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Highlighting relationships via composition

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Yes, "My Projects" AKA, my daughter are keeping me busy! :-) But I sure do love it! Especially when she wakes up from a nap and just gives me a big ole smile. Hey, maybe I'll try and sneak a shot today! The only other project I've been working on is for work. I'm doing an "assembly book" for work. I've gotten my pictures and did the arrows and wording on the prints and laminated them. Now all I have to do is the wording/directions for each photo. Basically it's a picture book to assist in easy hook for our new engine that we are running.

I believe you about wanting to be somewhere! It helps with the drive to accel at what you are shooting. I have a low self esteem of myself when it comes to taking photos of the people nature. I'm gaining confidence, but I think I feel a little under the curve. Some with myself others with the type of camera I use. I do feel confident in nature photos though, terrain and such, but that's probably the easiest to take! Catching people at that one split second of time is arguably the hardest thing to do.
Thanks for your advice and friendship.
Ken
Ulysses said:
KennyB said:
I've also always liked the way Ulysses shows emotion in his shots too.
Click to expand...
Hey there, Kenny. It's always good to hear from you. I hope your
own projects are keeping you happily busy. :-)

Thanks for the kind words, too. It's been a long journey, and it's
a matter of continuously studying people as well as simply enjoying
them. We had a wedding yesterday that was just a joy (I'll probably
post a couple from it in some other thread soon). It was a mix of
different cultures, which made for this real pot pourie (sp?) of
emotions. It was fascinating, enjoyable, enriching, and a true
privilege to be able to cast a windowed look at some beautiful
people and their day of joy. When you feel that way, then it's a
lot easier to see and produce that in your pictures. If you don't
know why you're even there , then the pictures are going to
reflect the same, having a look of confusion about them.
Hahahahahah!! :-)

It's the truth.

--
Ulysses
http://www.ulyssesphotography.com
Click to expand...
--
Happy to Photograph!
Ken
http://kennyb.smugmug.com
 
As usual Shay, you take the education of the forum up a notch for which I am personally grateful. Thanks to you and Bruce...

Compositionally the photographs are great but the other thing that caught my eye was how pleasing the lighting was... Something for me to strive for... Again, great job. :)

I would also like to echo other posters kudo for the manner in which you responded to the criticism... Even though (IMO) it was unwarranted, you handled it very well...

Thanks for taking the time to post this thread...

Lee
Shay Stephens said:
One of the better photographers on these boards when it comes to
relational composition in my opinion is Bvcuma. I love the way he
places other people in a portrait that highlights the relationship
between them. So it is in that vein that I would like to show some
photos that attempt to emulate that technique in a wedding
atmosphere, and show the relationship between people and things
using composition.

The bride and her dress in the background.



The bride and her soon to be father in law



Bridesmaids



The ring and a happy bride



Food and drink



The bride and father in law and the groom and mother



So keep an eye on the background, use a wide aperture, get close,
and zoom to help blur the background to start showing more
relationships in your photos too :-)

--
Portfolio: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
Click to expand...
 
No sign of Bimbo for 4 days, wonder if it got punted?

Richard
 
You're welcome. It's nice when an eye opening "aha" experience happens. Bruce's work was like that for me. So hopefully the experience can be passed on :-)
JerryCurtis said:
but couldn't quite put my finger on why - other than the fact that
they told a story of an area of the world I may never get to see...
at least not in the depth that he does. But maybe it's the
interrelationships (is that a word?) between the elements that I've
been seeing all along and didn't recognize it for what it was.

Thank for the tutorial, Shay, and for illustrating the technique
with your own great shots.
--

-Jerry
Sony V1 - Still learning...
http://www.pbase.com/icicle50/root
Click to expand...
--
Portfolio: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
 
zazoo1994 said:
Compositionally the photographs are great but the other thing that
caught my eye was how pleasing the lighting was... Something for
me to strive for... Again, great job. :)
Click to expand...
Half of them are with flash, the other half without. I tend to treat any light like it is a flash nowadays, even the sun. It helps to create a studio like like to the photos.
zazoo1994 said:
I would also like to echo other posters kudo for the manner in
which you responded to the criticism... Even though (IMO) it was
unwarranted, you handled it very well...
Click to expand...
I think it is important to be able to take what one dishes out ;-) and I can dish it out a lot hehehe

Glad you enjoyed the thread, thank you.

--
Portfolio: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
 
Shay Stephens said:
Half of them are with flash, the other half without. I tend to
treat any light like it is a flash nowadays, even the sun. It
helps to create a studio like like to the photos.
Click to expand...
Heh... this is so interesting and enjoyable a description. Because I take a similar but slightly adjusted approach of treating all, even my own supplementary light, as is they were Sun-like light sources. It's simply a visual that helps me arrange things in the scene for composition or that helps me position myself or the light more effectively. :-)

--
Ulysses
http://www.ulyssesphotography.com
 
... have such nice lighting in your photographs that often when I see them, I'll stop to try to try and understand how the lighting was... Even though STF is a little crazy right now, I always look for posts by either of you because more often then not, I learn something... :)
Ulysses said:
Shay Stephens said:
Half of them are with flash, the other half without. I tend to
treat any light like it is a flash nowadays, even the sun. It
helps to create a studio like like to the photos.
Click to expand...
Heh... this is so interesting and enjoyable a description. Because
I take a similar but slightly adjusted approach of treating all,
even my own supplementary light, as is they were Sun-like light
sources. It's simply a visual that helps me arrange things in the
scene for composition or that helps me position myself or the light
more effectively. :-)
Click to expand...
Interesting approaches... Something to keep in mind. :)

Thanks for commenting gents... :)

Lee
 
I like the second and forth image.The others dont work as well.
Shay Stephens said:
One of the better photographers on these boards when it comes to
relational composition in my opinion is Bvcuma. I love the way he
places other people in a portrait that highlights the relationship
between them. So it is in that vein that I would like to show some
photos that attempt to emulate that technique in a wedding
atmosphere, and show the relationship between people and things
using composition.

The bride and her dress in the background.



The bride and her soon to be father in law



Bridesmaids



The ring and a happy bride



Food and drink



The bride and father in law and the groom and mother



So keep an eye on the background, use a wide aperture, get close,
and zoom to help blur the background to start showing more
relationships in your photos too :-)

--
Portfolio: http://www.shaystephens.com/portfolio.asp
Click to expand...
 
Here it is in a nutshell:

The first one doesnt work because the dress is a little too out of focus and we cant see enough of it.

The third one has a distracting arm in the bottom left corner and the bridesmaids look odd facing each other and at different distances.

The fifth image has an interesting object in the background but the foreground looks bland and unappealing.

The last shot might work with a tighter crop but as presented, lacks the closeness that it conveys.

Hope this helps.
Shay Stephens said:
Glad you liked a couple. Was there anything in particular you
could point out that didn't work for you on any of the others?
Click to expand...
 
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