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Photographers Process Guidelines
In the past I mostly let photographers shoot whatever and however they wanted, mainly because I needed to see what the possibilities were rather than imposing something too early. I now feel I need to lay down some guidelines. There is definitely room for improvement both organizationally and photographically. This page describes my new directives for photographers. For example I now require mainly horizontal frames for everything. Please read carefully as there are some key changes technically and creatively. I think in practice you will find you still have a lot of freedom.It would be useful for photographers to understand how the images will be presented in final form. Each outing will be shown as a unit, describing the events of the day in a story-book fashion. So if, for example, 3 photographers come along (including me), I will be combining all the photographs into one stream of images taking the viewer through the day from arrival at the location through to departure. So the variety of points of view on the same activities will give the effect of multiple cameras in a movie, showing things from differnet angles when possible.
Working Method
❂ PHOTOGRAPHY TEAMAs a photographers you will contribute to the coverage of an outing as a single collective work. The shooting is done more as a team rather than chaotically with photographers getting into each other's shots or shooting similar angles, etc. You will still bring your own creativity to the shoot but you must take direction from me and maintain an awareness of what everyone else is shooting.
❂ LESS POSING - MORE SPONTANEITY
Your mandate is NOT to dream up amazing compositions and pose people into them. We are not shooting traditional fine art nudes. For the most part I do not want posing; mostly I do not want the subjects to appear to be aware of the camera. This is not a hard and fast rule. The idea is to let them be active and for the photographers to capture special moments as they happen. There can be direction and there can be deliberate repeating of actions for the camera. But in the end the photos should not look too contrived or deliberately created. You can set up a shot, find a good postion, ask the subject to do a certain thing, but it should look natural and spontaneous.
❂ CONTINUOUS SHOOTING - WATCH EVERYTHING
Your job is to shoot everything, record everything, beginning to end. It is an experiential record in the form of a flow of still images. You should be shooting even if the moment does not seem very photogenic. You should be watching what the others are shooting, do not get in their shots, do not repeat their shots, find other complimentary angles. Generally, your job is to support whatever I (Nomad) am shooting, to follow my directions. When you have no directions from me you need to keep working using your own instincts.
❂ CAPTURE THE ACTION AS IT HAPPENS
Try to capture the excitement of the experience. Look for displays of emotion or other expressiveness like the shock of cold water or the enjoyment of the sensual warmth of the sun. there is nothing worse than photos of people hanging around looking bored or neutral.
❂ REPEAT ACTIONS WHEN NECESSARY
You can ask people to repeat something, or ask them to wait a moment (if they are about to dive into water but your camera is not set yet). The on-camera participants will get notes too and they will know they need to be active and creative but that on some level they are performing even if they are not supposed to look like they are.
❂ SHOOT LOTS AND LOTS
Shoot lots of frames. Cover the action, vary your angles. Normally I would be getting 1000 or more raw images from you at the end of the day. Fire away! Make sure you have enough CF cards to hold that many.
❂ HORIZONAL FRAME MOST OF THE TIME!
Shoot with a horizontal frame. This is what I need for web presentation. Stop thinking about boxing in the human form. Leave space; I can crop for web presentation if needed. To get out of the habit of shooting with a vertical frame, think like you are shooting video. I want the viewer to just move from frame to frame, like a picture book, without scrolling up and down. Of course this does not mean you cannot get in close - just keep the horizontal frame. If you REALLY want to shoot some verticals, that's okay, just make sure the same action is also covered horizontal.
❂ CREATIVE ANGLES
Find interesting angles. Don't just shoot from where you happen to be standing. Lie down and shoot up. Climb up on something. Keep moving to new spots. Explore different points of view.
❂ DYNAMIC POINTS OF VIEW
Shoot wide, and get in close. I want to see the place we are visiting and I want to see closeups of people. The micro and a the macro.
❂ USE SEVERAL LENSES
Vary lens focal lengths, some wide angle, some telephoto. Just be aware that you will get dirt onto your CCD by changing lenses too often outdoors. If you can have 2 or more camera bodies that would be recommended.
❂ LOOSE FRAMING IS OK
How you frame or compose is not critical because I will be doing additional cropping later. When in doubt, leave it loose. In some cases I have pulled two cropped frames from one photo becasue the low resolution of web images makes this possible.
❂ BACKGROUND MESSINESS
Keep checking the background of shots, and when possible and practical move random objects out of view (camera bags, clumps of clothing, water bottles, garbage).
❂ CLEAN YOUR LENS
When shooting by the ocean you need to clean your lens constantly. A film of salty brine is inevitable. At the end of the day thoroughly clean all your equipment even if it looks clean. Salt is your enemy.
❂ WATCH YOUR SHADOW
I'm not sure why, but often photographers fail to notice that their own shadow is falling on part of the subject's body!
❂ MINIMIZE SEEING OTHER PHOTOGRAPHERS IN SHOTS
Mostly try to keep other photographers out of your shots. I used to encourage including them but I am leaning away from this. I do want some shots so we have a record of everyone there. But I may decide that for the website to avoid being aware of the process that got the images.
❂ NO BEER OR WINE BOTTLES IN SHOTS
Subjects should not have beer/wine bottles along in the first place, but if they do I don't particularly want to have photos of this. In fact glass containers should not be present.
❂ BE AWARE OF SUN ANGLE.
Watch the sun angle. Mid-day the light is crap on a face - your only hope is some flash fill. This is a good time to let people lie down and face up into the light. By 2 pm or so it gets better but avoid the half-and-half light of sun on one side and shadow on the other unless there is lots of natural fill light. Either get the sun behind your back, or shoot the other way, into the sun, exposing for the shadows letting the sun back-light them - this is my favorite lighting for this time of day. When the sun gets down closer to the horizon more possibilities open because the brightness ratio between sun and shade softens a lot.
❂ KEEP CHECKING EXPOSURE
While shooting check your display screen constantly to make sure your exposure is OK. Set it to show you a levels graph with the image as you cannot judge exposure from the display image when you are squinting at it in sunlight.
❂ DON'T JUST SHOOT THE GIRLS
Male photographers... no matter how much I tell you not to, you give excessive camera time to the pretty young female participants. Shoot everyone equally! Re-program your mind!
❂ NO CLOSE-UPS OF CROTCHES
Avoid shooting closeups of the genital area. There could be exceptions, such as a case where someone has interesting piercings and wants to show them off. Don't worry if you shoot something by accident; I will be editing the sets of course and will eliminate those shots. This has not really been a problem but I want to make sure new photographers are clear about this.
❂ BUT DO NOT CENSOR YOURSELF
On the other hand I do not want to encourage the deliberate and coy hiding of the genital area. It is a natural part of the anatomy and sometimes, through activity, becomes more visible than usual. Examples would be: doing cartwheels, rock climbing, standing on one's head. Just don't zoom in for close-ups, the participants will mostly not appreciate this and we're not interested in that anyway.
❂ NO SEXUAL ACTIONS
Do not ask participants to do anything sexually suggestive. Their attitude can be sensual and people can be physical with each other, as long as it does not cross into sexual touching.
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