Helping hurts when communication is overlooked

I believe photographers’ need a good PR agency and since no one is volunteering to do it for us, we must step up and take on this responsibility.

One such area I want to address is a photographer who wants to help use their talent to help humanitarian organizations or faith based organizations.

Please bear with me as I walk through understanding the elements and then trying to put together an action plan for photographers.

Stanley working in Africa.

The Humanitarian Photographer

If you were to Google the definition of what is a humanitarian photographer, you will not find a definition is the normal places like Webster dictionary, Wikipedia or Google.  It is a new term used to describe not so much a style as the humanitarian organization for which photography is done.

When you Google “humanitarian photographer,” I have a few friends that will pop up to the very top of the lists: Gary S. Chapman and Esther Havens both do humanitarian photography.

You will see every style of photography being done for humanitarian organizations that primarily distribute aid.

Three ways that humanitarian organizations distribute aid

1. Relief
2. Rehabilitation
3. Development

In the book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself, they say “A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development. In fact, the failure to distinguish among these situations is one of the most common reasons that poverty-alleviation efforts often do harm.”

They go on and say, “One of the major premises of this book is that until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good.”

Relief is the easiest of the three things humanitarian organization do. It is easier to raise money and distribute materials things in the time of a disaster than to do the more in depth rehabilitation or development. However all three can hurt those trying to help and those receiving the service.

Do you know where I am going with all this? Will I be addressing how entitlement programs are the problem? Maybe I am going to talk about how we need income distribution to solve the problem?

What is Poverty?

Wikipedia definition—Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the deprivation of basic human needs, which commonly includes food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education. Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live.

In the book When Helping Hurts, “Development expert Robert Chambers argues that the materially poor are trapped by multiple, interconnected factors—insufficient assets, vulnerability, powerlessness, isolation, and physical weakness—that ensnare them like bugs caught in a spider’s web.”

The book goes on to say, “Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.”

Based on this definition everyone suffers from poverty in some way.

Where the photographer can help

If broken relationships are what is the core issue in poverty, then to rebuild these relationships communication is key. With the broken relationship between two people they must come together and listen to one another.

Often counselors can help with the facilitation of restoration. When it comes to groups this is where I believe the professional communicator refines the role of the counselor and helps each group to better communicate and therefore move groups closer together.

Leaders of humanitarian organizations and their donors are often to blame for the failure organizations goals.

Donor and CEO Problem

A philanthropist decides to give a huge amount to an organization with strings attached. “I want all this gift to go to something and none of it to go to operating costs of the organization” is one such type of gift.

The organization often will take the gift and totally reorganize just so they can use the gift. This is where the organization fails to educate the donor. A good CEO will educate the donor.

I see way too many humanitarian organizations focus on the relief. We can give food or we can teach them to fish. Teaching to fish is a larger investment in time, but not necessarily money.

Photographers need to understand relief, rehabilitation and development and how this applies to the organization. They need to have the strategic vision if they are to help an organization achieve their strategic vision.

Way too many photographers just want to go and travel to take photos. They are in it for themselves and are hurting and not helping.

Photographers need to know as much as they can about the area a humanitarian organization is addressing. What other groups are working in this area? Are they duplicating efforts? Is their approach helping the long-term goal of no longer being needed?

It is common that once you start becoming strategic and not just a button pusher of the camera you will help in ways beyond your camera. You may help leaders of different organizations know about each other. You may help them network due to your work for different groups.

PR for the photographer

Blogging

One of the ways I am watching photographers with PR for themselves is to tell stories through their blogs and being sure they are letting humanitarian organizations leaders know they are blogging.

If you have a blog you may want to ask some of those organization leaders to do a guest blog for you. 

Newsletter

You can create a printed or online newsletter that you send out to your distribution list. This method is different than the blog; it is pushing your message. A blog pulls people to the content.

Gallery

You can put your coverage up in a gallery and invite humanitarian organization leaders to come to the show. You can also encourage the humanitarian organizations to also have a gallery where you could be there as the artist at the opening to help bring in donors.

Social Media

Get involved in groups. Many humanitarian organizations have active group discussions where a photographer could easily be part of the discussion. Give some tips of your own or maybe you offer links that you have discovered as a good resource. Be a part of the discussion.
Hold organizations accountable

I would encourage all of your discussions to always be trying to be sure the organization is helping the problem and not hurting. Sometimes it is just asking a question with an attitude of innocence. Sometimes you may need to call attention a little more forthright. Remember your purpose is to be part of the solution and not hurting. Ticking everyone off is not the best solution since you will quickly discover yourself no longer a part of the discussion.

Photographers: How to Avoid Obsolescence

We need an overview of the industry and beyond it to be able to make decisions on how to proceed in building a successful business model that is sustainable.

Three elements in visual communication:

1. Message
2. Messenger
3. Audience

Message: There are many ways this can exist. This could be everything thing from an individual person, a group of people, a topic, an industry to many descriptors.

Messenger: For this blog we are talking about he Photographer or Visual Communicator

Audience: This is the group for which the images are being created to communicate the message.

My advice is to explore each of these three for all the possibilities. 

Become an expert on the subject—This can be everything from a formal education on the subject to immersion into the subject. The more you know about the subject the better you will be at finding those tiny bits of information that is important to an audience.

Become an expert on the audience—The more you know about your audience you understand what they need and want. It will be much easier for you to plug your subject into the audience when you know how it impacts them in their daily lives.

Become an expert messenger—You master not just photography but all the possible communication tools to help you reach the audience with the message and vice versa.

Common Mistakes

In response to my earlier blog “Photographers are becoming obsolete, unless ...” many of the comments were way to linear and short sighted.

Here is one comment that was typical of others:

“… the only thing saving us professionals is a better ability to understand/use composition and lighting.”

The key thing I want to point out is how too many people are focusing on one thing, which is in my opinion what is a sure way to obsolescence.

Just taking this comment I can see the person has no clue as to understanding anything about the subjects they are taking photos of or the audience. Making an incredible photo of a subject that the audience has no interest is not sustainable.

I believe there are a few things that will happen over the career of the extremely successful visual communicator. As they grow in understanding of subjects, visual communication tools and their audience they will make changes.

Changes you may need to make

Message—I want you to think of this as your subject of the photograph. Over time you may discover that the subject has a shrinking market. In other words you will discover from your expertise on your audiences that few people have an interest in your subject. This is when you need to find another subject or subjects to sustain your career.

Audience—Some great examples of how this is changing is just looking at how the web has impacted communication outlets. You may have only been able to shoot for a local newspaper in the past and today you may have a very successful worldwide audience due to online blogs, forums or social media outlets. Some of the publications [audiences] have gone out of business and therefore you must change.

Messenger/Medium—You as a professional visual communicator need to make changes due to the mediums we have available are changing. You made changes from film to digital and now are making changes from older digital devices to newer ones.

Mediums and Audience are blurring 

Just a few years ago a professional visual communicator would consider a publication as an audience. This is because they didn’t have control over it. Today blogs are a great example of how the medium is now closer to you and thus bringing audiences ever closer to you. You are able to interact in a dialogue with your audience.

Today the connectivity we have between all of this is opening up new avenues for communication. It is no longer one way as in the past. Your audience will tell you what they want and comment on what you are giving them in real time. You don’t have to do focus groups to find out what the readership thinks—they are commenting in the social media and if you allow it on your packages online.

If you are focusing on mastering photography and how to light things and compositionally capture something alone, then you are on your way to obsolescence.

Those who are growing their business are expanding their horizons and learning more about the world in which they live. They are becoming experts on subjects and learning more about what people are interested.

As you grow in your knowledge of the message, the messenger and the audience you will have eureka moments like Steve Jobs, who brought us devices we didn’t even know we needed.

Bicycle Wheel as a Metaphor

I like to think in visuals and so my visual for going forward is a bicycle wheel. My focus is on the spokes that when are equal and have the appropriate tension help keep the wheel true and wobble free.

I see each of the spokes as another way you can strengthen your business. 

How many spokes?

The number of spokes in a bicycle affects its performance. Fewer spokes tend to have aerodynamic advantages. More spokes usually means more strength and durability.

I see those new faces in the industry that are getting a lot of visibility as having fewer strokes. I am seeing those who have long sustaining careers as those with more spokes.

My advice

Master a subject. Master a medium. Master an audience.

After you have done this then add another subject, medium and audience.

If life is pretty wobbly right now your spokes may need some adjustment.

Photographers are becoming obsolete, unless ...

How we are becoming obsolete

Professional photographers are becoming more and more obsolete because their work is becoming a commodity. In addition, technology advances have made it easier for one to make a photograph. Already Facebook’s photo collection has a staggering 140 billion photos, that’s over 10,000 times larger than the Library of Congress.

Let’s just look at some of the advances in photography:

• Auto focus
• Auto Exposure
• Auto Image Stabilizer
• Auto ISO
• Auto red eye reduction

Increasingly we are seeing photography becoming driven by algorithms. These advances in camera technology are without question giving photographers more images that are pretty acceptable.

When I teach photography many students are really asking me, just tell me which button to push. Now we are hearing more about which app to use on their phone to make it all happen for them.

No longer is photography intimidating for the masses, but actually quite easy to produce an image. Kodak’s founder George Eastman created the slogan "You press the button, we do the rest."

When he said this it was quite difficult to produce a print that you can hold and cherish forever. However, today the consumer can now press the button and see it immediately.

CPI that ran the photo studios in Sears, Walmart and Babies “R” Us closed April 5, 2013 after 60 years in business. You could get a portrait done for $9.99 plus prints, so thee prices didn't put them out of business.

In the LA Times I thought these statements were telling:

“The whole digital world has changed everything so much,” said Chris Gampat, editor in chief of photography blog the Phoblogapher. “People are very happy taking pictures of themselves with their iPhones and putting them on Instagram and sharing them instantly on Facebook and Twitter.”

Gampat, 26, also said that more consumers are buying the digital single-lens reflex, or DSLR, cameras once used nearly exclusively by professional photographers for top-quality images.

Consumer Demand has changed

Photographers need to understand the market place as much as they understand photography to survive.

Consumers of professional photography in years past have not stopped enjoying pictures they just are no longer paying photographers to produce them when they can do it themselves.

How photography looked years ago for the professional.

How many think photography is today

The example assumes that while there are many people now taking photos the number of those making a good living is about the same. 

I no longer believe that is the case. I think the number of professionals making a living is actually shrinking as well.

Tips on how to avoid becoming obsolete

Today, people are letting technology handle so much of the process that we have diminished our abilities of observations, creativity and interpretation.

Pictures without context and compassion are dull.

Photographers must work even harder than in the past to survive. They must be always observing, working on their creativity and interpreting situations so that they are out performing the logarithms of today's modern cameras.

You cannot make a full-time living today as a photographer because you know how to use camera gear to produce an image. You must be offering something more.

1. Produce images that auto everything camera cannot 
2. Become a hybrid photographer. This is where you combine with other skills to create a package. This might be writing, video, audio, web design or something that moves you from just pictures to a package.
3. Consider working with other professionals to create packages. Maybe you need to delegate some of the pieces of projects to other professionals. Maybe work with a writer, video editor or someone else and together offer something you cannot do alone.
4. Become an expert on something other than camera gear. If you are an expert on a subject then you can use your photography to help you carve a career in that subject matter using photography. A great example of this is Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who was able to do a great deal of photography and film due to his knowledge of marine biology.
5. Be a lifelong learner. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge will drive you to seek-out new ways to communicate using visuals. This will possibly lead you to be not a follower, but an innovator.  
6. Workshops and seminars. You need to continue to go to venues where you can be exposed to what is going on in the field of photography and outside of photography in your niche.
7. Create your own projects. To get that first paying gig you had to have a portfolio. To continue to propel your career you must always being creating a new portfolio.  You will seldom have the opportunity to create a new approach for a client. They tend to hire you based on what you have produced.

You may think of more things to keep your career moving forward. When you stop growing is the day you start dying.  

Psalm 19:1

The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

God reveals Himself to the world by His work. Through natural revelation, God’s existence is made known to every person on earth. Thus, work reveals something about the one doing the work. It exposes underlying character, motivations, skills, abilities, and personality traits.

Ephesians 4:28

… let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Work is done not just to profit the worker, but others according to the Bible. We need to do work that is not just for us but for those we serve through our photography.

Fashion Show

Fashion Show

These are some of my photos from this past Saturday of a fashion show my daughter participated in. I was there just as a proud parent and took some photos.


I found a seat that I liked the angle from and just stayed put to enjoy the show.

I used my Nikon 28-300mm lens on my Nikon D4 primarily. It gave me the most flexibility to get closeup shots and overall shots of the runway for the models.

I also have my 14-24mm on another Nikon D4 camera, which I just used a few times.

Hope you enjoy the show as much as I did.

By the way this is my daughter Chelle. I think she looked great. She looks so much like her mother.

Shooting a photo package on a person

Take a moment and see some of the photos I turned into the editor in the slide show above.

Shooting a package

This is the bread and butter assignment for the editorial/photojournalist. You get a call from an editor and they have have a story on a person and want some photos to go along with the story.

While it would be great to just hangout with a person for a week and then pick the best images, the budget is just not there for those type of coverages. What is typical is to talk with a subject about all that they are doing and to stay focused on what the story is all about.

A health clubs national office contacted me and wanted me to show how their health club was helping people in the community live healthier lives since becoming involved with the club.

The environmental portrait

I photographed this engineering professor at Georgia Tech. We wanted to show that their clients have great leadership positions in the community. I knew I needed something that read Georgia Tech quickly. Having the sign behind the professor seemed to be just the thing to work.

I also photographed him at one of the icons for the campus, a steam engine, located in the center of campus.

I wanted to also show you that I shot some available light like this vertical shot here. I also wanted you to see why it is so important to use off camera flash as I did in the first two photos. The off camera flash really separates my work from so many GWCs [Guy With Camera].

At Work

I made several photos of the subject at work. Here he is in a team meeting with some colleagues. If you look at the slide show you can see some others as well.

At the Gym

I photographed the subject working out. I turned in photos from each thing he does at the gym. Now mind you I shot literally hundreds of photos and then had to go through those and eliminate all the ones where face expressions were just not good, or something may have blocked a good view of his face.

By the way to be sure these images were the best color I used strobes in the gym to help with color, but also freeze him and get the sharpest images I could of him working out. Notice the detail in the clothing of the instructor wearing all black. That is the clue this was not available light.

Click on this to see larger

I turned into the client 391 images in two folders: 1) Edits & 2) All the photos. They will probably only use three images; 1) portrait, 2) At work shot, and 3) workout photo.  By shooting as many photos and narrowing down to capture the best expressions and best moments I am able to give the art director choices and they feel like they can then have some variety to show in the end to their audience.

In the contact sheet above you just see a very small number of photos that I turned in. I wanted you to see this is after I have already eliminated all the blinks and funny expressions. Hopefully this will let you know how important it is to shoot enough photos to be able to have a selection that shows off the subject in the best way possible.

Blog Post #500: How to recover when project doesn't go well

Types of clients

I believe there are two types of clients—Educated and uneducated. I am not talking about how smart the client is or how many degrees they might have. I am talking about their experience with working with photographers when it comes to hiring me for example.

Sometimes clients will have naive, impracticable or inappropriate expectations. Most of the time this is with those clients with little experience-hiring photographers.

I generally have little communication problems with those who hire photographers regularly, because they are better at communicating their needs and we establish a solid paper trail together.

The first place the client relationship goes wrong is often in communication. The best thing you can have when a situation arises of dissatisfaction about something from the client is to look at the paper work.

A written contract is best for helping resolve these disputes. Second best to a written contract is written documentation that could be as simple as emails. 

Even with a written contract the one thing that continues to plague client relationships is the lack of planning. The better the planning the better the results and satisfaction for all involved.

Without having the ability to scout a location and walking through the assignment it is impossible to anticipate all the needs that might arise.

How do you know you have a problem?

Your client must tell you about a problem for you to fix it. Sadly I have found in my career many people will never tell you there's a problem. They just don’t hire you again.

If no one ever tells you, there is a good chance your personality turns him or her off and they don’t want to fix the situation. My advice is to seek counseling; it will be worth every penny you spend to know how to stop certain behaviors that are undermining your career.

If you are lucky and get a customer complaint then this is actually good for you.  Often this means people think you need to know so you can both correct this and continue to work with them or they think you need to know so you can avoid this in the future. Either way you now no of a problem that needs to be addressed.

How to handle the conflict

Listen—the best tool you have is the ability to listen. Listening is not just being quite. Good listening requires you to respond appropriately to the comments.

Apologize—A true apology lets the customer understand that they have been heard and understood. This should be carefully worded. If you don’t feel that you have done anything wrong, then be sure to convey regret for the experience of the other person as a result of what you did. This is assuming it was unintended.  Apologizing for the effect this caused doesn’t mean you will reach a resolution. Be sure you are taking responsibility for the effect you caused or it will not be sincerely taken.

Take Action—After apologizing for what has taken place to cause this problem, move on to letting them know you want to correct the problem. You can say something like, “Obviously what we have done is very upsetting to you and you need to know that I am going to get to the bottom of this.”

Take the emotion out—Now that you have expressed with emotion your concern the next phase is exploration of the facts. This is where you are just getting the facts of the situation.  Often this is where a client may state what is wrong and how this is complicating their ability to solve the problem they brought you on to help. Remember sometimes they have already jumped to a conclusion that this is not fixable and you have wasted their time. The tendency is to quickly fix things, but be sure at this stage you fully understand what they think is wrong.  Once you have all the facts laid out restate this in your own words to them and ask if you have everything correct. The reason for you to put it into your own words will help them know you heard them and understand.

Empathy and not sympathy—Focus on actions and not words. You need to come to the client with ideas and not problems. Remember time is money so don’t waste theirs or yours.

Patience—I think it is best that you stop after getting all the facts and tell them you need just some time to process if it is needed. “Do you mind if I take a few minutes and see what I/we can do? I will call you back with our ideas in the morning,” is one way to give you time to process all that you have discovered.

Deliver on your promise—The true apology that you started with entails a resolution. You need to deliver on this promise to be sincere and complete. Without this you will undermine your reputation and brand as not trust worthy. 

Fire the client


When clients will have naive, impracticable or inappropriate expectations it is time to fire them. Sometimes it is better to end a relationship with a client rather than making your life miserable.

Here are some things I know I have and other photographers have let their clients go:

Slow or no payment—I have had a few clients where the company policy was to be slow paying and then I have had clients that were so ADD they forgot on a regular basis to pass along my invoice to the accounts payable department. Use this paragraph with your invoicing to avoid this problem:

Administrative Fee - We are now building into the invoice the cost to repeatedly follow up with accounts payable departments on past due invoices, and float the cost of payment to our vendors, which require 30 days payment. This fee is approximately 15% of the total invoice. If payment is made within 30 days, you may deduct this amount. A notation to this effect will be made on the invoice.

Lack of boundaries—You have a client that expects to own you 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Sometimes clients do not respect that you have not just other clients but you have a personal life. To avoid this be sure to put in your contract the times you are available.

Difficult to work with—They are just very difficult to work with. Maybe they tell off color jokes. Try to politely, but firmly, say that you don't appreciate the off-color jokes. You may not get a positive response at first, but you may. And you'll also get the benefit of speaking your mind, and will at least get the message out there for everyone's consideration.

Poor Time Management—Client has trouble keeping appointments or is constantly late. This can become a problem when it starts to affect your bottom line. You have trouble getting things from the client that you need to complete a job. Be sure your contract spells out that missing deadlines or whatever you need from them, that there is some penalty. The problem you are trying to address is doing work and delayed payment due to the client dragging out a project. You can put into contract full payment by certain date if the delay is due to the client missing something.

Unwilling to accept price increase—Over time your prices need to go up due to cost of living and other expenses that have increased. When the client is unwilling to adjust their budget you have to let them go, you cannot afford to work for them.

Only Photography can capture the "Microexpressions"

Microexpressions

Lie to Me is the hit TV [January 21, 2009 to January 31, 2011] series based on the research of Dr. Paul Ekman. Haggard and Isascs are credited with the discovery of Micro Expressions in the 1960s. Paul Ekman created a coding system for microexpressions and in 2001 he was named by the American Psychological Association as one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century.

A microexpression is a brief, involuntary facial expression shown on the face of humans according to emotions experienced.  They are very brief in duration, lasting only 1/25 to 1/15 of a second. The 1/25 second was determined because back in 1960 this is how they slowed down a film that ran at 1/25 frame rate.

Even in the TV show Lie to Me you see that when a microexpression is detected they must investigate further, because one must not conclude that someone is lying if a microexpression is detected but that there is more to the story than is being told.

While some people are natural at seeing microexpressions many people learn how to detect them through training.  What is important it is much harder to detect a microexpression on people in person or within video.

The easiest tool to practice detecting micro expressions are photographs. So as you will see if you watch the TV show Lie to Me, which you can get on Netflix, is they use photographs to isolate and show the facial expressions.

The major emotions-how surprise, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and happiness are registered by changes in the forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, cheeks, nose, lips, and chin. These help as there are not just one type of each expression. For example the emotion of surprise has many different expressions; questioning surprise, dumbfounded surprise, dazed surprise, slight, moderate, and extreme surprise. The intricacies of facial expressions are more easily read in photographs of how various emotions can blend or create different expressions.

Charles Darwin believed that facial expressions were universal. Through the years many have disagreed with Darwin.

Dr. David Matsumoto however agreed with Darwin basked on his research during the 2004 Olympics.  He studied both the sighted and blind Olympians during the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

What is important is how he conducted the research. He studied the thousands of photographs and compared the facial expressions of sighted and blind judo athletes, including individuals who were born blind. All competitors displayed the same expressions in response to winning and losing. So it is not something learned, but innate.

Take away

I believe that the power of the still image is because it can capture the microexpression that video cannot do. Sure you can argue that if you slow down video you can see a microexpression, but you are then trying to stop the video and thus creating a still image.

Today we can record up to 200 million frames per second, but the most common used high speed cameras record around 1000 frames per second. Television series such as MythBusters and Time Warp often use high-speed cameras to show their tests in slow motion.

We use these high speed cameras for seeking the truth and helping us scientifically build safer cars for example.

So if we want to understand something and get to the truth as in TV shows like MythBusters we must examine things in fractions of a second. This is where the still photographer has worked for decades.

My take away from all this about the microexpression is the the power of the photograph is it's ability to freeze the moment for us to truly understand. For most people microexpressions are not controlled and therefore when we see these expressions tend to hold them as truthful moments.

It is important to point out that some people are born able to control their expressions (such as pathological liars), while others are trained, for example actors. "Natural liars" know about their ability to control microexpressions, and so do those who know them well. They have been getting away with things since childhood, fooling their parents, teachers, and friends when they wanted to.

Photojournalists are very aware of "The Decisive Moment" and what I believe is that microexpressions is more about that moment. This research and material published on microexpressions is great content for the photojournalist. Understanding microexpressions will make you a better photojournalist in my opinion.

Vacation Photo Tip: Long Lens can compress the scene

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [56mm], ISO 100, ƒ/10, 1/80

We were on our quest to get a good photo of the Hollywood sign by going up the road to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. After parking we immediately took our first attempt here.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [68mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

Now we move up the road to the observatory. Here the photo is a little better. Had there not been cars and road right behind me I might have backed up a little and used a longer lens. While I like the photo, I still feel that the Hollywood sign is just too far away.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [190mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

To get the last photo we went further up the mountain. I used a longer focal length and to be sure the Hollywood sign was readable I stopped down to ƒ/29. I like this photo so much I did another one of my wife alone.

Nikon D4, 28-300mm [280mm], ISO 280, ƒ/29, 1/60

One last thing about that latest photo, notice how I zoomed in even more to 280mm focal length. The sign is even closer in feel and based on this if I had shot this with a 600mm it would appear even closer.

Just a couple of posts ago here I recommended composing the background first. This is still the case, but sometime You need to consider bringing the background closer.

Remember this is just the opposite of what they are doing when they shoot TV sitcoms. They are trying to make the most of the small space they often work in and therefore are using moderate to wide angles to expand the set.

It is all about perspective

I learned about this phenomenon from Jay Maisel. Look at this photo, which way does the foot print go? In or out?

How about this foot print? Is it in or out?

Actually they are the same photo, just flipped. Your eye expects patterns a certain way and flipping the photo can change the topography.

The above photo of me is how most everyone sees me. I really never felt like it looks like me.

This is the photo as I see myself. What is the difference, it is just flipped or the mirror image that I see each morning in the mirror.

I suggest taking a digital photo of yourself and flip it and see if it feels more like yourself.

I showed this to a few of the students I was teaching lighting to in Kona, Hawaii and they all were amazed. 

Vacation Photos: Compose Background then add family and friends

Nikon D4, ISO 12,800, ƒ/5, 1/100, 28 - 300mm [No Flash]

Today I was touring the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank, California. We made a stop to see the set of the Friends TV show set.

While I enjoyed seeing the set and took many photos.  I took this shot and then put my wife and daughter into the photo.

Nikon D4, ISO 12,800, ƒ/5, 1/100, 28 - 300mm [No Flash]

I had my wife and daughter get as close to the camera as possible without totally blocking the background.

The diagram shows how their was neon sign lighting my wife and daughter just over my shoulder.

Had we had more time and no one else in the room with us I might have tried a few other angles.

Nikon D4, ISO 12,800, ƒ/5, 1/100, 28 - 300mm [No Flash]

My tip is simple, first compose the background and then get the people as close to the camera as possible. This means they are most likely between three to five feet from the camera at the most.

Nikon P7000, ISO 128, ƒ/2.8, 1/250, -1 EV flash

Earlier we went to Disneyland. Here I just carried my Nikon P7000. I have a already programs my U1 [User Setting 1] where the flash is -1 EV. So in this last photo I used similar technique and got everyone close to the camera. I popped up the on camera flash and because we are so close to each other the subjects faces don't have those nasty raccoon eyes due to the sun directly overhead.

So the only last tip is to use a flash outside to fill in those shadows.