- Move in closer.
- Try shooting square instead of rectangles.
- Adjust the exposure before you shoot.
- Try black-and-white.
- Compose carefully.
- Try different angles.
- Look for shade.
- Back up your photos.
- Make prints and give them away.
- Move in closer. [I know I said that before, but that’s the most important tip.]
Save Your Family!
Before it’s too late save your old family photos. This family picture was taken in the mid-1930s in Poland. By the end of World War II, only two people were still alive…my father and uncle.
Make copies of your family photos. Make prints. Give them out. Make sure you write captions telling who is in the photo. It’s important. Start saving your family…now!
My favorite (and most unusual) portrait photographer…
Elsa Dorfman is mostly retired now. However, you can still see her work here. Elsa uses a Polaroid 20″x24″ camera. She is truly unique.
Cameras count very little…
Digital cameras are fantastic. So is my iPhone. However, in the right hands it doesn’t matter very much. Grant Hamilton proved this years ago using Polaroid camera. This is No. 23. You can see more at sxseventy.com.
Ansel Adams was correct…
Ansel Adams said, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” It happened to me a few years ago while walking with my wife through the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens.
Aside from being there during cherry blossom season, I was there when on one was walking on the path!
The Power of a Photograph
Before running for President Abraham Lincoln was relatively unknown. During his election campaign he came to New York City to make a speech at The Cooper Union on February 27, 1860. That was before he was nominated as a presidential candidate. He stopped into Mathew Brady’s portrait studio. This is the portrait that was created that day.
News of Lincoln’s speech was carried by newspapers around the country…with this picture. Lincoln thought that the speech and photo greatly helped him become President of the United States.