What Goes Thru A Photographer's Mind - Today's Photographer is Denise Ippolito

Just a Peak by Denise Ippolito

I wanted to expose my readers to as many different PRO photographers as I can. Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of today's most talented photographers... and today's photographer is someone that I have admired for a long time.

Take it away Denise...

Sometimes it is good to leave a little to the imagination. Some of the most intriguing movies or books are the ones that make you wonder or keep you guessing. I remember an image of a wolf that I saw a few years back. The wolf as walking into the frame with it’s head turning back as if something or someone was following it. The entire body of the wolf was not in view and I wondered if it was hurt, what had happened to it. It wasn’t until recently that I realized that the image has stayed with me for years -it had impact. Why? It didn’t tell the whole story. Have we as photographers been so trained that we feel the image needs to be complete, that it needs to tell the whole story. Imagination is a very powerful thing and maybe adding a little by taking away a little is a good thing.

Camera & Settings:
Canon 1D Mark III
Canon 100mm Macro lens
1/500sec. at f/2.8
ISO 400
Manual mode, manual focus, Hand held, Natural light with Reflector, shot against an almost white sky.

My thoughts were to create something soft and dreamy and to leave a little to the imagination. When working with whites it is very important to get the right exposure. With digital that is very easy. If shooting in Raw then you will want to push your exposure to the right as much as possible without blinkies (highlight alerts) and without touching the right wall of your histogram..

A CREATIVE ADVENTURE
PHOTOGRAPHY by denise ippolito
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You can join Denise and I on some amazing trips in 2013 and 2014. Together we will be headed to Provence, Paris and Namibia

What Goes Through a Photographers Mind? Todays photographer is Alan McBride

Today's photographer is one that I am happy I came across on Facebook... I often see his images and admire them from afar as Alan lives in France, and ALWAYS does the subject justice with his photographic talents.

Take it away Alan...

Apart from other forms of photography, what really rattles my chain is bird and wildlife photography. It's a little different than being in a studio or setting up for portrait work in that the birds and beasts don't like to be directed and hang around too long.

Not always but often the shot you get will need cropping too, so for that and the rough and ready nature of shooting birds I shoot RAW. I find that I am nearly always ready with a fast exposure in Manual mode and then depending on whether the bird is flying, walking, sitting against a background or whatever, the most I need is a little tweak of one of the dials. Preferring mostly to tweak the shutter speed. I also invariably have the aperture just below wide open as I feel I get better results than fully open and still with a bit of a blurred background.

With the new Canon 1Dx I am usually at a higher ISO than with the 5d Mk ll too. This delightful lady House Sparrow was shot on the shore at Peyriac-sur-Mer in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France at f6.3 and 1/2500. Using the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS at it's full length of 400mm. She also shows the beauty available in such great colours as browns and greys!

Some other shots are on

https://www.facebook.com/AlanMcBridePhotographerWriter/photos_stream and https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113281442378027142435/posts?cfem=1 but make sure you see the ones I have shot as I often share other great images and I'd hate to be confused with some of the better guys out there!

I'm available in France for money too;-)

What goes thru a photographers mind - Todays Photographer is Gary Simmons

Today's photographer is my good friend, Gary Simmons. I first met Gary three years ago at our local photo club... that quiet guy in the corner that always presented great images and had a stream of photos on Flickr... after a few times out shooting with him I got to know him and realised the wealth of knowledge he offers.

 

Now Gary is teaching photography for the Photographer's Lounge be coming with me to Tanzania this April for my workshop to Tanzania... a trip that he will no doubt be producing more images that will continue to impress people...

 

Take it away Gary...

 

Whenever I talk with people about photography, I always stress that photographers should be ‘making’ photos.  Great photos don’t just happen, so you need to use your brain. Picking the right time of day, right light, weather, lens, composition, editing... all these elements and more are available to us to ‘make’ a photo its very best.

 

But... Sometimes you can throw all that out the window.

Blinded by the Light - A photo by Gary Simmons


This is my favourite winter photo in my portfolio, and swings far closer to ‘taken’ than ‘made’.  I was out on a day trip with my kids to try dog sledding.  My new Canon 60D was around my neck just to shoot photos of my kids having fun, and get some practice with the new camera.  Walking back across the field, this shot just jumped out at me.  Right there, right now, just lift the camera to my eye and shoot.  I couldn’t wait to get home, run it through Lightroom and show it to everyone.

Sometimes you will spend days/weeks working on capturing the perfect shot... and sometimes not.  So keep your camera with you all the time if you don’t want to miss the easy ones!

Gary Simmons
facebook.com/garysimmonsphotography
flickr.com/gsimmonsonca