Photography Talk By McFarland - One Woman's Thoughts

As a photographer you have the rare opportunity to save moments in time. Moments that can be captured as they really are, or as we see them in our minds eye. When you are about to photograph a subject several things will determine how your image comes out. These include the environmental issues such as lighting, your position relative to the subject, the equipment you have handy, your ability to "see" the image, and your knowledge on how to obtain the image you want.

To me the ability to "see" the image is the clincher. If you can not "see" the image you want, all the technical knowledge in the world is not going to get you a great image. Seeing your images means knowing what you are going for before you shoot, it means listening to your inner voice and whispers of your soul and taking their advice. It means paying attention to those flashes of inspiration that fly through your brain at top notch speeds and translating them into images. Seeing is a soul thing...not a technical thing, it's gift just as being able to paint, or compose music, or make people laugh is. Being able to "see" the image means knowing what you are going for before you even pick up your camera.

While I cannot teach that, no one can, I can teach you how to take a good image. Great images require "seeing" and that is between you and the universe.

It is with the quest of shooting a good image in mind that I have started this section of my blog. With the advent of digital cameras a new challenge has emerged
in the photographic world. It is teaching the masses that photography is more than
a point and shoot event. It's a creative outlet that can be a lifetime hobby, or career, and the difference between these two is not just the ability to "see" the image, but also knowing how to make your camera sing enough to get that image ...the image you "see" captured. This takes technical knowledge and practice, practice, practice!
It takes time to understand why things are happening, what made it happen, and most importantly how to make it happen again.

This series will have the very basics of photography explained. I will show you how to use your camera manually, yes manually, so you can know the why something happened, and be able to duplicate in the future.

So let's get going, and learn the why's. Lesson One is ISO.

And as always...

Live, Laugh, Photograph!

Maryann McFarland
www.maryannmcfarlandphotography.com