K.I.S.S

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada geese take flight over Grande Prairie Regional College as they head to a field to graze. The birds are building up strength for their long flight to wintering grounds in the South.The old acronym KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) applies to a lot of things in life from life style to writing to photography.

In photography keeping it simple can actually make a photograph stand out — especially when it comes to keeping backgrounds simple.

Most sports, portrait and wildlife photographers know that one of the best ways to make the subject snap out in a photo is to use a clean background.

That can be anything from the sky to seamless background paper to out of focus trees thanks to a shallow depth of field.

Just take a look at the difference between the photo at the top of the page and the one at the bottom.

Which one captures your eye and draws you in? Which one do you have to make an effort to pick out the subject of the photo?

Shooting with a long lens and wide open aperture can do wonders for cleaning up the backgrounds in your photos.

But so can several other simple things like making sure you take the time to study what the background is like — no trees sticking out from behind a brides head giving her antlers— or getting down low to shoot against the sky.

Perhaps you can make use of light and dark. By lighting up a subject with flash and having the background in the shade, your subject pops out.

Often it is just practise. Shoot photos and then either by yourself or with someone who will sit down and honestly critique your photos, in other words not your mom or your biggest fan, analyze everything that adds to the photo and takes away from the photo.

Then shoot again working on improving your technique.

Like almost anything else in life in photography practise makes perfect.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie A cluttered background takes away from the subject of the photo — the geese.

Shoot the moon

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta The waning moon is framed by the autumn leaves of a poplar tree.The moon can be fascinating for photographers.

It changes as the month goes on from a new moon to full and back again.

We often visualize it as silvery or white and yet some evenings it can appear red in the sky.

It doesn't provide its own source of light and as a result a proper exposure for the moon is the same as during the sunny daylight hours.

It also provides an optical illusion. Sometimes when a full moon is rising it can appear to our eyes as an enormous globe that almost fills the sky from horizon to horizon and yet when we grab our cameras it shows up as a speck.

The trick to keeping the moon large in your photos is to shoot it with a long lens.

It also adds some depth to your photo if you have something in the photo besides just the moon.

This means having either something cross in front of the moon, like migrating geese, in the foreground like a city scene or having it framed by an object, like the photo above.

While it can be hard to shoot the moon with a well lit foreground at night, often times the moon rises and sets while it is still daylight which makes it easier to add that depth you are looking for.

Next time you are suffering from a creative block in your photography just shoot the moon.

Architectural Accent

Photo Randy Vanderveen Shooting architecture just before sunrise and just after sunset can accent the structure you are photographing.Today's post is a tip for photographers. Photographing lit buildings at night, whether a house, a commercial enterprise or perhaps a landmark is something almost every photographer will do over the course of his or her career or hobby. It can be frustrating when you attempt to take a memorable photo and you end with lights on that are glaring and over-exposed while the sky looks like a black drape with no detail. One simple trick that can add something a little extra to the photograph and help the building stand out is to shoot just after sunset or just before sunrise. (By being set up and ready you can still experiment with the silhouette and coloured skies.) Photo Randy Vanderveen Yuma, Arizona Sometimes just capturing the lights and sky and allowing the building to go into silhiuette can result in an intersting look,By shooting at this time you can often blend the ambient light of the sky with building lit up building which provides a great night time look. Usually the sky will record as blue giving a little something extra. The great thing about this trick is that this works whether the day has been clear and sunny or cloudy and grey. Make sure your camera is on a tripod to allow you to balance the exposure and still get a good depth of field while keeping things sharp. (Also make sure your camera is level with the horizon but also not tipped back or forwards which can give the impression the building is falling over). If you want an even bluer sky and aren't concerned about rendering your subject's colour faithfully, try setting your white balance to tungsten or flourescent when taking the photo. This will cause your skies to go even bluer, cool down the light coming from fixtures around the building and will help provide an eye-catching image. Try experimenting. I think a photograph taken at this time usually looks better than those taken during the daylight hours when one has to contend with contrast or perhaps washed out and grey skies. Photo Randy Vanderveen, London, UK The addition of water into the foreground keeps the light from the sky in the foreground longer. This is a technique to remember for any twilight/dawn shoots (even portraits) to add something extra. A second tip. If you photograph the opposite direction the sun is moving ie shoot toward the west in the morning and east at night you can shoot longer and can have some of the magical light from the sun peeking over the horizon illuminating the building while the sky remains dark. ••••• Great quote and something to think about whether you are a journalist, employee, parent or spouse: "There's something I learned a long time ago, I never learned a thing when I was talking." Larry King.

The view from below

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta A swimmer, photographed from under the water, works on his front crawl technique.No matter how good you are in a sport or craft, practise while not necessarily making you perfect, will improve your skill level.

This is no different for the swimmer above who by training several times a week gets his muscles and stamina built up to compete or for the photographer at the other end of the camera.

I know from personal experience that if you don't keep working your skills they become less reliable.

When I first started shooting professionally, manual focus was the standard for taking photos. I was never really great but I did get by.

With the advent and continuing advancement in autofocus technology, it has become a skill that I am no longer very good at.

While the new technology would appear to make the skill obsolete, it hasn't. While the autofocus in cameras is incredible, there are still times (low contrast or perhaps too many objects between you and your subject or the size of your subject in the frame) when having the ability to follow focus is missed.

Another reason photographers need to practise their craft is also evident in the swimmer — muscle memory.

As the swimmer works on the proper technique for his stroke at a moderate pace, he trains his body to move a certain way in the water. When he picks up speed the muscles he has used at a slower pace know how to propel him forward faster while still using the proper technique.

Photographers need to get comfortable enough with their cameras that they can change controls without removing the camera from their eye.

Being able to change your aperture or iso quickly and efficiently can mean the difference between having the photo and not.

Make it a goal this summer to get out there and practise your skills so that the mechanical, as well as the artistic, continue to improve.

Into the frame

Grovedale, Alberta 13/02/10 Dale Thompson walks behind a harnessed team of horses as he makes his way over to a sled with bunks on it to haul firewood. One of my biggest short comings as a photographer is shooting too tight.

When I was at SAIT, my photojournalism instructor emphasized filling the frame and I think I took that advice too much to heart.

Sometimes negative space — the area which doesn't contain your photo subject — can be as important as the subject itself in telling a story in a photo.

(Cropping portraits also makes you realize that shooting tight isn't always the answer. When you shoot a portrait, crop it to 8x10 and lose all the space around the person, you begin to realize you need to shoot a little looser. It also comes into play when shooting athletes like figure skaters, gymnasts and artists like dancers. They want to see their pointed toes and fingers so they can see how good their technique is. Shooting tight is better suited for newspapers so the viewer can get a quick read of the photo whether it is a full page or one column image.)

I still have a tendency to shoot too tight but I am trying and make a conscious effort to shoot a little looser. (With the resolution of today's digital cameras cropping into a photo is a little less invasive than doing so using a Nikon D1H).

This photo is a prime example of when shooting looser helps with the story.

I could have shot this tight on Dale, the man at the reins, and his team, (although shooting tight from behind would have been an ugly shot) but shooting looser allows the viewer to see where he is going, the country he is going into, the weather conditions etc.

It adds the adverbs and adjectives to the photo sentence of "A man drives a team of horses".

On a secondary note, usually when you shoot people getting their face in the photo is desireable, but in this case shooting Dale as he drives the team away adds depth. It also adds the leading lines of the trailing reins which wouldn't be visible if he was coming towards the camera.