*LAST CHANCE* "Learning To See", a course built to give you to tools to take your photos from average to awesome is being removed from sale permanently on 31st December 2022. Start seeing (and creating) better photographs today for just $35. *Click here --> **tpe.teachable.com/p/learning-to-see*
Whenever I’ve left my camera in the bag for a week or so…… I watch one of your videos…… and get jazzed all anew! I will watch this one many times. Thanks Alex. Your vids have added so much to my retirement mental life!….that’s not a small thing.
🕛 Timeline: 00:45 Framing 01:55 Leading lines 03:06 Symetry 04:52 Contrast 06:13 Patterns 08:03 Fill frame 09:43 Depth of Field 11:48 Negative Space 13:12 Shadows Nice job Alex, very inspirational.
As a beginner who just passed that initial wave of confidence to realize how awful my photos actually are, this was SO useful. I mean I've taken a couple shots out of hundreds that I sort-of like but so inconsistently that it feels more like luck than that I was intentional / knew what i was doing, so hearing all these things to think about spelled out is really illuminating. I'm excited to try out these concepts
Your videos give me ambition to take photos around the house and garden instead of waiting for the nature park. I can’t believe the interesting scenes around here when you look at things in the right perspective.
I'll add another suggestion for minimizing depth of field without necessarily using the widest aperture: getting closer to your subject with a good distance between the subject and the background. The closer the camera is to the subject, the narrower the focal plane for a given aperture. In fact, most of my macro images of flowers are at F/10 or smaller. Any more wide open, I can't get enough of the flower in focus. OTOH you can make that work for a more abstract effect by opening up so only the tips of a lily's stamens, for example, are in focus while the entire bloom's interior is totally blurred. But again, Alex, you always provide food for thought! P.S. in the penguin photos, the brown ones are Emperor chicks. The one adult is likely looking for its own chick to feed it. They locate their own chick, and the chick recognizes its parents, by voice. Really amazing!
I love shadows. I have made a few shots of just shadows. The spiral tree decoration for outdoors for Christmas, when the sun hits it near dusk onto the house made a great shadow. There's a downhill area with a tree at the bottom beside my house, like two days a year the setting sun will come in and cast a shadow of my legs really long with torso on the tree. What a great shot. I saw a video of a man driving an old car at dusk with sun very low and cast a wonderful shadow on the field beside it. Look for them, they're out there
I love your channel. You're a fantastic and inspiring communicator. Every time I watch one of your vids it makes me want to go out with one of my old Minoltas!
I am so happy I stumbled across this channel. It may have just simultaneously made me a better (hobbyist) photographer, but saved me the money of upgrading my already excellent camera! Time to go play outside. Thank you again.
I don't know why but I love this your tutorials not just tutorials also the Thumbnails where simple but engaging viewers. Every time I watch your videos it also started me to improve a lot Cheers to you Sir
Alex your teaching is like having a personal mentor with patience taking you through to a stage where I feel confident to try out all that you are showing. Thank You very much ! Terry.
What is this magic you put into your videos . . .? I’m not listening to a speaker imparting information; I’m engaging in a conversation, sharing ideas with an old friend. Magic, I tell you.
You are by far my most favourite content creator. Your vids and themes stick around in my head long after watching them. Will you make me a better photographer? Maybe. But you sure make me see the world around me in new perspectives. Thank you very much!
What a great post and exceptional pictures. All of them. What makes these pictures stand out for me is their clarity. Obviously thoughtfully taken. Thank you for this video.
As a life long artist, I've found "cognitive-ease" is the core of how people view images. A simple sense of depth, and simple direct implied story, simple color associations, clear and concise. Most photography uses "static" composition, because they are so clear, most illustrations use "dynamic" composition, because an illustrator can better control the eye movement through a work of art. "static" = horizontal and vertical lines, "dynamic" = diagonals.
So enjoyable to see these great images and hear your thoughts. I love many of these but one that really stood out was the guys in a race at 10:08 … What a wonderful depiction of that moment. I’m not that into sports but I can really appreciate a great image!
Hi Alex, I've been enjoying your UA-cam channel for sometime now. I've found your channel inspiring which has made me think more about my own photography and how to improve it. You also inspired me to start videoing my own short blogs which at this point I post on face book. My newest blog, which I'll post next week, I borrowed a phrase I've heard you use; "The strokey beard crowed." I like that phrase so I hope you don't mind me borrowing it. Thank you for the inspiration it's been very helpful.
See, it is this sort of information that teaches us (or refreshes our recollection of) how to not only create (and by create I mean making the photo and then editing/processing it) our images and evaluate our own and others' work, to help create a conversation about our photography. Thank you.
As a new judge of a photo contest I really appreciate this video. It reinforces the points I want to use in evaluating the submitted photos. Extremely helpful, thanks for a great video.
Really loving this video really well done on this one and your quote from the movie Repetition works, David. Repetition works, David. is from Natural Born Killers
Wow so many great photos! A couple of things you left out. 1. Though this might be obvious, negative space usually denotes isolation or loneliness. 2. The general rule with depth of field is - if there's nothing interesting in the background, that's when to use a shallow depth of field, 2.0 etc.
your channel made me lock my sony alpha in the desiccator box and pickup film... I feel like I need to relearn everything from the beginning.. You and Ted Forbes are my favourite
Wonderful motivation Alex. Thanks. I am always fascinated how we create something out of nothing in certain pictures, like seeing 3 dimensions in a flat picture or seeing cubes when there are dots, mystery when there is nothing, and the hint of a story when it's just a moment in time. Great topic
When people talk about the rule of thirds, I shudder. In your examples, _I_ think the photos would be stronger with the subject somewhere else. Mostly, I imagine my subject facing something, and often I give it space in front. Sometimes, I have it facing out of frame. I sometimes find subject on or near the edge appealing, surely you remember photographs like that.
Something I’d love your take on is the influence of Instagram on framing formats. The platform REALLY wants you to make portraits 4x5 or 1x1 and gives you a 16x9 as a concession…but the landscape formats don’t stand out on the platform as the Instagram pundits will tell you. Everything is geared towards portrait format ( phone screen). Most of the beautiful photographs you share are landscape 4x3 ish ( which I love because it affords the most accessible dynamic tension of rule of thirds. I find myself cropping my photos to square…but I haven’t uploaded a single one to Instagram yet… because I think they actually work better in 4x3 landscape, but Instagram adds these white bands when u don’t crop. I’m sure your answer will be ignore Instagram and shoot what you want, but it might make a good video topic. Love your vids. Howzit from South Africa :)
Fantastically informative video today. Thank you so much! Your description of the purpose and use of negative space is the best I have ever seen. And the section on shadow had me yelling "YES! YES!" at the screen. All the focus these days on a cameras dynamic range and the ability to pull all the detail out of an image has always seemed so... irrelevant... to me. Many of the greatest photographic works I have ever seen - take Ansel Adams for example - make massive use of shadow to draw the eye and create impact. Now, maybe in Ansel Adam's case it was the limitations of the film available at the time, I don't know, but these days such blatant use of deep shadow would lead to the camera being crucified for not having enough dynamic range! Thank you for hopefully helping others see the folly in avoiding shadows at all costs!
Hi, 'The Photographic Eye'; I subscribed! Your videos are exciting and among the best for learning photography. I would rank myself as a novice in photography. I've never taken any photo classes or entered any photo contests. I have a Kodak digital zoom camera, though. And a tripod and a camera stabilizer. I'm also a university student in the southwest USA. Last year I started exploring UA-cam videos on photography in the category of High Fashion Photo Shoots. I'm also interested in Landscape, Still Life, and Street Photography. I look forward to watching many of your videos on your channel. Peace out!
I think the obsession with high dynamic range and the lack of shadows is linked with the fact that bright pictures are favored by viewers and subsequently by The Algorithm
Hi Alex. Thanks for yet another great video. A couple of open questions. 1: Could the use of vignetting be a suitable framing device? 2: Unless otherwise stated, were all of the images in this (and other) videos your work? Cheers.
Shadows worked for Caravaggio and Rembrandt mmmm, my art history is better than my history of photography that's why I find your talks so helpful Alex. Thanks
@András Dobos don't doubt your English I think part of the process of assimilation of ideas is when we find a point of contact and art history looks as though it's my way into the shadows 😀
Nice examples and a good video overall. The thing I miss though is how much an image can look different after two different people do the post processing. In my opinion taking the image is around 'olny' 1/3 of the work. It's only in post processing that a good shot either turns into a great one or is ruined for good.
*LAST CHANCE*
"Learning To See", a course built to give you to tools to take your photos from average to awesome is being removed from sale permanently on 31st December 2022.
Start seeing (and creating) better photographs today for just $35.
*Click here --> **tpe.teachable.com/p/learning-to-see*
Whenever I’ve left my camera in the bag for a week or so…… I watch one of your videos…… and get jazzed all anew! I will watch this one many times. Thanks Alex. Your vids have added so much to my retirement mental life!….that’s not a small thing.
🕛 Timeline:
00:45 Framing
01:55 Leading lines
03:06 Symetry
04:52 Contrast
06:13 Patterns
08:03 Fill frame
09:43 Depth of Field
11:48 Negative Space
13:12 Shadows
Nice job Alex, very inspirational.
Best photography learning channel on the whole internet!
As a beginner who just passed that initial wave of confidence to realize how awful my photos actually are, this was SO useful. I mean I've taken a couple shots out of hundreds that I sort-of like but so inconsistently that it feels more like luck than that I was intentional / knew what i was doing, so hearing all these things to think about spelled out is really illuminating. I'm excited to try out these concepts
Your videos give me ambition to take photos around the house and garden instead of waiting for the nature park. I can’t believe the interesting scenes around here when you look at things in the right perspective.
That’s awesome
I'll add another suggestion for minimizing depth of field without necessarily using the widest aperture: getting closer to your subject with a good distance between the subject and the background. The closer the camera is to the subject, the narrower the focal plane for a given aperture. In fact, most of my macro images of flowers are at F/10 or smaller. Any more wide open, I can't get enough of the flower in focus. OTOH you can make that work for a more abstract effect by opening up so only the tips of a lily's stamens, for example, are in focus while the entire bloom's interior is totally blurred. But again, Alex, you always provide food for thought!
P.S. in the penguin photos, the brown ones are Emperor chicks. The one adult is likely looking for its own chick to feed it. They locate their own chick, and the chick recognizes its parents, by voice. Really amazing!
Don't forget the focal length of your lens, which is also important for your Focal plane
Have never seen a single Video with so many incredibly interesting images. Must have taken a great effort on your part, thank you so much!
It's very well put together and explained, all the images are taken from the British Photography Awards 2021, I know, I was a winner. ;) 10.25
This one’s “a keeper” … that is, I know that I’ll be coming back and replaying it … again and again and again!! Respect!🙌🏾🙌🏾
This is my favorite photography channel on all of UA-cam. Thanks for the great content and inspiration. You are doing what Ted Forbes used to do.
Wow, thanks!
What an awesome video thanks alot alex i hope im not the only photography student that feels you as great teacher
Thank you Jeff! That's lovely to hear
I love shadows. I have made a few shots of just shadows. The spiral tree decoration for outdoors for Christmas, when the sun hits it near dusk onto the house made a great shadow. There's a downhill area with a tree at the bottom beside my house, like two days a year the setting sun will come in and cast a shadow of my legs really long with torso on the tree. What a great shot. I saw a video of a man driving an old car at dusk with sun very low and cast a wonderful shadow on the field beside it. Look for them, they're out there
I love your channel. You're a fantastic and inspiring communicator. Every time I watch one of your vids it makes me want to go out with one of my old Minoltas!
That image by Filippo* Drudi (9:19) is amazing! It took me a couple of seconds to understand it, because it looks more like a Bauhaus poster.
Some amazing art , very very inspiring!
A quote from Natural Born Killers? Really......not sure repetition in a serial killer is a good thing but you killed this topic...great video.
One of your best and most inspiring episodes yet. Many thanks.
Thank you Alex. That little reveal at the end that all these images were successful ones for the reasons you stated. Very informative. 👍
I am so happy I stumbled across this channel. It may have just simultaneously made me a better (hobbyist) photographer, but saved me the money of upgrading my already excellent camera! Time to go play outside. Thank you again.
That’s awesome. Thanks for watching
I don't know why but I love this your tutorials not just tutorials also the Thumbnails where simple but engaging viewers. Every time I watch your videos it also started me to improve a lot
Cheers to you Sir
Alex your teaching is like having a personal mentor with patience taking you through to a stage where I feel confident to try out all that you are showing. Thank You very much ! Terry.
What is this magic you put into your videos . . .? I’m not listening to a speaker imparting information; I’m engaging in a conversation, sharing ideas with an old friend. Magic, I tell you.
Your videos are great! I watched a few of them before a big shoot and I was able to capture the joy of the event. Thank you! 📷📸🤳
You are by far my most favourite content creator.
Your vids and themes stick around in my head long after watching them. Will you make me a better photographer? Maybe.
But you sure make me see the world around me in new perspectives.
Thank you very much!
Thank you for sticking to your passion and sharing your knowledges. It is so refreshing to see a channel that do not just reviewing gears every week.
Thanks for a terrific video full of truly inspirational images and ideas.
What a great post and exceptional pictures. All of them. What makes these pictures stand out for me is their clarity. Obviously thoughtfully taken. Thank you for this video.
Thank you so much for your informative knowledge and interpretative eyelet into the world of creativity that is photography!
Great summary of techniques! Thanks so much for all your great and helpful content.
Thank you for the knowledge!
I really needed this!! I don't know if it is your words or the impact of photos but every time I am very inspired by your videos. Thank you!!!
An absolute Natural Born Killer video once again, Alex. Thank you for your knowledge, your spirit and your inspiration.
As a life long artist, I've found "cognitive-ease" is the core of how people view images. A simple sense of depth, and simple direct implied story, simple color associations, clear and concise. Most photography uses "static" composition, because they are so clear, most illustrations use "dynamic" composition, because an illustrator can better control the eye movement through a work of art. "static" = horizontal and vertical lines, "dynamic" = diagonals.
Love your videos! They are always analytical, informative and inspiring! Thank you!
Yet another outstanding video, Alex.
Thank you
Extremely helpful video - can feel you passion for all things photography
Thank you
Love and agree with your perspective on not having to be perfect.....creativity doesn't have to be clean and clear. Love Ernst Haas' photography!
I can’t imagine how many photos you look at before you decide on the ones for your video. An amazing amount of work and thought🧡
So enjoyable to see these great images and hear your thoughts. I love many of these but one that really stood out was the guys in a race at 10:08 … What a wonderful depiction of that moment. I’m not that into sports but I can really appreciate a great image!
Another fabulous video Alex. Beautiful photos to explain each topic you covered. Thankyou for your enthusiasm and inspiration. 🏴👍
So much to learn I this video , wish I'd taken notes.
Watch again 😉 thank you
Wonderful discussion, thank you 😊
I loved this presentation very much. It motivates me to look harder, imagine more, capture it.
Oh, this is brand new. Thanks, Alex.
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi Alex, I've been enjoying your UA-cam channel for sometime now. I've found your channel inspiring which has made me think more about my own photography and how to improve it. You also inspired me to start videoing my own short blogs which at this point I post on face book. My newest blog, which I'll post next week, I borrowed a phrase I've heard you use; "The strokey beard crowed." I like that phrase so I hope you don't mind me borrowing it. Thank you for the inspiration it's been very helpful.
Thanks for all of your videos
Priceless vídeo..
BRAVO
Wow, another incredible lecture. Thank you.
You're very welcome!
See, it is this sort of information that teaches us (or refreshes our recollection of) how to not only create (and by create I mean making the photo and then editing/processing it) our images and evaluate our own and others' work, to help create a conversation about our photography.
Thank you.
As a new judge of a photo contest I really appreciate this video. It reinforces the points I want to use in evaluating the submitted photos. Extremely helpful, thanks for a great video.
Really loving this video really well done on this one and your quote from the movie Repetition works, David. Repetition works, David. is from Natural Born Killers
Wow so many great photos! A couple of things you left out. 1. Though this might be obvious, negative space usually denotes isolation or loneliness. 2. The general rule with depth of field is - if there's nothing interesting in the background, that's when to use a shallow depth of field, 2.0 etc.
your channel made me lock my sony alpha in the desiccator box and pickup film...
I feel like I need to relearn everything from the beginning.. You and Ted Forbes are my favourite
Thank you again!
Wonderful motivation Alex. Thanks. I am always fascinated how we create something out of nothing in certain pictures, like seeing 3 dimensions in a flat picture or seeing cubes when there are dots, mystery when there is nothing, and the hint of a story when it's just a moment in time. Great topic
Great lesson and very good example photographs. Well done, sir!
Wow, so much really helpful advice and compositional insights here, Alex. Thank you 👌
Fantastic video. Lots of interesting photos and very inspiring. Thank you once again.
Thank you.
When people talk about the rule of thirds, I shudder. In your examples, _I_ think the photos would be stronger with the subject somewhere else. Mostly, I imagine my subject facing something, and often I give it space in front. Sometimes, I have it facing out of frame. I sometimes find subject on or near the edge appealing, surely you remember photographs like that.
Such useful pointers … I already use some of these, but there’s so much more to try out. Be fun to practise!
To DOF we can also use a telelens (100mm eqv and more) in f4 and f5.6 and it's enough. It is a cheap way to understand a DOF.
Amazingly put in a marginally short video,,, 🙏🏻thank you🙏🏻
My pleasure 😊
Something I’d love your take on is the influence of Instagram on framing formats. The platform REALLY wants you to make portraits 4x5 or 1x1 and gives you a 16x9 as a concession…but the landscape formats don’t stand out on the platform as the Instagram pundits will tell you. Everything is geared towards portrait format ( phone screen). Most of the beautiful photographs you share are landscape 4x3 ish ( which I love because it affords the most accessible dynamic tension of rule of thirds. I find myself cropping my photos to square…but I haven’t uploaded a single one to Instagram yet… because I think they actually work better in 4x3 landscape, but Instagram adds these white bands when u don’t crop. I’m sure your answer will be ignore Instagram and shoot what you want, but it might make a good video topic. Love your vids. Howzit from South Africa :)
Fantastically informative video today. Thank you so much! Your description of the purpose and use of negative space is the best I have ever seen. And the section on shadow had me yelling "YES! YES!" at the screen. All the focus these days on a cameras dynamic range and the ability to pull all the detail out of an image has always seemed so... irrelevant... to me. Many of the greatest photographic works I have ever seen - take Ansel Adams for example - make massive use of shadow to draw the eye and create impact. Now, maybe in Ansel Adam's case it was the limitations of the film available at the time, I don't know, but these days such blatant use of deep shadow would lead to the camera being crucified for not having enough dynamic range! Thank you for hopefully helping others see the folly in avoiding shadows at all costs!
Thanks for such a great video. I just subscribed.
Thank you Alex🙏
Really enjoyed this! Thanks for the thoughts and ideas a sharing.
Such great insight! So glad i stumbled on your channel!
Wow! Excellent advice!
Thank you
Excellent video with sound advice. Thanks 🙏
Hi, 'The Photographic Eye'; I subscribed! Your videos are exciting and among the best for learning photography. I would rank myself as a novice in photography. I've never taken any photo classes or entered any photo contests. I have a Kodak digital zoom camera, though. And a tripod and a camera stabilizer. I'm also a university student in the southwest USA. Last year I started exploring UA-cam videos on photography in the category of High Fashion Photo Shoots. I'm also interested in Landscape, Still Life, and Street Photography.
I look forward to watching many of your videos on your channel. Peace out!
Hi, that’s awesome. Thank you for watching
I think the obsession with high dynamic range and the lack of shadows is linked with the fact that bright pictures are favored by viewers and subsequently by The Algorithm
So much to learn, so little time!
One step at a time :D
That photograph by Stu McKenzie is something.
great video. thank you
You are welcome!
Thank you ❤️
Hi Alex. Thanks for yet another great video. A couple of open questions. 1: Could the use of vignetting be a suitable framing device? 2: Unless otherwise stated, were all of the images in this (and other) videos your work? Cheers.
Thanks alot 🤝🏻👍🏻
Thanks for the great content and VERY useful tips, easily "digestible" too by a beginner such as myself. And the quote is from Natural Born Killers.
Natural Born Killers. Interesting segue to the movie.
Thank you. 👍📷😎
Very helpful!!!
Great tips and a high bar to meet!
Shadows worked for Caravaggio and Rembrandt mmmm, my art history is better than my history of photography that's why I find your talks so helpful Alex. Thanks
@András Dobos don't doubt your English I think part of the process of assimilation of ideas is when we find a point of contact and art history looks as though it's my way into the shadows 😀
Excellent!
Sorry it was such a short reply, but the whole video was summed up by that one word…
Awesome video! Very informative.
Great video
Inspirational
I really enjoyed the video, Alex. Some great inspirational photos and some interesting ways of looking at things. 👍
Also check out the new F B group
Post your photographs and join the conversation
What is the role of editing with fineart images? When is it used and how? Like to see examples of both.
Quite possibly your best! Thank you.
I like to listen to you patiently
Thanks
My Favorite photographer Guru love you
Welcome
That was a lot of content in 15 minutes!
haha, I originally thought this would be a quick 10min video :)
Nice examples and a good video overall.
The thing I miss though is how much an image can look different after two different people do the post processing. In my opinion taking the image is around 'olny' 1/3 of the work. It's only in post processing that a good shot either turns into a great one or is ruined for good.
Thank you for the inspiration
Excellent video. Thank you!
Lots to think about here ... ta very much!