Gone in the rain with the wind

By Danilo Piccioni
The Italian Eye





September 2006, I was assisting Bryan Peterson in one of his INCREDIBLE workshops. This one was in Venice and under constant rain, definitely not a September Italian kind of weather if you ask me!
Despite the weather, we tried to be inventive, we tried to be creative and make the best of the time we had together.
Sheltered from the rain standing under the colonnades in Piazza San Marco, I spotted an abandoned broken red umbrella inside a trash can, partially sticking out, looking as if it was screaming : Pick me! Pick me! Make me famous!
So I went and grabbed it and I said: let's do something with this.
In addition to the rain, there was a constant breeze that day and all the nearby cafes in the square were closed because of the unpleasant weather.What better chance for me to borrow one of the café’s chairs and place it in the middle of the piazza and ask one of the students to pose for the shoot?





Doug was either a very good sport or he wanted to show off his new expensive rain proof clothing gear, but either way he sat with his boots in the water and held the umbrella against the wind and waited patiently for us to set up our tripods.
The first shot here shows how the image would look from a normal point of view: Standing up at eye level it’s not very flattering; everything is squashed down because of the deformation due to the wide angle lens; these incredibly beautiful buildings look short and fat and Doug sitting in the rain is just one of many things happening in my photo, not the subject.




I immediately changed lens from wide angle to medium tele, a 70 mm did the job quite nicely.
I also shortened the tripod down a lot and noticed that people passing by where causing the photograph to be overcrowded and distracting. I needed to isolate Doug from everything else.
That's when I decided to use a long exposure to create a sense of movement among the crowd and use them only as a colorful brush stroke effect in the background.




Using a long exposure allowed me to keep Doug and the Doge’s palace pin point sharp and blur everything else.
In order to achieve this and not over-expose the frame I had to add a Neutral Density filter in front of my lens. My frame was still over-exposed, so I decided to add my polarizer filter on top of it and increase the time to an even longer exposure.
I couldn't believe my eyes when suddenly a group of colorfully dressed Japanese tourists came along and I triggered away.

The result image?
Breath taking! And it was chosen as the front cover for SouraMagazine’s Nov-Dec issue, an internationally well known Fine Art photography Magazine in the UAE and in the industry.
Thank you, Doug, for being such a sport and a great looking model!



Click HERE to read the article and watch my images.
The Italian Eye © 2008

New Classes Start Soon!

Don't miss out on the fun as PPSOP kicks off 2008 with a full menu of fun and exciting courses that will surely give you a wealth of information. In addition to our most popular course, Understanding Exposure, we also have a several new and exciting courses designed just for you.

Check out Architectural Photography, Street Photography, A View From The Top, Portraits Unplugged, CS3 Workflow, Understanding Exposure II, Lighting Challenges, Lensbaby Magic, and a fresh and creative approach to Creative Composition. To see these, and all of our classes, simply go to http://www.ppsop.net/courses.aspx!

We know you will enjoy these and all of the great courses we offer, and look forward to meeting you "online" at The Perfect Picture School of Photography.

PPSOP Holiday Special-10% Off Any Class!

IN CELEBRATION OF THE AMERICAN HOLIDAY, THANKSGIVING, PPSOP IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE A THANKSGIVING PROMTOION ON ALL OF OUR FOUR AND EIGHT WEEK CLASSES THAT ARE BEING OFFERED IN JANUARY 2008.

SIGN-UP FOR ANY FOUR WEEK CLASS BEFORE DECEMBER 21ST AND SAVE $20.00

SIGN-UP FOR ANY EIGHT WEEK CLASS BEFORE DECEMBER 21ST AND SAVE $40.00

A BRAND NEW COURSE AT PPSOP!

As photographers, amateur and professional alike, we have all ventured down many a road, both literally and figuratively, and at one time or another, made the magical discovery of a hidden treasure and felt that intensely satisfying feeling of having just recorded a truly compelling image! These are the discoveries that certainly fuel our passion for image making.

As you move yet towards other hidden treasure's that lie in wait along life's many paths, roads, avenues, and streets, I want to strongly recommend that you also consider traveling down at least one lane and NOT just any lane I might add. The lane I am suggesting is truly an extra-ordinary LANE; a LANE that will in fact, lead you towards even richer roads, paths, avenues and streets!

The Lane I am speaking of is Bobbi Lane, one of America's greatest teachers on the subject of photographing people! Bobbi Lane is truly a gifted photographic artist and no one even comes close to teaching the art of Photographing People-Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere than Bobbi does with Portraits Unplugged! What amazes me most about Bobbi Lane is that she creates her stunning and often times mesmerizing people images WITHOUT benefit of any electronic lighting equipment. The entire class that she will be teaching here at PPSOP is based on nothing more than using available light and reflectors. (In this day of Global Warming, it can easily be argued that this is a "Green Photography Course" since no electricity will ever be used by you as you record what I know will be some truly electrifying images!)

Bobbi Lane is truly a Master of capturing available light and making the light that is available work towards flattering her subjects to the highest of levels. She is also a consummate professional in dealing with the often-complex nature of what some describe as the most difficult subjects of all, 'people'.

People photography, perhaps more than any other subject, is what all of us wish we could excel at but... Whether you wish to create compelling images of just friends or family or wish to gain the knowledge and courage to approach and shoot compelling images of people you hardly know, your wish can now be granted thanks to the genius of Bobbi Lane! PPSOP feels incredibly honored and lucky to offer a class taught by Bobbi who was recently handed the award for education on the 25th anniversary of the APA!

Bobbi Lane's course, Portraits Unplugged begins on Friday January 11th. Click here to learn more and to get to the sign-up page.

One final thought!

"Can our turkey jump higher than the Chicago skyline?"

"You bet it can! The Chicago skyline can't jump at all!"

November 2007 Photo Contest Announcement

We are thrilled to announce our October winners of PPSOP's monthly photo contest. The winners are:

1st Place - $500 - Rod Cordsen
2nd Place - $250 - Connie J. Bagot
3rd Place - $100 - Robert Hammar

Thanks to all that participated! Since a lot of us find ourselves in fall colors with winter fast approaching the November theme will be 'Orange'. Have fun with it and we look forward to seeing your entries. Contest will close November 31st. Good luck and happy shooting! Remember ANY current or past student can participate in the ONLY contest with cash prizes!

Happy Shooting!
Chris Hurtt
PPSOP

PPSOP Photo Contest Has Returned!

Where in the world will you find a photography contest that offers $850 each month in cash prizes? Only here at PPSOP! Beginning today, every current and former student of PPSOP can participate in our monthly photo contest and have the chance to win a cash prize of $500.00 for 1st place, $250 for 2nd place or $100 for 3rd place. And the contest theme for the month of October is FASHION/BEAUTY (No Nude). Just log in, choose "Contest" in your class list, upload your ONE image by October 25th, and on October 30th the winners will be announced and displayed for all to see! Good luck to all of you!

Want to stay informed about future contests? Sign up for Email Updates and not only get the latest news, info and happenings at PPSOP, but also stay informed about new courses, and our new monthly photo contest!

Can a Picture Really Tell a Thousand Words?

We all have pictures in our mind’s eye of who we think people are. These images often define how we see. What is the purpose of a photographic portrait if we already know what we want to see? Can a picture really tell a thousand words, or is that picture already inside your head?

I dove into the world of the men-in-blue and opened my aperture, my eyes, and my heart. In a three part photo essay for The Southampton Press, eye on the viewfinder, inspired, I focused — macro style — on the Community Response Unit (CRU), a flagship division of the Southampton Town Police. I quickly realized that a group portrait would not say enough so for four months I traveled with each member individually and here's what emerged.

By Cheryl Machat Dorskind
Copyright, 2007
All Rights Reserved

Flying with camera gear

A question that I am frequently asked is how I carry my camera gear when travelling by plane. With all of the delays, missed connections, and damaged, stolen, or lost luggage these days, it can be quite stressful getting to your destination even if you don’t check any baggage.
The solution that has worked for me is coming up with a “travel kit” of gear that takes up very little space and will cover 99% of anything I ever want or need to shoot. I pack that gear into an “Airport Addicted” backpack made by Thinktank Photo along with most of my clothing. The airport addicted bag was designed to hold the maximum amount of gear possible while still meeting most airline carry-on restrictions. You would be amazed at what I can stuff in this bag and along with my expedition 5 backpack (loaded with the rest of my clothes) carried on as my one “personal item”, I can fit everything I need for a 5 day trip without having to check a single piece of luggage.
When I arrive at my destination, I simply move all the camera gear into my smaller backpack and move all of my clothes into the large one until I’m ready to head back to the airport.
The only down side to this is that the bag can get quite heavy, usually around 40 pounds fully packed, when you have a long way to walk! They have since come out with a “roller” version of this bag and if I traveled a lot more, I would seriously consider getting one.

Now that I’ve covered how I get my gear from here to there, I’ll share what I take and why I feel it’s such a good balance of function and space savings.
99% of what I shoot is between 17-200mm focal length. This includes macro work but a dedicated macro lens is fairly limited so I choose to carry a set of extension tubes to use with my 70-200mm lens. Throw in a 2X tele-converter and that one lens lets me shoot from extreme close-ups all the way out to 400mm. (That in itself is the most practical combination in my line-up.) I then bring a 17-40mm, and a 28-70mm and that’s it! They all share the same filter diameter which cuts down on accessories needed as well. My tripod, with the ballhead removed, attaches to the outside of the bag, my flash cards, spare batteries, and assorted filters are all tucked away in separate zippered compartments inside.

Here are some images of this set-up I quickly shot today while packing for my upcoming workshop in Maine with Kathleen Clemons. We will be driving the coastline of Maine for 4 days, shooting everything from lighthouses to lobsters, and I know that I have all the gear I need for anything that we find along the way.


Ron Goldman


As you can see, there is plenty of room left for clothes in the main compartment, and there is a laptop compartment on the reverse side as well.



All of my accessories fit nicely in the top flap compartments.


My "travel kit". Small, lightweight, and very functional.


Both bags packed and ready to go. My small travel tripod is attached and the ballhead is safely stored away inside.

The Great Power of NO Color

by Danilo Piccioni

When thinking of black and white photography, the worst thing one could think is that B&W is a photograph without any color. It would be just as bad as thinking that a color image is a B&W photograph infested with colors. There are sixteen million shades of gray in the B&W world; trust me when I say that's a lot. There is no reason to think that a B&W picture is in any way inferior to a color one.

Typically a non-digital B&W shooter would use a colored filter attached to the camera; the filter allows the photographer to see the scene in B&W through the viewfinder so that he can decide how to shoot reality at its best using a different-color filter, e.g. yellow, red, green.
Today’s mid-range digital cameras have the option of shooting directly in BW or in color.
Now you just shoot and then decide later, and if you want, you can have them both.
If you are serious about B&W photography, you want to capture your exposures in color first, then convert it into B&W later in your Photoshop darkroom.

There are many different ways to create a B&W photograph in PS from a color shot. The worst thing you could do to your photograph is to chose the one-click method, to convert the color photo to grayscale.
These sample photographs show you the difference between a photograph that was converted with this automatic PS feature and the versions achieved by working with other methods in PS.
This and other tricks and techniques will be explained in full detail in my B&W course here and only here at Perfect Picture School of Photography.

Danilo Piccioni © 2007

Calla Addiction

Many of you already know that I have a calla lily addiction, I love them! They are my favorite flower to photograph, I find their lines and curves fascinating and so elegant. When you have a favorite subject, the challenge becomes photographing your subject in new and interesting ways. I'd get bored in a hurry taking the same shot over and over, and I do love a challenge!

When I planted my callas this year, I added a new garden for some of them, now I have callas in 4 different areas of our property, which gives me a variety of light to choose from, and I can shoot them at just about any time of day. I'm always looking for new varieties, and add a few to my collection each spring.

Here are a few images I've taken over the summer. The good news for me is that I still have callas blooming, so I'm not finished yet!











Happy shooting!
Kathleen Clemons

Some new ideas...

Hi all!!! Well, the ole' brain's been working on overtime lately and I have a bunch of new ideas. I also picked up a sound trigger that allows me to do some funky things. It hooks up to the camera and when the attached microphone here's a noise it trips the shutter. Here's a few examples...









Also, on the standard still front I found these amazing glass syringes that I've been searching for. I've had this idea for an image for ages but needed the right hypo's to work well... They backlight so well...




And to show that my photography isn't one sided, I went to Hawaii on a shoot recently and clicked this one...




Well, that's what I've been up to. Hope you enjoy lookin' as much as I enjoyed clickin'...

Dave