Nikon D3S, ISO 6400, f/5.6, 1/2000, 28-300mm also used SU-800 Speedlight Commander to fire SB900 Speedlight off camera.  The RadioPopper PX System is used to be sure the signal for flashes works outside.

We have all seen photographs with too much “stuff” in them. Because the photographer does not attempt to select one subject, the image fails to communicate. It’s the visual equivalent of a run-on sentence.

A close-up of detail frequently reveals more of the subject than a picture of the whole issue. So many photographers want to shoot general views because they believe they offer “good composition” or capture beautiful light. The detailed photograph can have more impact and communicate more because the photographer is forced to be interpretive with the detail. The isolated part can tell more, be more emphatic, and be more quickly appreciated and understood. It tells the story in a compressed, sometimes dramatic, fashion by scaling down to point out a specific idea to the most significant effect.

In approaching a subject, decide how much to include in the camera’s viewfinder. Force yourself to look around the subject and at each of the corners and everything within the viewfinder’s frame. If anything detracts from the theme, move in closer to eliminate it; if there is not enough to tell the story, drive back to include more. The key to this process is to know what you want; the details will fall naturally into place, and “composition” is achieved.

I have found the following exercise effective with my students at Reinhardt College. First, shoot a large scene, then close in on it and cut it in half. Close in repeatedly until you finally isolate the most crucial subject and thus make a statement about the main thing in the scene. In this way, you learn that much of what you see in a picture may not be that important — and how to select the part or parts that are most meaningful.

Great photographers know that composition is a matter of feeling rather than of rules learned by rote. You will develop this feeling as you gain experience, but you will never really “know it all” because you will emphasize different things as you learn more about life. Composition, ultimately, is just another way of looking at life.

Finding Forrester is one of my favorite films. In the movie, William Forrester, played by Sean Connery, is a reclusive Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist who never gave the world a second novel. Forrester befriends a 16-year-old inner-city basketball player named Jamal. Jamal, an aspiring writer, visits Forrester’s apartment to seek the author’s wisdom. In one scene, Forrester and Jamal have a lively discussion about writing rules, such as “You shouldn’t start a sentence with ‘and.'” They talk about how breaking the rules can create a significant impact. If overdone, however, it also can have a devastating effect.

This is so true in photography. Photographers must study and know the rules of good visual composition like writers study and learn the rules of good writing composition. Once you understand the rules, your ability to break them helps you have a better impact on your photos.

Breaking the rules can create visual surprises. Tom Kennedy was the director of photography for National Geographic magazine when I showed him my portfolio many moons ago. While my work was professional and of excellent quality at the time, Kennedy commented that he wanted more surprises.

Kennedy had seen just about everything in his role at National Geographic. When Kennedy said he wanted to see more surprises, he wanted — for example — to see shots that weren’t taken from my average standing or sitting height. One of the things his critique had me doing right away was looking for the extreme. I started shooting with my camera on the ground and finding ways to get up high. I also started to shoot extreme close-ups, another change in what I’d been doing.

There comes the point in your photographic journey where you begin to find your voice. In the movie, Forrester had Jamal use a typewriter to copy Forrester’s work simply. The author started doing this after he set down a typewriter in front of Jamal, and the pupil just sat there waiting for something to come into his head. When Forrester saw Jamal wasn’t typing, he asked Jamal, “What are you doing?”

“I am thinking,” said Jamal.

“No thinking,” Forrester replied. “That comes later.”

Forrester gave him some of his work to copy to get the juices flowing. Through punching the keys and going through the actions, Jamal loosened up and slowly, after copying the job, started to write his work.

Photographers do the same thing. We copy other people’s work to learn how they did it and then add the underlying technology to our long-term memory to use later. Most arts require mastering specific skills before you can create your original works. This typically takes about five years. You can see this as musicians learn to play an instrument like a piano.

After copying the concepts of other photographers, you soon learn that your work is no better or worse than many others. This is when you realize that to stand out from others, you must do something unique — your surprise.

Forrester had a great quote that made me think; he asked, “Why is it the words we write for ourselves are always so much better than the words we write for others?” As photographers, we don’t always receive assignments that challenge us; there’s only so much you can do with a check presentation, for example. Most of the great photographers I know have a secret to their work — personal projects that sustain their creative juices.

The key to surprising others is first to surprise yourself — to take risks and look through your camera differently, not being afraid to break the rules. Stretch your way of looking and see if there is a better perspective than you usually take when taking photos. Who knows what you might discover?

Fuji X-E2, 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/50 [What happens when I leave my camera sitting around]

Many in today’s iGeneration have had a childhood of T-ball, soccer, and dance classes expect a trophy if they just participated. I assume most people know there is more to life than showing up on time – but you’d be surprised how often meeting minimum standards will put you ahead of the competition.

I just handed in the grades for a class I taught in photojournalism at Reinhardt College. Real-world projects are what I assigned to the students. They had three assignments: an environmental portrait, covering an event, and a photo story.

I ask the students to turn in their assignments as if submitting them to an editor. First, they needed a cover letter to tell me about their proposal. Next, they required a folder with their selects and another with all the images they shot. The selects needed to have a caption embedded in the IPTC fields. Most editors enjoy being able to send a photo to the designer who already has the caption in the picture.

Some students forgot the captions; some forgot the cover letter, and some were late handing them in. So, while most had everything done correctly, we still had somewhere the captions lacked the essential five Ws.

I continue to hear horror stories from clients about photographers who didn’t meet their minimum expectations. I even know photographers who did the work and never handed in an invoice! It is incredible how excitement will be received by ensuring all the elements are done for a project and turning them in on time (or early!).

One of my favorite creative directors is Tony Messano. He gives sage advice. I can understand why he was judging advertising work all over the world.

Tony expects a photographer to shoot the assignment the way Tony conceives it – but his favorite photographers not only give him what he wants; they go beyond his concept and shoot it their way. Often, they will shoot it just as he says and push the idea further with lighting composition or another element. They bring something extra to the table.

If you are meeting the expectations of your clients, you are doing better than most others in the industry. But, to rise to the top, go a little beyond the expectations.

Don’t be satisfied with the trophy everyone gets for just showing up. Instead, be the person singled out for going beyond the call of duty. Never stop looking for a unique approach or something different. The stretching will keep you youthful and agile in today’s ever-changing marketplace.

Figure 1

My wife Dorie was standing in line at a local drugstore and overheard a customer complain about his photos. He asked, “Why is their head chopped?” The clerk told him the photo technician was off but could help him tomorrow.

As I walked up to Dorie, she told the customer that I was a professional photographer and could probably help. Many years ago, I managed a one-hour photo lab in Texas, where customers were asking this same question almost daily.

Figure 2 – This is an 8×10 crop of the Figure 1 photograph

Missing heads (and other disappearing objects) are standard when making prints. The reason? Digital cameras create pictures of a particular shape and a height-to-width ratio. When we order prints, say a 4 x 6 or an 8 x 10, the body or ratio is different for each size image.

Unfortunately, the machine that prints the pictures doesn’t know how to crop the images in the best way because it’s a machine — so heads go missing from the edges of our photographs. To overcome this problem, photographers need to understand that parts of our photos will be cropped off and allow for this when we make the picture.

An aspect ratio is the relationship of an image’s width to height. For example, Digital cameras produce files with an aspect ratio of 4:3 or 2:3 in most cases. But standard print sizes have different aspect ratios. For example, a 4 x 6 print has an aspect ratio of 3:2; an 8 x 10 has an aspect ratio of 5:4.

To avoid having people arbitrarily clipped by your software or photo printing service, you should crop the photo to the correct aspect ratio, the way you want it to look, before printing. Most of the newer software will have preset aspect ratios for standard photo print sizes in the crop tool.

In Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, for example, you can enter the height and width in the options bar before making a crop selection to crop to a specific aspect ratio — but avoid putting a number in the resolution field if you don’t want the image re-sampled when you cut it.

If you don’t have Photoshop, try using a lab such as PPRPix. Labs of this nature have the software you use through your Web browser to crop before you order your prints. This software has a crop-and-preview tool. It allows you to see crops instantly of all photo sizes. Since Photoshop costs more than $600, this free tool can be a great option, particularly for photographers just starting.

When the camera merged with the computer to give us digital photography, the skills to be a successful photographer changed dramatically. Before digital photography, professional photographers only had to know how to use a camera.

Almost everyone working before the computer became commonplace has experienced this phenomenon. After that, jobs were integrating computers into many people’s jobs was commonplace. As a result, everyone has had to learn how to do word processing and e-mailing the computer to maximize their efficiency for work, depending on their comfort level with computers.

Transitions

Some didn’t handle this transition well. Many employees always had to ask the office’s resident “computer guy” to help them with everything e-mail merging, printing envelopes, attaching documents to e-mails, and so on. Because they didn’t learn, they became less valuable employees, while the computer guy became more valuable.

Recessions

In 1990, the publication industry took a big hit. I lost my job due to the recession. My friends also lost their jobs since newspapers were dropping like flies; many two-newspaper towns lost one of their publications.

Fortunately for me, I had computer skills to fall back on. These skills helped me to sell computer systems to corporations in Long Island for Tandy Corporation. I used my knowledge to help design client networks and create mass-marketing databases. I enjoyed the photography forums on CompuServe long before 1993. It was 1995 when the World Wide Web took off. I took a class at Georgia Tech on designing Web sites and created my Website in 1995.

Scanning

In the early 90s, I scanned transparencies and film to digitize photos for publication. Once the digital camera surpassed the quality of this process, it was easy for me to make the transition. Today I speak to my peers at conferences and workshops as an expert on digital photography and how to use the computer to run their businesses.

Since moving from a staff position to a full-time freelancer, I have watched my business average 20 percent annual growth. Many friends have been losing their businesses and staff jobs during this time. I’ve realized that the most significant single factor in my success is the knowledge of computers as it relates to photography. Those who have failed have generally not kept up with technical developments.

The successful photographer today is the integrated photographer. In technology, “integrated” refers to two or more components merging into a single system. The integrated photographer is a professional who has combined mastery of the camera with computer skills.

From the beginning, digital SLR users have been frustrated by dust. Those little specks are like blood clots in the digital workflow—they can slow you down or ruin your best work. Sure, you can remove imperfections in Photoshop, but when dust gets on your sensor, you must fix it until the problem is addressed.

You’re better off preparing on the front end, aren’t you? Here are six steps to ensure a dust-free photo shoot:

1. Always keep the body cap or a lens on your camera. Having an SLR camera dangling around your neck without a lens is the No. 1 reason photographers spend hours using the cloning tool or healing brush in Photoshop to remove dust from their images.

2. Don’t mess around when changing lenses. Keep the new lens close by and ready to switch out.

3. Clean your camera bag. Dust in your bag will eventually end up on your SLR, so make sure it’s as clean as you want your images.

4. Check your sensor for dust. Your camera is not airtight. Zooming a lens can create a suction that pulls dust into the camera and onto the sensor. It is inevitable dust will get onto a sensor. Here is how you can check it:

• Attach a telephoto lens or zoom and set it at the longest, most extended, and smallest aperture.
• Manually focus on the closest setting on the lens.
• Using the manual setting, set the exposure to one stop over the normal exposure. Photograph a clear sky, white wall, or white paper. The camera shake will not affect this at all; it will still reveal the specs of dust.
• Ingest to your computer and increase the contrast to the highest — it will help reveal the dust.
• View the image at 100 percent and review the entire image.

5. Use a hand blower to remove the dust. Do not use compressed air, which can damage the sensor or camera. Read your camera manual on locking up the mirror and keeping the shutter open to reveal the sensor. After this step, check your sensor for dust again.

6. Use a brush or swab to remove any remaining specks. If you’re not experienced in cleaning your camera and cannot remove all the dust with a hand blower, you may wish to turn the job over to a professional at this point. But if you want to clean it yourself, you will need special brushes like those at VisibleDust or Copper Hill Images. Using a swab, which uses methanol, is another way to get rid of stubborn dust; you can find one at Photographic Solutions. The methanol will clean the sensor and not leave streaks like water or other products often do.

Following these steps at least every few weeks can avoid the computer cloning and healing that can slow your workflow to a crawl. This will help you focus on the subject, not the speck in your camera’s eye.

I remember the moment clearly. I had just finished playing Haydn’s Concerto In E-Flat Major For Trumpet for the first time without any mistakes.

“Now you are ready to start working on it,” my music teacher said.

I was so disappointed; I thought I had nailed the piece and was ready to move on to something else. But while I had played each note on the page correctly, I was being taught an important lesson: I could only avoid sounding like a robot on the instrument by mastering the nuances.

Artists look at things differently than non-artists do. We notice detail; we appreciate nuance and beauty. Artists respond differently to things than non-artists do. We tend to be more sensitive.

Nothing can sharpen your understanding of the nuances of photography more than macro photography. This is where you photograph objects extremely close, where the image projected on the “film plane” (i.e., film or a digital sensor) is the same size as the subject. We would say the image is a 1:1 ratio.

There are a few ways to get this close to the subject with a camera. You can buy a macro lens, which gives you 1:1 or even closer. You can buy a set of close-up filters that you screw onto the front of your lens that lets you get closer. Extension tubes also go between your lens and camera to let you get closer. Another tool is a bellows that acts like a zooming extension tube. The last way to get closer is using a teleconverter. These teleconverters increase the magnification of the lens and come in 1.4 or 2.0 powers. They go between the lens and the camera to work.

Once you choose the way you want to do macro photography you will soon discover the closer you get to the subject the less depth-of-field you have. This is to say the amount of area that is sharp in front of the point you choose to focus on to the space behind that point is quite shallow. You typically will need a ƒ/number of ƒ/11, ƒ/16 or even greater for just the subject to look like it is in focus.

Since you will be working with such a small aperture (ƒ/number), you will need a lot of light or a good tripod to keep the camera from moving while taking the photo.

Today’s flashes, which you can buy for your camera, are so advanced that they can make this a lot of fun. Before, you had to be a physicist to understand all the math to make a good exposure. Now buy the flash with the TTL feature, and the camera and flash together will give you the perfect amount of light to make your photo.

I recommend buying the extension cord, which lets you take the flash off the camera and put it where you need the light — right in front of the lens.

Once you have all the equipment, you will be where I was when I finally learned how to play all the notes of Haydn’s trumpet concerto — ready to unleash the artist within by discovering the nuances of a subject.

Here is an example of the photo the grandmother showed me on the plane, except I am closer than she was with her camera.

While flying out of Dallas, I was sitting by a sweet little grandmother. She had been visiting her grandchildren and was eager to talk about them. She showed me a snapshot of a red dot in the middle of someone’s front yard. The red dot (at least to her) was a compelling photograph of her granddaughter in a little red dress my new friend had made for the child.

All I could see was a red dot, but the grandmother could see the beautiful little girl and her handmade red dress in her mind’s eye. If I had made photographs like that one while I was on my assignment, it would have been the last time I ever worked for that client!

That grandmother held a snapshot that was a memory jogger for her and those who already knew the little girl. A photograph that can communicate to anyone is something else altogether.

If my assignment had included that child, I would have needed to show the cute little daughter up close enough for anyone to see how charming she was, and perhaps through body language, the child could let the viewer know how proud she was of her new dress.

I believe there are two main reasons people make photos:

1. People take pictures to please themselves
2. People take pictures to communicate something to others

Making photos for ourselves is pretty straightforward. We know right away if the image was successful. Either we like it, or we don’t. If we don’t like it, we can probably figure out what would make it better. Photos we take for ourselves belong to the category of snapshots. They are intended for the family photo album to hold memories of vacations, birthdays, and other of life’s special events.

One year I decided to help my father transfer the family movies to video. It was a pretty simple setup, but it worked. We projected the film onto a screen and videotaped them while our family watched the old movies. The video camera captured our comments as we watched the old films. The funny thing is that every time we watch these videos together, the family makes the same comments, and we laugh at how these old pictures always trigger the same responses.

As I think back, I realize that the older films, the ones made before I was born, don’t do much for me. You just had to be there for these snapshots to work.

Okay, so if we want our photos to communicate, we must consider another person’s point of view. So how can we attract and hold the attention of our audience? One way to learn this is by studying the work of photographers whose work does just that.

I suggest aiming for the top. If you like sports, then open Sports Illustrated and study the photos. Ask yourself and others why these photos work if you enjoy traveling photography; learn about National Geographic, Southern Living, or other magazines that do a good job keeping paying audience.

Some key elements keep the viewer’s attention. Editorial photographers try to stop the viewer with their photographs. They want the photo to spark curiosity, to make us read the caption under the picture. A good caption will make us want to read the story.

Here are some of the critical elements that distinguish a good photo from a snapshot:

It is stopping power. The world is full of visuals vying for our attention. There are photos on products, TV, magazines, newspapers, the web… everywhere, pictures, pictures, and more!

I believe the key is to show our audience something different. We take most snapshots from standing height and way too far away. Get down to the ground for a worm’s eye view or get up on something for a bird’s eye view. Get a lot closer. Closer will give our photo a little stopping power. It’s out of the ordinary. It’s a surprise.

Communication of purpose. Engaging with content is the goal. People want to be amused, entertained, or learn something from a photograph. We need to think about why we are taking a picture. If we aren’t sure, no one else will be either, and we’ve made another snapshot.

Emotional impact or mood. Some folks can tell stories better than others. The same is true with taking photos, but we will make better photos if we consider how to bring more drama into them. The key to creating emotional impact is first to experience the emotions we wish to convey. We need to have a genuine interest in the subjects we photograph.

Our photos need to be technically correct, that’s understood, just as we expect a musician to at least play the right notes. But if the image doesn’t draw the viewer in and move them, it’s like listening to a machine perform Chopin. What we choose to include or exclude makes up the graphical elements that can catch the viewer’s attention.

Remember, a technically competent photograph often is no more than a technically competent snapshot and quite dull. Of course, we must be sure the camera’s settings are correct, but this is only the beginning. We need to look for a new perspective, look for another point of view so that people will want to see more of our pictures rather than looking for ways to get out of enduring more snapshots.

Don Rutledge is editing a coverage.

“I have three treasures which I hold and keep. The first is mercy, for from mercy comes courage. The second is frugality, from which comes generosity to others. The third is humility, for from it comes leadership.” — Master Po

“Strange treasures. How shall I hold them and keep them? Memory?” — Caine

“No, Grasshopper, not in memory, but your deeds.” — Master Po

What makes a great mentor is an interested student. I often think of the old TV series Kung Fu, where the main character has flashbacks to his childhood, asking many questions of his master. We do not see the master pressing the boy so much as the young boy seeking out the master’s wisdom. If you genuinely want to learn and are open to criticism, you can learn much from a mentor.

I watched one of my mentors, Don Rutledge, mentor many people. Working with Don and down the hall from his office was privileged. Don Rutledge was a staff photographer for Black Star and later worked covering missionaries around the world for Christian magazines. He traveled throughout the United States and in more than 150 countries.

I watched, noticing that no matter who came by, Don made the time to sit down with the person and talk. They would bring their portfolios and mostly wanted a job doing what he was doing. Most were using Don; some were so bold as to go to Black Star trying to take his job. Many went on to prosperous careers but failed to thank Don for his wise counsel or generosity in providing industry contacts.

Like everyone else, I sat down with Don and had him review my work. But I gained the most valuable insight when Don invited me to come along on some of his shoots. We took trips together where I would watch him work and occasionally hand him a lens. Observing Don is where I learned from a master of the craft.

John Howard Griffin changed his skin color to black for the research for his book Black Like Me. (Photo by Don Rutledge)

I watched as Don got out of the car and introduced himself to the subject. He would talk for a while with the person in a casual conversation, which was an interview. He was listening and learning all he could. What would make a good photograph? What would be good quotes for the story? And by the way — his cameras were either in the car or in his bag during this time.

After each story, during our car ride back, I would ask lots of questions and learn even more about what Don thought as he worked. Then, we would review the photos when the contact sheets came back from the lab. I only knew of a few photographers who sat down and looked through Don’s contact sheets and learned from him how he worked. Most were only interested in guidance about their work; they didn’t know what they were missing.

When looking for a mentor, find someone at the top of the industry with a personality and work you admire. Please show them your work regularly and ask for advice. Ask if you can watch them work, and ask to help them. Most importantly, become friends with them for a lifetime; don’t just use people for your career development. And finally — give back by mentoring someone yourself.

“But Master, how do I not contend with a man that would contend with me?” — Caine

“In a heart that is one with nature, though the body contends, there is no violence, and in the heart that is not one with nature, though the body is at rest, there is always violence. Be, therefore, like the prow of a boat. It cleaves water, yet it leaves in its wake water unbroken.” — Master Po

How did I learn about Don? My uncle Knolan Benfield worked with him from 1969 to 1979. Knolan told me so much about Don that I thought I already knew him when I met him. Don had impacted Knolan’s work and improved his photography.

My master’s thesis was on Don Rutledge; you can read it here. It will take a minute to load.

What I learned from Don changed my life. Today I teach at colleges and workshops, and, like Don, I am willing to help anyone because Don showed me it was necessary. Ultimately, I learned why Don had given so much. It was because, in giving, we receive so much ourselves.

On my last trip abroad to Haiti, I realized not knowing the language keeps me focused on just looking for images. Not speaking French is excellent in many respects because I am trying to understand what is going on by watching visual cues and listening to the tone of people’s voices. Since I do not have the language to clue me in about what is taking place, I am more focused on what I should have been doing for years. I am seeing the situation my viewers will be visiting it. They cannot hear the conversations through printed pages or on the web.   

I spent a lot of time looking for exciting visuals because I had no idea what they were saying. I would smile and nod to those who I made eye contact with. Amazing how close I felt to people when I couldn’t talk to them. The language barrier has helped to remind me the audience cannot hear and pick up on what is going on in a still image. So I must look for those moments which communicate visually intimate moments which bring the viewer closer. Photos get better when I realize I must concentrate on what is in the viewfinder. Understanding what is going on can help me anticipate better, but the results must still be what is in the viewfinder’s frame.