Why teach?

(under construction)

Sharing what works and what doesn't seems to be a natural extension of a true professional. Guitarist Steve Vai will show you all his tricks via Berkely school of music online. Artist Bob Ross will show you how to paint beautiful landscapes right on your television, and speaking of TV, look how many famous cooks are showing you how they do it on a variety of channels - even one dedicated to culinary arts. Then there is building and wood working, decorating, sewing, crafts... the list goes on and on.

The common denominator to me is that all these people who share their techniques and trade secrets, have become confident in their trade, a level of self perceived competency where the sharing of information does not jeopardize or interfere with their ability to make a living at their trade. If you have secret methods - your probably not there yet. If you can recognize that there are many highly skilled or natural artists in your profession, some better than you, (some a lot better than you), but are content with the fact that you are capable and growing, you are on your way. Style is more important than any tip or technique, and can be as uniquely you as your fingerprints. Develop your style, share your techniques.

Here's my take on some general questions beginning photographers have on key subjects.

Natural Light

I've heard this a lot;

"I only do natural light - flash is flat, ugly and an unreal version of the events I want to photograph."

Question: why use it?

Answer: To improve your images. that is why you would use any tool. Your style can also dictate the use of or non use of a tool. Flash when used subtly is not even recognized by the viewer. Out of control flash is unpredictable and often creates undesired effects. Learn to control light, including flash.

Studio Strobes

This is the one I've heard most;

"Can't I just go buy some work lights and save myself a ton of money?"

Answer: maybe. ok, no. Work lights do not have the same color balance or brightness of studio strobes. While digital images can be manipulated and color balanced in post, the differences in exposure time, and depth of field are quite significant. I have found that most people waste their time looking for shortcuts or using substandard tools. There are exceptions though, and learning how to control light, any light, will improve your success.

Black & White.

Common complaint;

"I shoot in color. When I convert to Black & White the image looks flat or dull".

Question: How do I create great black and white images from color originals?

Answer: There are many good conversion filters on the market, (like...) and you can also work with the channels of your RGB image or change the color mode to CMYK or my preference LAB. This answer deserves it's own tutorial. Black and white images strip away much of what a picture portrays, making the subject matter more central and important.

Color.

#1 question (and it's reciprocal)

"How do I make my color really saturated but keep the skin tones looking normal?" and the reciprocal; "My color looks too saturated, I don't want my images to look digital."

Answer: Shoot in RAW and learn to use your software. see the tutorial, "Why you should be shooting in RAW"

Photoshop

Common myth;

"All I need is photoshop - it will fix anything!"

Comment: Photoshop didn't fix my financial situation any! All kidding aside, photoshop is an expensive tool, ad while it can do just about anything, it takes some serious photoshop skills to make a bad photograph good. The whole point of my site is to teach you how to improve your images right when you take them, so you can spend more time shooting and less time in post. More good photographs can change your financial situation. (Getting really good at photoshop or any skill can too).

Presentation

The final and most overlooked step - often the biggest mistake.

Understanding how your images translate to different presentation mediums is often one of the last things photographers learn, if not overlook entirely. Prints are prints, the screen is the screen, many photogs stop right there. If you sell to the web design market where your images are only viewed on screen, you don't need anything else. However, if you want to open up a whole new and exciting "value added" market for your images, presentation is the thing to learn.