LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello and how the hell are you?  If this is your first time here thanks for stopping by.  In this blog we are going to talk about who influences your photography and why.  There are many reasons that we all look to other photographers for help and inspiration for our own work.  I know that I did when I was first starting out.  I still look over images from my favorite photogs trying to figure out how they took his or her shots.  I try to workout what focal length they used to get the images they are taking.  I also try to workout what shutter speeds and iso’s they used.  No I don’t ask them for those settings because it is more fun for me to try and work it out for myself.  

There is many reasons that we follow our favorite photogs because of his or her styles on how they edit an image.  The way that they take the image and the techniques that they put into the descriptions of the images.  These are all keys on how you can not only get a similar shot but also how to take the shot.  The base settings are never truly going to work because you are never going to get the same light that they had when they took the photo.  So work on what techniques that he or she used instead.  This will allow you to get a very similar looking image.  

To learn the techniques you have to study the images to see how sharp the focus is throughout the photo.  If the photo you are studying is pin sharp throughout the photo then you have a strong chance that it was either taken at f16 or if was focus stacked.  The way to tell if the image was focus stacked look at the foreground if there is a object that is really close to the lens then they defiantly focus stacked the image.  If it looks like there is room away from the lens then it was most likely shot at f16.  This is the process that I use to determine how and what to practice when out shooting myself. 

Now look at the skies in his or her images are the highlights blown out or are they perfect not to bright then they did one of two techniques.  They probably shot a bracketed image to keep the highlights under control which will also give you all the details in the shadows.  This is a common way to shoot into the sun which will give you the full amount of dynamic range for your image.  The other technique would be to Expose To The Right (ETTR).  When you are doing this you are shooting for the highlights to not be blown out.  This you have to use your histogram and keep the highlights to the point that they are just touching the right hand side of it.  This will allow you to keep all the details in the highlights and the shadows.  

These four techniques are what I look for in the images that I am studying.  Breaking down an image allows you to figure out what you need to shoot.  By studying your favorite photog and how he or she gets the perfect exposure will help you grow in your own craft.  I studied many photogs throughout the time I have been shooting.  This paid off for me when I was standing at a famous comp that I found not by asking the person where it was but by looking for it myself.  I was able to figure out what focal length I needed for the shot to look like his and I nailed it on the first attempt.  That never would have happened if I would have just asked what he used to get the shot.  I felt so good about getting it myself.  

Now I am at the point that I breakdown every image to try and see if I can do a similar shot.  This is not to steal their comps it is to workout what and how they took the shot.  You see for my night images I studied a great night photographers work for years trying to workout how he was shooting his images.  The clarity that he was getting in his foreground work was amazing and I wanted my images to have that as well.  I looked and studied his work with a fine tooth comb trying to workout what he was doing.  I would look at his images and try and try but always failed in getting my images as clean as his.  Then one day it hit me what technique he was using.  That night I went out and tried it and all the checks ticked the boxes.  I then talked to him and asked him straight up what he did and he confirmed it.  I was stoked I figured out what he was doing to get those clean images.  The next statement out of his mouth was why didn’t you just ask I would have told you.  I said that took all the fun of learning away from how I learn.  

We laughed about it and talked shop more about how he and I take photos.  You see it was important for me not to ask because I wanted to earn his respect more by figuring it out on my own.  The reason for that is I felt that I was on the same level as he was for this technique and the only way to prove that to myself was to come to him when I figured it out.  This made our relationship grow and allowed us more to talk about later.  My whole point to this is if you just ask the photog what and how they took the shot they will tell you and so will I.  The reason that I personally don’t ask the photog what they use is I feel it makes me grow learning the technique on my own and then doing it.  This allows me to confirm it and prove to myself that I can do it without the handout from that person.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy from St Johns y’all