If you have  a car in the foreground on the right, you do not need an identical car facing the same direction in the background on the left. You can avoid this if the two subjects are different enough. Consider these two statues. They’re almost identical, but have different expressions. This isn’t an ideal image, but it still works.
Likewise, if you have  a car in the foreground on the right, you do not need an identical car facing the same direction in the background on the left.

This image is a good example of an unbalanced image.  All of the subject matter is on the right hand side There is nothing at all to balance out the door.  Even an interesting shadow or distinguishing mark on the wall could improve this image.

On the other hand, this is a classic, albeit boring, example of balance.  The fountain on the left balances the statue on the right.  It’s a good place to start, but hopefully you can come up with a more interesting shot.

The balance in this image is far more interesting.  The subject is the plate of sushi.  A faceless chef is in the background and is balanced by the blurred food in the right side of the foreground.  The plate in the left foreground helps to balance the wood in the right background.

Here’s one more example of a balanced image. Notice that the children in the foreground are balanced by the fireworks in the background. If either were missing, this image would seem incomplete. Fireworks and mud don’t make for an interesting photo. Neither do four people looking away from the camera. Luckily, the two elements work well together. The key to balance is ensuring that your viewer doesn’t find any boring areas within your photo.

A balanced image will always play better than an unbalanced image.  Try to keep this in mind when taking photos and when choosing which photos to display.

"Modern Rails" by D. Travis North

Black & White Photographs are among my favorite style – both to observe and to create.  Shooting for black & white is challenging.  You immediately eliminate one of your building blocks of design:  Color.  That’s one less tool that you have to compose with.  But working in black & white can be quite rewarding as well.  Personally, I am drawn to the beauty that is created by black & white.  If done well, it can help the viewer to focus on textures and shapes as opposed to symbols.  There is great beauty in black & white photography, but to do it right…you need to account for a few key elements:

• Exposure – Exposure is always important, even in color.  But when it comes to black & white, it’s even more important.  In a photo devoid of color, there is a very narrow margin for error.
• Contrast – A good black and white photo should have absolute whites, and there should be absolute blacks.  Don’t get discouraged if you don’t get it right in camera.  So long as your exposure is correct, you can tighten up the contrast in post-processing.  TIP:  Shooting in natural light?  Circular Polarizer and Neutral Density Filters help you to get great contrast between colors.
• Dynamic Range – In other words…there should be some gray tones as well.  The more grays you can work into the photo, the better.  This is where your color filters (either physical filters or photoshop both work well) will help you to separate colors from each other.  TIP:  Unless you’ve got a lot of experience with film, there’s very little reason for new photographers to use physical color filters.  You have more control in post-processing with your editing software.
  
• Composition – Color is obviously eliminated, but you still have five building blocks to work with.  Each carries more weight in the final composition now.  Texture, especially, becomes magnified without color.  Don’t let this be a hindrance, use this to your advantage.
• Patience – If you’re not used to shooting black & white, expect to make some mistakes.  You will need to get the knack for seeing a color scene as if it were black & white.  You’ll need to learn how some colors will appear in black & white, and the only way to learn is through practice.  For practice purposes, if your camera has a black & white mode – use it.  I don’t recommend using that mode for production as you eliminate a lot of the control you would have at post-processing.  But it’s a good way to learn how to visualize a scene – just check it on your camera’s screen.

Shot on film - what can you learn from this shot? Not as much as you could learn from a digital photo.

In the days before digital photography, it was difficult to learn from other people’s works.  First and foremost, you had to find the work.  You had to go out of your way to browse galleries museums or even craft shows to find good examples of photography.  As you’re learning photography, you did what you could to afford yourself such opportunities.  But there was only so much you could do.  In many cases, the works were so far above your skill level that you had no concept of how a specific shot might have been taken.  For that matter, you spent so much time finding such works, the little bits of inspiration that could be garnered were often lost.

I was one such young photographer.  Early on, I shot with a dated camera with few automatic features and only in natural light (no flash).  I bought books for learning, books for inspiration and I visited as many galleries and museums as I could.  I was fortunate enough to have a very good museum nearby that focused only on local artists – a great source of inspiration in those early years.  But at my skill level, I couldn’t learn very much without asking questions of artists that weren’t interested in returning my calls.  I essentially had two options:  1)  Pursue a career in photography and become an apprentice or 2) Just keep shooting and learn through failure.  Obviously, I ended up choosing the second option as photography was not my primary career interest.  It was a long and rocky road, and my growth was slow.  But again, that was all before digital.

Easy Access to Inspiration

Possibly the most obvious benefit to digital photography is the ease in which our work, and the work of others, gets shared.  Sites like Flickr and DeviantArt exist for this purpose.  I joined DeviantArt many years ago.  On the surface, sites like it are a great place to find inspiration – the works of others that give you great ideas for your next session.  But once I started posting my own photographs, I learned another source of inspiration – those who comment on your works.  If you can learn to take constructive criticism, there is plenty to be learned from what people say about your works.  I’ve learned countless new techniques through such comments.  Better yet, getting noticed inspires you to do more and shoot more and challenge yourself.  The more that you post, the more feedback you get and the more you learn.  It’s a circle, and it helps you grow tremendously.

Easier to Dissect and Learn From Photos

Almost every digital photo has EXIF data attached to it – information that will tell you details about shutter speed, aperture, whether a flash fired and so on.  This is only technical data, and many would argue that it’s only scratching the surface.  After all, such data does not tell you about the design intent.  But knowing such information might clue you in to the intent.  Or if not, it will at least help you to understand how the shot was composed.  Either way, it’s information you wouldn’t have observing an analog photo or a photo in print.  So it gives you a leg up on trying to understand a shot.  Knowing that a flash wasn’t fired, for example, will inform you that there was an alternative light source.  Is it natural light?  Perhaps an incandescent?  These things can’t explicitly be determined through EXIF data, but you can arrive at a conclusion through process of elimination.

Hive Learning for Hobbyists

In the days before digital, professionals learned from other professionals.  This was their collective – their hive, if you will.  By right, professionals of today still learn a great deal from professionals and there are many trade secrets that are passed down from one photographer to another.  But never underestimate the power of experimentation – and hobbyists will always experiment.  When one hobbyist tries to mimic the style of a professional photographer, they will uncover a few techniques that have helped them to do so.  These may not necessarily be the same techniques the professional used; but if they work, it doesn’t matter.  Well, that person will share his newly acquired wisdom with his own hive – the other hobbyists who are also working towards a similar goal.  Some of the people within the hive will experiment some more and add to the overall technique, possibly making it better or easier.  This sort of collaborative learning is often referred to as hive learning.  It has many benefits, but the most important benefit is that we learn best by doing.  Our experimentation as a hive has helped us to uncover some incredible techniques – some that even professionals have benefited from.  The online communities that surround Flickr, DeviantArt, ImageKind and so on have made the hive much more accessible to everyone.  We have all learned a great deal from the works (and failures) of others – all through communities that have sprung up primarily due to digital media.

Crooked Crow performing live

As many of you may already know, I involved in a fairly well known non-profit organization called LIVESTRONG.  Founded by the family of Lance Armstrong, their mission is to rid the world of cancer through education and preventative medicine.  Now I won’t plug the organization too much, but I wanted to give you a little background as to how and why I came to photographing a live music show.  The thing is that my team held a fund raising event at a local pub.  To help bring some people in, we recruited some bands to play live at the event.  Well, as organizations go, we wanted to get some photos to document the event.  Who better than to do that than the only team member who is also a photographer.  Yes, me.

I have a confession to make:  I was nervous shooting the event.  I am not experienced shooting live events.  I’m not used to having so many people around while I’m shooting.  I am not used to using my strobes where they could be a nuisance to other people.  For that matter – I wasn’t used to shooting with strobes on the fly with moving (playing) subjects.  It was a steep learning curve, but I’m glad I did it.  I’m glad I went outside my comfort zone to capture a few good photos (and a ton of bad ones).  And while I don’t think that any of my photos from that night are necessarily that great, I feel that I learned a lot.  For your benefit, I compiled this short list of things that I learned to maybe convince you to give such photography a chance.

• No one really knows what you’re doing – As I mentioned, one of my biggest fears was shooting among a large crowd.  I’m don’t like to be the one being watched, and I felt as though I’d be on stage with my camera.  Truth be told, a few people asked a few questions.  But I quickly learned that most people either ignored me or didn’t have a clue what I was doing.  Basically, no one was in the position to criticize.
• Speak with the performers ahead of time - In speaking with one of the band members, I learned that it is a great idea to speak with the performers before the show.  No one at this event seemed to mind me trolling around with a strobe.  But he alleged that he has met a few people that are greatly displeased by the use of flash.  As is always the case, I don’t like to displease my subject.  So if there are any restrictions the performers might place upon you, you better find out beforehand.
• Be aware - There’s a lot going on at an event like this.  Everyone’s attention is fixed to the stage, many a drink were passed around, there were people with plates of food and it was generally a dark room.  I quickly learned that I needed to be aware of everything that was going on around me.  Not just so that I didn’t cause problems, but to protect myself and my gear.  Fortunately, I had no mishaps – but I could have easily tripped someone by accident or gotten a beer spilled on my gear.
• A flash is brightest in a dark room - I’m used to working in controlled environments when working with strobes.  I’m not used to photographing in places where there is a 50-70% difference in the light between the performers and the crowd.  What worked for the performers was far too powerful for shooting subjects off-stage.  I blew out at least a dozen photos until I got into the swing of things. (Note, I am not in the habit of using my flash in TTL mode)
• Carry business cards – Considering this was a charity event, I was quite surprised to find I gave out nearly 20 business cards that night.  Some to the band members – but a lot of people from the audience were curious about my work.  Some were looking for portrait photographers – but at least one person checked out my portfolio and wrote to me to tell me their thoughts.
• Be sure to capture everyone - One of the drummers joked that he never ends up in photos because he’s in the back line.  So I made sure to get a couple of shots of him as well.  But the same goes for all the performers.  The lead singer is the face of the band, but it’s still a team effort.  Capture everyone as best as you can.
• ISO is your friend – Even with a flash, the photos weren’t turning out the way I wanted until I raised the ISO.  By doing so, I was able to cut a lot of my flash and get the fill light that I wanted.  My camera is a little dated at this point, so my higher ISO (anything about 400) gets grainy.  But if I were to continue shooting live performances, I might wish to invest in a camera with better performance at higher ISOs. 
• Low angles are awesome - Of all the shots I took, the ones from low angles look best in my opinion.  The performers look powerful, and their stage presence is amplified by the way you frame the shot at low angles.  Next time, I’ll spend more time  crouching. 
• Shoot now, drink later – I made a pretty big mistake by ordering a beer just as the first band was taking stage.  I now had an extra item I had to lug around.  My beer kept me tethered to a place where I could put it down.  I didn’t move nearly as much as I should have.  I also missed a few good shots because of the beer in my hand – no time to put it down at a live event.  So skip the drinks, or at least limit them to when the performers take their break. 
• Seek help – For several of my shots, I recruited a friend to hold the flash as specific locations.  David Hobby of Strobist refers to this as a “voice activated flash stand”.  Even though my friend didn’t really know what I or he was doing, I simply explained what I wanted him to do and how to hold it.  Things worked out fine.  Some of my best photographs from the event were when I was using my voice activated flash stand. 

Side note:  For all interested parties, the band, Crooked Crow, is out of the Washington DC area, but they play all over.  They’re quite good, and I would highly recommend that you check out their music.

Rule of Thirds

The first method, and the one that I use most in my own photography, is the rule of thirds.  With the rule of thirds, instead of dividing your image in half, divide your frame into thirds (that was obvious wasn’t it?) both horizontally and vertically.  The frame that results will have have 4 intersections.  By setting your subject directly on one of these 4 intersections, you will be able to keep both your foreground and background interesting.  Most digital cameras offer a “grid” function which divides your screen into thirds for you.  This should help you to compose your images until you get used to working without a visual aid.

The Diagonals Method

The second approach is the diagonals method.  This method states that you should first divide your screen diagonally between any two corners.  You should then choose a third corner and divide your screen again so that the resulting line intersects the first at a 90 degree angle.  The point where the two lines intersect is where you should place your subject.  While I have also found this composition to be visually appealing, my personal preference remains with the rule of thirds.

There are countless ways in which you can compose your photo.  The best thing to do is to take as many pictures as possible and find which way is the most appealing to you.  Most photographers eventually develop a pattern based on their own personal preferences.

While it is important for every artist to develop their own style, there are a few “rules” that will help you on your way.   First, unless you are going for a specific feeling that requires this, try not to photograph your subject’s back.  It gives the appearance that you missed the shot and the subject turned away.  Second, do not frame your subject so that they are looking out of frame.  A subject looking out of frame makes the viewer more interested in what was missed than what was captured.  Third, try to choose only one subject at a time.  Clusters of subjects can work if they are close together, but try to keep your images simple.  Fourth, don’t cut off part of your subject.  Portraits get away with cutting people in two since the subject is not the person so much as their face.  Make sure not to cut off anyone’s head, arm, legs, etc.  Finally, make sure your subject is well lit.  A poorly lit subject can result in muted details, muddy colors, poor contrast, and white skies.  I once had a professor who refused to photograph a subject that wasn’t in direct sunlight.  Given that he would only shoot for about 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening, this wasn’t a terribly practical approach.  A quality flash, studio lighting, or a few small spotlights pointed in the right direction can just as easily illuminate your scene.  Remember, these are “rules”, not rules.  If you’re creative enough, you can still play with them, but in the mean time, they should help you improve your form.

"Love Park of Philadelphia" by D. Travis North

When the term Photo Walk is thrown about, the first image that comes to many people’s mind is a group of emerging photographers following a more experienced photographer who serves as a tour and instructional guide.  While that may be true, it’s a limited view.  A Photo Walk is actually any trip that you might do – yes, you can do it alone – with the intent to photograph…well, stuff.  You can have a specific goal, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t.  The purpose is simply to get photos.

But alas, planning your own photo walk isn’t as easy as it sounds.  Especially if you’ve never done one before.  But photo walks are important.  If conducted regularly, the results of your photo walks will make up a large portion of your portfolio.  More than 70% of the photos in my own portfolio were the products of planned photo walks.  So here are some tips to help you get started.

• Select a Known Location – If you’ve never done a photo walk on your own before, select a destination you know fairly well.  You don’t want to waste time finding your way around.
• Set a Rough Schedule – When you’re deep into your art, it’s easy to lose track of time – and you don’t want to get behind.  So you’ll want to plan to be at specific milestone locations within certain time frames.  The amount of time you have on your photo walks will vary.  If you have all day, you’ll need to plan for meals and snacks.  Short photo walks still need a schedule.
• Small Area To Stay Focused - Probably one of the largest mistakes that many people make is to set to broad of an area.  If you have a lot of ground to cover, you won’t have time to notice details.
• Sit and Observe – Any time you spend looking around and observing is time well spent.  You’re a photographer, you want to capture more than just landmarks.  You want details and emotion, and you won’t find either unless you take the time to observe.
• Don’t Over-pack - You may be tempted to carry all of your gear: several lenses, a bunch of filters, flashes and so on.  Not only will you waste time switching lenses and gear, but you’ll probably curb your inspiration.  Putting restrictions on yourself will help you to think quickly and stay inspired.
• Consider a Loop – Especially when I’m photo walking in the city, I like to pick a small area just a couple blocks wide, and I am constantly walking the loop – a destined path that I might repeat several times, both forwards and backwards.  It permits me to notice things that I missed on a previous loop.  It also allows me to focus on different aspects, or use of different lenses, on each loop.  In the city, the area will change a lot throughout the day, so it’s good to see in different lights and at different times of the day.
• Carry Business Cards – There are two reasons for this:  1) Credibility.  In public spaces, you will inevitably be asked what you’re doing, and business cards back up your story.  2)  You never know when someone is going to check out your website or portfolio.  Give cards to anyone with whom you get into a conversation about your work.
• Have Fun – Photo walks are a little bit of work, but they’re absolutely worth it.  If done well, you should have a ton of fun, and you’ll end up with a number of great photos.

"Edge" by D. Travis North

Too often, we focus too much on the subjects of our photos.  And why wouldn’t we?  It is, after all, the subject.  Focusing on the subject, one can create great photos.  But the differences between a great photo and an excellent photos are measured in tiny intervals.  One of those intervals is the use of negative space.

Negative space is essentially everything that is not your subject.  It is what defines your subject. I like to think of negative space as the force that helps the subject hold it’s shape – as if it’s pushing back on the subject’s surface.  To use negative space effectively, the subject must be separated from its background in some way.  The subject can be isolated from the negative space in a number of ways:  Through contrasting colors, depth (bokeh) or even through creative lighting.

The shot shown here, appropriately titled “Edge”, is highly dependent on the negative space.  The pale sky creates a strong contrast to the dark leaves.  It helps to define the leaves.  But it also serves to balance the left and right side through contrast – light vs. dark, yin vs. yang.  The quality of this photo would be greatly compromised if the negative space were weaker.  For example, if the sky were darker, the negative space would be comparatively weaker.  Or, if the space was cluttered with the leaves of other trees or otherwise, the negative space would be weaker.  With a weak negative space, I might not even have a photo.

Crop 1

Crop 2

Now in the case of the photo above, I mentioned that the negative space balances the photo.  Balance is important in photography, so it’s good to know how to use negative space to balance a shot.  The negative space should bear the same weight as the positive space.  The trick is that negative space often has less of an impact than positive space.  Often, you would need more negative space – by area – to counter-balance the impact of the subject.  It also matters where the negative space is within the photo.  It has a greater impact if it can be focused to one specific area of the photograph.  To illustrate, I have included two different crops of the same photograph.  Crop 1 isn’t necessarily a bad photo – it features many of the building blocks of design that helps to make it a good photo.  But this composition lacks balance.  In theory, there is certainly enough negative space to balance the heavy weight of the subject.  But its placement doesn’t yield a strong composition as a significant portion of the negative space resides on the left as well.  To fix the shot, I chose a different aspect ratio with a longer horizontal edge.  The shortening of the vertical component allowed me to eliminate some of the unnecessary negative space above the firefighter.  The longer horizontal component permitted a small addition of negative space to the right.  Now, the subject is well balanced by the proportionally larger negative space area to the right.  The composition is improved.

Negative space is an important design element in almost any photograph.  It is such an important element that you should pay close attention to the negative space each and every time you frame up a shot.

The inner workings of an aperture. (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

When you first use an SLR camera, you are inclined to spend a great deal of time shooting in Automatic, or at least one of the program modes (if your camera supports them).  For many of you, this might be sufficient.  But if you desire to work towards ultimate control and artistic freedom, you’ll need to step outside of that comfort zone.  The next stop along your path would be one of the semi-automatic modes.  You have a choice of Shutter Priority or Aperture Priority.  Today, we’re going to focus on Aperture Priority.

With the camera in Aperture Priority (or AP) mode (check your manual to see how to set it up), you will have full control over the aperture – the opening inside your lens.  The aperture controls the depth of field – the amount of area that is in focus.  The wider the opening, the narrower your depth of field.  With a small aperture, the depth of field expands.  The direct correlation is light.  A small aperture will yield a large depth of field, but the shutter speed will be significantly longer to compensate for the limited amount of light getting through the lens.

What the f-stop?

To compare the relative size of these openings, we use a unit of measurement called a focal ratio, which is also known as an f-stop.  The proper way to note the aperture would be either ‘f/4′ or ‘f:4′, but it is also commonly noted as ‘f4′ or simply ‘4′.  I prefer to use the fraction notation simply because it makes things easier to remember.  I actually think in terms of fractions when comparing apertures.  Assuming the value for ‘f’ is constant (1, for example), it makes comparing sizes as simple as elementary math.  In our example f/4 (1/4) is clearly a much larger opening than f/22 (1/22).

As for how aperture relates to depth of field, the larger the opening, the narrower the depth of field.  If you have trouble remembering this, simply think only of the number on the bottom.  The smaller the bottom number, the smaller the depth of field.  So a f/4 has a significantly shallower depth of field than an f/22.

Pulling All the Stops

Now there are many f-stops on your camera lens.  The standard f-stops are as follows:

f/1 – f/1.4 – f/2 – f/2.8 – f/4 – f/5.6 – f/8 – f/11 – f/16 – f/22 – f/32

In this case, f/1 is the largest aperture whereas f/32 is the smallest – though your lens’s abilities will differ.  The numbers may not make a lot of sense.  The full-stops are derived from each step up where the amount of light is doubled.  In other words, f/4 permits twice as much light as f/5.6, and so on.  Depending on your lens, you may not have all of these stops, especially at the low end.  Most likely, your lens will also have half stops or third stops between some of these stops.  My 50mm lens, for example, starts at f/1.8 and ends at f/22.

Favorite Stops

With all these stops, half stops and third stops, it’s enough to make your head spin.  Worry not, there are only a few that truly matter.  These are what I refer to as the favorite stops.  Here are the favorite stops:

f/2.8 – This is the isolation aperture.  This is the aperture that you will use if you want to completely isolate the subject from the foreground or background.  The depth of field will be very shallow, so watch your focus carefully.  If your lens doesn’t have f/2.8, use the largest aperture on your camera.

f/4 - For a fairly narrow depth of field with a little more flexibility, use f/4.  This is a good setting to use with larger (deeper) subjects to get more in focus.

f/11 – This the aperture that I prefer when I am less concerned about depth of field.  It is a great aperture to use when you’re posing the subject in front of a surface (lets call it your backdrop) parallel to the camera.  The depth of field is deep enough to pick up almost everything on your subject.  But it’s shallow enough that if you position your subject well, you can soften the backdrop, if that’s your intent.  Focus on a point on the subject that is closest to the camera, and everything else will fall into place nicely.  But with such a setup, there’s no reason to to use a smaller aperture.

f/22 - If you want to see everything in the shot clearly, use this setting (or the smallest your lens supports).  You will still need to focus, of course, but the depth of field is quite incredible.

Everything Else -  Since I noted the four favorites, you might wonder if the rest of the f-stops matter at all.  These are for fine-tuning.  If you want slightly more or less depth of field, you can try a half-stop larger or smaller to make sure everything you need (but nothing more) is in focus.

Pulling it all together…

I like to think of Aperture Priority mode as the artistic mode.  It’s the mode where you have full control over the depth of field.  It’s great for planned shots, still life, portraits or detail work.  Use it when speed doesn’t matter, but the presentation of the subject does.  Simply determine the intent of your photo, select an aperture that is appropriate and click the shutter.  It’s as simple as that.  With digital, I would suggest that you review your photos to check your depth of field.  Use the zoom feature to verify the edges of your subject.  If the depth of field is anything but perfect, adjust and shoot again.

There is of course a formula to figure out exactly how deep the depth of field will be.  But for the sake of simplicity, there’s no reason why we can’t take advantage of the instant review capabilities of your camera.  We’ll save the complex math for another day.  In the mean time, go experiment with Aperture Priority mode.  With enough practice and comfort, it will become your favorite mode to shoot.  And then you’ll wonder why you ever used full-auto in the first place.

"Stairs to Culture" by D. Travis North

The old saying goes:  Those who can, do.  Those who cannot, teach. I’ll admit that I used that quote many times to describe some of my less-than-ideal professors in college.  It’s typically not a compliment.  In theory, the same could be said about myself.  I teach the technical and philosophical side of photography day in and day out – through Shutter Photo and through my daily interactions with others – be it in a forum or in person.  Yet I don’t consider myself an exceptional photographer, nor would I expect anyone else to think of me in that way as well.  I’m sure part of that is humility – I’m potentially harder on myself than the general public.  But I will admit that my ability to educate about photography is, perhaps, a bit of a surprise.  My work is not featured in photographic journals all around.  My work is not on display at a local studio, not even a local coffee shop.  For that matter, I make very little money off of my photographic works.  So why would anyone expect me to be a photography educator?  It’s a question I ask myself always.

As you may know – if you’ve been with us for so long – I started Shutter Photo as a personal blog.  I was blogging about what I was doing, what shots I had recently taken.  I even had a gallery of my works here (my portfolio has since moved and is not directly affiliated with Shutter Photo).  It evolved into where we are now: A magazine (of sorts) discussing technique, philosophy, inspiration and photography gear and gadgets.  I never would have dreamed that Shutter Photo would end up here.

But I never expected that I’d learn so much by sharing my own wisdom, either.

I’ve been shooting photography for well over 15 years – and I’m not including those years I spent haphazardly capturing images with a point-and-shoot (trust me, those snapshots cannot be considered “photos”).  Fifteen years is a lot of time to gain experience.  I’ve seem some exceptional work from my peers with less experience and less equipment.  Yet I find that there was a big gap in there – a large chunk of time where I feel my own photography didn’t progress.  For that matter, three years ago, when I moved to digital from film, I felt I had taken several steps backwards, like I had to re-learn how to shoot.  But nothing has helped me more than the past two years when Shutter Photo was in existence.  Teaching has helped me to grow significantly as a photographer.

Teaching is a catalyst.  It’s a way to keep yourself in check.  If you’re advising someone, you hesitate if you’re unsure of something.  It forces you to go back and check your statements, to make sure that they are technically correct.  It helps you to refresh your mind when it comes to elementary concepts – yes, even experienced photographers sometimes forget those.

But there’s something else – interactivity.  As I review the works of my students, I am inspired.  I learn as much from you, my student, as you might learn from me. Learning is not a path – it’s more like an ocean of knowledge.  You can learn a lot from the wisdom that surrounds you – but you won’t learn everything unless you can come in contact with every drop of water in that ocean.  So while you’re learning certain concepts, you may already have a better understanding than me of other concepts.  There’s a give-and-take relationship.  You learn from me, but I learn from you.  And it would be incredibly unfair of any teacher to say that they cannot learn something from their students.  I feel that I learn just as much, if not more, from my students as I impart on my them.

At the beginning of this article, I quoted the saying:  Those that can, do.  Those who cannot, teach. It has always been perceived as a negative comment.  Now, I look at it in a different light.  There is always more to learn.  And teaching is a great way to make sure there is always something to learn.  There is, in my opinion, no better way to expose yourself to passionate, like-minded people than to teach.  So while such a statement is intended to be negative, I now think of it positively.

So for those of you who consider me a mentor, I thank you for my own education.  And I encourage you to find pupils yourselves so that you might also benefit from learning through teaching.

"Out of the Comics" by D. Travis North

Very often when we think of photography equipment and accessories, the things that come to mind are lenses, flashes, filters, shoulder straps, and so on. But not everything in your kit needs to be explicitly designed for photography. Whether your kits fits into your camera bag or whether it’s a pile in the corner of your living room, there are countless other items that you might want to consider having for your photography. Here’s a list of non-traditional items that I consider part of my photography kit:

• Flat Bed Sheets – I have two flat bed sheets that I use only for photography: A plain white one and a navy blue one. They work well as a quick and dirty backdrop for products. Albeit – my sheets are from a twin bed, so when it comes to larger items, I have to resort to the living room carpet. If you were buying one flat out, I’d recommend a Queen size or even a King size sheet.
• Bungie Cords (various sizes) – I read recently on Strobist about the various uses for bungies (they specifically call out ball-bungie loops). You can use them to hang flashes in odd places, strap extra gear to your bag (your sheets, perhaps), stabilize a tripod or even use it to hang things like backdrops and keep them tight.
• Ruler – I always carry a ruler with me. Well, actually, I carry an engineering scale – same difference. I use mine as a focusing aid when I shoot macro. But it’s also useful when you need to quickly document the relative size of things – the size of a leaf you see.
• Compressed Air Duster – These are almost vital to the maintenance of any piece of equipment. The squeeze ball blowers, in my opinion, aren’t as effective at getting dust out of tight spaces as a nice can of compressed air. You can even get small collapsible tubes to toss in your travel kit.
• Boxes (various shapes and sizes) – I have a number of boxes that I use to prop things up for a shot. Don’t worry about appearences, that’s what the sheets are for – drape a sheet over any box, and it will look great.
• Small Screwdrivers – For emergencies, I keep a set of small precision screwdrivers. These are often available at DIY electronics stores (Radio Shack) or your local hardware store in the form of a kit. You won’t need to carry all of them, but two or three in varying sizes would be good if you need to tighten or fix something in a pinch.
• Small Notebook – I am partial to Moleskine’s products. They are small, durable notebooks that I carry with me at all times. I primarily use it for notes about a specific photo (the stuff that isn’t in your EXIF data). But I also jot down ideas about possible shots or opportunities. Don’t forget to pack a pencil/pen as well.
• Props – I have children, so I have countless objects and toys that I can use as props. But before my kids came along, I had plenty of knick-knacks and toys that I kept for shooting props: dried flowers, matchbox cars, wood carvings and so on. If you shoot portraiture, you may wish to consider things like bikes, benches, silk flowers or even costumes.