Technique: KISS Method (Keeping it Simple Stupid)

Pictures look boring?  Try moving/zoom closer to your subject.

Here is a shot that is further away:

Here is a shot as I pulled in on that roof:

Notice the Dept of Field I got as well?

Tips: Birthday Party Pictures or Video

So it was my sons 3rd birthday and I was faced with the dilemma of taking pictures or shooting a video of the Happy Birthday song.  I choose to shoot pictures.  Then when it was done I said, okay everybody, lets light the candle again and sing happy birthday again!  So I did, but this time I shot the video with my DSLR.  The reason I wanted to shoot pictures in the first place was to get him blowing the candle out.  But the video is what the kids really want to watch years from now.  So this way you can get both.

Tips: It's all around us, just try it.

So I'm sitting down at lunch with my friends, and I have my camera.  I think to myself, lets find something to shoot in here.  Boom, I see the tea cup and the tea pot, and say I want that picture.

It took me a few try's and different shots, but I like this best with the tilted glass.

My point is simple.  These kinds of shots are all around us.  It just takes the time to pause and see what can I shoot here and how can I capture it in a way that is unique.

Want to go shoot but don't know what to shoot?

If you are traveling or wanting to go out and shoot, try this simple method to help you SEE where you are not looking.  Pick a topic to shoot such as today I'm going to shoot SHOES.  Get peoples feet on subways, walking, in motion, stopped.  Everything you can think of from different angles.  Even try get some way down at ground level.  Find some where people are walking on glass and go underneath and shoot that.

Another idea is shooting weeds that are popping out of cement or something.

Try shooting something with a reflection whether it's in your house or outside.

Try shooting something with a shadow.  All day long shoot shadows.

Traveling?  shoot window displays. 

Stuck at home? go around your house and stage shots in your kitchen or best of all with your kids toys at ground level.

My hope is that you train your eye to see things you don't normally see.

F-Stop: How to remember? Simple

Ever wonder what f-stop to shoot at with your new dslr or your old dslr that has a ton of dust on it?  Here is a simple method that helped me when I first learned:

• Want everything in focus (such as landscape): f/16 - f/22
• Want all your subjects in focus for group shots? f/8 - f/11
• Want a few people in focus f/5.6 - f/8
• Want that really small thing in focus and everything blurry? shoot as low as your lens allows you to go.  f/1.8, 2.8 and so on. 

Where have I been?

Traveling traveling traveling!  Four weeks, three trips and two of them with my family and potty training my youngest in the middle of that.  Call that insane!  But I have some photography thoughts coming up soon!

Technique: Framing your shot with angles

One thing I learned shooting stock photography was the importance of angles.  Angles help turn an ordinary picture into something different.  A simple technique is to turn your camera a little so you see lines hit the corner of your frame.  Here is a good example of lines hitting the corners of the frame.

See how the each corner has some lines being thrown at it?  It really helps the eye flow, and when you see a picture like this you say, wow, I've never really seen something like this before.  See more of my "Heart of San Francisco" pics.

Try taking a picture next time with a person coming from an angle. See how the camera was turned just slightly?  My good friend Steve (asiseeit) who is my iStockphoto mentor, helped me big time learn this easy technique.  See more of my iStockphoto portfollio.

I hope this helps you take better shots!

Tip: Let your picture flow

Look at this picture and why does it work for something that is so plain and boring?

Things to notice. I did not put that sign in the middle of the picture, I put it in the bottom left third of the picture so that your eye first see's this sign then draws you to move your eyes toward the plywood.  So your eyes are moving across a photograph.  That is how you can make your picture flow.  Not mention that this is actually funny!  See more of my Heart of San Francisco pics I took this past year.