Tag: Tipps

Finding your photographic style

Drinks before the Show
Drinks before the Show | Hamburg | 2016

In today’s world photography has become mainstream. Excellent cameras have become very affordable and smartphones are 24/7 companions that allow everyone to do serious photography on the spot.

Each second thousands of photos are uploaded to social networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and image platforms (flickr, 500px). And all of us who contribute to this never-ending stream of photographic output hope that somehow our work finds some recognition.

With the growing numbers of aspiring photographers also the amount of educational and inspirational information has vastly increased. Photography magazines, how-to books, websites and blogs provide a wealth of technical knowledge and inspiration for just about every genre of photography that you can imagine. Thanks to this resources teaching yourself the technical and artistic aspects of photography (and even the business side if you want to look at that as well) is not difficult at all if you learn to differentiate the wheat from the chaff. I’m not saying that this replaces the need for a professional education (if you really want to work as a professional photographer you should have a proper one) but for all us aspiring wannabe professionals who dream about generating some cash out of our hobby one day the training material available online or what you can pick up by attending workshops is more than sufficient to get us properly started.

With affordable gear, a wealth of information and inspiration available remains the question what to shoot. I for myself feel attracted to all sorts of genres. Landscape, portrait work with available light or strobes, boudoir, street photography, macro, wildlife, fashion, travel, documentary, you name it. I have tried most of them to some degree or other. Even bought gear (ever heard of GAS – gear acquisition syndrome) to being able to properly do it, inspired by one article or another in one of my many photography magazines, books or on a blog or photography portal site.

The thing is, all of this is nice, some come with caveats that are not easy to overcome (e.g. getting yourself models for portrait/fashion shootings, getting up in the middle of the night to catch the golden hours of landscape photography) so the genres that eventually attract you will narrow down themselves. And if you really want to become good at something you need to focus. Most great artists / scientists have been or are specialists of some sorts. Sure there are exceptions. Bryan Adams is a great Rock Star and also a well-known photographer, but in music he focuses on Rock and in his photography on portraits and fashion.

So how do you focus, how do you find the style of photography that suits your aspirations, that allows you to become good enough that you yourself are satisfied with the results. And again, as long as you don’t have to make a living out of your photography your own judgement of your results is the only relevant criteria. If in addition to that your work finds whatever recognition on social media, image sharing platforms, websites or photography magazines that is just icing on the cake.

The road to discovering your individual style as a photographer is a very personal one. But there are some things can help you and that have certainly helped me. Find out more after the jump. Continue reading “Finding your photographic style” →

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Street Photography Below Street Level

Rush Up
Rush Up | Stockholm | 2016

Sometimes I turn Street Photography into Subway Photography. There are various good reasons for that. In the underground you can escape foul weather. On their way to and from the trains people are mostly in a rush so they tend to oversee the “hunting” Street Photographers. And in the subway cars travelers are often so focused on their smart phone or their books and papers that you have a very good chance to go unnoticed while taking candid portraits. For other good reasons to take your Street Photography below ground and more subway photographs continue reading after the jump. Continue reading “Street Photography Below Street Level” →

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Little woes of a traveling photographer

Stortorget
Stortorget | Stockholm | 2016

You have been looking forward to this weekend trip to a fancy city  that you always wanted to see. Time is limited, you only have a couple of days. You are travelling with your partner who is not all that much into photography.  You don’t want to spoil the getaway by constantly logging behind, hunting for that perfect photo opportunity, that better angle, fumbling with your gear to change to the more appropriate lens.

And besides taking the marquee shots of well-known attractions (and that everybody back home expects from you)  you are looking for those special shots that you expect from yourself, because after all your are not after the tourist snap shots, for you are a photographer.

You arrive at your destination, it is great to be there, the sights and sounds are awesome, the food tastes great, you take the “must-have” shots, but photographically you just don’t get into the right groove, into your creative flow. And somehow this frustrates you because your own expectations towards yourself are otherwise and you know you won’t have a chance to get back to this city anytime soon when the photographic circumstances might be better. Sounds familiar? Continue reading after the jump. Continue reading “Little woes of a traveling photographer” →

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My Photography Equipment Checklist

I’m sure you’ve experienced that before: You are out shooting and them discover that something critical piece of equipment is missing. You run out of battery and have no spare with you, all of a sudden the memory card is full and you have the choice to either start deleting individual shots from this on the card to create space for some extra photos or you stop shooting for the day. You are missing a particular lense that you intended to bring and need right now to take that dream shot or complete the job for the customer. Or you pack out your ND grad filter to balance sky and ground and discover the filter-holder is back home. This is even worse when you are traveling and find out at your destination that you left a needed piece of equipment at home.

All of this happened to me a couple of times and this is when I created my photography equipment checklist that I quickly run through before I leave the house.  Continue reading “My Photography Equipment Checklist” →

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Gear & Camera Settings for Street Photography

I often get asked what gear and camera settings I use when venturing out to shoot on the streets. What works for me is less gear and very basic camera settings.

Let’s talk about the gear first. I switched from my Nikon setup to Micro Four Thirds because I was tired carrying around a big backpack with 5 kilos and more of camera equipment but without compromising image quality. Another benefit from using m4/3 gear is that when you carry a big Nikon with a big lense attached (and even Nikon prime lenses are huge pieces of glass) you always get attention, you are automatically regarded as a serious photographer, with all the negativ implications  and restrictions many photographers encounter today when roaming the streets. Now with a m4/3 camera that is much smaller and a small prime lense attached you generate much less attention, blend more in, and that is generally what you are looking for as a street photographer. People tend to much less notice you and when they do, they more regard you as a tourist snapping away than a photographer looking for some serious shots.

PEN_EPL7_17_45
The PEN E-PL7 with the 17mm f1.8 attached and the even smaller 45mm f1.8 next to it

Having said that, I typically go out with a single camera, either my OM-D E-M1 or my PEN E-PL7. Attached to it I have typically my M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 prime lens. 17mm in m4/3 translates to ~35mm in full frame format. A fast, perfect and small piece of glass with excellent image quality. Many  famous street photographers shoot 35mm only, as it is more or less equal to the normal field of view of our eyes. In the streets I  like to shoot wide as my desire is to show people in the context of their environment. Continue reading “Gear & Camera Settings for Street Photography” →

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