. Breyer. Now I'm doing extreme edit here so you can see the effects Wouldn't normally edit this brightly. It's just to illustrate how to use the color controls. And it really is this simple in light room. This is how you edit. So if we move around there, we can see the color changes a little bit green in the background. I don't change that green to a little bit more of a greeny blue. Move on and quit. So I'm gonna move that there. Andi, I'm gonna take saturation off a little bit. Always like to de saturated greens. I find it a little bit too strong and dominant. If there's a lot off them and then we could decide how bright we want them is gonna brighten them up a tiny bit. When we come to our AKA How we got in the Akra in the scene, there's a very little bit we can see in the top there, so I'm not really gonna bubble with that. And this is what's handy with these tools that you can see which of the colors are actually in the scene. So look our blues again. There's not much blue and there's a little bit not touch. That is nothing there worth bothering with. And then my purples no much purple and saying tiny bits. I'm not gonna bother that. Finally, I'm gonna come to my magenta. I know I'm going Teoh. You can go a little bit in the sky and they'll be in the travel that's going to put across a little bit, and we've got some really, really strong colors. Did I do my yellow now? I skipped me yellow before I did, so let's have a look at yellow. Yellow is really powerful. You can move it to green and you can move it toe Orange yellow tends to be a highlight cover. So I have a little bit of orange in it. Just a warm up, but not a lot. So I should bring it down a little bit, changed a huge, tiny bit and then we're gonna dio I'm just gonna look a saturation. Don't increase it. Yes, I do. On that rich yellow. And then we can decide how price I'm going to use it for highlights. So now we've got it's almost gone nuclear, but don't like his face. And if you remember earlier in a previous module we did a selective adjustment, which is Ah, we could select again. I'm actually gonna de saturate that even mawr. I'm gonna create a new point put on this jacket there because I want to decelerate that a little bit as well. Oh, that one. That's people I orange. So let's just have a look at that click done. And now we've got a really colorful image. Notice is probably stronger than I would actually dio, but it's a good example. So I'm gonna do is. Well, I'm just going to show you a Nick software plugging, which is completely free owned by Google. I've mentioned it before in the course. Basically, once you've installed it, just follow the Knicks software installation setups. Really simple, installs really easy. It's just gets a download, impressing a couple of buttons, and it does it for you. We're gonna click on a photo, and then we're gonna edit in. And these are the filters or the software we've loaded, and what we want is all of these are supplied free by Nick Effects. We've got analog, which creates, like old style images, color effects defined, which can amuse noise. Got some sharpening stuff that if you want to really sharpen for print silver fix pro. Probably the best black on white piece of software out of them will show you that a little bit later in the black and white section on vase er to which again is a sort of color thing . I don't use it that much. I just get a color fix pro, which is a lot of filters. So what we're gonna do is we're going to select edit a copy of light room adjustment and once is opened We have all of these different filters we can apply So we've got all landscape all of them showing being goes the landscape we can filter down I'm gonna get total because I'm familiar Way of where they all I use this software a lot and I will then just play So let me try cross balance What's across bones? Gonna dio see across balance and we can go over this side and drop it down is gonna change and assume there was different light sources So that's almost taking it back to just how it was on the day itself. So I actually quite like that. That's really, really orange now and then what I would do I just add another filter here. I might look across processing and I would drop this down over here and I would find something. Maybe the tone de yellows and oranges down a little bit. Maybe like that. And then I can have another filter, and I could go. Film effects faded, and I can create quite a different look. And we can bring the haze down a bit and play that way. And if I don't like that filter. All I would do is I just go down and I would play with another filter until I found something I like. So I got select pro contrasts and never play with that correct color telecast in the color caste Current contrast. Dynamic contrast. We do anything with that. Yeah, we just brought it up a little bit. And if it didn't like when I can just delete it in ticket, I could then save. That's gonna import that back into light room. Andi, I've done a really strong, quick, simple color at its free software. Recommend you get in and have a play of it. When you edit your color images on what you will notice is your start using certain fillers and you'll start developing that style. Does using those filters? It's a have a play. With that, we've come back to this image Now the anything I'll be doing now is going back up, probably correct in the highlight on the dog. I think there's still a bit too bright may be taken. My shadows up a tiny bit, my wife thinks isn't a fantastic image. It's not intended to be. I just want you to see how much you compulsion and pull the colors using simple tools like Light Room and Nick Software. But the most important thing is get out there and enjoy your color photography on. Understand this. When we take our images, we're going to see the color in the images. So let me just come back here. We're going to see the color in. The images were not necessarily gonna be able to bring those colors out how we want them until we push and pull them in the actual suffer itself. So I'm gonna do now is I'm just going to reset my edit back to scratch. Let's see what we think. That was the original image on. Let me just go back and that's what we pulled it, too. So I wanted you to see that I wouldn't necessarily use this much color. But why not have fun but understand when it comes to color images, don't be too disappointed if you don't see it through the camera. Land is when you they're into the digital dark room. They really have some of your images and create some really strong color compositions 55. Module 09 07 Activities Module 9: so some activities. Activity number one Taken image of a yellow object activity number two. Taken image with just two different colors in the image. Activity number free. Taken image with colors red and green. Complementary colors as the only colors in the image. Activity number four right down in your photography journal. The difference between an analogous color scheme and a complimentary color scheme. 56. Module 10 01 Introduction Module 10: and this module, We're gonna explore black and white photography. We're gonna ask the question why I am black and white. Gonna have a conversation with King luminosity. Don't have a look at a simple zone system to help us take black my images. And we're also gonna discuss seeing in black and white on. We'll finish off with showing you a simple technique for creating powerful black and white images. So that's gonna have a look, of course. 57. Module 10 02 Why Black And White: So why black? And why? What is it about black and white images that captures our attention? The makes are so enamored with them. Why does the photographic community, and in particular the are photography community, hold in such high esteem? What is all the fuss about when we consider the history of black and white photography? Black and white was really the mainstay from much of it development. So photography was very much a black on my experience on photographers saw and talked black and white photography. That was the fashionable thing to do. Color photography was always an after four, and development of color film always trailed black and white. So black and white photography it maintained popularity for out the 19 on through the 1st 2/3 of the 20th century. Now, historically, it has been a bias towards back and mike photography as the only form of art. Photography on this sentiment prevailed amongst art critics until the famous exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art started to sway the entrenched views of our photography critics to see that color was acceptable in images that were to be labeled as artistic. Now think about that for a moment for color photography to be accepted by the art community , it had to be promoted, as in quotes. Modern art. This is how ingrained the idea waas the only black and white photography could be labeled as such. On that color was the poor cousin trying to sneak in the backdoor and steal some bread from the kitchen table so inherent in the promotion of black and white photography in the photography. Our community is a certain snobbery, and that can still be found in some circles today. But we can just ignore that because black and white does not define photography, but it is a beautiful medium toe work. In there is an inherent beauty to black and white photography. Seeing tonal values in our images communicate something extra on this process of discovering tone. Ality only arose because of development of black and white photography. So it's because of photography. The black or why has become so popular. Now we have black and white prints in papers that but really black and white photography, and they would the appreciation of tonal value in our images on Move Out that I doubt the love for black and white wood ever have developed in the artistic community without photography as its basis. And if the jump had been straight toe color photography, we would have missed something quite magical, and we would actually have missed the opportunity to create some beautiful images and appreciate some beautiful images. So why does black and white work? What is it about it that we're so attracted to? Black and way is simplicity itself by removing hue and saturation on just using luminosity . All we're left with a black and white tones. It doesn't get any simpler than that in terms of communicating and image. This means we are viewing the image at its most fundamental level. We are viewing it without the layer of color to distract our attention. And here is a little secret. Black and white Photography is easier than color photography, as you don't have to wear so many pairs of glasses. You don't have toe have such a complex compositional frame toe work in, So don't be daunted by black and white player of it. Learn how to use it. Take your images in color on. I wouldn't recommend you actually take your reason. Black and white, and you'll see why later, when he comes at, think, take them in color, convert them to black and white, play with them and you might be surprised that some of the results that you get 58. Module 10 03 King Luminosity: So luminosity is king when it comes to creating a black and white image. Luminosity is the king of black and white on. Once we understand that we can learn to see in back, um, way will be able to look at a scene on, remove the color element in our mind's eye or, at the very least, learn to ignore it. So does Hugh effect black and white tonality. So when we look in a color seen on, we see different hues to those Hughes. If they have very similar value in terms off, where they fit on the color wheel will lay effect the black and whites. If I look at this, I ask you a question. Red, green and blue, Which do you think is gonna be the lightest, which could be darkest on which is gonna be the middle. Yes. So look, when you convert those colors on the screen to black and white, that's what they look like. Does saturation effect black and white tones. Okay, so let's look at saturation here. We're gonna look at the saturation of these free images about free variations of a same Hugh with different saturation levels. If we convert them to black and white. Which one is going to be light on Which one's gonna be dark on, which was gonna be in the middle. So make your choice unless have a look. So saturation has no effect on black and white images. Really, really interesting. So does luminosity effect black and white sounds. Well, I'm sure that your sign think well, it must be because otherwise wouldn't be able to convert to black and white. Here we have luminosity. We have a read a darker red on even darker red. Same Hugh just darkened. Does that affect black on White times? Yes. You see, luminosity is king. Luminosity is the only element when it comes to color that effects black and white tones. It's the brightness on the darkness. Off those tones affect how it's going to appear as a back of my image. When I first discovered this, I had to let this sink into my head for a little while. Still don't completely understand why, scientifically, if I'm honest with you, I just know it works. So luminosity is king. So let's have a look at this. How do you think this image will convert very easy to be far enough body orange in this one , isn't it? The actual luminosity value was quite similar all the way across. What about this one? Had you think this image will convert better than the last one was still not great. But it's OK. It's OK. We could live with that. What about this one? Remember, we're looking at luminosity, so if we see a lot of brightness, a lot of darkness, that should tell us how well it's going to convert. So what do you think? How? Listen turnout. See you drawn to the color. Stop looking at the color and look at the brightness and the darkness. That luminosity. No, I think that's a good black and white conversion. I think it's starting toe work and I could pull this in post and we're gonna show you a little bit later on how we do that to make this a better image. But we're seeing some strong variations in luminosity in this. Because of that, have an interesting image. We have a good black on way. Well, listen, work. What do you think? Look at the luminosity. Look at the darkness and the lights and decide now. Do you think this is gonna work as a black and white? Yes, it does. Now this is a flat conversion and never was. It's just a straight conversion. I haven't pulled the darks and the lights, and if I did, I could pull this much better. I could make the face brighter, the skin tones brighter and create a lot more contrast in the image. But I've got a good basis here for creating an interesting, compelling black and white on. Oftentimes at the beginning, when you're taking the image or at the very beginning of captain framing and taking the image, you won't know where it's gonna be A good black and white, you could guess. But when you start editing the image and then you can see if it really starts, the work is black and white, but the more you get used to seeing luminant in your subject to seeing lights and darks and contrast ratios, the more you'll be able to identify good black and white photo opportunities. 59. Module 10 04 A Zone System: So when it comes to seeing in black and white, we have to see in terms of luminosity in terms of brightness in terms of blacked away and graze in between. Now, Ansel Adams and Fred Archer developed a very complex system There was necessary for film exposure. But we're gonna look a simpler one, inspired by the way that a dope light room. So they're Hester Graham for Black Away, and we're going to use that is based on the fact that most photographers use a digital system most of total usual late room. So let's have a look at that very simple system. So this is a very simple zone system to help us to expose a black and white image. We have taken the tone ality from the black and white and divided it into five tonal blocks . We could have argued for more, but this is sufficient for teaching a basic zone system. This is not Ansel Adams zonal system that is much more complex in this, and I would learn this one and then going on that because you'll find this is probably all you need. The blacks, aware with fully black details, been lost the shadows a dark but contained details. Still, the mid grey is the middle of the image, so that's where all the grace in the middle of the image sit on. Then we have the highlights of the bright parts that retain detail on the white A where it's completely bright and no detail remains. So if we want a good back of my image, we need to make sure that the subject has enough of the zone or range covered to create the contrast we need to make the image work. A good black and white will capture these tonal, these luminosity values in the image, so we have shadows. The highlights got that range in atonality in the image. And then, if we've got that on their subject, no point having a good range in all the image and a subject is very flat, and it doesn't have much eternal value. And that's what it means. When someone says the images flowered lying on the subject is flat. It means it doesn't have much tonal variation. It doesn't have much range of luminous to value. So we have shows the highlights were going to be good. We have Blackstone highlights. That's gonna be excellent. If we have shadows toe whites, that's gonna be excellent as well. So when we start looking at the tonal range in the value, we could start to see where good black and whites sit. So this image it works because there's enough highlights in the face and enough blacks in the eyes to give enough contrast to the subject in the image Notice a reiterated again the subject. So when we look at Blackstone highlights that tonal range, we've got that in the main area sort of black on. White works now with a landscape image because we want the whole scene of the image to be appealing. We do the same thing. But because the landscape itself is a subject, we now just apply the same Prince book to the whole image we want blacks on. We want highlights throughout the frame, and we want that strong tonal variation. Now a bad Black Away will not have enough tonal variation in the examples above. We have lost some important tonal value. So it with Mick Gray, all we have is a mid grey eternal variation. It's not enough to create a compelling blackened way. And even if you have made greater highlights, we've only got two of the blocks we really need, free of the blocks of tonal variation to make the image work of the black and white, the shadows to mid great again. We've only got two of the blocks. It's not gonna work that well. Let's have a look at some examples. Now. This image doesn't work that well because of skin on the face, and the eyes have too little tonal variation. Between that, we now just have shadows and mid graze. There's not enough variation tonal variation there on the subject's face to make this image work as a black and white interesting. It works as a color image, but it doesn't work as a black and white image. Now this landscape falls apart because we don't have enough tonal range to create the contrast we need to make the image compelling. Now, if we have more highlights in the sky, we could have pulled this image, but because we lacked that the image does not work. We've only got shadows to mid grey in the image, so it comes back for that principle again. Whenever we use this simple, zonal system. We have to make sure that at least free of the tonal blocks are in the image or on the subject. 60. Module 10 05 Seeing In Black And White: So now we have the basics out the way we understand how luminosity works on. We have a simple zonal system to fall back on to help us to see a good black and white image. Now we can look at some black and white images, and we can start to unlock them. And now remember, when you're learning photography, this two parts toe learning number one is going out and taking your images. Number two is looking at other people's images and seeing how they work. And that's why we use this method, because we can break an image doubt and see why it's working on whether it fits into the principles were teaching. So what is it about this image that makes it work as a black away? Well, we have a good luminosity range on the hands, which are the subject. The background elements are darker, which also helps on because we have some blacks and highlights. We get that nice tonal range now. In this image, we have a good tonal range on the face, some nice highlights with shadows in the eyes. But we also have some good tonal variation in the background with the blown out background on the dark hair so it works on two levels, so this now converts to a nice, pleasing black and white. Now this image works because the basic nature of silhouette is such that there is a tonal variation there to make it work by default to usually. If you do a silhouette correctly, it's gonna have most of the tonal range in it, and it's gonna work. So let this image, and it's just a really simple black and white. It's a really, really simple composition, really, really likes image. Andi silhouettes have that dramatic power because of the high tonal range implicit in them . Now this image has good shadows and good highlights and the balance of the images interesting as well, with two large dark shadow areas either side of the bright a part of the image, and it converts into black and white well, because the whole frame becomes a subject in essence, email waffle is a subject, but there's good tonal variation in this image. Now this is a really strong image because off the whites and highlights dominating a large part of the image, Then the unusual mural also grabbed the eye, but it is the likeness of the near whites and highlights in this image that really helped the shadow details Stand out very, very clever image with some really good tonal variations in the image, and I hope you can see and look at it and see the tonal variations. You got some really strong highlights, and you've got some really strong shadows as well. But most of the tonal variation is in the mural, and that's what makes it such a powerful image. And then the building helps set that off. You got the leading lines of the windows leading to the mule. Very, very, very clever image. The reason this image is so strong is twofold. The tonal value between the highlighted sky and the edges of the building of good as other values between the shadows on the edges of the glass. So if you look at the image from right to left, as you view it, you've got the white. Then you go into some highlights and some grays, and then you got the black, so you've got a nice tonal sweep going across image, which is pleasing to the eye. Now, one of the things to watch out for with black and white portrait it's and to try and find its soft, directional light in this image we have, although you can't see it a cloudy day above. But because these gentlemen are standing between two buildings, it starts to act like a really large soft light box, and it's that nice light. It gives a nice graduation fruit tones on their faces on the cloves. So when it's overcast and you're out and about, that's a great time to start looking for some really subtle nice movements of tonal value, especially when you get that nice tonal value on the subject's faces. So it's cloudy day. Go out and do some street photography and take some black or wise. Now this was a photo shoot of a mother and daughter taken only with natural lights. Again, we have that soft sky, which is helping us out, and that gives us a nice, smooth gradation across the skin. But we are pushing a little bit here. I think we could have probably done with a little bit more brightness in the face, a little bit more brightness in the whole image, but we just about get away of it because of the tonal value, You've got the eternal values in the skin. Now let me let you into a little secret here, the scarf that the lady on the right is wearing as we look at the screen. That scarf was bright fluorescent pink on in terms of color photography. It made the shoot exceptionally difficult, strong colors, that really luminous color. They can really, really dominate the scene, so we didn't have any choice but to turn it into a black and white. But then the tonal value is quite surprising. If you're stuck in a situation where someone is in really bright colors, doesn't mean the opportunity isn't there and in fact, actually works here. You can see that that the color of the scarf under jumper complement each other the nice tonal range between them, so learning to see internal values can really help rescuers at times in the studio. This is a studio portrait that took you can really control the amount of atonality, especially in the skin, because you have complete control over the lighting itself. In this image, were able to shape the tone ality by shaping our light, which gave us the basis for a really strong black and white portrait. Also, when you learn to see tone for black and white photography, it also improves your color photography if you can. Nancy Tonality for skin that transfers directly to color photography. Color portrait work because when you have good tone ality in the skin that works for black and white and color photography. So learning to see tonally is gonna help you improve all aspects of your photography. But the most important part of it all is to get out there and look for those tonal values and take those images. Put your black and white goggles on, have some fun. 61. Module 10 06 A Simple Black And White Edit: So let's have a look. A simple black and white and it we're going to use light room. But we're also gonna have a quick look. A silver FX pro free software from a company called Nick Software, which Google own completely free on one of the most powerful black and white piece of editing software that I know about. So we'll have a play with this now and just have a play, but in light room, see how we can pull it around. Not best image in the world, but we're gonna play with We're going to go, Teoh, Black and whiteness is the big secret in light room. Come down here to this black and white section. Now, what's really interesting here is that this area is the black and white controls and all way, using is luminosity controls for each of these different colors. Remember, luminosity is king when it comes to black and white. So let's take the red. So let's take it down, weaken control the tonal value by moving backwards of force it down and up, down and up. I like this sort of dark section here, so I'm gonna leave the Reds there now the oranges credibly more contrast. I'm gonna bring the oranges to there, and then we're going to stay here less and we could do the same thing. Michael sits in the trees a lot in the background. We move it, that's a force is just gonna meet, picked up a bit, the guys to green and we're gonna carry out. And it's all the way down that's gonna bring a little bit detail up around here. So I like that. And then we're gonna have the blues. Now if you know it's really interesting, he's got something in his hand here on the blue is actually affecting that. So if we didn't want that to be dominant, we could take it down. But if we wanted it to be quite bright, we could bring it up. And then we got the purples, which is changing his trousers. Interestingly enough, on the path in the foreground, let's just constantly trials just bring up. Unless I would look at Magenta and again the same there. That's essentially had it, had it a black and white in light room. They've got a lot of black and white presets, but don't use those just use this. It's really simple and easy. We're going to jump into Nick Effects software. There's a couple of things about this. I don't like that. I don't like this image it'll but I'm just using it as an illustration to teach because got good tonal variation in it. It's no good image, but he's now really dark, and that's not working for me. So what we're gonna do, Let's just pop into by clicking on photo. We're gonna go down. We've already installed Nick Software Free Google plug ins On We Go Teoh Edit in Silver Effects Pro, too. So remember, go online. Look for Nick Software free software. Download it, install it. It'll installs that plugging in light room on DFO shop. I prefer to do it this way. I prefer to do my main edits and everything in light room and then finish often Silver Effects pro. So let's click on that. We're gonna edit a copy with light room adjustments, so to come in it. So now in here now, on the left hand side, we've got some simple recipes that weaken. Just grab and try and do some variations on, so we could just click down. If we wanted Teoh and Trust. Try See these different variations and you could save your own recipes. But what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna come back up here and I'm going to select neutral. And then what we've got is we can just drop these down and close them to expand them. If you don't see them, we can control the brightness so we can control overall brightness. And now we can control the highlights. The mid tones. I'm not a big fan of the fashion of putting these really small buttons in software. Lightest makes it very difficult to grab and shadows. Okay, so dark shadow a little bit. I could do the same for the contrast. I can play with all of these. I can also add some structure and some definition. But what I really want to do is use these control point. But before I do that, you do have color filters here so you can try different things here on Sometimes we click on them, you'll get different looking results your filter out certain colors. But what we want to do is we want Teoh, take the control point, and I'm gonna place that on a gentleman's coat because I think that's just a bit too dark. Now I'm gonna do is I'm going to select a circle at the top and I'm gonna select The brightness toll is very difficult because it is very tricky. They make these sliders and buttons so small these days, and we can just bring up the brightness there on his coat. So it is not so dark. And then we can also put a bit contrast in there. We want to, and we could put some structure in there so we could put some overall detail into his jacket if we could select it. That's great. But that's also brightness up around a little bit here before wanted to remove that. All we do is we take a control point, pop it there and then we're going to move that circle of influence on. Now we've actually removed that there, and we could put no circle aside and tone it down. So that's actually done, then is that's enabled us to just change his tonality. So I'm gonna click, save, heard you can see we're just brighten it up. It's not a great black and white. That's not the purpose of what I'm showing you this. I'm showing you these techniques so you can have a play and figure out how to create black and white images so highly recommend you use light room. Now there is a version of light room actually on the iPhone, and you can do nearly all of this with it. But you do have to go in to some serve. Men used to access that. It's not as easy as the desktop version to use in terms of accessing these advanced functions, but they are available. They are, They're so I don't have a play with that if you don't have a computer and you just want to do it on your iPhone. And also, snap Seed has some good black and white filters as well. You just don't get the control that you get with light room and silver effects. So hope you found that useful. Have a play with some images, even download some off the Internet. Play with them, find out what makes a good black on white and just enjoy that process of creating black and whites and learning to see tonal value and identify what images air gonna be good on. What images are No 62. Module 10 07 Activies Module 10: so let's have a look at some activities. Activity number one. Take an image of two items that have different hues in the words colors but roughly the same luminosity and convert them to black and whites. He might have a red Cup in a green cup. There are about the same luminosity, but take them. Convict a black and white so you can see this happening in action. Doesn't matter what it is. You need to items that similar luminosity and then convert it. Concept of luminosity really sinks in activity. Number two. Taken image with blacks, present and highlights. Present in a balanced composition and convert it to black and white activity. Number free. Taken image with whites present and shadows present and convert that as well. Activity number four right down in your journal. Which of the following color element affect black and white images. Hue saturation Luminosity on which of those do not affect black and white images. 63. Module 11 01 Introduction Module 11: in this model, We're gonna look at controlling the frame. How everything in the frame I've adds or subtracts from your subject how to isolate the subject, how to use negative space to make your subjects stand out, Had a frame your image to draw the eye to the subject says Go and have a look at the course . 64. Module 11 02 In The Frame: Now, everything in the frame either adds or subtracts from the subject understanding that is one of the single most important principles in creative photography. Does everything in the frame in the image contribute to the image? Or is there something that this strikes as when we view the image? Viewers are incredibly sensitive to this, and if they pick up lots of data to detract from the main subject, they will reject the image or a best dismiss it as a meaty Oka image. One of the first things we have to consider its simplicity when controlling the frame. When controlling what's in the image, we should be striving for visual simplicity. The simpler and image is in terms of elements relating to the subject. Stronger the image will be. We should always seek to reduce the image to its simplest statement. So in this image we've gone for a very simple silhouette, and we've got family discussions going on amongst these birds. It's a very, very simple image, and we haven't included anything else in the image that might detract from the core subject off the image. It's like the process of copyrighting. Why use 100 words to sell a product in an advert to tell a story when you can use free words in photography. Why use 100 visual elements when free visual elements work better? Does this image need anything else to communicate his subject? You learn simplicity in commercial photography, which is where I land, which is all about communicating the subject and excluding everything else that is unnecessary to the subject from the frame. So in this instance, what we have are two glasses. We want to communicate the glasses. We don't want to communicate anything else whatsoever. So when I've taken this image, have taken it so that there is that element of simplicity and you will see commercial photographers. We'll do this and nearly all of their images. They will try and reduce the complexity and the image on Boil It Down to its simple subject , simple component parts. This carries right for into environmental portraiture, where you are telling a story about particular individual and placing them in their working environment. You only need as much information as communicates a message in the frame. So in this instance, we're very careful about what was in the background. We selected what we wanted in the background. So we had the colorful binders. We had the filing trays, the mouse, the phone, the keyboard. We were very careful about what was in the frame, doesn't add or subtract, and then you look behind and there's two elements I think that could have improved. Now look at it. There's the white board on the wall now. You could argue, that adds, because it is an office environment. But then you've got the edge off the filing cabinet behind her, and I would suggest that that might be a little bit too strong in the image that subtracts a little bit. So I would probably if a shot this again removed those two elements. If I could. In this situation, it was actually in the office itself. So this was the best I could do in the situation in terms of what was there. So we controlled everything we could. But the principle is sound. Everything in the image ads or subtracts that the value of your subject in the image now here is a never example of a corporate shoot A little bit more of a twist in this image, communicating the grime and the lorry adds to the story. All of these elements are now adding to the subject in the frame and not subtracting from the subject in the frame. They all add and help to communicate something about portrait about the subject. So we have to take distracting elements out of the image. And it's better to do that when the cameras upto. I try and do it later Photo shop and this image is a prime example. We have some strong, distracting elements on a show you those in a moment which are taking our eyes off the subject, which is a two young ladies walking along. I like the look very eighties, and that made me chuckle because I grew up in the eighties and it was like a flashback for me, so they were the subject. But there's too many distracting elements going on, so let's have a look at some of these distracting elements. Number one, the building site in the background that's not a pleasing part of composition is not that strong, but it would have been better not to have that in the image. Then we've got the car sitting behind the subject another distracting element poking out the subject. And then we got the high contrast on the rocks on the top of the wall. Very strong area of high contrast. Andi. They don't really disappear into the canvas, are quite overpowering. And then we have some really bright windows behind the subjects, which are drawing I again, another area of high contrast. And then finally, we have this strong area of greenness, really strong color, which is quite dominant, quite a large area in the frame now. Sometimes we can use strong backgrounds to help is a complex background, but in this instance, we just have too much information on what could have been. A great image is reduced to a snapshot. What we should have done here is used a long focal length, so shot with a turned in millimeter camera or prime lens with a wide aperture. So we have a shallow depth of field, so I could have blurred those background elements what we could have just camped out in a spot and chose a better background for where we were actually taken images. There's lots of different ways we could have got a better image than this had with decide if something adds or subtracts from the overall image. Less identify the distracting elements in this frame. Now all of these little spots in the frame, and we could argue there's a lot more little stones of stuff in the foreground by just showing you this for demonstration purposes. All of these are distracting areas of high contrast. So what we need to do now is decide what we want to keep in the image. What are the elements we want to keep in the image? They're gonna compliment, add to our subject? Well, what we've got is we've got two people here, some other people over there, and they complement the subject as people on the beach. And we've got what we call a triangular composition, and we'll explain what that is later. Let's just see what happens when we remove those elements. So by removing those elements, the image is really clear and sharp. Yes, it's a very quick, rough edit. I'm doing this to illustrate what we've actually done here, but we could see straight away that all of sudden, a lot of noise distracting information has been removed. Let's look at that again and remind ourselves of the transition. So this is what it looked like. So just start a mental image in your mind. Now let's look at the change on. We could see there's a lot less distracting element, and that's what we mean by everything in the frame over adds or subtracts. Now you Conover Reuven camera. We can remove the in post now. Sometimes we have to consider the weight of the objects in the image. If we have things an image too strong or distracting, it can ruin the image. So in this image we have the two girls of the subject on the brightly colored balls. But we have one woman who looked with an ice cream in her hand. She looks like she's looking straight at the camera, and there's a cone cutting into the top of the image. Now she was the main subject. That would be fine. They would work to give it a big cone in the cone in her hands, but she isn't the subject. So now she started to overpower the image. You'll notice the other people in the background and not looking at the camera. They're not so dominant. They just provide a canvas, some context for the image. But she is too strong, and this was a street photographer. Shot was trying to grab it quick. It's very difficult with lots of people are moving around. She came into the shop just when I was grabbing this with street photography is good practice. It could be a challenge sometimes because you have these visual elements and you don't see them, and it would be way too difficult to remove that info. Shops would be better to have that image without her. There may be moving slightly to the right hand side, anticipating a little bit better and getting a better image. But it's a very strong visual element that the tracks from the shot because of its strength . Now one of the things we need to look at is guarding the edges of the frame when we're taking an image. One of the most basic compositional errors that could be made is not guarding the edges of the frame. When we look at this image. Now we've got four elements. We've got the head being cropped at the top. Now we might get away with that, but we've got a tree standing in the background again. We might get away with that, but we've got this bouquet poking in. We're not guarding the edges on then. We've also got the gentleman on the left hand side and he's staring into the frame. He's now encroaching on the edge of our frame. So now we've got problem because we haven't guarded the edge of the frame. Now if we just change the crop slightly and take out some of those elements, we have included the groom's head. We've removed the tree, we've removed the bouquet and we've removed the gentleman from the side of the frame. And immediately the image improves because now we're guarding the edge of the image. Now, a lot of times you can do this. Imposed processing by cropping by a lot of times, if you can, is better doing camera. Save yourself a lot of work later on. It's really important point, really important principle toe. Learn to guard the edges of the frame. You're gonna have things coming into the frame and touching it and frame if they're too strong. Visually, if they overpowered a scene, then they're going to detract from what's in the frame on. One of the important things to be aware off is that by adding visual elements that help you tell a story, you can create a deeper interest in the image. But everything you select and leave in has to be adding value to the subject in the image. In this image, every element adds to the subject matter, which is the autumn of life. The old walls, the autumn leaves, even the traffic light, which helps the elderly gentleman navigate a busy road. All communicates something additional to the subject and provide context of storytelling for the subject on this image from a little bit sad because it's it's the elderly gentleman walking through life walking through the autumn of his life. And that's what this reflects for me. But all the elements in this image compliment that now, if it had been a modern car just poking in the edge of something like that, it wouldn't have worked. The walls are old, the autumn leaves everything about. This communicates and adds to the subject itself, which was the elderly gentleman. So everything in the frame is working to support the image. One of the things we have to do is learn to see what's in the frame. We have to learn to switch off and to be able to see what's in the frame, and not just what we see in our built in subject filter or whatever. I mean by that. We will focus on something when we're taking a picture and we will filter a brain will filter everything out. Other dumb, the subject on. As a photographer, we have to learn to switch that off. This is why trained painters often make good photographers because there usedto adding they're trained to add those things they want into the frame. They learn to see distractions and leave them out because they're classically trained. They know there, there, they know that if they are there, the image will not work. So we focus on the subject. We don't see all the elements that subtract from the image unless we consciously turn that off. So the above image is what we think we see when we take an average. But let's look at what was actually in the original image. That was the original image was that was the frame, and you could see all the disturbing elements. All of the intrusions on the edge of the frame. We've got a little pink flower, that yellow spot down there, everything there. They're all a distraction. They detract from the frame. You could argue that they add some context, but they don't is too busy. It's drawing our eyes away from the subject. So let's look at that again. Now what? I've done a photo shop of gone, and I've removed all those distracting elements so that I can actually produce what I saw when I looked at that scene I can now put in front of you what my mind's eye encapsulate a sore in the image. And this is such an important principle to understand is you have to learn to see beyond the subject everything that's in the frame you have to learn to see like this, and your photography will change dramatically when you do that, when you learn to assess the whole of the frame and the way for Tofas typically learned this is, they learn it because they spend a lot time editing their images, and over time I like I don't wanna edit that again and they're out and they got the camera along after. Edit that out afterwards and they stop and they make an assessment of reference in the frame. And they tried no void, including it, because they've learned in the digital dark room. So let's look again, Remember, that's what we actually see. So one of the things we often want to avoid is the subject. Looking out of the freight, this subject is looking out of. The frame is leading the eye out of the frame. We don't leave people out of the frame. We want to leave that ice into the frame, so it's nearly always better, unless your are implying that something out of the frame has caught the subjects. I have your subject composed. So they are looking into the framework. The camera. If I put the bird in the left side of the frame, this composition would have worked. So when composing your image, you need to decide what should be in the frame on what should not be in the frame and whereabouts in the frame. That should actually be to create a balanced composition 65. Module 11 03 Isolating The Subject: isolating the subject. Whenever we isolate our subject, we automatically draw the item it and create interest in that subject. Ice Likeness subject. It's such an important key to creating compelling images is such an important thing to understand and again coming from a commercial photography background. We always isolate our subject, but we will need to bring those skills we need to transfer that now toe a normal, everyday creative photography. In this image, we can see a really interesting potential image but is ruined because the subject is no isolated. The breakers are covering the hands, so this detracts from the image and stops it being something much more powerful because the subject is partially hidden. And I could see this young girl practice in acrobatics, in the surf at the beach, and it's a great opportunity to capture a really interesting moment. Because of my position, I couldn't quite get her isolated. There's something in front of her, and that stopped the image working. Now here we have a another example of the subjects not being isolated. Whilst the two birds in the upper party image isolated. The birds at the bottom left corner are covered by some leaves, so they're not isolated on. Then the birds on the right. There's not enough contrast there. They're in a very bright patch of water. Their shape, their distinctiveness has been removed. We can't isolate them as a subject. The background, mergers and Monday's with them. So therefore, this image can never work Because those two elements have been lost in the background. The subjects have not been isolated. Now here we have another example. This is a very confusing image. So let me just bring up, I think, to help you to see the subjects here, you've got a piece of bread and then you've got free. See goals in the foreground, on one in the background, and then one to the site on. What you've got here is too many subjects in the shot, overlapping each other. Subject isolation is completely lost. The viewer does not know where to look. We haven't isolated the subject at all on then. This is a classic error, and this is a tree sticking out off the head. Look, I want to show you this because I want to show you that I still make you There is This is one of the most basic compositional errors. When you take a portrait, don't have a tree sticking out the top of someone's head. I select the subject. If I really use a slightly wider aperture or change the angle slightly, we wouldn't have had this problem. It was easily avoidable, but I just missed it in this instance, his a simple street image. But it's got a couple of problems. Let's have a look at them. We've got the woman behind a subject, so she's no isolated. You got this woman sticking out of a shoulder. That's not good. Then you got the dog and you got this sticking out off the back of the dog. So now the subject, because it lacks isolation, doesn't work. And this is the main reason why images won't work when the subject relax. Isolation. And here's another classic example. The dog's nose is very dark, and it's against a very dark background. There's no tonal separation, so that means it just disappears into the background. And that means there's no interest now because the subject himself has blended into the background. If I had a little bit better angle, a little bit better composition on this. I think I would have liked the the lead and the colors in the lead and the boots on the dog , and that would have really worked for me. But I needed a light background behind that nose to make it work. So for dark objects, a white background provides great separation. So this is a typical product shop, a commercial product, sharp white background, really good separation. We're life subject. A dark background works better and helps us to separate the subject from the background. This is a candid portrait. A simple background will help you to isolate your subject. The less distractions in the background, the easier isolation is. So even in this candid snapshot, quick snapshot, you're going to get a strong subject. Isolation because of that color on all that is, is a car door behind the subject and then a nice, narrow depth of field on. All of a sudden, we've removed the distracting elements in the background, and now he's have a nice color there. Even the busiest backgrounds weaken tone them down by using a shallow depth fulfilled and a nice Boca. As we've got in this image, even though there's some strong elements, and there's some bright windows. Actually add to this because this is corporate, we want to show them in front of office buildings that we want to communicate that. But if we didn't have a shallow depth of field where just the subjects of focus in the background is blurred, then this image wouldn't have been pulled off. It wouldn't have worked on. Sometimes a background can be used to isolate the subject while still retaining background information so you don't have to kill it. So it's just a vague blur. You can just take the focus off and just bring your subject forward. And this is the way our eyes naturally work. When we focus, this is why this is pleasing tours. When we do this in an image now, you'll notice that although this looks like a very casual composition, the piece of bees wax in the front is separate, but also notice that the pure bees wax items in the back of both separate from each other. Each of those is its own subject, and we've isolated them in the image what we've composed and arranged the shop. We can use light as a separation device to isolate our subject. So when this horse and rider walk into the patch of light, which you can see on the ground, the subject now becomes isolated against a darker backgrounds. It's a light falling on the subject that's help us toe isolate that against the background . Light is a very good separation device. Silhouettes are a natural way to separate the subject, but you do need to create a high point of contrast so you can get subject isolation, toe work and in this image. But two figures on the left only just pull it off the Stein to lose the tonal value between them in the background. You just make it out. So just about works just about get away with it, but pretty close now. Rim Light is a great separation device. In this image we've used the rim light around, are subject to separate the subjects from the background to this is just a candid street photography image. If we did not have that rim light around the subject and around the dog, who wouldn't have been able to isolate them, a separate them from the background. The tonal variations too close because we have the sun shining towards us and the subject was between us and son. We get this really nice, strong rim that helps us isolate the subject from the background. The left foot is hidden behind a hill. We could say that we've lost it there, but we've actually communicated enough of what's going on here to continue to communicate the subject. So although we've lost the left foot and I preferred not to do that, I still think the subject works and we get away with that. But we know why we get away, that we understand the balance of the image. Now, in this image, we have a glass item on a white background. Now, this is the most difficult type of object of photograph. So it's a commercial photographer. This is a challenge for May I have to light this subject on a white background. How do you separate that from the white background or what we do? We bring in some black cards either side, which we then remove in photo shop and they provide a black rim around the subject were actually lighting this from behind. So the light is shining straight towards me. in terms off the photographer. But those black edges are going to bring in a black rim, and now we've isolated the subject against the background. So remember, whenever you have a subject, the more you can isolate that subject that separated from distracting elements in the background, the stronger the subject will be in your images, and that's the difference between a good image on a snapshot in most instances. 66. Module 11 04 Negative Space: negative space is a really important tool to learn to use in. Photographic composition is a tool we can use to create balance in an image or to give the subject a completely different look. Now Japanese are heavily influenced the European art movement in the late 19th century. The Japanese use negative space in a very powerful way, and that has come down into photography and art form, especially print design and much of modern graphic design. This set of sliding doors dates to the early 17th century, and we could see the heavy use of negative space toe offset the positive space. Even in this very early example, it was this heavy period of importing. All things were Oriental in the late 19th century to a burgeoning middle class. The sped this development along in Europe in the United States and so heavily influence graphic design and eventually, photography. So what exactly is positive space and negative space? In this image? The Orange circle shows us where the positive spaces, the positive space is where the frame is filled with your subject matter. It is positively I somewhere to look at. Negative space is indicated by the blue circle. This is a space where you don't want me, I to go the negative area, and that is essentially negative space. A lack of negative space can make an image too intense. While its image has a charm, the lack of negative space doesn't give the subject any room to breathe. The subject is too dominant in the frame now, but maybe step back a little bit or allowed a little bit more negative space, even much bad balanced image. Now we use negative space to communicate weight in the scene. By using native space, we can control the weight of the subject in the scene. In never words we control the dominance of are subject to the eye of the viewer. By assigning the amount of positive and negative space, we can create very different images. Negative space could be anything of a simple form as a background and to really get a sense of negative space, it has to be heavier in the frame, or at least equal in proportion to the positive space for it to work. So in this image, the negative space is on the right hand side. It's the brick wall. When we have the subject on the left and they're equal. We draw a line down the middle of the square composition. We're gonna see that we can divide the image into. So when we use negative space, we want to make sure at least half of the image is next space, if not more. We can use negative space to create a strong sense of scale. So with these geese flying information, it's the negative space that gives us a sense of the distance, the height they were flying. We can use negative space to create a strong graphical style, so almost starts to look like a simple screen print or a graphical image. We can use negative space to draw attention to multiple subjects, not just one. A call list of gossips. We've got free birds gossip in talking about the poor bird on the end, and it's the negative space around that, a simplicity that provides the balance for the image and makes it work. I'm heavily influenced by Japanese are I was antique dealer for over 10 years and specialized in antique Japanese and Chinese porcelain, and I love Japanese are, and that influences a lot of my photography, and this is a very Japanese style photograph, and it works because of the heavy use of negative space. Half the frame is given to negative space. Now we can use negative space is not fully negative as long as the background does not overpower the subject in this one, I think, is getting a little bit too close with the face looking at the camera. I think that's a little bit too distracting, but we've blurred it. So in terms of a nice family snapshot, we've gotten away with it. But when we use the principle of negative space, typically will use that to describe a plain blank background or a simple background. But we can use this as well when we allow our backgrounds to be a little bit more complex. Aid is in our composition. We can also use more than one area of positive space. In this image we have on order of importance. This is the subject, but we also have a secondary subject and then the background. The whole of the background is then there as negative space where we don't want the I to go to. That is not completely blank. It has some information in it, and the more information in the background, the more it starts moving towards the status of positive space where we want people to look . But in this image, I think it just about catches it. We just got enough there to hint at the background, but it's not too stronger. That overcomes at two subjects, which are operating in positive space. So when you start thinking of negative space, the strictest interpretation is a blank background. But start allowing yourself to use slightly more complex backgrounds. But you have to decide when it becomes positive space it's no longer gonna work in terms of creating an image was strong negative space. 67. Module 11 05 Framing Your Subject: now framing your subject is an important concept to grasp. By providing a frame to your image in your image, you push the viewer's eye to where you want it to go. In this lesson, we'll look at the different ways you can frame your subject in this abstract. We have used the framing to draw the ice of the family, the little girl trying to catch up from behind the frame. Just as a little bit of drama, using natural frames can create really interesting images. So what I've done here is I've literally just look through the trees in a nice patch of light and wait for my subject to move in. The little girl was slightly behind, but it just adds to it. Although she's cropped by the tree a little bit, it just adds to it. I'm trying to catch up. Wait for me, and that's what really charmed me about the image. Artificial framing. It's something else we can take advantage off. Whilst the use of windows might be considered a little too obvious, thou there to be used. I really like this composition when framing. It doesn't need to be a small subject, a large subject can be framed as well. When you do that, you provide context for the viewer, the framing supplies, meaning to the image as it communicates something about the environment the subject is in. So in this instance, we've got a subject. He's quite large. The nice silhouette. And you've got this off the old broken prison, maybe, or something like that he's sitting on looking through. But there's been a good use of negative space around the subject and the frame in really work just to communicate a really interesting scene. Now framing can communicate a sense of secrecy, of not being seen of being hidden. And it also doesn't mean you have to frame something completely to the edge. In this image is the branch, which cuts above the hair in just about its head, which helps frame the image, and you've got additional leaves around this, helping to frame the image. But the important thing is we've got the positive space of inherent, and there's a negative space around the herring, and then we've got some framing being implied by the foliage and the branches around the heron. Now, for this image to be a little bit better. I would have preferred the large branch not to be cutting through the herons leg. But sometimes when you're out and about, you can't control that. I couldn't ask hair interpose for me or change position had to take the best image I had from the opportunity I had. And it's very rare to get this close to inherent because they are quite shy birds. Blurring your framing can also create interesting images by allowing the foliage in the foreground to go out. Focus in the shark. We have matched the image to the way we actually see when we view something in real life for an opening, as in the image above. So we're looking through the foliage. If we was looking in real life, we would automatic blow out this foliage in the foreground and focus on the bird and the center of the frame. And that's what frame he should do. It should help as recreate what we see in real life. Now, when we think of framing a subject, we can also use people or items for this to really work, you often have to take advantage off, blurring the subjects around the edges But what we've got here is we've got our candid portrait in the center, and then we've got free different people around the edges, and each of those people are just providing a little bit of context. Remember we talked about earlier about guarding the edges of the frame. These elements are not dominating the subjects that they don't distract. If the lady on the right was looking at the camera, that would be extremely distracting, but it just provides some context. It provides a frame for our subject, and this is a great way to practice. Go out, do some street photography. Take some portrait of people where you're just isolating the subject and there's lots of people around. You'll get some really interesting images now vignettes, which we often add in post production. There just a natural and subtle variation on framing. By using a vignette too dark in the edges of a scene, we create a higher point of contrast in the center, so apply a vignette imposes often a great way to create a very subtle frame in the image when it doesn't naturally have that on. The idea of vignette ing comes from older lenses that usedto have a lot of darkness, even model into some of them. The cheap lenders will have heavy vignette in the toxins, notice that and started using that in their photography. And as lenders got better, the vignette in Decreased. But what photographer attended add it back in light room or photo shops. That's really interesting on a vignette. Doesn't have to be Blackett bi color, but in this instance it's actually light. It's very subtle. We have a white vignette that surrounds the very simple passed early background so we can use a vignette as a frame in many different ways. Different colors light, dark, have a play. Try different things. One of the things understand is when you're framing an image, it doesn't have to be on all four sides off the image. So in this image, for instance, we've got some foliage on the right end of foliage on the left and Naper ified a frame or a sense of frame. So don't always think you've got a frame on every side of you can see an opportunity to shoot through something on the framing elements are not too strong, a distracting take advantage of it Now all that is is not quite framing is essentially is framing. This is foreground subject background. Now this technique is often used in traditional landscape photography and is essentially a horizontal framing exercise. So we've got the foreground here, signified by the green loss INGE with then got the subject, which is signified by the orange lessons here. Then we've got the background which signified by the red loss INGE. Now what we're really doing is we're framing out subject. So we got the subject, which is the road to see the highest point of contrast in the image we've got that are there. But when we have a foreground and a background, we're essentially adding a frame in the two dimensional form. We're providing a frame on the top on the bottom of the image. Helpers draw attention, toe what's in the center. So when you start to treat landscape photography as an exercise in framing, you start to take some really interesting and compelling landscapes. No one of things you could do is actually make the frame itself the subject. Sometimes a frame can be used as the most interesting part of the image, and then it becomes a subject itself. So in this instance, is the willow tree is in focus in the foreground, and it's part of the framing the leader, sister. Four characters in the background, but it actually becomes the subject because of a nice light shining fruit and the fact we focused on it. So when we taken image, always look for opportunities, natural framing opportunities to frame the image to the guide, the viewer from the edges of the frame into the central frame where your subject is and have some real fun of it. 68. Module 11 06 Activities Module 11: So let's have a look at some activities. Activity number one. Taken image of a subject without isolating it and take another image of that same subject. Waas Isolating the subject against the background activity number two. Taken image of a subject and frame the subject with over foliage or a door or window activity number free taken image that communicates movement. Activity number four Explaining your journal why everything in the frame either adds or subtracts from the subject. 69. Module 12 01 Introduction Module 12: in this model guy. Look at abstract and geometric compositions. We're gonna look at some advanced compositional skills. We're going to discuss abstract images. We're gonna explore how we see like an architect. I'm also going to discuss strong visual elements, so that's gonna have a look, of course. 70. Module 12 02 Abstract Images: So let's have a look at creating abstract images and how they appeal to us and how they appeal to the viewer When we consider an abstract image, we have to understand that when we see an abstract image, we try to conform what we see to something we can understand something we can identify with in this image. We see white circles on a plain background, so we see a classic and simple polka dot pattern. I'm not his walk. We will identify it as. But what this is is actually an image of the Terminal four sealing a Heathrow airport. So this image is more about the shapes, the contrast on the implied graphical pattern than it is about ceilings. And that's what makes an abstract image. It's a identity is hidden on the form, texture, colors and shapes become the subject rather than the original object or subject itself. Some will argued. A true abstract is something that is not easily identifiable, that you cannot see it as its original objective form or shape or description. But I don't think that hold in modern photography, where is much more important to actually communicate something beyond the norm something beyond the obvious. This image is titled Cat Cause is just a simple image I saw took like the way the light bell on the fabric. It reminded me of cat scratches. You can actually just faintly make out some cat scratches on the edge of the window frame at the back, where my cattle likes to scratch the window. So this was very apt for me. It's like a big cat. Put some claws through there and create these big cat scratches. Is that for me was on abstract concepts. Don't be afraid to play with the idea of abstract and don't be guided by too narrow a definition. Now, geometric shapes are foundational. Too much of abstract photography when viewing it seen seeing the shapes in the scene, seeing the squares and circles add that abstract value that could have taken image of this building in daylight. But by taking it at night, the shapes now become the subject, and we've gone beyond a simple image of a building to an exploration of shapes on light. So now the shapes and the light of the subject it moves to an abstract image. This is a simple, sharp of a chain of lights on a beachfront. By blurring the focus, we now have an image which is about shape and light on lines We have create something beyond a simple image, and this is a great place for you to start fighting lights at night and take different images in and out of focus until you find something, have strikes that pleases you. Lines can be a very strong visual element in this image, probably of some water. The lines become the subject, creating a pleasing yet simple abstract image. But what the photographer has done here, he has seen the abstract play between the darks and the blues and recorded it. Curbs can be very powerful in an abstract image. In this shot is the propeller like curves in green create a powerful image. Yet we're not sure what the subject waas off originally or how this image was created. The pleasing element in this or that curves, and they then become subject texture is often a popular subject for abstract images, and something worth doing is looking for texture to take an image off up close. So if you're out and about and it doesn't seem like there's much to photograph. Look down near feet. Look at walls, look at fences. Have a look around, find something interesting. Find some well, it textures that cross lit a hard light. And there's the text has been revealed that we discussed earlier in the course, and take those images and see what abstracts you can create. Now shapes in and of themselves can be a subject for an abstract image. In this image, the squares a pleasing add to that the color and the texture of the lines in the wood, and you have a really interesting abstract image. Light by itself can be an abstract subject and is one of the most powerful abstract subjects, in my opinion, as we are in effect, photographers and recorders of light. And this image is really interesting because of its light properties, primarily. But then, when we take a little while to look at it, figure out what it is. We noticed that this is actually a firework, a sparkler, but I would argue that that's the secondary subject. A secondary element on the light itself is the primary element in the image, sometimes weaken. Just communicate the unusual by using the familiar. But those of you that are old enough to remember the seventies You remember the fashion of having porcelain ducks in graduated sizes on the walls, and that inspired this image. So this is a single duck. I've taken an image off and then of copy, didn't scaled it to create a lightness to that fashion in the seventies. So by using everyday items and some creativity in photo shop, you can also create abstract images. We use them to communicate something other. So remember, don't be frightened to make an image. Photography isn't just about taking an image. Sometimes we make an image. So when it comes to abstract photography, let your imagination run wild. Don't be frightened, like I said, to make an image look for different ways. You can see things in a different light and don't be frying toe. Just change in image slightly as well. With D. C goes. It's like they lined up to create this M shape, and they nearly did. If the truth be told, I had to move a couple of them to make it really work 71. Module 12 03 Seeing Like An Architect: now, seeing like an architect, this is a really, really powerful way to see and compose an image. One of the advantages that architects for design engineers have is they have learned to think in terms of line, space and shape. So what we have to do is we have to put on our architect glasses, and we can start to see some really interesting things around us when we do that. So we want to start bringing the abstract into our images. In this image, we've used lines and shapes to communicate what this image is. It is the abstract elements that combined make the image. That's the lines in the circles. So by practicing taking abstracts, we learned to see a level of detail, a rounders that we would ordinarily miss. We can use lines in our image to create visual interest, but we first have to see the lines in our images. Curve lines are also very powerful for creating visual interest in our images. So although this is not an abstract image in and of itself, we can take our awareness of abstract elements and incorporate those into our images and use curve lines. You straight lines use these different elements on one of the important elements of seeing visually is seeing strong shapes in an image and using them as a strong compositional element. And that's why this image is so powerful. This photographer has seen like an architect. So now we come to the arranging park. We see these visual shapes and lines on. We start to look at them like an architect. We explore them a simple visual forms, and we learned to break down our image woman looking through the frame into component shapes. And this is what I mean by seeing like an architect. We have to learn to start seeing the shapes and elements of lines and had it all interact to each other because that will decide whether the composition is gonna be interesting on now. We can use that principle of using shapes to help his balance an image. When we divide this into geometric shapes, when we start to see like an architect, does it work? Is the triangle too big? I think it is when we apply a shape toe all these elements, the triangle should really be fully in the frame, but we've had to crop, the nose on the top of it. And that, for me, means the composition, while I find it pleasing, is no strong is it could be. Now. I know I couldn't include anymore because I know it was there when I took the image. But it's a good illustration. Maybe I could have zoomed out a little bit and make sure that triangle element in the image was complete. So by simply blurring our eyesight on reducing our image to a compositional arrangement of shapes and lines, we can start to immediately recognize a good composition are built in beauty. Detector operates much better when we simplify the information being offered to it. So in this image, when I break it down into shape and form and size and mess, I start to see that the mid grey areas are overpowering the rest of the image, and I can see it's not super strong composition, and this is a really important skill to focus on. Guys to be have to see the shapes in the scene to see that the mass and the size divide the scene up into the shapes that are there and see how they work together, you will have a natural sense of the balance of the shapes and whether the two strong enough and this does not just apply to architectural shots, you can check the balance of any image with this technique. So in this image, when we convert it into simple shapes and lines, we can see that we've got pleasing composition. The simplicity of the objects on the lines and the image combined with the strong negative space for the objects to occupy creates a pleasing composition. This is a skill to really, really practice guys. This isn't advanced compositional skill. Me really have to think about it at first. But if you start doing this, your compositions will become much more powerful and engaging. We can even apply this toe landscapes in this image. When we break it down into its component shapes, we start to see something really interest develop. This is a composition in its most basic form of shape and line. All the elements in this image of room to breathe, and we have some nice variations in tone throughout the image, which we recorded of a very simple graphical overlay. So just practice your spatial awareness skills by learning to look. Objects and elements are shapes, lines, curves on balance them in your compositions as a simple exercise in creating a simple visual picture puzzle. It's like we almost have to go back to kindergarten, learn to play of shapes again. 72. Module 12 04 Strong Visual Elements: strong visual elements lend weight to a scene. Including these in our images is a classic technique derived from a lot of street photography imagery. By including these visual elements that people respond to, we can create additional interest in our images. Arrows are a very strong visual element. We can add to our images because they are a human construct and they usually signify a command. We respond to them. It's something we recognise without realizing we have responded to them. Now, a lot for tacos when they start out will start to take images of science. But rather than use signs as your subject, look for opportunities to use them as an element on a compliment to your subject is by creating that connection in this image that we can develop deeper interest in the image, the fact he's got signed and a subject deepens the complexity of the image. If it had just been assigned by itself with a subject by itself, it wouldn't have had the same strep but because of a strong visual element. Combined with a subject, it creates an interesting image. Now, repeating patterns or shapes can create a strong visual element to an image in this image. The bike racks create strong visual element that leads the eye into the back of the frank. They repeat consistently, and when we see that, we can use that in our image to help people be drawn into are images the variation on leading lines. But look out for those repeating patterns now. Another strong visual element are stripes and patterns that can add additional interest. The inclusion of the stripes in this image. Just add a little bit more visual interest to the image, and it's quite dominant in It's all challenges you Now. I don't usually do tilt shots, but in this one I fought that the tilt shot actually worked. But it's the stripes in the frame that I really like. Reflections are often a very strong visual element when you can include them in your image and create strong visual interest into practice. All you need is to find some puddles and shoot the reflections in the puddles. Another strong compositional element are shadows, especially when you make them a subject in and of themselves. And a good exercise is to go out and shoot Shabbos for a day, find a day when the sun is in the sky and it's a small light source, and it's creating hard shadows and go out and look for some different shadows that you're walking around and see what interesting visual elements you can get. Once you learn to see them, start incorporating them much more in your photography in your normal images. And then you have objects outside of their natural habitat, which creates a juxtaposition, which we're gonna be talking about a little bit more later round. There's always a strong visual interest when something is, know where it is supposed to be. So seeing things out of place and adding them in your image, using the strong visual elements can create additional interest in your images. So without this chair, this would be quite a bland picture of a landscape. But it's the chair that really makes the image. One of the things we can do is communicate scale by including something in the image that is recognizable. People are one of the most powerful ways of introducing a sense of scale, and therefore small subjects can provide a strong visual element when they're simple and easy to see. You got to images here on both them. I've got surface in them, but it's the one of the bombs as the stronger impact. Because you got the high point of contracts, you got the leading line leading to it. But it's very clear who the surfer is on what The surfer is a very strong visual element in the image. Now juxtaposition is using too strong visual elements of usually equal weight communicate a message. So when we use juxtaposition in photography, it can be by creating a clash between two equally strong subjects opposites, or by having too strong visual elements that communicate differing values. We essentially looking for conflict or wrongness when we juxtapose it could be subtle or strong. The implication in this image is that the gentleman is very much in the background whilst the lady is in the foreground. There's also additional tension because the gentleman is looking at the camera. What's the ladies looking off out of the frame? You can also notice the hand gestures. The gentleman seems relaxed while a lady seems tohave nervous hands. This was a portrait that I opposed, but I opposed it with this juxtaposition in mind, and that creates, um, interesting conflicts in the image that classic use of juxtaposition in street photography is where the subject is a mimic oven image in the background. In this image, it was seem that both the figures opposing with crossed legs which one is the model. And this is a common thing that you will see experienced street photographers using on is probably one of the most classic examples of juxtaposition ing in this image. That juxtaposition is between the subject and the background, and it's quite strong. The subject does not fit the background, and that gives the viewer a reason to pause and try to figure out what is going on. The background then becomes a strong visual element. The guy does not fit this background. There's tension, hence a strong visual interest in the juxtaposition. We can also use juxtaposition in terms of relationship between subjects. In this image, we can communicate hierarchy simply by pushing nose in the background out of focus. In this image, we have two ladies communicating happily with each other, but they juxtapose against the gentleman who seems disengaged and distant. When that happens, we start to tell a story in our own minds. Why this might be the case whether is true or not true, by the way, this is the bride and groom of the reception on their very happily married. Now, one of the other things we need to understand is the power of free. This is a simple yet powerful way of combining strong visual elements. So it's where we have free visual elements in our frame, freaky elements that all work together to communicate context and to tell a story. So in this image, we've got the Seago who's number one. If you'll notice Onley sign and then in the mid ground of the image, you've got the characters and behind that you've got the boat on the power free here is free, strong elements, but the bird knows who's number one. In this image. There's strong visual interest because they're free subjects, and it is the subject looking at the camera, almost accusingly that arrest you when you see it as a juxtaposition that it froze, you know, normally we would say that is a distracting element, but in this case, allowing it bring some strong questions to your mind. Now, this is a very simple composition, free elements, free young ladies with long hair or standing together, and it works because of the power of free. If they've been to laters of one later, it wouldn't have been so powerful. But Bill into us is a recognition of this principle of the beauty of free. We have an awareness of what we might call trinity of free items together, and we respond to that when we see an image. Here is another example of an image using the power of free, free, strong visual elements free, strong colors on. We have a strong and interesting composition. Another aspect of the power of free is that it could be used to create what is known as a triangular composition. This is a composition where your I will naturally travel around the frame in a triangle, emotion to free elements in the image and our eyes drawn to those free. And therefore it becomes a triangular journey. A triangular composition here is a another example of a triangular composition. Free main subjects and our eyes travel around the frame. So when you're out and about, try and isolate and see free different subjects and see what images you can capture. So when it comes to visual elements and using them combined with the other abstract techniques we have learned, we can create some pretty powerful and compelling images. So with this final image, we have the power free. We have shapes, lines, negative space on all coming together to create an interesting and compelling image. If you notice there is also a juxtaposition all elements something that doesn't quite fit and froze er's and we could see that with the to open windows in the tower blocks. 73. Module 12 05 Activities Module 12: so let's have a look at some activities. Activity number one. Taken image of an abstract subject that you cannot identify but communicates texture activity number two. Taken image of a Siris of shapes Online's activity. Number free. Take an image that incorporates a strong visual element. Activity number four Explaining your journal how seeing shapes and lines in their most basic sense will aid your own compositions. 74. Module 13 01 Introduction Module 13: in this module. We're gonna look at Creative Porcher. We're gonna look at capturing those special in between moment. We're going to explore the importance off the eyes in creative portraiture. We're also gonna have a look at some simple concepts of body language. Gesture. Let's go have a look at the court. 75. Module 13 02 The In Between Moments: one of the most important parts of creative. Portia is learning to see the in between moments now posed, images nearly always looked posed to the trained eye and even to the not so trained eye. But the most interesting, compelling and original portrait will come when you capture and in between moment when you capture the moments that people are not aware off that you are capturing. Now. This image was taken across the room of a wedding reception with a 72 200 millimeter leads . The subject was unaware I was taking the image, and it captured a natural moment on unforced moment is important to remember that people lock up when they see the camera. They go into photo kid mode and try to pose or green at the camera. But it's the moments in between where we catch them at their best, the more natural a moment. The better image we can create on a lot of posing in a portrait studio is essentially photographers trying toe recapture look, they have seen that they know works. I'm one of the biggest challenges for a studio portrait. Photographer is getting the subject to relax and be natural. The best in between moments happen when you're un observed, when you're a fly on the wall, so to speak. So in this image we have a wonderful in between moment. But we have some really nice light falling on the subject's faces on. We just caught this moment of intimacy between them, and because of that, it becomes a really powerful image. And when someone is no aware that you're taking the image, they will reveal the full range of emotions. If you ever walk into a room of a crowd of people, you will notice that everyone has smiles on their faces. But the moment they think they're not being looked at, they will reveal their true emotions. It is these in between moments we're looking for with creative portraiture in between, moments will often give us movement with this image it candid portray. It was the turn of the head that helps the hair give us a sense of movement in the frame this child was playing as memory serves to catching this in between moment. Macy image Move beyond just a simple snapshot. Now anticipation is a key element in capturing in between moments here the groom is wondering why he has been given the task of carrying flowers. Now when we take away the pictures, which is the one do you think sticks in their mind? Is it memories like this or the standard pictures of the bride and groom standing there with their family? It's the in between moments that really create powerful, compelling memories. An emotion is best core in the in between moments. Here we are in the middle of a stage shot on the bride and bridesmaid. Start laughing. Now this is a moment on waiting for. This is a moment I want to capture. This is the emotional moment for me, the state shots. They're fine. That's great for the album and for our Betty on what she wants to look at when she goes through the album. But I want to capture the emotion, the moment on, etc. In between moments, we must hunt for as creative photographers in between, Moment can also leave us asking questions. What exactly are they looking at? Here? Curiosity is communicated in these moments. In between, this is a moment of triumph. This is an in between moment. This isn't encapsulation of the groom's feelings. At that point of the day, the wedding had been achieved, and he wanted to celebrate his marriage and the fact that he got through the day without any major disasters. It was a great in between moment. The child photography is also somewhere where, in between moments, take on a life of their own. It is the gesture on the focus of the child here that creates an interesting image. Also note the use of color tubs to create a strong visual element and interest in the scene in this simple street photo. It's a in between moment, the moment that creates a visual interest, the dog and the gentleman obviously waiting for the wife to return, and they're not sure which direction they're going to come from. But it's capturing that in between moment, that sense of gesture that creates an interesting image. So when you're taking pictures, always, always, always look for those natural in between moment. Those points in time when you captured a subject just right being completely natural or doing something unusual or interesting 76. Module 13 03 The Eyes: now, when it comes to creative portraiture or any portraiture, the eyes are one of the strongest elements in the image we connect through the eyes is the focus of communication. When we talk to someone on when you understand that the eyes of the single most important element in creating engagement with your images, especially when it comes to portraiture, you will spend more time observing them and your photography will improve dramatically. If fact, the eyes are so important in portrait photography that they can be considered the main subject. That is, how strong a psychological hold to heaven Er's. Even in a scene like this, where there are so many elements going on, we are drawn to the eyes. It's a natural inclination to be drawn to the eyes and to see what is being communicated them. Now catch lights are very important when it comes to creating compelling portrait. It's a catch line is a small glow of light, this court in the eyes, from whatever light source you're using toe like your image. This catch light will really open up the eyes and gives the eyes of magic sparkle that people respond to the next time you really like a portrait. Take time to observe the quality of the catch lines. An experienced studio for taka will also be able to tell how subject is lit just by looking at the catch. Lights in the eyes catch lights are not only found in the studio in this image we can see that is a natural light source behind me to photographer, and I've got a nice catch light in the eyes. It's a large factory door where the sun is shining fruit and it's letting a nice soft lighting, and that becomes the source of the pleasing catch lights. In this corporate portrait, even when we're shooting a full body shot, catch lights help create a focal point in our images. Even candid portrait benefit from catch lights in the eyes. You will start to learn which angles get the best results in terms of catch lights when you realize the importance and start looking for them when you light your subject. Now, an image can work without catch lights if the eye color is light. But it does make it hard and introduces a flatness to the eyes, which is hard to overcome and you can see that in this image we could just don't have a nice catch light in the eyes. But the lighting situation here didn't allow that. Now the other thing, when it comes to the ice's direction of eyes tells us where to look in this image. We have a funny little just position in that the guy at the back is looking in a different direction from the guys in the front. And that, for me, makes us a fun image. No grey image got the lady right in the back on the left hand side of look at the camera, cropping into the subject in front. It doesn't work for that reason, but I just like the area just a bit of fun for me because of the way the allies are looking . But these sort of things we need to be looking for spotting when we take images now direction of eyes is really important as well. In this image, the direction of the eyes are pushed up as we follow everyone else's eyes what they're looking at. So we're drawn to the phone on the selfie stick. This becomes the subject on that, then leads us back to the lady who's holding the selfie stick. But it's the way everyone is looking in the direction of eyes that controls away your eyes and the viewers eyes move around. The screen on Direction of Eyes is a secret of creating connective ity. It's a secret of creating communication and communicating that connectivity between people . When you can follow the eyes around a scene between people, it communicates relationship and interaction between your subject. So in this image there's a conversation going on. We do have an interest in position because one of the guys actually looking out the frame, But you are free. People are looking at each other, and that creates a little story. There will start to ask questions. What's going on? What's the conversation? And it creates a little bit more interest in the image. Now, by varying where the eyes are looking, we can create additional interest in this image. We can communicate strength in the young man because he's looking forward and devotion in the young lady as she looks up to her new husband. Now this is a staged shot, would have lights and catch lights in the eyes, but we had a terrible day for lighting. It was a high sun behind the subject, I think manage the hard light as best. We could catch lights on that. But the direction of eyes still makes image work. The bride is looking at the subject of subject is looking at us. It makes him the main subject and makes a really interesting image by varying the direction of eyes between two subjects. The eyes don't always have to be seen to imply that something is going on. The direction of the gays can be enough to tell a story. In this image. Some friends value get married. I was just taking some extra images just as a gift. So the main photographers during the wedding photography and I'm just they're just taking a few different images, and I just see this image now. I wish I could have got a little bit wide angle on this. That address wasn't cropped at the bomb, but what I like about this is the direction of the face the bride is looking at. The people in the background on that is creating visual interest in the image. We're gonna follow that visual interest that direction with our own eyes. The eyes also communicate emotion. This is why, when I ask a subject to pose for me, I'll ask them to smile with the eyes. When the smile comes from, the emotions from the heart and is not posed is revealed in the eyes, and then you get these really pleasing portrays and you get a genuine capture of emotion and no matter the distance of the shot, if the eyes can be seen, that emotion can be communicated. This child was unhappy that the train was not running the day he went to the mini train track, and that's really obvious in this shop. But you can also see implied in the shot, even when he's tiny in the distance and you can only just make out the eyes. And I love this strong look of concern. This is the same child that the frown on the upward looking eyes communicate, but no is. The pleasing little cash lies in the eyes. The eyes can also be used to communicate intimacy. A subtle shot of two people looking each other in a loving way can be surprisingly intimate because we're seeing that connection between them. We're seeing them to look at each other, and especially when it comes to a wedding photography. When the bride and groom have been going for a long photo session and you'll find they get it's hired, you're asking me to do this just in tow. Asked him to look each other to stare into the eyes on Watch the image change. Now a little tip of portrait always tryingto have the shadow to the edge of the frame on your subject. You want the light inside the frame. So in this image, what we've got is we've got the shadow close to the edge of the frame and then the well lit side close to the negative space. Now I always forget to do this myself. But it is just a classic, simple rule when you're creating interesting portraiture that's always gonna balance better in the image. But then you can break that rule I've broken here. The ice can be used to create different emotions. As long as your subject generally conveys the emotional state, the eyes will give it away for you. So this is a friend of mine with did some photography, and I wanted to just create a little bit of fun. So we just wanted to go for that sort of the professionals the James Bond look. So I asked him to be very serious, a little bit aggressive. We lit it a certain way. And this is what we came up with. A heavy use of negative space. But the most important things to remember that you want to have fun with your images on when the eyes are captured correctly, there is no end to the creativity you can use to portray someone. 77. Module 13 04 Body Language And Gesture: now when it comes to created portrait. Yet whether posed candid or on the street body language and gesture is extremely important . This lesson is not about formal posing a subject, but this is more focused on how to create interesting images day to day portrait street photography, candid portraiture. And once we have an understanding of gesture and it's important, we can create some really interesting, compelling images. Now emotions are not just communicate through. The eyes also communicate through body language. In this shot, we have free varying expressions of emotion. Have happiness on the bride's faith, the struggle to get free in the young child on possibly concerned about the activity of the young child from the young gentleman on. When we capture these different emotional elements in an image, we create some interest in juxtaposition. Now, if everyone was just looking at the camera and smiling, it wouldn't be such an interesting image. But because we've got these movements because we've got these emotions, expression, these gestures and the struggle in the little child. It becomes really, really interesting. So when formally posing a subject and they were not occurring formal posing, which will give you a few tips, the more natural the body language is. The baddie image will appear when taking a pose portrait. So observing how people naturally sittin stand etcetera is a good practice. When you do want to post people, we want to get them to be completely natural. What happens is when people pose, they lock up and they stop sitting there naturally. But we could find natural poses that actually work for the individuals were taken an image off. One of the things we could do is give them something to do when it comes to create an interesting image, giving them something to occupy themselves with or catching them in an activity will bring out the natural body shapes and gestures we want in our images. And if you're taking posed, image is one of the best ways to get them. To relax is to get them to do something silly. Once you have made them laugh than nervous, tension starts to disappear. They will become more relaxed and you'll get better images after that. So in this image, the young ladies just died mess around and playing during the shot, and it helps them relax and create some really nice images afterwards. But this was the in between moment I actually wanted. I wanted this moment of fun, of happiness, even with street portraiture like this image, trying to photograph your subjects in natural, comfortable poses is the natural way the subject carries himself. That actually carries this image and makes it work is sitting here on his scooter, and you can see this is an expression of who he is. He's relaxed, is not pose. It doesn't even know taking the picture, and we get a nice street portrait now, including the hand in a shop can create very strong visual interest, but it's always important to have hands doing something natural. When you're taking a picture of someone you opposing, it has a common problem. They don't know what to do with their hands. When you take the sharks, they start being uncomfortable. Try and get them to do something natural with the hand. Simple, commonplace gestures can create really interesting images, especially when Children use them now. Natural hand and face interaction is always interesting, as they are the two most communicative parts of the human body. So when we have the hands and the face touching in this image that creates visual interest for me. We've got the two ladies with hands on their cheeks, one picking up the lips, and now we've got some visual interest. It goes beyond just the women sitting there and looking at the presentation on one of the key parts of creative portraiture is capturing interactions. If you capture an interaction is based on touch or around an object, it creates interest. As we relate to this communication of connection. We relate personally. Toe What's going on now. Connecting your subjects were bright or interesting. Objects can create very strong images. Look for interactions between people on strong visual elements, like in this scenario where the game is being played with orange blocks. Interactions with everyday objects can also create additional interest in an image. So in this image, the young lady has got a bottle of Lucas eight in a hand on her keys, then natural every day elements but that create additional interest. It becomes much more natural, on the other hand is on the chair. This is not oppose shots, that candid portrait and we're just looking for those elements of additional interest on knows objects just add to the subject. Add to the frame. But it's the hands interacting with those subjects that creates a visual interest. Now group images develop more interest. If there is a strong gesture involved in the image in this image, the open hands create interest for the whole of the image. So the gentleman on the left is we look at the screen. He is making a strong gesture, the other two gentlemen looking at him and that create strong visual interest. Strong gesture can create a strong sense of story of conversation when two people are interacting in an image spa. Boston Those interactions and timing the shot is very important to catch those moments. And then we get the benefit of a strong gesture. And this is the bride asking the groom to carry her flowers so she can do something. And he's refusing on. I'm watching the conversation. I'm listening, waiting my camera because I want to capture interaction between them on the hands up a really, really strong gesture, and they make the image interesting. Now one of the fundamental things is timing. The capture of gesture. One of the things we have to learn to do is watch. The timing's off those movements. In this instance, I'm taking an image of a band. I have access to the backstage area, and I'm watching the conductor and I can see he does certain gestures over and over. So he repeats his gestures. So there is just a case of waiting and watching for that decisive moment. When the gesture is how I want it, I'm framing it. And now timing is everything, and I can capture some really interesting, powerful, compelling images that involved gesture and hands on. Moments of intensity make great images. If you can capture a moment containing high emotion, then you can create some really compelling images in this image. The young lady she's singing, she's passionate capturing that passion, captured that moment when she singing and the mouth is wide open. If we'd have caught the mouth shut, it wouldn't have been that strong, but the tension in the arms and the fists and the hands and the mouth, all of that gesture, all of the emotion. All of that power is then communicated into the image. Now, in these two images, we have some background figures providing additional depth to the subject. In the first image, there is an interaction. In the second image. There is a juxtaposition. So the first image we have hands being held out. These adults obviously know the child, and the child is running towards them. But in the second image, we've got the child running away on the mum, watching warily from a distance, keeping her eye making sure son it's safe while also allowing him to run around and play. And that creates a nice juxtaposition. Now interactions between humans and animals will also create compelling images. So look for those moments when they are interacting that although this isn't great background, I'm down a local park and this guy is feeding to see girls out of his hand, something that I'm taking images, capturing those interactions, and I get a powerful image. The background isn't the cleanest. Background isn't the best, but I still like. The image captures a really interesting and exciting moment, and in this image is that dog looking at the owner. That creates the interest in the image beyond the fact that the dog is walking on top of the wall. Without that, gays without that connection. This image would probably still be interesting, but it would not be a strong as it is because of the implied emotional relationship between Dog and its owner. So that's a simple gesture. Not a lot of movement in this all is the turn, head and movement. As they walk through the frame on, we have this sense of relationship communicate freely, gesture. Even the most mundane of shots can become interesting if we capture the natural expressions and body language. In this shot, the little boy was waiting for his pie guest to turn up on his birthday party to stop capturing intent is the same birthday pie. That's something we need to focus on capturing intent in this image. A little boy's about to hit one of those donkeys. Stuff with Sweets is about to hit it with that. But look at the intent on his face. Look at the expression in the hand. This guy means business. And then behind that, you've got the little girl with a finger in the mouth and she went for a return on. That communicates something as well, and this composite we see free, different instances where we encouraging movement on the relaxing effect it has on the subject. We also see her natural movements of the body create images that are not posed and don't look fake. So we get some nice natural gesture, will get people to move around normally, not forces not fake. She's having fun. She's spinning around on the spot. We've caught those images and created this little montage of them. Now body language can communicate that something else is happening beyond the frame and create additional interest. Look for unusual body shapes when taking images and just these ladies leaning back and looking down with expressions on their face of slight concern. I find a really interesting on compelling image. Whenever you photograph a full body, you want to make sure that all the limbs of communicating gesture, the more gesture in the whole of the body, the more interesting it is. We need to just talk about a good crop, bad crop situation. So when we're cutting, people were cropping people deciding where we want them in the frame. We have some good cropping areas and some bad cropping areas, so a good crop on a portrait is on the left. These are the blue areas you see in the hair halfway through the upper arms, pretty upper chest, not through the neck, just above the waist, just below the waist and just above the knee. Those are good places to crop on the other side. We have bad places just above the eyes in the middle of the arms, the middle of the wrist, middle of fingers, middle of the legs for the ankles and frutos. So when we cropping an image over cropping that in the camera or cropping it imposed when we don't created portrait yet follow this guide and it's going to give you a clear basis of figuring out where you can and you can't crop. So I hope you find that particularly useful. Here's an example of that. We've got to averages for body shot in one with chopped the ankles and when we haven't and you could see that chopping the ankles really does not work. And there's a never example here. When we cropping faces, we want to make sure some of the hair is still remaining. We want to try and make sure that the faces still framed, cutting into the forehead here wouldn't create a good balance. Be careful not to cut into eyes when you're cropping your image in this image. I've just cropped it a little bit too tight, and I've lost something if I had just moved over an inch with a much better image. Now, when cropping, decide what is needed and what is not needed. Decide what the subject is when cropping I want is superfluous. What you don't need, what is unnecessary, this image. I like this image. I don't need the legs in the image. I just need his arms, because all I need to communicate in the image as this little boy climbing down the steps and his hands on the floor of the gesture. That's the important part here and in this image, but cropping just above the hands, we have actually communicated that the holding hands and walking together is a subject, so sometimes we can crop in an unusual way. Still get a good image. You'll notice that didn't crop it the wrists of cross halfway up before arm gesture and emotion create interest in our images. So if we look out for them, look for natural gesture, look from natural moments and anticipate them. We will start to create some really compelling on powerful images 78. Module 13 05 Activities Module 13: so let's have a look at some activities. Activity number one. Take an image of an in between moment, a moment when your subject is unaware of your presence. Activity number two. Take a portrait where the subject has some nice catch lights in their eyes. Activity number free taken image that incorporates a strong gesture or some strong body language activity. Number four Explaining your journal. My gesture and emotion are so important in an image. 79. Module 14 01 Introduction Module 14: So in this module, we're gonna talk about finding your identity as a photographer. We're gonna get creating an image, a style. This Siri's a portfolio, a body of work. We're also gonna discuss sharing A work can have a look, of course. 80. Module 14 02 Creating An Image: so the first place to start when it comes to creating images is figure out what your natural focal length is, and this is quite easy to determine. What we're trying to discover is what focal length do you see in? Do you see a 35 millimeter, 50 millimeter? 200 millimeter? Do you like to be distant and turned a millimeter? Might be or your focal limb? Do you like to be a close? No faith. Five millimeter might be your focal them. Easiest way to do it is if you got a zoom lens and you've already been taking images. Have a look that What is your normal shooting live? Go into something that light room. Look at the exit data. Look at the detail in light room and you'll be able to see what the length of the lens was , and you'll start figuring out what your natural focal length is. Now, if you've got something like an iPhone, you're stuck a 28 millimeter. But that doesn't mean you can't learn and grow. It just means you have to learn to shoot at that focal them. And that's actually really good way to learn to overcome technical difficulties because if you can learn to shoot a 28 millimeter and get really good images, once you upgrade to a camera with zoom functionality or the option to add longer lenses, your images are going to be naturally good because you've learned in the hardest conditions . So let's talk about breaking the rules now. I don't believe you can actually break the rules by believes that you can bend the rules and that not all rules are known. I don't know all the rules of composition. I don't understand everything about how we see beauty and respond Teoh the universe around us. But when we do bend, the rules were bending them intellectually, knowing we're bending them and that's when it works. It works when we bend them unknown exactly what we're doing. One of my favorite images ever taken is a to couples looking out of the frame right on the edge of frame bends the rules, but it implies looking out of the frame that something, and I like the image. So I know the rules, understand? We don't know all the rules when you bend them, Ben them intellectually, knowingly, and that way you can make your own cheese work. Now, when Ukraine image one of the challenges you're gonna find, it's finding the groove. How do you find the groove? How'd you get into the mood? Well, there's some simple tips. Make sure you arrested. You've had sleep. Make sure you've eaten and make sure you have something to drink on. Then just go out, walk around and relax. Now one of the things that can interfere. If we stressed and worried about things, it can take a little wild again to groove. If we're hungry, we're tired. It can take a little while to get to the group. But sometimes all I have to do is make sure arrested Ethan has something to drink on. Then start taking images. Select. I love to get on the seaside and take images so I'll do it. So I get there. I won't even get my camera out of the bag until I've gone to the fish and chip shop and have my fish and chips on a fizzy drink. And then once I've had that I'm happy on, I start relaxing into the groove. Now one of the things we have to think about is only taking images were taking images about things, not off things. We're trying to communicate story. We're trying to communicate something other than the object itself. So the way we might do that is by capturing memories, moments reflecting our view of life, our own view of life when we taken image with choosing what we point the camera. Therefore, we're choosing what we put in front of people. Therefore, it's a reflection of our view on life and our choices of what we look at what we share. So I reflect your own view of life. When you're taking images, tell stories you can plan an image, you can structure an image. So you've got lighting. You've got someone coming who's a model, and you can plan an image or take images with friends and go out and have fun. But then get so caught up in planning an image that you missed moments that you don't capture those in between moments we talked about earlier. When you start applying all of that, you'll star taking images about things, not just off things, and you'll start trying to communicate something that you see in the world something you've observed something you have an opinion on unless when images get really interesting. So we've already sort of touched on this earlier was talking about some street photography principles. We just want to reiterate that getting permission is quite important when you're out and about. So if you're gonna use your image for commercial purposes, if you're gonna sell out for money, you don't have to get permission. If you're just posting it online to share. If you're selling an image, then you need to get permission. You need to get some model releases. And sometimes when you're taking pictures of people on the street, just go up and talked. Oh, asset permission. If you're taking pictures of police officers or anything like that, always tell them what you're doing. Always get permission. Know the rules for your country. In the UK, you can stand on public ground on. You can practically take a picture of anything you want, even private property. Now there are some exceptions. You can't be shining your turned of millimeter lens into someone's living room, Woolery in their tea and taking a picture that's considered the breach of privacy. But beware the rules in your own country. And if you're confronted, always, always, always be polite to the people are confronting. You sometimes have to stand there arguing with them because you know your rights and you're not gonna be shifted on. And, you know, just be polite and move on. They don't have a right. In most countries, just double check. They don't ever right to take your equipment away or to touch your equipment, so be clear about that. But I always try and be polite. And if someone gets emotional when you create an image and it's a candidate major, it's a street for trophy image. Just respond politely, and you can always offer to delete the image. But don't let them take hold of your equipment. That's very rarely rare that people challenge you when it comes to street photography. As long as you're not running around in the background, hide around corners, hide to be on bins and taking images. If you're open your own, the space that we talked earlier, you're not gonna have many problems, but always be very respectful of other people and understand what permissions you're gonna need in your environment. 81. Module 14 03 Creating A Style: So now we're gonna talk about creating a style. The first thing to do if you want a credit style, is choose your genre so it could be aerial photography. Architectural for Toby, Candid commercial documentary photography, fashion, fine art, food, landscape, long exposure, photography, portrait sports, street studio, wildlife photography. But before you choose one of these, you have to be sense. But actually, they got how much is gonna cost on whether this is within your means, that aerial photography if you all you've got is an iPhone, that's not the place to start because you're gonna need drones, special cameras and also especially if you don't have much of a budget. But if you just wanted to Canada for Total Street for talk create your iPhone is going to get you there, you're gonna be able to do that. Even documentary photography. In fact, you can even do fashion photography with an iPhone. Find out for Toki food photography. When it comes from that wildlife photography, you're probably gonna need a long lens now the longest, and I've got 200 millimeter. I have a very street photography, approached the wildlife photography. I like to see animals interacting. If you want to get into it seriously and take pictures of birds like two miles away, that's some serious expenditure. Do you have to think about that and understand that it's the same for studio photography you want? Do portrait. Yet Maybe you want to start your own home based studio, set up a studio in your garret and start doing portrays. And if you're interested in that, I do have a course on that will show you how to do that on a budget. You need to go through that and plan that understand what the costs are, what some of the issues with that are. There's lots of different things you need to look at when you choose your genre. But the most important thing is to think about. What is it you enjoy? What is the thing that really excites you? Like I love street, the talk for a love candid portraiture Bacon do commercial for toxic. But you know, I don't really hope my clients and I'm watching it. I don't really enjoy it that much. It's just a bit too intense and pressured. Some of the expectations of clients these days are unrealistic they want the photography too cheap. So I actually teach more these days because I really enjoy that. So when you choose a style, think about that for yourself. What is it you love? So now you need to think about color or black and way. What's gonna be a preference? Maybe you don't need to choose. Do you think that subject What's the subject you want? Toe photograph on a regular basis? Maybe you will define your style. By your perspective, maybe you'll be someone who does a lot of aerial photography and looking down. And that's the style. Maybe you'll be someone who chews up shoes down. May this location is gonna help you create your own style. Maybe you're gonna document London, for instance, and you're gonna be a street photographer in London. Maybe the aspect ratio is gonna feed into a star. You'll see a lot of my images of 16 by nine. That's my favorite ratio, but the most important thing of all this when you create style, don't lock yourself into that style. Be ready any moment to change, to improve, to adapt to Froedtert style away. Have fun with the photography on overtime a style will naturally develop when you start focusing on what you really love. I'm a bit of a kleptomaniac with my photography because I really love composition. I love Plame of all the different parts of composition, so I'll have images that go throughout the range, and that's actually a good thing. If you develop, that was a photographer, because you can then create images in any style. You can create images in any former, and you then become a photographer with a much broader range. So if you focus too much on creating a style, you can lock yourself in and decrease the range you have when it comes to your photography . So let's talk about finding inspiration. Now. One of the best places I think you can get inspiration is the master painters. If you've got a local museum, that's free, and they've got painting. Go in there, look at the old paintings when they had to use natural light and composition, explore them. Use the lessons from this course guy. Never look at them and let them inspire you. Do the same for master photographers. Go on mine, find the places that share their work online and have a look at the master photographer and understand their style. Now what favor of mind as well is movies? There's some really good directors of photography. Toe have classical training and photography, which they then transferred into the movie world. And so you can see some really interesting inspirational styles in movies these days. And then you've got places like Instagram. Find some good photographers, follow them, and after a while you'll start. Find yourself following a certain type of talk for and you'll realize where your style is going. Is that your other places online, like flicker and places like that? I think Instagram is really good oven evening. I like to flick fruit. I just have a look at a few images and C and follow people and try and understand what they did. What really fascinates me is when I see some of a style on the diner had have done it. There's a guy on there at the moment I'm following him and he's got this really interesting start. I'm just trying to figure out how he's actually done it. When someone does that that really took was my interest, cause I want to know how to do that so I can ever go. It don't necessarily want to adapt as a style, but I want to learn that method of photography. So when you're finding inspiration, go out there and look for it. You'll be surprised how much of it is actually out there. There's some amazing painters photographers on movie makers out there that you can use as a source off inspiration for your own style. Now one of the things when Ukraine a style is you have to deal with critique the ugly babies and drivers where someone's coming to you and telling you your images are OK, especially when you share them online. It's gonna happen, and you'll probably find it more often than no from other photographers. It's really interesting. They're the ones who really want to pull images apart. I think it's malicious, but we just got to be prepared that someone come on. That's not a good image. No, I put images out. I know some of them are not good images, but in the image I like, and that's why I shared it. But because I know the rules for myself, I know when I'm breaking them. So I know when I'm sharing an image how that might be received. And I'm curious to see the reaction to those images on the way to deal with This is like this. If everyone in the world knew you with everybody like you, there's some people out there gonna look you and they're gonna remind you of someone they dislike in their life or someone they disliked in the past in their life. And about what you saying do. They're not gonna like you. No one's gonna love you. And it's the same for your photography. Doesn't matter how you do it. Someone is not gonna like your photography. So just be yourself. Don't let that hold you back. Be prepared for your bit of critique here and there. But when it comes, look at it. If you know the rules on, do you think they don't know what they're talking about? Ignore it. The lot off subjective opinions about photography out there on DNO Much of it is based on an objective understanding offer, Toby. Now, if you ask for critique, be polite when you get it Now, remember, if you want some critique, I've got Google plus community. Send me an email said your link. Join that Share your images. Remember that So that you can grow is a photographer. I will tell you if I see something in the image that I don't think is correct. But I do that to help you grow stovetop. So if your interest in that do send me une male and I will give you that link. 82. Module 14 04 Creating A Series: So let's get down to the nitty gritty all those things out the way. Pick a subject. Take at least free 100 images. Create at least 30 keepers. Pick your best 10. That's a Siri's so very first obvious. Pick a subject. Be clear about that. Get out there and just churn out some images. I say fielded images, but you want to get to lock what we call 30 keepers for the images that you would be happy to keep and keep sharing. And then you need to boil it down to the very best 10. And now you've got a Siri's pick a subject. Here's some ideas of hat. Pick a subject. Dark light Shout silence Fast, happy, sad, funny, joyful, melancholy red, green, blue, orange, yellow. When you want to create a Siri's, this is gonna be a small Siri's. You want those 10 images on. All you want to do is pick a simple subject, and it could be a simple picking a word and creating that subject, and that's all you need to do. It isn't that complicated on. Then go out. Take those 300 images doesn't have to be all in one day it could be over a period of time. In fact, you have many Siri's running at the same time. But take those images, get you 30 keepers, and once you've got that, boil that down as 10 and then share that as a Siri's. I've online, maybe one printed in some way, shape or form. You need to get out there and share it, and it really is. A simple is that that is how easy it is to create a Siri's and his s'more subject. Square Triangle Circle Arrows lines, event locations, sport movie book, poem, computer game characters, social commentary, hobby. When we create serious, we just pick a subject you could take a movie that you like has inspired you and create a Siris of images that are inspired and originate from that movie. You could create a Siris on a particular stew school. Maybe a character in a book maybe just shapes lots of different ways to pick a subject and create Siri's. But it's a very good activity to write that down, intentionally do that in your photography journal and go out and create that Siri's 83. Module 14 05 Creating A Body Of Work: now, when it comes to creating a body of work, this is your lifetime statement. It's an expression how you view the world, and it's also a statement of your progression as a photographer. Now a lot of people will spend a lot of time thinking about creating a body. Work I know suggest you don't do that because it's gonna happen naturally. Even the greatest photographers took hundreds of 1000 images in their life on then. When they get displayed, there might be 30 images, usually when they've passed away, so they don't even get to see it. There's 30 images that go into that body of work out of all lines images. So as you developed as a photographer as you grow, you might spend 30 years developing as a photographer. Do you think about that? You only one photo yet contribute to your body of work, but it should explain your lifetime statement. It should explain how you view the world, and it should also show your progression and growth as a photographer and everything we have creating her body. Workers know every image will be included. We've discussed that 30 in a lifetime. That's really interesting their way points in your journey. Each of those images should represent in your body. Work should represent a particular stage in your photography. You should grow every year. If you have a five year plan to create a body of work every year, that should be growth when it should be shown. But understand. If it's five years, six years, it never finishes. If you're out there and photography is your passion, your hobby, your body of work is gonna grow. Now there are some very strong views about bodies of work and the way it's expressed in the artistic photography community. But don't get bunk down with her. A body of work just happens naturally, have time, but practically some of the things we need to think about. If we're gonna think about creating a body of work on an archive, our work, we want to keep our digital negatives on. We want to back them up to the clouds. What does that mean? All of our images of were Shooting Digital are going to be stored somewhere so we could start him on a hard drive in our house. But the safest place is in the cloud I am a commercial for Tokyo, and I can tell you, if you store your images on a hard drive, those hard drives will die on you and you will lose those images. It's happened to me. I've lost thousands of images when a hard drive collapse and they didn't have a good backup storage system. Nowadays, everything goes into the cloud I've got. I'm a computer. It also goes into the cloud so always back up so you can archive your work and you keep your digital negatives. Now don't get too heartbroken about that, because my best images I managed to rescue from different places and actually losing them almost freed me from where I got to with my photography. When it happens, it is disappointing. It will upset you, so make sure you start backing up your images Now, even if it's a summit like Google photos, something a simple as that 84. Module 14 06 Sharing Your Work: now, when it comes to sharing your work, typically nowadays it's gonna be online. So you've got some website choices. So for me, I like squarespace and SmugMug. Squarespace is very easy to use. All that's not dedicated. Photography site SmugMug is not so easy to use, but its functionality for photographers is much, much better. Then you have WordPress and self hosting, but unless you're a program, I wouldn't go with that there people out there that offering very cost efficient, simple solutions for you to share your photography through So smug book is one of those examples of dedicated photography. Site. One of things you have to deal with is people are going to steal your images online and use them so you can go through copyright claims. In fact, there was a famous case a few years ago where the Volkswagon took someone's image printed on a T shirt, started distributing it on. The guy took him to court, and there was a big practice on. The guy got his money out of a Volkswagen. So people sometimes take your image not realized, I think because it's on the Internet, they can use it commercially. But when you share an image online, expect some of your images to get stolen and used elsewhere. Just accept that it can be difficult if you're selling them. You can watermark, ma'am, but then you have to watermark them in a way that actually destroys the presentation of the image that stops people actually stealing them. So you just have to accept that's gonna happen in this modern day and age and try minimize it as much as possible. But you should always start with your website. When you're sharing a work, always start a website, and then we shared to social media. We want people to come back to our location on the Internet, so there might come a time when you think about going professional. Start to earn your money from photography, and if you're gonna do that, we need your fate. Best images and you need to create a port failure. You can create print portfolio, or you can create an online portfolio. In most instances, these days, an online portfolio is enough. We want to think about some business cards and putting your website address in your email footer, and things like that has lots of different ways you can promote your business. I do have a course on social media marketing, So if you're interested in developing your business and getting it out there and no, no big, great course to check, it's a masterclass covers all of that. But the most important thing to understand is that with photography, your online portfolio will sell your stuff because people can look at intel if you're any good, one of the few businesses where you don't have to go out there. I'm really talking. Persuade someone that you know what you're doing because it's a visual business and they can see that straight away. Use one of these websites like smug mogul Squarespace. The worst thing to show off on online portfolio is an ugly website, so I would avoid WordPress. If you're not familiar with that cause. Very easy to make WordPress ugly. If you want your images to be seen as beautiful, you want website to be seen as beautiful as well. So when it comes to sharing your work and get me out there professionally or just a zahabi , your social media is the best place to do that. So we want to be thinking about building following Instagrams on the best places to build a following Feel photography because all you have to his tag your photos with hashtag that people follow. And then people could find that. And it's a great way to get going when your brand new to sharing a photography online. There's other places like Flicker where you can share your photography on people. Confined it now on. Everything you can do is find communities for your specific genre online and share you images there. And then if they let you have a little link back to your website on the foreign posts, often times that's just a function off forums, private forums. And that's a great way of getting people to come back and visit your website. And that's the one thing we have to understand. When it comes to sharing your work online, you always want to lead them. Give them a route back to your website back to your portfolio, even if it's just a hobby, because eventually one day you might decide you're going to become a commercial professional photographer or do this for a living will become a stock photographer. It takes images and then sells those images on Steiff like I stopped where you get paid a small amount, but your photo cells over and over, you might want to commercialize fast the case. Be thinking about possibly planning for that right now and set up a nice little symbol website. Someone like Squarespace. Really easy Dragon Drop. Really easy to learn, really easy to do. Substandard templates where you can create beautiful looking websites and then share that to your social media. Always lead someone back from social media to your website. When you're sharing your work, there's lots of different ways on opportunities that you can do that. But the most important thing and all of this is due photographer because you love it. Do photography because you have a passion and do it for yourself. Yes, it's nice if other people like your photography. Yes, it's nice when people appreciate your photography, do it for you. Do it as something that fulfills you, something that gets you away from the daily grind of life, something that gives you an opportunity to express your creativity. There's something that neighbors you to connect with other people around the world. Enjoy your photography and focus on that when you're sharing your work