I love how wonderful mirrors can be when playing around with self portraits. But you could do this lots of others ways as well, even eliminating the face from the portrait if other telling things about the individual art present....think about it. (Copyright 2012 / Andrew Boyd)

Have you ever shot a really compelling self portrait? You can learn about yourself and your photography by attempting this oldest of artistic constructions. Well, a self portrait is what’s called for with this new photo assignment over in the Forums. Here are the details:

OK everyone, here’s our new photo assignment: ‘Self Portrait.’ Make a really interesting and compelling self portrait. You may shoot it as a reflection, into a mirror, with a tripod and timer, however you want to accomplish this feat…but a self portrait it must be! Remember, like all portraits, your self portrait needs to reveal something of the personality of the subject (that would be YOU). So think about this for a bit before you start shooting.

Also don’t forget: in the proper spirit of this Assignment series, you need to go out and shoot a NEW photograph. (Honor system in play here.) Limit is two images per shooter.

I’ll keep this assignment up in the Forums for about two weeks, so let’s see what you guys can come up with! (Information for posting your image can be found at the top of the Photo Assignments forum, if you haven’t posted before.)

Good luck! –DiscerningPhotog

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

This month's Flickr Group Critique is all about black and white work. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

[Note: Once a month we host a ‘group critique’ here at The Discerning Photographer based upon our related Flickr group pool. The idea behind the critique is to try and give a bit of constructive criticism and/or praise for the selected photographers’ work, and then to have a discussion about the images in the Comments section below. Please check out the following images, see what I thought about them, and tell us what you think!]

Black and white photography: do you practice it yourself? How do you find black and white shooting to differ from color shooting? For me, black and white is a wonderful area to explore: stripping color out of the imagery brings forth form, pattern, and the interplay of light and shadow in a way that my brain doesn’t process with color photos.

In our December 2011 Group Critique from our Discerning Photographer Flickr pool, I’ve chosen some black and white images for us to discuss. So, let’s get started!

‘Foggy Morn,’ by Enivea.

'Foggy Morn,' by Enivea http://www.flickr.com/photos/enivea/6498620587/in/pool-1182517@N23/

I think this image works wonderfully in black and white. The fog in the distance is nice and I love the strong diagonal line the tree forms from lower right to upper left,  AND how nicely the foreground tree frames the distant tree, with its similar leaning shape, a bit of nice and subtle pattern repetition.

‘Pathway to the Sky,’ by CJ Schmit.

'Pathway to the Sky,' by CJ Schmit. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjschmit/6482532521/in/pool-1182517@N23/

The strong lines and monolithic composition – think ‘2001—A Spacy Odyssey’ – make this one work for me. The reflection of clouds on the glass surface is great too.

‘White Curves,’ by Joyce445.

'White Curves,' by Joyce 445 http://www.flickr.com/photos/joyce411/6338666661/in/pool-1182517@N23/

We could probably all benefit from attempting to photograph a calla lilly. I always think about Georgia O’Keefe and Imogen Cunningham when I see good examples of calla lilies, and this one is no exception. Nicely done.

‘And Looked for a Way Out…’  by Justin Garofoli

'And Looked for a Way Out...' by Justin Garofoli http://www.flickr.com/photos/justingarofoli/6595753863/in/pool-1182517@N23/

I like the image more than the title. This is a nice image that would be better with a more interpretive toning job, in my opinion: I’d like to see the trees darkened to enhance the sense of foreboding and the foggy vanishing point brightened in contrast to the rest.. Justin, tell us about making this photograph.

‘Guimarães Castle,’ by Ana Matos.

'Guimarães Castle,' by Ana Matos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiuinha/6522457811/in/pool-1182517@N23/

So of course my question with Ana’s photograph is compositional: Ana, why did you feel the need to tilt your camera? For me, the tilt adds a sense of the world ‘askew,’ everything not quite right, etc….but I’m always suspect about camera tilts: does it bring so much  attention to the act of photography that the actual results are diminished? I don’t know, but I’ll be really interested to see what Ana has to say about the image and what others think as well.

‘Little Lulu,’ by Sarah Tomlin.

'Little Lulu,' by Sarah Tomlin. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahtomlin/6546288285/in/pool-1182517@N23/

This wonderful photograph reminds me of all the joys of childhood: here a little girl proudly shows off her missing two front teeth. Sarah, tell us about making the photograph: what were the circumstances? You’ve captured a great moment—something that would qualify for the ‘Peak Action’ photo assignment that’s running over in the Discerning Photographer Forums right now—and I love the spontaneity of this image. Great job.

‘A single rose can be my garden… a single friend, my world,’ by Mick LeConte.

'A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world,' by Mick LeConte. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickleconte/6284769867/in/pool-1182517@N23/

I had to go google this to find the proper attribution: apparently spoken/written by American-born Leo Buscoglia, who wrote a number of best-selling inspirational books before his death in 1998. Mick, are you a Buscoglia fan? I like the image simply for the layered texture that the rose makes, subtle in all of its black and white tonality.

So please let us know your thoughts about these images in the Comments below, and we’ll see if we can get a conversation going, and thanks!
Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

New Orleans Saints safety Roman Harper (41) manages to get a hand in and stop this touchdown pass intended for Carolina Panthers tight end Greg Olsen (88), 2nd quarter, during the New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers game in the Superdome January 2, 2012. (Photo copyright 2012 / The Times-Picayune / Andrew Boyd)

There’s a new Photo Assignment posted over in the Photo Assignment Forum here at The Discerning Photographer. It’s all about the notion of ‘peak action’ and what’s entailed in capturing it. This assignment will challenge your timing, framing, understanding of your camera, and more…

Photo Assignment #6 :  ‘Peak Action’

Here’s our new photo assignment at The Discerning Photographer’s Forums: ‘Peak Action.’ What exactly does that mean? Well, it’s not just about catching the quintessential sports moment (although certainly qualifies as an example). It can be the absolute split second of surprise on a person’s face. It might  be the exact point that a lightning bolt cracks through the sky. It can be the instant a jumping fish’s nose hits the water. It’s all about the true ‘decisive moment,’ as Henri Cartier-Bresson was fond of saying: the point that everything else leads up to, and falls away from.

So:  Take your camera gear, crank up the shutter speed (peak action usually does involve some very small fraction of time), and make us some ‘peak action’ photos!

We’ll keep this assignment up live in the Forums for about two weeks.

I can’t wait to see what you guys come up with!

“Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. We photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth that can make them come back again. We cannot develop a print from memory…”—Henry Cartier-Bresson, ‘The Decisive Moment,’ 1952.

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

Paper cranes. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

Here’s the new Photo Assignment just posted over in the Forums. Check it out and then pick up your camera! Let’s see what you can come up with!

Photo Assignment #5: ‘Tis the Season’

Anything to do with the holiday season. Let your imagination run wild! Then submit your favorite image from the current holiday season. I’ll keep the assignment up for about two weeks to include New Year’s as well. 

Challenge yourself to come up with a really strong photograph!

Cheers! –DiscerningPhotog

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

A proper exposure of Queen Elizabeth II, left, and a straight matrix meter exposure, right. For a back lit subject, you must get in close and meter for your subject's face. Note all of the nice 'rim light' created by the back lighting. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

Looking at the small selection of images submitted for our ‘Back Lit’ assignment, I have to conclude that this was not a crowd pleaser (!)…but I also think I should have included a bit more explanation in the original assignment. Because implicit in the notion of a back lit photo is the idea that you have to have something in the foreground that’s being back lit.

I’m using our little solar-powered Queen Elizabeth doll to illustrate this point. (Her hand waves, powered by a tiny solar cell in her purse. Very cool.) In the left hand version above, I’ve taken a meter reading in tight on her face to get the proper exposure, then backed up, composed, and shot the photo. The version on the right shows what I would have gotten simply taken a matrix metered ‘straight’ exposure of the scene.

I hinted in the original assignment description that the exposure might be a bit tricky due to the need to balance foreground/background exposure, and this is what I was referring to.

Anyway, we’ll see if any of you bums decide to submit anything else….right. Just kidding!

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

This photo assignment was all about hands. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

There were several really nice images submitted for the ‘Hands’ photo assignment. The Assignment was worded this way:

Photo Assignment #3: ‘Hands’

Hands are one of the most interesting and expressive parts of the human body. Our hands reveal a lot about us: whether we live a hard or soft life, whether we ‘work with our hands’ for our jobs (or don’t), maybe something about the type of work we do. They can also simply be great expressive elements, denoting excitement, calm, anger, even serenity or in the case of infants, innocence. So: go out and shoot a NEW photograph in which hands (or a single hand) are a central element. The only requirement is that the hands really tell us something about the person that the hands belong to, whether that person is in the frame or not.

So we were looking for photographs that communicated something vital about the individual to whom the hand was attached, correct?

Here are a few of my favorite images from the group submitted, along with short explanations for why I thought the images worked.

Untitled, by JackAz.

A simple image, maybe a cliche. But a real storyteller of a shot! We know that here we have love, a commitment, an upcoming wedding–all from the simple image of these two hands. My negative here is only the lighting, which is very flat. But the message communicated is strong and unequivocal. Excellent fulfillment of the assignment.

Pointing hand, by terryshnaucer.

Although I find the division of the background into black/white a bit distracting, the hand itself tells me many things. This hand belongs to a person of privilege, doesn’t it? Someone with money and power: the pearls and signet ring are great hints of a patrician lifestyle. Again, well done!

Farrier, by Enivea.

These hands belong to a working man--someone who uses them to make his living. I love the richness in the earth tones of this photo: the interplay between the mottled abstraction of the farrier’s apron and the iridescent beauty in the horse’s hoof.  Only criticism: I would try cropping in just a bit on the right, to center our attention more on the knife-holding hand and the hoof, not giving such equal weight to the other, less interesting hand on the right.

'Washing hands,' by Blacktau.

Finally, a truly nice photograph that really doesn’t fulfill the assignment. This is a beautiful shot, isn’t it? But it’s actually a beautful shot of water, not of hands, which are almost incidental here. Great shot, but not great for this assignment. Sometimes we have to not let ourselves fall in love with an image, if it doesn’t tell the story we’re trying to tell.

SO: great job to all that participated! And to the hundreds of you others that merely  thought about getting out and shooting the assignment, three lashes with an old roll of Tri-X for you! (Don’t know what Tri-X was? Tsk, tsk!)

Let me know what you think of these images, and my thoughts about them, in the Comments below. Do you agree or disagree with my reasoning? Do any of these images evoke something else entirely in you? There are no incorrect answers here, just opinions. I’d love to hear yours!

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

Using back lighting doesn't automatically mean it must be your ONLY light source--just a dominant one. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

New Photo Assignment

We have a new Photo Assignment up in the Forums! Here is the assignment in its entirety:

Photo Assignment #4: ‘Back Lit’

For our new Photo Assignment, the operative phrase is ‘back lit.’ This just means that one of the principle light sources for your image is behind your subject, whether that subject is a person, a pet or a mountain range. Back lighting presents some unique challenges for the photographer, since by its very nature, it means you’re shooting into a light source. You’ll have to be careful to control lens flare and you’ll need to carefully balance your foreground/background exposure. [Note: Just because your shot is back lit doesn’t mean the back lighting must be your ONLY light source….]

We’ll keep this assignment up for about two weeks. At that point I plan to put up a holiday-related assignment for the Christmas/New Year’s season.

Good luck and happy shooting!

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

This month's Flickr Group Critique is all about mood and atmosphere.

Mea culpa

I got distracted at the end of October: took my eye off the ball. I realized, too late, that we were well into November and I hadn’t put together the Flickr Group Critique post! So I decided to just wait and combine October and November…I promise it won’t happen again! Anyway, it’s always fun to look through a month’s worth of submissions and see if any themes emerge. Looking through two months’  worth provided an even broader canvas to draw upon…and the theme that popped out was all about mood.  Mood: atmosphere, mystery, dreamy thoughts—what does ‘mood’ mean to you?

This is a type of imagery that strongly appeals to me. I think we respond to atmospheric photographs on several levels, some visceral, some subconscious. I’ve chosen images that in one way or another illustrate this point: there may be more to what you’re seeing than is immediately apparent! Let’s get started:

“Live Oaks of Georgia,” by Preconscious Eye

"Live Oaks of Georgia," by Preconscious Eye http://www.flickr.com/photos/unconscioustrees/6229960530/in/pool-1182517@N23/

I love the mystery here, all that Spanish moss and live oak woodsiness. I particularly like the subtle feeling of a tunnel that I get between the darker foreground and the light further down the pathway. It draws me eye in to the image, making me want to stop and look closer.

“Lacey Closeup,” by Julian Schroeder.

"Lacey Closeup," by Julian Schroeder. http://www.flickr.com/photos/julianschroeder/6112456845/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Although the title indicates to me that Lacey must be a household pet, the composition—with its intentional lack of scale—gives me a sense of foreboding and danger. Could Lacey be a huge predator cat, looking for her next meal? The yellow of the eye, surrounded by all of that grey and black, is mesmerizing as well. Nicely done.

“Kitchen Window, Evergreen Plantation,” by Larry Schirling.

"Kitchen Window, Evergreen Plantation," by Larry Schirling. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kozmokat/6244774662/in/pool-1182517@N23/

This is a very formal composition with the use of the window frame. But the handblown antique glass provides the dreamy quality that makes this a good candidate for our group. The building at the lower left seems to almost shimmer!

“Paris,” by Antonio Silva.

"Paris," by Antonio Silva. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ammdgs/6265193614/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Antonio has been shooting a lot of wonderful street photography in both Lisbon and Paris. While many of his images appeal to me, this one works particularly well for our present theme. I especially like the green up-light glow on the woman face and the yellow rim light around her head and shoulder.

“Walk This Way, Brooklyn Bridge,” by Mick Leconte.

"Walk This Way, Brooklyn Bridge," by Mick Leconte. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mickleconte/6265681510/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Great image! Great use of perspective and vanishing point, my eye drawn into the bright glow of the lit-up bridge ahead. Mick, had it been raining? Did you have to take any special precautions to protect your gear?

“Buried Souls,” by CJ Schmit.

"Buried Souls," by CJ Schmit. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cjschmit/6272870512/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Subject matter, time of day, lighting technique all add up to a photograph that says mood and mystery to me. It might have been interesting to light a couple more of the graves further back, just to increase our sense of depth here. C.J. indicates on his Flickr page that the light painting was done with a Canon handheld strobe. This is a great way to get out and experience photography in a different way.

“The Morning Sun,” by Stuart Hart.

"The Morning Sun," by Stuart Hart. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuarthart/6293223193/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Fog and mist are always wonderful elements to work with. Here Stuart does a nice job of handling the fog in the distance, combining it with the strong verticals of the tree trunk silhouettes.  This makes me think of a cathedral in the woods. I bet this was a nice morning of shooting, no Stuart?

“Sunset on the Embarcadero,” by Joe Chan.

"Sunset on the Embarcadero," by Joe Chan. http://www.flickr.com/photos/52423276@N07/6263142480/in/pool-1182517@N23/

Shooting when ‘magic light’ is available—the short, short bit of time, both morning and evening, when inside and outside lighting are roughly equal—can produce some remarkable images. This is a nice one from Joe.

So what about you? Do you seek out opportunities to shoot moody, mysterious images? If you’ve never tried it, this can be a great way to learn some new things about photography. You’ll need a tripod for most of this, slow ISO speeds and plenty of patience. But the payoff can be something you’ve never seen before.

Now: please let us know what you thought of these images in the Comments section below—we want to get a ‘virtual’ conversation going! Critiques are all about sharing ideas and gathering inspiration from other artists. So please don’t be greedy: let’s hear from you!

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

Illuminated Drawbridge Grid, 2011. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

My photographic study of Lake Pontchartrain has entered a new phase. A year into my project, thanks to the enthusiastic support of Carlton Defrechou, General Manager of the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Commission, I’m getting to spend some time shooting out on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway bridge itself.

For residents of this area, and particularly commuters who use the 24-mile structure every day, the Causeway bridge has special significance. It’s one of the only ways into and out of New Orleans, thus forming one of the important evacuation routes in the case of an incoming hurricane.  It also makes it possible for me to live in a beautiful, semi-rural area on a couple of acres of land on the northern side of the lake, and still work in the middle of downtown New Orleans. (I know, I know: this is not the most environmentally friendly posture to assume, from an energy perspective.)  But more than anything, it’s the iconic bridge for Lake Pontchartrain, and I knew I wanted to include it in this work.

Here are a couple of fresh images that I like thus far.

Causeway Bridge pilings, 8 miles from land, at dawn. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog

This photo assignment is all about hands. (Copyright 2011 / Andrew Boyd)

I’ve posted the new photo assignment over in the Forums.  It’s all about HANDS. Once you’ve shot your image, go over to our Photo Assignment Forum to post your photograph. If this is your first time to post, there are detailed instructions on how to do this in a Sticky Post at the top.

Photo Assignment #3: ‘Hands’

Hands are one of the most interesting and expressive parts of the human body. Our hands reveal a lot about us: whether we live a hard or soft life, whether we ‘work with our hands’ for our jobs (or don’t), maybe something about the type of work we do. They can also simply be great expressive elements, denoting excitement, calm, anger, even serenity or in the case of infants, innocence. So: go out and shoot a NEW photograph in which hands (or a single hand) are a central element. The only requirement is that the hands really tell us something about the person that the hands belong to, whether that person is in the frame or not.

We’ll keep this assignment up for about two weeks. You may submit up to two images for this if you can’t pick a favorite.

Hi, I’m Andrew Boyd, a.k.a. The Discerning Photographer, and I hope this post has been interesting and informative. Please leave me a comment about it, let me know what you’d like to see more of on the site! You can also sign up for email delivery of all future articles or my RSS feed. Or subscribe to our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. Thanks!–DiscerningPhotog