I didn’t travel to Indonesia for these photos of the Umbrella Cockatoo where they originated. I walked down the street to my neighbor’s house.

Peggy Hewitt, my neighbor, has 14 exotic birds she has rescued and is trying to find bird lovers to buy them from her.

Someone wanting to adopt a parrot must know they live a very long time as far as pets. The umbrella cockatoo is a long-term commitment for an owner — this species can live up to 70 years with proper care and attention.

Often photographers think that they must go somewhere exotic to find the unknown.

Well, my mentor Don Rutledge always said that the best stories are often in your backyard, or in my case, next door.

I have lived at my house for the past nine years, and this is the very first time I have been to Peggy’s house and seen her birds.

When we first moved to our home, my daughter, Chelle, talked to her and saw all her birds.

When teaching photography one-on-one to a student at my house, I was trying to create some things we could photograph around the neighborhood. We ran into her and asked when we were out photographing the fall colors.

I think the one thing that keeps most photographers from ever getting better is the fear of talking to people.

It is much easier to walk outside and look for nature shots than to walk next door and say hello to your neighbor.

While nature photos can be stunning, I don’t think any pictures from my yard were as exciting to look at until I talked to my neighbor. By taking the time to get to know my neighbor, I discovered something much more exotic than I would expect to find when I travel the world, but it was just next door.

Have you met your neighbors and found out what their hobbies are or what they do for work? Maybe your best pictures have been in your neighborhood all this time, and you were too scared to talk to people to find out.

We have been fighting the wrong fight for copyright registration. That is my opinion.

For most of my career, we have told everyone that you own your copyright when you click your shutter. If you are on a company’s payroll, they hold that photo unless there is some written agreement giving you the copyright.

We know that is where the work-for-hire agreement came from when dealing with usage rights and copyright.

While the ownership of the copyright hasn’t been up for debate other than who owns it based on who is paying for the creation, the issue has been about the courts.

I was informed that you needed to register your copyright with the copyright office to be able to collect legal fees. Those are all the fees you can award if you win a case. The judge reviews all the legal fees and makes a separate ruling on how much the other side must pay for you taking this to court.

I learned early on that the going rate for copyright infringement cases was about $100,000 and took at least a year or more in the courts.

For the past 30 years, ASMP and NPPA that I am a member, have spent lots of money lobbying Congress to protect that registration process.

I believe there is a better solution today. Do away with copyright registration. Get congress to change the law that you can collect legal fees if you can show copyright infringement.

As far as proving your images are yours, there is Blockchain technology already on the market.

The idea of a blockchain — protecting data through an extensive network of computers — and applies the concept to managing photo rights. It is an “encrypted digital ledger of rights ownership for photographers.” Photographers can add new images as well as archive images to the system. Because of the blockchain structure, the data is stored on an extensive network of computers that helps create a public ledger, adds a layer of protection, and prevents data loss.

There are centralized and decentralized solutions right now available for Blockchain.

The point I make is that the current registration of your images with the copyright office is outdated. With blockchain, these servers can also police the web and find anyone using your images without rights.

Because Blockchain works so well with digital photographs, it will let you sell and track any usage of your images and keeps them from being used illegally since it codes pictures and makes them no longer easily copied and shared.

Blockchain can help us not just prove we shot an image. It serves as an agency and collector.

We need to change the copyright laws and not continue to use a system that is outdated and not serving the artist community well at all.

I have talked about shooting enough photos of a subject to allow our imagination and creativity to kick in.  Now that we are all doing just that (making plenty of pictures every time we approach a subject), we can see how even a millimeter’s change in angle can make the difference between a good and a great photograph.  Or, for that matter, it doesn’t take much to make the difference between a good shot and a crummy one.

If we print all the digital images from a shoot as large thumbnails, we’ll have several pages of images we can study side-by-side.  This should give us some insight about our work that is looking at our photos one at a time will never give us.

Editing software like PhotoShop allows us to rate photos from zero to five stars.  Here are some guides to use as we look to see if we have any FIVE STAR photos in that shoot.

Exposure.  Not just the technically correct one, but the proper exposure for the effect we wish to convey.  We can under-expose a little to emphasize graphics or over-exposed (this is done a lot in fashion photography to diminish skin tones or to highlight eyes and lips).

Focus.  I love selective focus, where the depth of field is very shallow.  This lets me direct the viewer’s attention to where I want it to go.  It makes the subject pop out.  We see this used in fashion and sports photography a lot.  Just the opposite (a deep depth of field) may be just what is needed in landscape photos, and indeed, it is a necessity in macro photography.

Anytime we make someone feel as if they can see into our photography, we have accomplished something.  After all, it is only a two-dimensional object.

Composition.  Medical students are told, “First, do no harm.” Photographers should take the same advice and leave out all unnecessary elements.  All composition is the selection of what should be in and out of the frame when we release the shutter.  Speaking of framing… to add depth to a picture, frame it as you take it.   Shoot under the branch of a tree or through a door or window.  A frame is only one of many visual elements that can draw a viewer into our photo.  Elements like leading lines will give it a three-dimensional feel.

Anytime we make someone feel as if they can see into our photography, we have accomplished something.  After all, it is only a two-dimensional object.

See how the feet are cut off.

We can include the feet and anchor the photo, barely moving the camera.

Lighting.  Light can draw one into the photo, too.  Light is probably the most dramatic, mood-setting tool we have as photographers, next to expression and body language.  The color temperature can be powerful.  The warm late evening light, the cool early morning colors, or the green cast of fluorescent office light each carries a mood of its own.

Expression.  Realtors like to say what matters is location, location, location.  Portrait photographers KNOW that the composition may be beautiful, the lighting creative, the clothing and background perfect, but if the EXPRESSION isn’t what it needs to be…. No sale!  Is a smile what is needed? (By the way, NEVER tell ANYONE to smile.)  Most adults can’t turn it on an off and kids will come up with some rather unusual expression, but generally NOT a real smile.  If, as a photographer we need the to smile – naturally – then it is up to us to elicit one from them.  We owe them that.  After all, we ARE the photographers.  Usually pictures of people should show their faces.  Sounds obvious, but if our subjects are watching something happening, say a ball game or a birthday party, we must be sure we are not so distracted by the event that we forget what is important… our main subject, the faces of our subjects.

Body Language. We can photograph someone several feet away (and not even show their face) and still communicate much about them if we watch their body language.  Watch their arms.  It’s incredible what we say just by the position of our arms.  Do our subject’s arms communicate what we want?  Are they open or closed?  Is the person in our photo leaning forward or backward?  Does their position engage or pull back?  Do they appear to be sensitive or cold? Are they reaching out to another or pushing them away?

The Eyes.  An eye doctor may tell us that the eyes don’t change.  Perhaps that is true in a technical sense.  Be that as it may, watch the eyes.  They describe it all!  However, it happens the eyes are the essence of a portrait.

The Head.  A millimeter’s turn of the head and a slight tilt is all it takes to distinguish between zero and five-star photography.

This is in no way a comprehensive list; it is only a sampling of many things we must consider when “grading” photos.

By moving the camera merely a millimeter, you can include their feet rather than chop them off, leave them out, or have another person change the mood.

A millimeter can keep the tree from growing out of your spouse’s head.  Moving an inch to the left may let the camera see a person’s face better or distinguish the main subject from their surroundings.

When we shoot enough photos, we see the difference that just a millimeter’s change can make.  Then we will begin to see why one image is terrible and another is good.

In the Olympics, the difference in millimeters determines who wins and loses a race.  In photography, it can be what differentiates a great photo from the others.

Robin Rayne says, “Make your emotion work for you and not against you; remember, God gave you tears.”

Robin spends most of his time photographing today in the disabilities community. He is a photojournalist and documentary producer for the University of Georgia’s Institute on Human Development and Disability. His compelling images illustrating human rights, disability, and gender diversity issues are distributed internationally by Zuma Press.

When I was traveling and could not photograph my daughter’s senior prom, Robin helped out for our family by getting photos of the critical event in our family.

I can always count on Robin to capture those moments. I called Robin when I knew I was away for that all too important Prom.

Robin sees moments and captures the emotions we feel. When asked how he does it with such emotional moments, he says, “I am thankful for autofocus when covering some stories because of all the tears.”

Great photojournalists embrace their emotions.

“Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.”

– Don McCullin

After Robin spoke this past weekend at the Atlanta Photojournalism Seminar, he commented that after talking with people about their portfolios, he always asked the critical question “WHY?” for the photos.

WHY does this story need to be told? WHY should the public care?

What is surprising to myself and Robin is asking this question you see the “deer in the headlights look” on their face.

Though it may be interesting or even entertaining, the maximum value of news is as a utility to empower the informed. The purpose of journalism is thus to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, communities, societies, and governments.

Robin is a photojournalist and not just a photographer. Robin is not interested in just entertaining the public; he is interested in informing the public. He is most concerned with telling the stories of people who cannot tell their own stories.

Robin is the voice for the voiceless. Robin also sees his role as one who is calling the next generation to take up the call of photojournalism. He knows he alone cannot tell all the stories needing to be said.

When I asked Robin to speak to my Intro to Photojournalism class at Grady College of Journalism & Mass Communication, he challenged the class.

If we want to feel an undying passion for our work, if we want to feel we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves, we all need to know our “WHY.”

Robin explained how his why probably came about having a son with disabilities.

You have to find your niche. The combination of your WHY and HOWs is exclusively yours as your fingerprint.

Covering events requires you to think as a photographer. This event was to honor Mohammad Ali; to do so, they had his daughter Maryum Ali as the keynote address.

On the stage off to the sides, were banners with Mohammad Ali’s photo. I worked to the side to get that behind Maryum, so it helped to tell the story using primarily visuals.

Now another issue in covering a dinner is the lighting.

To be sure the people’s faces looked good, I had to use a flash, but the problem was then the background would go black.

I used a higher ISO 16000 to keep the background visible.

I arrived early and had the guys running the sound and lighting board turn the lights on as they would be during the event. I then walked onto the stage and did a custom white balance using the ExpoDisc.

Using the ExpoDisc, I put this over the front of the lens and did an incident light reading and custom white balance.

With the perfect color space from doing a custom white balance, the dynamic range is increased to the fullest potential with that light source.

Tips for covering events

• Arrive Early and Leave Late
• Adjust your ISO to work with your flash to show context
• Look for angles to help capture visually what you need words to say about the event
• Get custom white balance
• Shoot RAW – Because no information is compressed with RAW, you’re able to produce higher quality images, as well as correct problem images that would be unrecoverable if shot in the JPEG format.

When should you use a flash, inside or outside? Would it surprise you that I use the flash more often outside than most people?

Compare this photo without a flash of the couple exchanging vows to celebrate their 25 years of marriage—no flash in this photo.

Now, having a flash of the camera could put some light on the husband’s face.

You see, outside, you get some sunlight that will create harsh shadows. Off-camera flash lets you put the light where it needs to be.

Often outside, like at this party, the background is so bright, and the people are in the shade. Without a flash, you would have blown out the background and very flat light on their faces.

In this group photo, I have the flashes off at 45º from my camera, which lets me improve the faces’ light.

I find that an off-camera flash at 45º to 90º creates three dimensions to an object.

I also take photos without the flash outside. Knowing when to use a flash and when not to use one is good. Sometimes the image can look great both ways, with and without a flash.

I recommend you try using off-camera flash outside. See what it can do for your photos.

Here is the Godox flash system I use and tips on using it.

This time of year, we are supposed to have the temperature drop and autumn set in, but today the low in my area was 51º, and the high of 76º Fahrenheit.

I drove up to Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground, Georgia, to see if Mother Nature painted the treetops in vibrant red, orange, and gold hues.

While the foliage isn’t widespread, I could isolate some colors.

Here are some of the colors I captured today. Enjoy!

Why?

Well, there are many “WHY?” questions when it comes to communication. One that I am discovering is not asked enough is, “Why should the audience care?”

Most organizations want to communicate with an audience to get that audience to help them. But the most obvious question they are missing is the WIIFM question. What’s In It For Me?

WIIFM is the stuff that shows how or why what you have to sell or say matters to those to who you are trying to sell or say it too. It’s the value proposition, the thing that makes them realize that what you’re offering is worth their money or their time.

I think most people think they have something important and that everyone will want to know.

The latest group of missionaries I worked with thought that churches should see their role as supporting them.

Now in consulting missionaries trying to connect with their supporters back home I had to remind them about WIIFM.

So, never forget that relationship building comes BEFORE favor asking. And there has to be a much bigger and better WIIFM when you approach people cold, without a solid relationship.

That said, sometimes people will offer favors if they are charmed by you, like you, or are just in a good mood. But given how overwhelmed most people are these days, they usually appreciate and respond well to clear propositions with a straightforward action attached—and a benefit. Otherwise, you just become part of the noise.

For the journalist, WIIFM is the stuff that shows how or why what you have to say matters to those to who you are trying to say it.

Spending time in Lima, Peru, this week has proven helpful. We could answer all the people’s questions later when we come back with 12 students and all the instructors.

We covered what we are doing each day and how the team is helping us interview the people they recommended for stories.

We went to the presidential palace to see about this being where we would bring the group for an outing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcwiTx1Ho_U

At this moment, we still have like one spot left.

Go to Storytellers Abroad to see how to register and come with us to Peru.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDrXTq_lvGE

Jon Stone is a professor at the Baptist Theological Seminary in Lima, Peru, and also one of those hosting the Storytellers Abroad team in January.

This is a must-visit for those interested in the early culture and how Christianity made its way to Peru. The Cathedral is beautifully designed, exterior and interior with natural skylights, and has a lovely garden within its compound. One of the most extensive libraries in Peru – a 2 tier, balconied library with spiral staircases that look very much like the movie of Harry Potter.

The highlight of the visit is to the underground catacombs – up to 3 different basement tiers, and you would need a guide to bring you through. The catacombs served as a burial place for all in that era, i.e., the rich, the poor, and the priests, and the bones and esp skulls are arranged in neat rows of up to some 70,000 dead.

Larcomar is located on Avenida Jose Larco, along the cliff next to the ocean (mar means ‘sea’ in Spanish), thus the name Larcomar.

Just one block from the big roundabout in Miraflores, you find Av. Petit Thouars. On blocks, 52 to 55 are many artisan markets selling nearly everything Peruvian craftsmanship. You get the typical souvenirs, nice artisan craftworks, beautiful silver jewelry and other silverware, clothes made of Peru’s famous alpaca, funny T-Shirts, pottery, paintings, wooden pieces, and much more from all over Peru.

Traditional Peruvian clothing and products, from shoes to tote bags, are made of bright, bold textiles.

The traditional Peruvian art form, known as ‘mates burilados,’ dates back 3,500 years.  The gourds tell a story of the customs, culture, people, history, and animals.  Hang them from a Christmas tree or use them as a decorative piece around your home.

Editor note: we still have two slots available for this trip in January. Go to Storytellers Abroad to see how to register and come with us to Peru.

Lima, Peru, is a desert. The weather patterns for South America generally move from East to West. Most of the moisture gets helped up in the Andes Mountains. The Andes is the most extended continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America.

There is a haze over the city due to so much dust from the desert.

People find places all over the area to build. Some rooms have some buildings similar to squatters in the United States. They make housing without plumbing and electricity.

During this trip, we are talking to the locals and our hosts for our Storytellers Abroad trip this January.  We are visiting some possible locations where our students will be doing stories. We are doing this to see any potential issues we may need to plan around.

We have visited the location we will use as the classroom part of the workshop.

Simple things like planning for power strips, projectors, sound, food, and where we are staying are all being looked at and planned for in this trip.

We are asking security questions about is it safe to walk with cameras from where we are staying to the classroom each day?

John’s credit card company sent him a promotion to eat at his favorite steak restaurant for 50% off. This place would likely be too expensive later for the class, but we love steak and a good deal.

The food was outstanding.

Today we will meet with their team and visit the prenatal clinic they started to help pregnant mothers.

Anyone doing a story must plan. You need to know how you will get places and if the people are available and willing to participate in the story process.

Today we will talk to those helping us identify stories to be sure those subjects will be available when we return for us to follow them for three to five days solid.

We are also planning for the transportation of how we will get all 12 students to each of their stories and who will help them also with the translation during their interviews. We have four people coming on the trip who speak Spanish, but the rest will need translators.

Today we have to help get everyone to see these stories as the stories “WE” want to tell together. The subject, the translator, the transportation, the storyteller, the caterer, and more are all helping make these stories come alive.

We are still exploring today and tomorrow. The more we prepare to do a story, the better the story will be for the audience.

Every time I review images I have taken to see if I can update my website. I have found fewer “Portfolio” ideas when I pull from assignment work.

What do I want to put on my website?

Often I shoot things that are just important to me. They are actual photos you would put in your journal.

People are not always hiring photographers to document everything, but I see the value in it for no one else but me. I love to look back and remember what I have done and seen.

For example, I took a helicopter ride this year over the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. This is so different than what I shoot most of the time.

I do many headshots like these actors studying at Columbus State University each year.

As every parent, I love doing things with our children. Making my daughter’s headshot for her to use in her career as an actress brings me great joy.

While this isn’t a soccer game photo, I do find myself making interesting sports photos. So who will hire you to shoot this? Should this be on my website?

How about a group photo? Well, many people do hire me to do team photos of their co-workers and, yes, sports teams as well.

Clients also hire me to photograph new things their company is doing. For example, Chick-fil-A started using canopies to help protect their team members, which helped speed up the drive-thru by being outside taking orders.

Do you put things on your website that are more of a trend? For example, many offices are renovating to the open office space design.

The biggest issue now facing corporate America is the lack of employees. The industry refers to this as attracting talent.

Companies are also trying to be sure they communicate their culture.

So this year, I captured some fun things as well for clients. Do they belong in a portfolio?

While fireworks are fun to see, would anyone hire me to shoot any for them?

I got a lot of likes for this photo on my Instagram account, but does this go into my website to help me get jobs?

This year, I took an afternoon to go and explore the Old Car City in White, GA. I got some fantastic shots. Again many people liked them on Instagram, so does this mean they go into my website portfolio?

I can see companies hiring me to shoot photos of their properties. They do want to remind people how to find them.

Now speakers at podiums lit by stage lighting are not that difficult to do, but should they be part of my portfolio? Can people figure out that those skills often transfer to something else if I can do one type of photography?

People are often more interested in the photos themselves, and if I have enough compelling images, I might get a call to shoot their event.

So how many images is enough? How many photos of events should I post?

What will draw people to my website?

I can tell you these are the thoughts of not just me but every photographer working today in this profession.

What do you think? Do any of these photos need to be on my website as part of my portfolio? Should some never be in my portfolio?

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”

– Robert Capa

This year I have been teaching Intro to Photojournalism. This is the first photography course for many of the students.

For many in the class, this is their first time taking pictures for an assignment. For most of the photos look a lot like this photo here.

Now, when you and I look at the photo, we see a BBQ Grill. They know the fireman.

I comment on their photo that they need to get closer. So the next round of shots looks more like this photo.

While this is a much-improved photo, my comments are still “Get Closer.”

Then we end up with this photo.

They have now switched to their telephoto lens. They are still not close enough. Again I am saying in my comments to get closer.

So instead of shooting with their zoom telephoto lens at 55mm, they zoomed in to 200mm.

I talk to them about getting closer with their wide-angle lenses.

This is what I show them and talk more to them about.

I want them to understand that getting close means moving their feet until they are right next to the subject. You would converse with them from a distance over a cup of coffee.

Why am I afraid of talking to people while at the same time I wish to speak with someone?

For the introvert, you are being held back because you are worried about being judged or don’t know what to say or … well, for any reason. Here is an insight that you need to know. You will discover, without realizing, that people you talk to are worried about the same things you are and feel just as afraid; they just might not show it. You are not alone.

I’m introverted at heart, but that doesn’t mean I have to be shy. The two are pretty different and realizing that shyness is a habit that can be broken was a big first step in understanding that I can develop social skills.

Realize it isn’t all about you. The trick I learned through the years was to focus on the other person. Make them the center of attention.

Instead of hiding behind texting or emails, go down the hall and talk to that person’s face to face.

The ice breaker was calm about having a camera and being on an assignment. Telling them, I am on a project and would love to feature them in a photo and tell their story worked most of the time.

I also learned that once I talked to someone and got to know them, I was now “Close Enough” to shoot with a wide-angle lens, and the photos were much better.

I would then take photos with those wider lenses and slowly move back to shooting with a moderate telephoto lens. For my full-frame Nikon D5, that go-to lens is the Nikon 85mm ƒ/1.8 lens for a portrait.

Most students have an 18-55mm lens on a cropped sensor camera. So here is me using the same lens as they have on a similar cropped sensor. I am showing you how to shoot from wide to close as you back out. The other thing I want them to do is to walk around the subject and shoot them from different angles.

Now, this is the moving around the subject. I am looking for an exciting and captivating image.

Now when shooting from the back, I try my best to show their face still. Sometimes it might work without their face.

Now go to the other side and see what that looks like.

Now zoom in and get a tighter shot.

Move again and shoot more images.

When shooting an event, I do this exercise over and over and over again. I want to have at least 10 to 30 images, of which I will pick only one of them for the photo story package.

“Spray and Pray” is a common phrase associated with the practice of shooting rapid fire, as many images as possible, and then hoping and praying that you’ve got something good. That approach rarely works. Notice in these examples I am moving and taking a couple of frames.

There are a couple of times where a motor drive can help. In those cases, such as photographing things like sports, doing panning shots, or anything with action like birds or wildlife – shooting in burst mode, and taking multiple frames at a time, will likely help you get some good images.

I have found that trying to get your first photo to be the one you want is much better than just starting to fire randomly and then picking an image later.

I suggest slowing down and taking fewer photos than the “Spray and Pray” mode. I am always looking.

When you are starting, it is better to overshoot. It would help if you pushed yourself early and became more aware of what will and will not work. You will find yourself walking around the subject, exploring and picking moments and compositions.