bad

During reviews in my workshops we discuss what keeps some images from working better and how they could be improved.

Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.

Avoid these thing and make your images stronger.

Lack of Focus (Not Deliberate)
Limited Depth of Field (Not Deliberate)
Motion Blur (Not Deliberate)
Chromatic Aberation
Noise (Not Deliberate)
Posterization (Not Deliberate)
Lack of Shadow and/or Highlight Detail (Not Deliberate)

Color Contrast Between Elements Not Strong Enough
Low Contrast Light

Cropping Seems Accidental Rather Than Deliberate
Distracting Elements on the Frame
Almost Centered (Neither Centered Nor Significantly Off Center)

Too Many Competing Lines
Shapes Merge Becoming Unclear
Shapes Rendered Without Volume (Not Deliberate)

Too Busy (Complexity Lacks Structure)
Simple Subjects With No Counterpoint
Secondary Elements Distract From Primary Elements

Image Enhancements Call Attention To Themselves

Text Competing for Attention
Text Creates Unintended Commentary
Graphics (Text/Images) Not Integrated Into Image

Cliches
Insincerity

What else would you add to this list?

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops
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good

During reviews in my workshops we discuss images made in terms of what makes them strong and how they could be made stronger.
Here’s a list we compiled during my recent Iceland workshop.
You can use any one or more than one in combination to make your images stronger.

Form
Simplicity
Structured Complexity
Gesture
Leading Lines
Interesting Shape
Clean Shape
Deliberately Incomplete Shape
Clear Figure Ground Relationships
Overlapping Planes
Strong Recession (leading lines, overlapping planes, figure ground, color)
Texture
Pattern
Structured Fields
Minimalist Fields
Selective Focus
Archetypal or Evocative Proportion
Contrast
Clean Frame
Spaciously Placed from Frame
Touching the Frame
Cropped by Frame

Palette
Color Interest
Light
Luminosity Contrast
Hue Contrast
Saturation Contrast

Content
Significant Detail
Shows Subject’s Process
Shows Media Process
Clear Stage, Actor, Secondary Character
Action
Decisive Moment
Story
Unresolved Tension
Mystery Left to Be Solved

Emotion
Emotion of Subject
Personal Emotion
Emotional Interaction
Color Mood
Atmospheric Mood

What would you add to this list?

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops
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Iceland2010_reviews2
We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.

Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops, iceland
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Iceland2010_reviews1

We do lightning fast reviews of participant’s images in my digital photography workshops.
We discuss what works and why and what doesn’t and why not.
It’s wonderful to see how different the images are, made by individuals in the same situations using the same tools.
A lot of learning happens by simply sharing images and spontaneous responses.
Here’s a sampling of this week’s first selects during my Iceland 2010 workshop.

Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops, iceland
Tags: , , ,

raggimidnightlagoon

Ragnar th Sigurdsson treated us to a midnight display of lighting techniques at Iceland’s glacial lagoon Jokullsarlon.

Multiple exposures for multiple Photoshop layers. Fantastic light. Glowing icebergs beached on black sand at tide line. Venus on horizon. Magic.

Taking artificial light into the field is just one thing we explore in our workshop. Have you ever tried it?

If you’re in Iceland, next Saturday is the annual firework display over the glacial lagoon.

Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops, iceland
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Stay tuned for highlights of this week’s workshop.

Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops, iceland
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iceland

I’m leading a Focus on Nature workshop in Iceland this week.

Destinations include Jokullsarlon (glacial lagoon), hiking on glaciers, behind the glaciers north and south routes, gray and blue lagoon.

We’ll share images and experiences along the way.

Posts will be sporadic until later in the week.

Reserve your space in my 2011 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my digital photography workshops here.

Category: Workshops, iceland
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reflections_iceland_1

reflections_iceland_2

Here’s an interesting sampling of images from my upcoming exhibit – New Work 2010.

All of the source images for the ground in these composites are drawn from Iceland.

While the body of work (Reflection) isn’t site specific, it’s interesting to note that many of the images are drawn from similar locations. In the case of the ground exposures a majority of the sources came from Iceland, Utah, and California.

When successful work becomes more site specific like this I ask “What was it about that place that worked so well?” or “What was it about my experience of that place at that time that worked so well?”

Then I plan to return to that location and/or that state of mind.

Find out about my Iceland workshop here.
Preview the book here.
Learn more about my upcoming exhibit here.

reflections_iceland_3

reflections_iceland_4

Category: Exhibit, Images, iceland
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volcano_video

Iceland’s got fantastic eruptions going on right now.

With four active volcanoes ready to blow this could be the beginning of something much larger.

This prelude is dramatic enough.

See video footage here.

Find out about my August Iceland workshop here.

Category: Destination
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reflection_iceland

Transparent colors contain a rich clarity that makes them seem charged with light. Incorporating the effect of transparency into your images can produce a luminous impression, even though (typically) the media your images are reproduced on contains no light

While the true effect of transparency cannot be produced without the use of transparent materials, the visual impression of transparency can be produced.

The impression of transparency can be achieved when two sets of color are joined by a third that is perfectly balanced between them. Split the difference between the luminosity, hue, and saturation of the two to arrive at the third.

You can vary the spatial placement of the third color set by making it more similar to one set than another.

Akin to transparency, translucency can also be simulated, by skewing the perfect balance of transparency towards another color (typically a neutral color). Additionally, subtle shifts in luminosity and reductions in contrast

may make the effect even more convincing.

Often called color balancing, standard photographic color correction attempts to remove color casts. With a color cast an image seems veiled by color. Removing a color cast makes an image seem clearer, more saturated, and more three-dimensional.  Achieving the effect of transparency will too.

Many color strategies employ optical illusions to create or intensify a visual impression. Once you identify and understand these illusions and the color theory behind them, you can put them to work for you too. In addition to enhancing existing color relationships, you can create new ones.

Careful handling of color can enhance the impression of transparency or translucency.

1_transparency

Three colors are selected to create the impression of transparency. The l, h, and s values of the middle color are placed close to the midpoint between the values of the two outside colors

2_reposition

Changing hue towards one color shifts spatial orientation.

3_translucent

Changing luminosity shifts spatial orientation and creates effect of translucency.

Try this Exercise.

Choose three colors and orient them so that the middle color appears to be transparent. Ideally, select a middle color that produces an additional optical illusion where each total shape (1+2 and 2+3) can be seen as lying either on top or below.

Download the Exercise File here.

Because it’s difficult to separate other forms of image content from color, color exercises are best performed abstractly. While it’s useful to check numerical values for colors and color relationships, because these exercises are perceptual (often incorporating physiological and psychological responses that are not physically measurable), determine your answers visually. Train and trust your eye.

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Learn more with my free color resources here.

Learn more with my DVDs on Color here.

Learn more in my workshop The Power of Color.

Category: Color, Color Theory
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What are Iceland’s Focus on Nature workshops like?

View alumni work and read their stories on my blog.

Find out about my 2010 Iceland workshop here.

Find out about my Illuminating Creativity field workshops here.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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Iceland’s Focus On Nature workshops unique photographic experiences.

Watch highlights of my 2009 Iceland workshop in this video.

See the images participants made here.

Sign up for my 2010 Iceland workshop here.

Category: Video, Workshops
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Using strobes on location gives you the ability to dramatically modify light – even on location at midday.

Check out Focus on Nature workshops.

Get priority status in my 2010 Iceland workshop.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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1 Without strobes.

2 With strobes.

3 Exposures with and without strobes layered together.

I’ve always wanted to know more about artificial lighting. I figured I might use it in studio. I never figured I’d use it on location. That changed when Raganar th Sigurdsson (Arctic Images) broke out his strobes at midnight at Iceland’s Jokullsarlon glacial lagoon. Using strobes and flashlights, we were working light in a very direct way. As a result, I started thinking about light in new ways. Now I’m sure I will use strobes on location. It’s going to take more experimentation for me to know when. I recommend you experiment with light in your photography too. At the very least, your experiments will lead to an increased appreciation of it.

Check out Focus on Nature workshops.

Get priority status in my 2010 Iceland workshop.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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You can walk behind Selljalandsfoss waterfall in Iceland and get a totally different view.

How many times do you find the most unusual angle yields the best shot?
I recommend finding as many angles as possible for any subject.
It’s visual exploration that’s worth the investment.

Get priority status in my 2010 Iceland workshop.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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Jim Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey breaks new ground photographically.

I visited one of the locations featured in this video recently, Jokullsarlon – Iceland’s glacial lagoon, where I saw changes, and heard of even bigger changes from people who have lived there a lifetime and studied it closely. 40 years ago the ice went to the sea. 30 years ago the lagoon became more visible. Twenty years ago it retreated more. Ten years ago the lagoon was half as long. Today the area is experiencing more dramatic change. Things always change, but glaciologist provide data that things are changing faster than ever today. Fascinating! It’s worth paying attention to.

Find more climate change resources here.

Get priority status in my 2010 Iceland workshop.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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One of the many highlights of any trip to Iceland is Jokullsarlon, the glacial lagoon on the east coast. It’s about 5 hours drive from Rekjavik, and worth every minute of it.

To get a better feel for it, you can see several videos made there.

Get priority status in my 2010 Iceland workshop.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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The cast of this week’s workshop in Iceland.

Alex Tjoa

Kirit Vora

Jim Graham

Paul Tornaquindici

Olafur Rognvaldsson

Raganar th Sigurdsson

Einar Erlendsson

Find out more about each of them on their websites.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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Today we visited a small horse farm and watched the Icelandic horses run. The week in review followed. Tben a great dinner. Lots of laughter with new and old friends.

Find out more about the participants … in order of images.

Alex Tjoa

Kirit Vora

Jim Graham

Paul Tornaquindici

Find out about Focus on Nature.

Get Priority Status in my 2011 Iceland workshop. Email jpc@johnpaulcaponigro.com.

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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Today we drove into the highlands behind the glaciers and walked shallow rivers in black sand and roaring rivers in small canyons.

Find out more about the participants … in order of images.

Alex Tjoa

Kirit Vora

Jim Graham

Paul Tornaquindici

Find out about Focus on Nature.

Get Priority Status in my 2011 Iceland workshop. Email jpc@johnpaulcaponigro.com

Category: Travel, Workshops, iceland
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