Set Your Passion Free

Originally presented to the Ridgewood Camera Club and New Jersey Smug Group, the Set Your Passion Free presentation is now available free. Once you know what to do and not to do, you must put the rules aside and explore your own creative vision.

Transcript

1. Set Your Passion Free Scott Wyden Kivowitz http://scottwyden.com
2. Once you know what to do & what not to do Put the rules aside & explore your own creative vision.
3. Leave Your Comfort Zone • Take Risks • Break Boundaries • Open Doors • Go Nuts! • “Poke the Box” - Seth Godin
4. Where Are You? Where do you stand in the swarm of photographers? What are you doing different? What risks are you taking? What rules are you breaking?
5. Thomas Edison Once Said “We shall have no better conditions in the future if we are satisfied with all those which we have at present.”
6. Photography Rules They exist for a reason, to act as a guideline of the photographic process
7. What “They” Don’t Tell You You are allowed to break the rules
8. Darren Rowse - Digital Photography School “While you probably won’t want to break these rules in every photograph that you take – breaking them can bring about some fairly spectacular results.”
9. The Rules • Rule of Thirds • Golden Ratio • Tack Sharp • Clean Angles • Low ISO • Hold Steady • Fill The Frame • Follow The Light Meter • Keep Still • Get Down or Move Up • Keep Horizons Level • Avoid Lens Flare ...etc
10. Keep It Steady? Some photographers, like my friend John, throw & spin their camera in the air. In fact, there is a Flickr group full of them! note: I don’t recommend throwing a camera.
11. Macro Who needs it? Have you tried photographing flowers with a wide telephoto lens?
12. Macro ...or photograph a macro straight on without finding the perfect angle? It could work better than you might think.
13. Bokeh Always fun, sometimes overdone.
14. Focus Not everything has to be in focus for a photograph to be interesting
15. Blur There isn’t one still part of this photo, yet it is fun to look at! See the guy walking in the background?
16. ISO Shooting at the highest ISO may not be favorable, but it can add drama by using so much available light.
17. Angles Photographs do not have to be straight, to be interesting
18. Lines If this was straight (horizontal lines) it would be boring!
19. Color Play with color and light. This color photograph looks black & white.
20. Vintage Play with processing by making a modern digital photograph look old.
21. Curves You don’t have to correct for them if you don’t want to. Let it go, have some fun.
22. Tilt/ Shift These lenses are meant for correction, but can add a unique look to architecture, landscapes and objects
23. Negative Space There is something about dead space that is so attractive in a photograph.
24. Timothy O'Sullivan’s photographs had blown-out skies because of orthochromatic material, which makes all blue skies overexposed. (1871 - 73 survey of the American West)
26. Surroundings Photographing your subjects, and their surroundings.
27. Surroundings as Background Photographing your subjects by using their surroundings as the background
28. HDR High Dynamic Range Love it or hate it. Either way, the technique can make for a stunning photograph.
29. Be Sneaky Don’t let an animal know you are there.
30. Be Sneaky Don’t let an animal (or person) know you are there.
31. Overhead “They” say to get down to a child’s level. How about standing over and looking down?
32. Upward Shooting from a low angle can add a neat perspective
33. Mobile Experiment with cell phone photography and the many applications and accessories available.
34. Shoot Through Shooting through people can add an interesting perspective or twist to a situation
35. Shoot Through Shooting through trees can add an interesting perspective or twist to a scene
36. No Detail Let highlights blow out Let shadows cut explore the boundaries of your camera
37. No Detail Deep detail-free shadows can create a highly dramatic portrait
39. Cut Off It is okay to cut the heads or legs off people if it works!
40. Filters They don’t have to be on the camera in order to make use of them (two 10x ND filters in use)
41. Giving It A Try • Wrong Lens On The Right Camera (e.g., DX on FX) • Wrong Lens For Right Situation (e.g., Telephoto for Macro or Tilt/ Shift as Prime) • All Distortion • Upside Down Camera • Use A Different Eye • Dead Center • All Minimalistic
42. Final Thoughts
43. Be Aggressive
44. Be Kind
45. Experiment
46. Take Risks
47. Most Important
48. Have Fun Doing It
49. Love The Rules
50. Set Your Passion Free Scott Wyden Kivowitz http://scottwyden.com Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, 500px, Flickr, YouTube and more! Title by Martin Bielecki Crowdsourcing A Photography Presentation Title http://scottwyden.com/crowdsourcing-a-photography-presentation-title/