These are the students’ assignment results, where they were to create a 1:3 lighting ratio on the subjects. They could add a background color or just white. They could also have fun, but they had to demonstrate the 1:3 lighting setup.
Assignment Description: 1:3 lighting ratio. This photo uses classic lighting.
Items:
Softbox This light is your leading light. Get a light reading with just this first. The light should be 45 degrees off the axis of the camera and 45 degrees above the subject’s eyes.
Subject Your subject should have the main light lighting only part of the face, and the shadows should be just a little to show the 1:3 ratio.
White backdrop Keep the subject a few feet from the background, and do not use more lights to light it.
(D)SLR Choose the lowest ISO. Use a portrait lens of 50mm if you don’t have a full-frame camera can work. No more than 100mm.
Octobox The Octobox is your fill light; get just a reading of this 2nd. Be sure it is 1/2 the power (1 f/stop less) than the leading light. After this is done, get a 3rd light reading of both lights, which will be the setting for the camera. It can be level with the eyes, but you may have to move up with glasses to avoid glare.
I was tired of working at my computer when helping a friend who asked me to help fix their jump drive. It needed to be formatted.
Well, it just wasn’t working at first. After a few tries, I finally formatted it, and since I was used to just clicking the drive and clicking go in a moment, I accidentally formatted my external hard drive instead.
Panic struck as I realized what I had done and what I potentially had lost. The only good news was I had just put this new 2TB hard drive into service a few weeks ago.
The worst-case scenario was I lost images I had not posted to my cloud servers, which were all the camera RAW files. Once I finish running them through Lightroom, I post JPEGs and keep the RAW files in several places.
Everything was gone, and I hadn’t had a chance to create a backup on some of the files.
Frantically I tried to use my PhotoRescue software, but due to the newer Mac 10.10.1 operating system, it wouldn’t work.
I then found Data Rescue 4. I had to run a deep scan, and it took 24+ hours to scan the 2 TB hard drive. I recovered 95%+ of the hard drive. The only thing is the folder and organization weren’t as I hoped, but all the RAW files and JPEGs were there.
Couple of points that you need to know to recover the most. First, if you make a similar mistake, I make the stop and immediately do not use the hard drive until you have recovered your files. Second, formatting is terrible, but shooting more images and writing those to the hard drive is even worse.
On the Mac, open system preferences and then click on Energy Saver.
Change the Computer Sleep to never when running the program. Could you put it back when you are done? I made the mistake of not doing this, so when I set it to run overnight, after about 15 minutes, the computer stopped running and went to sleep.
While I would love to say the moral of the story is never to do this, there are times you too may be so tired and not thinking straight and make a mistake as bad as I just did. However, there are solutions, and this is one that worked for me.
Using jargon and acronyms from your industry with someone not familiar with that jargon will alienate rather than alleviate, creating a barrier bigger and harder to fix.
Word Choice
I grew up in a Southern Baptist Bubble. I used words in our bubble that were well understood when we said them. Here are some of those words:
Sin
Sanctification
Existentialism
Inerrancy
Predestination
In the circles I grew up in, I knew people that could quote scripture every other sentence, and they did!
I always wondered whether everyone around me understood what they were saying or just dropped words to sound impressive. Today, most of them were trying to impress more than truly understanding.
Today I find when someone starts down this road of a club language to be very divisive and offensive to me.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 2000, ƒ/8, 1/500
I think this is the reason so many nondenominational churches are growing. They tend to use the more familiar language of the marketplace versus a club language.
I was working with an NGO which happens to be run by Christians, but they want to get non-Christians involved in their social justice projects like digging wells around the world.
They asked for my feedback on a 3-minute video. Twenty seconds into the video, the subject talked about why they were involved with the organization. Then, they dropped the first club language word, “Kingdom of God.”
Immediately I could feel my body wanting to get up and leave. But unfortunately, the NGOs were unaware that the words alone were creating a barrier and doing just the opposite of what they hoped to accomplish.
Tips
First, learning to evaluate your language to see if what you are saying with words is connecting with your audience is tricky and requires practice. You need the help of trustworthy friends who will be frank with you. It would help if you had them hear or read your jargon and give you some feedback.
Now, if your friend grew up in the same bubble as you, the odds of them helping are less likely. The best feedback is from someone in the audience you want to reach that culturally would not be aware of all your language jargon.
Second, this might sound like it goes first, but in reality, as you are confronted with what you are trying to say with this word and being forced to use other words, you will realize you might not know your true intentions in your thoughts. So often, we say things that make people feel comfortable. However, if you are trying to elicit a response and not just put people at ease, you may have to think about your message.
Third, you need to realize also that even if you use all the correct words, things like psychological and emotional barriers might exist with the audience. They may prematurely judge your words and interpret something you are not saying before you finish your thoughts. The audience may not be paying attention and be distracted by something else in their life. They may distrust you, and anything you say isn’t heard.
There are just many more reasons than your words that communication breaks down. You should, however, make it your goal to word your conversations so that the audience understands them and opens up to hear your messages. So practice your messaging with a trusted friend, so your language helps you communicate more effectively.
Enjoying a picnic overlooking a scenic vista is the same reason I am stopping to take a photo. The picnickers are enjoying the moment.
Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 180, ƒ/14, 1/250
Here my friends Lily and her husband Philip enjoy looking for whales migrating off the coast of The Big Island.
Now driving down the road and just looking out the window might be closer to the video, but stopping and pausing is how a still image allows people to savor the moment visually.
Nikon D4, 14-24mm, ISO 720, ƒ/22, 1/250
Driving north from Kailua-Kona, we stopped at Hawi Renewable Development Wind Farm. Lily’s hair is getting the wind treatment just like the windmills.
I am making notes in my head about locations like this one. I am noticing how the light affects the scene for this time of day. What if I could come back at sunrise or even sunset? Would that improve the stage to have more visual impact?
In other words, is there a better time of day to hit the visual pause button to stop and enjoy the scene more than this moment?
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 110, ƒ/6.3, 1/250
Every morning here, I wake up to this scene. I walk past it on my way to breakfast. It is so peaceful; this is why I wanted to capture this and hold this memory forever.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 250, ƒ/8, 1/250
I enjoy watching tourists as they experience new locations.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 560, ƒ/8, 1/250
I encourage you to be like a tourist sometimes in your hometown. Those things you walk by every day can be things that, just as you pause to enjoy, will make others appreciate it just as much.
Is the photo better when I show the people on the stairs better to give a perspective, or is this closer shot better?
Sometimes we need to spend more time absorbing our surroundings to pause our bodies to allow us time to feel peace and examine why this brings so much joy to our lives.
We cannot expect a photo from a moving car to compare to the one where you stopped. But, acting like the friends having a picnic stays long enough to allow the scene to permeate you. It takes time to decide the best lens, angle, and composition to capture something that genuinely moves not just you but others.
Every once in a while, I injured my lower back. Years ago, I bought an inversion table similar to the one you see here.
Five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening hanging about like this angle you see here the lady doing is as far as I need to go.
You adjust the strap you see there, which would be tight to stop you from going perpendicular.
I went to a client’s office the other day with this lighting kit, plus a few other bags, and had to carry it upstairs and back down. In the process, my back went out slightly enough to be in pain.
After getting home, I went to the basement and got on the inversion table.
SURPRISE!!
Suddenly, the strap broke, and I went perpendicular with a jolt. Not a fun thing when you like to ease into this with a sore lower back.
Without that strap and being completely upside down with a sore back, it was impossible for me to write me. But, lucky for me, I had my phone on me.
The first call is to my wife, who is upstairs–NO ANSWER. She had her phone on vibrate and in her purse, so she didn’t hear my calls for help.
The second call was from my daughter, and I got her. She came down as my wife followed, and they pulled on their feet, and I could get out.
Who Ya Gonna Call?
Every photographer will have a time when their safety straps [metaphor] will break. You will catch yourself upside down and unable to do it alone.
Who will you call? I didn’t get married and have a daughter, so one day when my strap gave way on my inversion table, I could call them and needed saving. I got married because I fell in love with my best friend. We had a daughter and love raising her. Sometimes I think she is growing us.
I joined NPPA, ASMP, CIP, Sports Shooter, and other organizations through the years for the same reason I started dating–I enjoyed the community and getting to know people with similar interests, and we could do life together.
Through the years, my strap broke in some way in photography. So I reach out to my friends and get their advice and help.
Who’s your backup? Like I called my number one go-to in life–my wife, she wasn’t available. So I had to call my daughter. Time was the essence in the situation, with me being upside down.
If something were to happen to you, do you have a community to reach out to that is nearby and can help?
By the way, the best thing I have participated in through the years has been the Southwestern Photojournalism Conference, which is just a month away. So go and check it out and come if you can. Here is that link again for you http://www.swpjc.org.
Fujifilm X-E2. Fujinon XF 55-200mm, ISO 400, ƒ/4.8, 1/750
Our family has been waiting to be able to come to Orlando, Florida, to take in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter–Diagon Alley at Universal Studios.
J. K. Rowling is the writer of the Harry Potter literary series, which the books have gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies. They have become the best-selling book series in history.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/8, 1/500
While being the most prolific writer ever, her books were transformed into a series of films that became the highest-grossing film series in history.
One of her virtual gifts is her ability to create an entirely visual fantasy world. The movies captured much of those elements, and Universal Studios Theme Park allowed her fans to enter her world through the Harry Potter World.
Rowling consulted on the details for the theme park. There are many details that those who have read the books will appreciate because some of those elements were not in the movies.
Seeing Visually
It is a photographer’s paradise for seeing visual cues that cross over cultures and currently unite more than 65 languages.
Tips while visiting Universal Studios
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1250, ƒ/2.8, 1/500
Take photos no matter the time of day, but remember that you might want to redo some of these as I did here of my wife and daughter on Diagon Alley. I just used the on-camera flash to reveal their faces on the street, which otherwise would have been silhouetted. Now you can see the road behind them better than during the daytime.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 500, ƒ/3.2, 1/500
We visited the Nite Bus a couple of times. During the daytime, it is harder to see the shrunken head hanging. However, this is a significant part of this attraction. The director talks to you and even turns its head towards you.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/60
Notice how much more the Nite-Bus looks like you would expect in the book or movie when shot at night. What a concept, but you have to think about this to be sure you don’t miss a better mood shot. Also, notice how the light on the shrunken head helps it be easily seen at night.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.6, 1/55
Incorporate Available Light
I also chose to stay with available light and not use the pop-up flash. The light behind me from the street lamp was lighting the scene just fine.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 400, ƒ/5, 1/600– -1.7EV
My daughter has fair skin and wanted to be photographed with the theater production cases. To keep detail on her face, I dialed the EV to -1.7EV
Same as above but unretouched
Here are the Lightroom setting I used to take the untouched RAW file and turn it into the JPEG:
However, the more straightforward and pleasing photo moved my daughter out of the direct sunlight to the other side.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 800, ƒ/5, 1/500
This, too, has been retouched in Adobe Lightroom with these settings:
Also, I dodged her face just a little +0.61:
Street Photography Style Using Minimal Gear
I am trying to do all this like a street photographer and not carrying extra off-camera strobes through the theme park on our family vacation.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/5.6, 1/10
One thing I love about the Fujifilm X-E2 is taking photos at slow shutter speeds. The image stabilization works well.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/200
I think capturing photos of the family at the different attractions is essential. It will be a memory jogger as we age, look at these photos, and remember the fun times we had as a family.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 55-200mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/4.8, 1/340
Second Lens Gives More Variety
Honestly, I think the Fujinon 18-55mm kit lens will suffice most of the time, but here I wanted to capture the puppeteer, so I needed more than the 55mm. I used the Fujinon XF 55-200mm, which I had in a coat pocket, to take this photo and the first photo of the sunset.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/3.2, 1/13–Shot at -1.7EV
I could have just shot details around the park. I loved how they created a dark part of Diagon Alley. I felt like I was in the book walking with Harry Potter.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/10
I just hung outside the shop Borgin Burkes while my wife and daughter shopped. I then captured the moment my daughter came out to look for me. This is better than all the posed photos, but I still take those and compliment them with pictures like this one.
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 1600, ƒ/4.5, 1/500Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 3200, ƒ/4.5, 1/500
My Fujifilm X-E2 settings for while at Universal Studios
ISO–AUTO
200–6400
1/500 shutter-speed
Auto Focus
Single
AF MODE [AREA]
Face Detection ON
WB-AUTO
RAW+N – This was so that I could link to my phone using the Camera Remote APP and upload photos as I shot them to Facebook for my friends. It would help if you had a JPEG to do this.
NR -2
Color STD
H–Tone -1
S–Tone 0
Color 0
Sharp -2
Flash-SLOW
Flash Compensation -1
Fujifilm X-E2, Fujinon XF 18-55mm, ISO 6400, ƒ/2.8, 1/70, -1.3EV
Six Inches Behind The Viewfinder
I hope you figured it out by now, but more than the camera, it is your brain that will determine the success of your photos. There is a lot of thinking going on to get these photos. If you randomly point your camera and expect it to do all the work, you could have bought the cheapest camera and obtained similar results.
The high-end cameras will let you do more, but the key ingredient to their success is your knowledge of how to use the camera.
“The most important thing in photography is the six inches behind the viewfinder.”
“If the photographer is interested in the people in front of his lens, and if he is compassionate, it’s already a lot. The instrument is not the camera but the photographer.” — Eve Arnold
There are many comments by many pro photographers throughout history reminding us that it is the six inches behind the eye that is more important than the six inches in front of it when taking photos.
I wanted to be sure everyone understands that I not only believe this but spend most of my time thinking about what I have done, will do, and am doing compared to the time I think about my camera gear.
If you want to make better pictures, for the most part, you will do better investing in a class to learn something than spending that money on more camera gear.
To take photos, you must have a camera. When you buy your first camera, the odds are excellent that if you pursue this later as a profession, this will not be the last one you buy.
Things to consider when buying a camera
Subject – Audience
These two things drive almost every decision regarding the best camera. You can find the perfect camera to own as long as these stay singular. However, the problem that typically happens is when you have:
Subject(s) – Audience(s)
The Holy Grail Camera that does it all is usually a compromise camera that will let a photographer get the images, but if they had the funds would most likely buy specialty cameras for some subjects or audiences.
Audience(s)
When we think of an audience, there are two things we should focus on that impacts what gear we purchase. First, the people and the channel will see those visuals.
If your client sells high-end vehicles like a Lamborghini, they will be more interested in the finer details than the community seeing a photo of the fire in their local paper or online. Therefore, you will be more likely to see vast prints of your images in dealerships on their walls where the customer could walk up to the print to examine it closely. People can walk up to large photographs when an extreme megapixel camera would be the best choice.
If you are shooting photos that you plan to put in a show in a museum or gallery, then the size of those prints will also demand a higher pixel and will be appreciated.
The need for super size prints is why there are 80 MP camera backs for medium format cameras. You can go even higher with the view cameras.
On the other hand, many bloggers shoot all their photos with their smartphones. Using a smartphone is because the pictures are good enough for their audience, who might absorb most of the content on their smartphone.
Subject(s)
When shooting sports like soccer, you must have a long glass due to the distance between the photographer and the action on the field. A camera like the Nikon 4s shoots 11 frames a second, and lenses like the Nikkor 600mm ƒ/4 is pretty much the standard for a sports action shooter.
Wedding photographers often need to shoot in low light and need a camera with ISO higher than ISO 1600. They also will shoot with a fast glass of ƒ/1.4 to ƒ/2.8 many times during ceremonies. Most wedding photographers must cover 28mm – 200mm for most of their work. However, they occasionally have a few photos using specialty glass to offer something different.
Portrait photographers often shoot with cameras with high megapixels for the same reason the photographer shooting a Lamborghini needs it–large prints.
Street shooters tend to want a small camera that will make them look more like a tourist than professional photographers to be able to blend in and not draw attention to themselves.
Conclusion
If you are one of those people trying to tell everyone why you own the “BEST” camera ever–please know you only show your ignorance when you open your mouth. I see these people on almost every camera forum trying to argue why they know it all, and everyone should listen to them and their wisdom.
If you are shooting one type of subject, then you can easily find out what most photographers covering this subject are using and why they choose those cameras and lenses.
If you are shooting a wide variety of images for many different outlets, you most likely will find a camera that does a pretty good covering the bases. However, many will find they need to rent or buy gear for some of their niches.
Most of all, we need to go back to where I started this blog that the photographer’s knowledge will let them do more with a simple box camera than a $45,000 camera in a novice’s hands.
You may hear that many people say invest in the excellent glass more than the camera–I say invest in yourself more than the gear, and you will be the better for it.
IMHO–most cameras today are so good that almost any camera could work in the right hands.
I returned today to look at Don Rutledge’s coverage in Russia in the 1980s. Don, more than anyone I ever knew, could tap into the audience’s subconscious through symbolism.
I love the photo of one of the pastors in Russia with the kids. What makes the image even more, is the artwork of “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci on the wall behind them.
I remember sitting with Don as he projected each Kodachrome slide on the wall.
The Berlin Wall was still up at the time, and most Americans’ perceptions of the Russians were not reality. Don wanted to show how much we have in common with the people.
Once the audience can relate to the subject, then the message can come through. You can see how Don starts by first establishing the father’s role as a pastor. Then he shows the part of the mother cooking and taking care of the family, just as many women do here in our country.
I was fascinated by how Don talked about just showing the teenagers’ room. He demonstrated how this would look like many teenagers in the state’s rooms might look.
Here the kids are playing follow the leader. What is important to me was hearing how excited Don was about how similar the families were to Americans. Don’s excitement was genuinely childlike.
This afternoon my Nikon NPS pocket calendar arrived. I have been able to put the 2014 calendar in my collection since 1983.
I enjoy looking back, seeing what I did in the past, and counting my blessings. This is the time for reflection at the end of the year.
In the spring of 1984, after I was offered my first job at The Hickory Daily Record, I had to get some new camera gear. Here are the two pages I used to research all the prices at the time.
My parents got me my first gear as my graduation present from East Carolina University. It was a blessing to have my parents help me with college and my gear. I went to my first job debt free–no college loans, car loans, or credit card debt from having to buy equipment.
Here is my first week of work hours at The Hickory Daily Record, with my first day being May 21, 1984.
September 3, 1985, Don Rutledge called me about a job in Richmond, VA. I would drive up that Sunday, September 8, and interview the following day with Warren Johnson. They offered me the job on September 13.
Little did I know how huge of an impact The Hickory Daily Record and working on The Commission Magazine would be in my life. What a blessing it was for me.
On May 7, 1993, I was offered the job work at Georgia Tech in the communications office.
As you can see, after turning the pages, I would graduate the following week with my M.A. in communications from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Then, I would pack the next day and start my drive to Atlanta, where I have lived ever since.
Sometimes you have to look back, celebrate the milestones, and remind yourself of all you have gone through. Looking back reminds me of how God has provided opportunities for my family through the years.
I leave you with this scripture verse:
Matthew 6:25-34
[ Do Not Worry ] “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? …
There are a lot of similarities between education and journalism. Just take the storyline and the learning curve, for example. Above is the storyline, and below is the typical learning curve.
I believe the connection between the two is people find themselves in crisis and looking for solutions. Education and a good story both have problems and answers given. How the main character responds in a story can be either a comedy or tragedy.
Storyteller & Educator
The storyteller and teacher must master their content before creating content for their audiences.
I have always liked this illustration for helping me to grasp how learning takes place. While working on my master’s in the education department, the school taught these stages.
I learned that when you teach if you don’t know what level your students are in and what class you are teaching, you will create a problem for the learning environment.
The storyteller and teacher must master the subject. Then, they must be able to go to the highest level of learning, which is a synthesis or the ability to create something new.
The storyteller and the teacher must be able to look at their audience and know how to lead them through the crisis to understand eventually.
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 7200, ƒ/6.3, 1/250
Great teachers and storytellers have three things in common:
Know their subject as an expert
Know their audience
Know their craft to connect the audience with the subject
If you are a teacher or storyteller and find yourself struggling, it is with one of these three things most often.
When I was in the education classes, I noticed we spent a lot of time learning about our audience. We learned educational psychology, which helped me learn how we know and what we can learn depending on the audience’s age.
In my communication classes, we worked on the craft of telling the story. Either we were learning how to write, use visuals, or design to help get across the message of the subject.
Both education and communications emphasized our need to know the subject well, but both education and communications classes were weak in one of the other two areas.
Recommendations
Teachers and storytellers, you both need to dedicate your life to learning more about all three of these areas. Your subject will evolve as well as the audience.
There are endless ways to engage your audience. It would help if you mixed things up, or your style can get in the form of learning or storytelling. You become predictable and boring.
Most of all, keep the passion and curiosity vibrant.
All these photos were taken at Roswell High School’s Improv Troupe “What’s the Buzz?” performance on December 5, 2014. That’s my daughter in the blue shirt on the left above. I guess you can tell I am proud of her.
In business today, it pays more than ever to be able to think on your feet. So what better way to train yourself than to learn how to do IMPROV?
Tina Fey is an alumnus of The Second City, an improvisational comedy enterprise in Chicago.
Tina Fey boils down the rules here in her book Bossypants.
The first rule of improvisation is AGREE. Always agree and SAY YES. When you’re improvising, this means you are required to agree with whatever your partner has created.
Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.
Robert Kulhan is an adjunct assistant professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and said to CNN, “Improvisation isn’t about comedy, it’s about reacting — being focused and present at the moment at a very high level.” So the first rule of improv is a Worldview perspective that lets you join the client where they are at the moment.
In business, you don’t have control over what happens. IMPROV teaches you how to work as a team and learn to go with the flow.
Tina Fey says the second rule of improvisation is not only to say yes, but YES, AND.
The YES, AND principle in performance improvisation means listening to what someone else says, accepting what they say, and then building on that. In business terms, it means getting any idea brought to the table and then taking that idea further.
The problem with many people in business is they put Critical Thinking often in front of brainstorming and creative thinking. It would help if you had an unconditional acceptance atmosphere for new ideas to come forward. The analysis paralysis occurs if you jump too quickly to critical thinking.
Tina Fey says, “Always ensure you’re adding something to the discussion.”
The third rule Fey talks about is one I get tripped up on in business situations.
Third Rule is MAKE STATEMENTS. This is a positive way of saying “Don’t ask questions all the time.” If we’re in a scene and I say, “Who are you? Where are we? What are we doing here? What’s in that box?” I’m putting pressure on you to come up with all the answers.
In other words: Whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.
Try and be the fly on the wall in your business situations. Listen to yourself and self-audit your comments and body language.
Rule four–THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, only opportunities.
You will not know how to respond to others when they finish if you have not listened to them. For example, how often do you talk to someone that is just waiting for you to finish speaking so they can say what they already are planning on saying? Improv teaches us to listen attentively, not just for words but for emotion, intention, point of view, and much more.
Saying yes to things you would typically sabotage will help you believe in yourself and your ability.
IMPROV also teaches you to embrace your emotions. These emotions in business help to connect with others.
“Some people misunderstand improv….It seems that improv is all about being funny. But it is not. Improv is about being spontaneous. It is about being imaginative. It is about taking the unexpected and then doing something unexpected with it….The key is to be open to crazy ideas and building on them. And funnily enough, this is exactly what is needed if we are going to make our enterprises more creative and agile.”
– Paul Sloane
The Leaders Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills
Rules of Improv
1. Always Agree and Say Yes–You are required to react to whatever your partner has created. In real life, you will not agree to everything, but this helps remind us to respect whatever our partner has created. At least start from an open-minded place. Start with a yes and see where that takes you. 2. Yes AND–Add something of your own. Don’t be afraid to contribute. Always make sure you are adding something to the discussion. 3. Make Statements–Asking questions always make your partner have to come up with all the answers. Statements are your way of being part of the solutions. Don’t stand around pointing your finger at obstacles. Make statements with your ACTIONS and your VOICE. 4. There are no MISTAKES, just OPPORTUNITIES–In improvement, there are no mistakes, only beautiful happy accidents.
Today is National Wreaths Across America Day. Owner of Worcester Wreath Company formed this organization in 1992 to:
REMEMBER the fallen HONOR those that serve and their families and, TEACH our children the value of freedom. – See more at: http://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org
Nikon D750, 14-24mm, ISO 320, ƒ/9, 1/30
These are the ceremonial wreaths. The ceremonial wreaths represent each branch of the military service, including the POW/MIA and Merchant Marines. The one closest to the camera is the MIA, which I had the honor of presenting.
The letter sent to my grandparents stated that the U S Marine Corps “regretted to inform that 2nd Lt. James Stanley Leary, Jr., 2-G-23 Fourth Marine Division..had been declared Missing in Action while engaged against the enemy on the Island of Saipan, Marianas, in the Pacific.”
[To get this photo, I used the tilting Vari-angle LCD to put the camera way low and look through the LCD to compose on the back of the camera. I love this feature and used it again in the photo below.]
Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/125
I shot the photo in RAW and recovered the shadows and highlights in Lightroom. Here is what it looked like before I adjusted the image:
While Nikon has many settings that will get some pretty great JPEGs out of the camera, they still do not compare to shooting RAW and then working on the image to tweak and fine-tune your vision.
Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 360, ƒ/8, 1/500
I didn’t use a flash in this photo because I was too far away. This photo is 250mm full-framed but put me a good 20 or more feet away. However, with the dynamic range that the camera caught, I was able to again open up the shadows and tone the highlights for a good photo.
Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 140, ƒ/8, 1/250
I did increase the saturation using Adobe Lightroom’s vibrance and set all the photos to +27.
Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/125
After ingesting the photos into Adobe Lightroom, one more thing I do first enable profile corrections.
Lens Corrections is a tool within Lightroom’s Develop Module that allows fixing such lens problems as distortion, chromatic aberration, vignetting, and perspective correction “non-destructively” without leaving Lightroom. Note that lens correction is not a simple fix that applies to any lens – corrections are lens-specific. In addition, since each lens model design has a unique optical formula, you must uniquely customize lens corrections for each model.
Nikon D750, 28-300mm, ISO 100, ƒ/8, 1/200–Popup flash used 0 EV
One family asked for a photo, and when I saw the man’s hat, I took the lens shade off the 28-300mm, popped the flash up on the Nikon D750, and filled in the shadows. Unfortunately, while I could have done an OK job using Adobe Lightroom to open the shadows, the flash added a catch light in their eyes.
