Ever Hear of the Rule of Odds?

Jan 26, 2020 | News

In photography a pretty common term is “rule of thirds”. But another compositional photography term is “rule of odds: Here is the definition of the “rule of odds”. I try to use it as much as possible but it is hard with moving birds. It takes time, patience and luck. Also important is the “rule of odds” also can be applied to groups of odd numbers as in a 3 different groups of birds or whatever. Be careful with the odds, I find 3 objects works well, anything else gets...

Falling in Love with your Photo

Jan 24, 2020 | News

The more I looked the more I saw Try to be objective about your photos. At first glance I liked the above photo but the more I looked the more flaws I saw. I saw the blurred foot especially. The blur drew my eye to the wrong spot. The twig in front of the Black-crowned Night-Heron was a distraction too. Trying to rationalize will only make it worst. It was a good try under difficult conditions to even get this particular shot. But it is not a wall hanger. Delete it and move on. Time will erase your feelings for this...

Photo Within the Photo

Dec 7, 2019 | News

This photo was chosen to represent the month of January 2020 for the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve Calendar The original interesting photo looked like this: Sometimes just changing the photo slightly can make a difference. I do it often particularly with bird head...

IMPACT IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Nov 28, 2019 | News

… AND STAY OUT The number one element in obtaining a merit photo (80 or above in most cases) is impact. There are exceptions, BUT, don’t lose sight of impact. Usually a good impactful photo tells a story. Judges / people should not have to wonder what the photographer is trying to say through the...

I Can’t Find Anything to Shoot

Nov 20, 2019 | News

Sometimes I get “brain freeze” and just can’t seem to have an idea what I want to photograph. Here is an example of what I found on my patio. A honeybee busy at work. Opportunities are all around if you are patient. Sometimes I just sit and wait for a gift to come...