If you are seeing this...

If you are seeing this post, it is because you come here on your own and not because I posted it in to the social webs. This means you are interested in what I have to show, teach and talk about. Thank you. I won't be sharing on my personal social media sites any longer. If the few that actually want to come see these posts, they can do so of their own free will and not because I used my personal social media accounts to whore myself out.

I have been posting a lot lately about fall, mainly because I experienced two full months of fall this year. Normally in Oregon, we get one week of fall. Under normal conditions, the trees in Oregon start to change colors and then the first big storm comes in with high winds and heavy rains and rip both fall leaves and green leaves from the branches and all of the color ends up on the ground. One week, boom, and fall is over.

This year was different. Fall lasted a what felt like forever. It was only two weeks ago that the landscape truly looked winter-stark. It was beautiful year to live in Oregon in the fall.

But it is time for me to move on and stop dwelling on the beauty of fall. It is time for me to shift my focus on my New Years resolutions. I know, those lames resolutions, but I actually did well on my resolutions this year and I am looking forward to developing next year's.

Last year's goals and results were focused on giving and were as such:

• Educating
• Giving
• Execution

In the realm of education I taught numerous low-cost workshops to teach photographers. By low cost, I mean I didn't pocket much, if any money per workshop. In total I may have made $30 this year after all expenses were paid. I made it a point to make myself available to members of my photo club members to answer their questions during our events.

In the realm of giving I volunteered at the local humane society, until my car broke down and then a few months later I sold all my lighting equipment and wasn't able to make the pet portraits properly. I participated in the help portrait event this year, as a matter of fact I am going to a framing party for this help portrait today. I vowed to guide others in the pursuit of their goals and as a result I gave a lecture on goal setting and   I encouraged a photographer friend to pursue an education in the arts and as a result she started in the Visual Communication Program at the local community college.

In the realm of execution I had great successes in that I was able to pick 4 projects and execute them. One of the projects was to shoot a themed fall portfolio using a style I developed on my own and not something I read how to do on the internet. That is what the last few months have been about.

So now, I head into the bowels of winter, thinking of what I want and more importantly can accomplish this coming year. Stay tuned for my resolution post. 

Free Texture Friday - Zig-Zag Abstract

This week's free texture is natural abstract zig-zag pattern.

You can download the full-res version below.

This photograph was captured at Bush Park in Salem, Oregon.





Download the full res image here.

Interesting Skies

Interesting Skies

Simple Clouds

Some times a sky adds as much to an image as the subject does. But a sky can also make an image boring.

Flat blue cloudless skies are about as boring as backdrops come.

But a sky with even the simplest clouds can make an image pop. Clouds can make or break a landscape image or a portrait where the sky is an element of the background.

Simpler Clouds

The sky doesn't have to overly complex with the cloud structure. In many cases something simple and light, like the sky in the image on the right is all it takes to take an image from bland to superb.

Complex Cloud Structure

 Here, in the image on the left, is a complex cloud structure at work. It would be easy for this complex structure to take over the image and over power your subject.

This is a great type of cloud structure if you are shooting a landscape, as the it can add a dynamic volume to the sky that can enhance the image.

But if your subject was a person, this type of cloud structure could take over as the subject making the person seem less important. While this can be true, it isn't always as composition choices play an important role in this decision as well.

Here a prime example of a complex cloud structure used to accentuate the landscape being photographed.

The cloud structure adds a cool, brooding tone to the image in contrast to the warmer toned landscape beneath it.

The key is balance of composition between the landscape and the brooding sky. If the horizon had been shifted down further, to make more of a minimalist type of image, the sky would have over powered the subject. But because the horizon is a little higher, falling more into the rule of thirds, the balance makes the image work by making the sky an element and not the subject.

Here is another image where the brooding sky enhances the image.

The aggressive nature of the sky compliments the subjects, soldiers heading into battle. The sky lends to mood.

Because the sky is in balance with the rest of the image, it is an element, allowing the viewer to still notice and realize the soldiers while adding that element of impending doom, generally at the subconscious level.

The image to the right is an example of an image where having some clouds in the sky would have made this portrait better.

The relative flat blue nature of the sky makes that section of the image boring.

Now the image on the right would have had a completely different impact if the sky had been like the image of the soldiers above. And again it would have been completely different if the sky has been like one of the fluffy cloud images posted at the beginning.

You can't always have the perfect sky for what you want, so you have to work with want you get. But if you have the option choose between days with clouds and days without, always choose a day with some puffs of white in the sky. Your images will turn out so much better.