I’m trying to post every week on Mondays and Thursdays. Life has been busy lately but I have a good start to the project so far. Go over and leave comments if something strikes you or you have questions.

So far, we have four collaborators, including myself. Two in America, one in  Sweden, and I’m in South Korea. I really like the direction that the site is headed in and would love for you to take a look at the site. If you or someone you know is a photographer and you’re interested in the idea, check out the site. I’d love you have you submit to the site.

Get more information at photoblogalliance.com >>

I’ve always been a big fan of these types of images. I like their simple, graphic nature because the message is clear and, quite honestly, it’s just cool photography. I don’t consider myself a very cool photographer but sometimes I play the part pretty well.

I’ve got a bit of a bum knee and have a hard time squatting like I used to so I used the ol’ shoot-from-the-hip technique for this shot. I could have fixed the tilt but it makes the image just interesting enough by balancing out the monochrome color palette with some compositional fun.

On that note: Boring is boring. If you shoot something in color with an uninspiring color palette, try to do something different with the composition. If not, you just have a straight shot of something relatively boring. And you call yourself a pro… That’s okay for someone just beginning, but as you grow into a full-on photographer it’s important for you to push your compositions and move from documentation into art. Considering what you’re doing — whether in camera or at the post-processing stage — is the mark of a grown up photographer.

What do you think of the shot? Good? Boring? Good and boring? Maybe it’s not for everyone but I like to stretch out sometimes and do something more graphic in nature.

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I’m well aware that train stations have been photographed to death so when I’m looking for images at a station I want to find something that has possibly never been shot. I think using elements like this mirror give an interesting perspective when shooting in popular locations.

When you’re taking photographs of the familiar, be sure to look around for the shot that you’ve never seen before. Try to bring something new to the world of photography instead of playing off of what you’ve always seen. If you’re not shooting stock photos, move around and see what types of elements you can bring into the image to make it uniquely yours.

How do you approach shooting photographs at well-known landmarks or places? How do you try to avoid the cliches and get a truly unique image?

I’ve been trying to concentrate on shooting more photographs with people in them, but there are times when a tiger has to stop being an elephant and shoot what comes naturally. This is the kind of image that comes naturally to me and gives you a glimpse into what catches my eye in a place like a train station.

I feel like there is a lot of tonal and compositional balance in the image and it conveys something, I just don’t know what it is. What do you think? Is there anything here that you like?

I find the concept of memory to be pretty amazing. This image conjures up the idea of that place we strain to see clearly but just can’t focus upon. Trying to remember often leaves me with a blank stare but it seems the slightest smell or sound or ray of light floods my mind with memories of the past — childhood feelings, the college years, post college.

For an adult male, the boy represents the memories of the past but, as such, it is fuzzy and undistinguished. Many of my memories now are only impressions or glimpses. Maybe that’s for the best? Does it help us press forward? Does it help us with repression?

There is something to the vagueness of the memory.

This image was taken a year ago in Denver, Colorado. Denver in the Fall is a pretty amazing place. Blue skies, crisp air. The colors of Fall were not present yet but we could feel it coming on. There are fewer places more beautiful in Fall than Colorado.

One interesting fact about this image is that my wife took it, not me. I did a little post-processing — image saturation, split toning, cropping — but the actual image is all hers.

What do you think about the Fall? Is it your favorite season? Does this image remind you of anything? Is there anything that you like about the image?

Split toning is just using two different colors to tone the highlights and shadows. One color for the highlights, one for the shadows. In the green images, I desaturated and then toned the images and the other set I didn’t desaturate beforehand. The first one came out better but I’m not sure if it’s because I took out the color first.

It doesn’t seem to add much to the last two images and I only showed them here to let everyone see that split toning is not something suitable for every image, but some of the photographs are really enhanced because of the split toning. I like the first purple-blue image of my shirt. That was what led me to pursue that scheme for more of the images.

Any way you go, it was an interesting experiment and I learned a lot by playing around with the images a little more. I’ve seen some very nice split toned images of landscapes but I haven’t shot much in that area lately. You might try it though, if you have Lightroom or a similar editing tool. Post-processing can often add another layer onto your photography that gives them depth and creates mood for the viewer. (And sometimes it just looks cool.)

Have you ever used split toning? If so, what do you think about it? What do you think about these particular images? Should they go farther or more subtle? Are they spot on?

Image via Wikipedia

Maybe you’re new to photography, maybe you just have a hard time remembering the relationship between ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to create a good exposure. I came across this posting in a forum that sums up the relationship in an analogy that is easy to remember. [note: the word faucet is repeatedly misspelled] Here is the full post, hope it helps.

The three exposure variables are ISO, Shutter Speed, and Aperture. Once you decide on the ISO, then you have 1 of 4 [exposure] decisions.

But before that, the best analogy I read about the relationship between ISo, shutter & aperure, is the bucket-facet [sic] example:

Imagine having to fill a bucket up with water by placing it under a facet [sic]. You can’t let the bucket overflow (which would be “over-exposure”) BUT you have to fill it up all the way (“proper” exposure) because not filling it up all the way would be “under-exposure”. So that leaves two ways to fill the bucket – just barely open the facet [sic] (aperture) and it takes a long time (shutter speed) to fill the bucket - or open the facet [sic] full-blast (wide aperature) and the bucket quicly [sic] fills.

So once you set your ISO, you have 1 of 4 basic decisions – 2 shutter speed and 2 aperture:

1. Do you want to freeze action (ex’s would be a pic of a hummingbird or sports photography)? Then this means a fast shutter speed.

2. Do you want to blur action or show motion (ex’s would be a blurred waterfall or a night shot of the stars and streaks of their light). That’s a slow shutter.

3. Do you want a small depth of field (portraits\wildlife pics are obvious examples)? This means wide aperature.

4. Do you wand [sic] a large DOF (landscape photog)? Small aperture.

Like the bucket example, once you make a decision of wanting to open the facet [sic] a certain amount, or how fast you want to fill  the bucket, once you decide on one of those four composition decisions, the other variable is set.