As with Music, Practicing Makes a Difference

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”— Samuel Johnson

The number one question I’m asked by attendees during workshops and PhotoWalks  is about how to obtain proper exposure. You would think that with all the automation built into today’s cameras that would be the last question anyone would ask but, instead, it is the first.

Here’s Some Suggestions

One of the best way to increase your skills in obtaining—what is for you—the best exposure is practice. I think the same suggestion holds true for improving your overall photography skills. Seven-time Grammy-winning pianist Emanuel Ax says he practices four hours a day. A few of his tips about practicing the piano could also apply to photographers as well. Here they are along with my photographic spin:

Listen to great performances. If you don’t already have a favorite photographer you should. Pick up some books about the history of photography at the library and see whose images speak to you and some of them definitely will, I promise. Then select other books by or about that photographer, especially ones showing how their style evolved. Don’t just copy their work but instead be inspired by it. To see how this works, I often post images here or Instagram (follow me at @joefarace) that are homages or inspired by a certain photographer’s style.

How I made this photograph: I photographed my favorite tree (yes, I have a favorite tree) in McCabe Meadows with a Panasonic Lumix GX1 that was converted to infrared using LifePixel’s HyperColor filter. It was shot with an Olympus M.17mm f/2.8 lens with an exposure of 1/2000 sec at f/5 and ISO 180. As captured, the resulting SOOC shot looked like the above right image but the “after” photograph directly above was modified using Photoshop Actions from Life Pixel that were designed specifically for use with this conversion and were supplied, at that time, with it.

Get a partner. While I tend to be a lone wolf and not just about my photography, shooting with a friend, especially one that uses the same kind of gear as you, can improve your own image making. You can swap lenses, maybe cameras or ssimply watch how each other works. How much you learn may surprise you plus it’s fun. My friend Barry Staver had his Lumix GH4 modified with the Enhanced IR filter from Life Pixel and we’ve gone to Hudson Gardens and McCabe Meadows a few times for infrared PhotoWalks.

Try another instrument. Mr. Ax also likes to play timpani, while I will reluctantly drag out my Canon EOS gear from time to time especially now that I have a EOS M6 Mark II.  I also occasionally shoot film cameras ranging from a Minolta Prod 20 to a Leica M6 and revel in the same photographic experience I had when starting out oh-so-many years ago.

Experiment. That’s where infrared photography comes through for me. One of the things I initially did with my Hyper Color converted Lumix GX1 was to set three custom white balances: I photographed some lush green grass and used that to set one custom white balance. Then I created alternative color balances using the camera’s C1 and C2 custom setting by assigning some of the camera’s standard color balance settings, like fluorescent used for the “before” image above, in order to give me two different tonalities. One was mostly magenta and the other was mostly purple. The combination gave me three different color options at the twist of a dial plus the ability to modify the final images using the Hyper Color Photoshop actions that I used for the featured image.