Digital Photography Mastery

The PictureCorrect blog has a really good article on Photography Tips to Take Good Pictures written by professional framer Autumn Lockwood . This article goes along so well with the theme of Digital Photography Mastery, that I just had to include it. I don’t necessarily agree with Autumn’s step 6, where she states to “put the subject in the middle”. That’s not really my style. I prefer to include some of the subjects environment and offset the subject some using the Rule of Thirds. But I do agree with her statement to “shoot, shoot and re-shoot”. You don’t have to worry about film or processing costs with digital photography, so go crazy. Shoot different angles and try different styles. Find what makes you happy.

Steve Berardi over at PhotoNaturalist has a nice short article on the Three Phases of Developing Creativity. This is based off of Galen Rowell’s great book, Inner Game of Outdoor Photography. I actually haven’t read this book yet. I own a copy, but it’s piled up on my desk with about five other books I still need to read.

Jerry Monkman from the MonkmanPhoto blog has a short video and article on how to Use Your Histogram. It gives a very good overview of the histogram and how to use it to see when you’re clipping your highlights or shadows. This video is from week two of his new Outdoor Photo Tips series. It looks like an interesting series, so I will be keeping my eye on it.

Lastly, I found this interesting YouTube clip of photographer Eric Schwabel’s adventure at the 2010 Burning Man. Eric literally strapped his camera and studio lights to his body and walked around Burning Man with his Human Light Suit making some wonderful portraits. I’ve watched this clip many times now. It is just fascinating.

Back in the early 90s, I was stationed in San Diego, California with the Navy. Being an avid scuba diver, I would often take off with a buddy and do a little beach diving to photograph sea life in the kelp beds.

On one particular trip, my dive buddy and I returned to my truck after our first dive to discover the back of my truck had been broken into. All of our secondary dive equipment, dive bags, and extra tanks were stolen. I was heart broken.

So, what does this have to do with photography you may be asking. Other than the obvious, I was doing underwater photography. Actually, I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I have never forgotten the lesson and still use it to this day.

Never advertise your hobbies on your car!

In talking with the police and filing the report, one thing they pointed out was, I was advertising what I had in my truck. I had cute little bumper stickers and license plate frames telling the entire world how proud I was to be a scuba diver. It was extremely easy for the thieves to find my truck and know that I was going to be gone for about an hour.

Today, I do not put any bumper stickers or license plate frames on my vehicles advertising my hobbies. Those neat little stickers saying, “I Love Nikon” or “I Love Canon” or “I’d Rather Be Taking Pictures” just scream “Free Camera Gear”. The bad elements in the world know we usually leave extra camera gear in our cars and we tend to wander away for hours at a time.

I’ve recently read that one of the latest threats to our camera gear’s safety are thieves who, after identifying you as a photographer, will follow you until you stop at a convenience store or a local restaurant and then break-in and steal your photo gear in a matter of seconds.

Here are a few tips to make life a little more difficult for would be thieves.

1. Do not put cute photo related bumper stickers and license plate frames on your car.

2. Do not leave your camera gear laying out in plan sight. Put the gear in your trunk, throw a jacket over the top of it, or only take enough gear that you can carry with you.

3. Keep your head on a swivel. In other words, be aware of what’s going on around you.

If you have any similar experiences or some suggestions to share, please post a comment below.

In an effort to increase readership and drive community involvement, I’ve decided to rebrand what use to be called “Wes Gibson Photography” blog. I am happy to introduce the new name and domain “Digital Photography Mastery”.

Going forward, “Digital Photography Mastery” will be filled with tips and techniques for the beginner and intermediate level amateur photographers. Its goal is to help you along your journey in becoming a better photographer and in creating those once in a lifetime images.

In the future, you can expect to see before and after comparisons demonstrating the effects of good composition, lighting, camera settings, and shooting techniques. I will also be giving you occasional equipment and book reviews. And, I will be scouring the Internet’s photography community looking for interesting stories, videos and links to share with you.

I invite everyone to join in on the discussions and share your opinions. Even though this site is called Digital Photography Mastery, I believe that photography is an endless journey of discovery and can never be truly mastered. I’m sure that I will learn as much from your comments and experiences as you will hopefully learn from mine.

If you are interested in contributing an article to Digital Photography Mastery or being a guest blogger, please contact me with a brief summary of your idea and a link to some samples of your writing.

Scott Bourne over at PhotoFocus is offering a really nice, free e-book titled “A Photographer’s E-Guide To Making Sharp Photographs“. It’s a quick read, but packed full of good information. Scott gives you the basic tools needed to start your quest for those tack sharp photos everybody wants, but he doesn’t overwhelm you with a lot of mind numbing photo theory.

I’ve been an avid fan of Scott’s PhotoFocus blog and podcast for some time now. He seems like a down to earth guy who loves his job, and he freely shares his knowledge. I highly recommend reading anything Scott puts out. You will definitely learn something.

Here are a couple links to two other free e-books written by Scott Bourne.
Scott Bourne’s Essays on Inspiration, Creativity & Vision in Photography
Scott Bourne’s Nine Motivational Essays on Photography

As we roll into 2012, I want to get this blog back on track. Between my job and my personal life, I let myself get a little overwhelmed in 2011 and put my blog and photography on the back burner. But as my Father use to say, usually when I was acting up in my childhood years, “enough is enough”. It’s time to kick my photography and this blog back into high gear. It won’t be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is.

Here are a few things I hope to accomplish with my blog in 2012 and the years that follow.

1. Help new enthusiast photographers enter the exciting hobby of digital imaging by offering tips and techniques on making visually exciting photographs.

2. Provide advice on camera settings, photographic composition and camera techniques to give the new digital photographers a solid foundation to make the right decisions before pressing the shutter release.

3. Provide equipment and book reviews that will guide the enthusiast photographers in their journey to produce that once in a lifetime image.

As always, I would like to hear from you all. Let me know what you are interested in reading about. Let me know about any areas of photography that you are struggling with. Or, let me know what achievements you’ve made in your photography recently.