[FONT=&]Re: The 420 Fotographer Collective - Advanced Cannabis Photography [/FONT]
[FONT=&]The 420 Fotographer Collective - Member Bio[/FONT][FONT=&]
Username: Hyena Merica
Grow method and strains:
Method: Secret indoor attic grow lab, automated full-hydro system.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Strains: I grow many familiar strains but also some of my own feminized crosses.
Experience level and photography background:
I've been a professional photographer in some form for over 30 years. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Ten years as a skydiving photographer/videographer[/FONT]
[FONT=&]Fifteen years as a wedding and portrait photographer[/FONT]
[FONT=&]A lot of freelance work from nature portraiture to sports/news.[/FONT]
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I like taking pictures.
Camera, Lenses and Gear:
I use a Samsung Galaxy 5 phone for 100% of my cannabis photography, hand-held. On-camera flash only. Whaaat? Yep.
What is your style? (portrait, journal, macro, outdoor, instructional, various)
Yes.
Favourite lens or type of shot:[/FONT]
[FONT=&]I like a variety of approaches to creating an image but wide-angle lenses and compositions are probably my favorites. They often allow the photographer to tell more of a story with one image.
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[FONT=&]If you could give 1 tip for new photographers:[/FONT][FONT=&]
This will be a thorough tip.
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[FONT=&]A good photograph
tells a story. It
emphasizes the subject in the most ideal way possible...using angle of view...depth of field...lighting...focus. Many decisions all carefully considered come together in the perfect storm of a truly great image. Like a great golf shot or a home run swing, the end result looks so easy, so natural, when it's perfect. But it is anything but random. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]It may come as a surprise that even those at the top of a complex craft often approach things using a surprisingly simple set of
guidelines. Photography can be made very complex but it doesn't have to be. Through many decades and types of photography work I have always utilized a few simple basics to make every photo opportunity as good as it can be.
Surprisingly simple. Let me share some of them.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]1) Every photograph should have a
subject, and what the photographer wants to say about that subject guides the way the picture is made. That might seem obvious but a lot of photographs either lack a true subject, or fail to properly emphasize the subject.
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[FONT=&]2) Once you determine your subject, your aim is simply to help your camera
see it in the best possible way. With an SLR camera, interchangeable lenses with various focal lengths give you a lot of options, and make it possible to precisely control things like depth of field, to really separate your subject from the background, which is especially important in portraiture. Using a phone camera limits the artistic range considerably since most use one lens for all pictures. However, even a phone will take what it sees, so if that viewpoint is amazing the picture will be amazing.
The most important thing is to find that perfect view...and then almost any camera can capture it. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Technically
a cannabis bud picture is a portrait so the basic rules of composition and lighting for a person in a portrait studio apply to a bud in a grow room. Knowing and following some guiding principles is the difference between getting lucky now and then, and being able to create consistently good portraits.
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[FONT=&]Some of those basic rules are:
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FOCUS: Your subject must be sharp. Razor sharp. Anything less is a miss. The main key to a sharper image is absolute stillness of the camera. Unless you're an eye surgeon, use something to
brace your camera when you shoot. A cannabis portrait is close-up photography so it's easier to get things sharp. But the depth-of-field is often too shallow. If only a portion of your subject is sharp it's usually not a good picture.
TIP: A wider lens, and/or a smaller aperture setting, will help get more of the subject in sharp focus. [/FONT]
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DEPTH: A portrait strives to create the illusion of depth in a two-dimensional image. This is done by arranging a foreground, your subject, and a background, and "stacking" those elements so the viewer perceives depth. In cannabis portraits, it's fairly easy to create depth because there are usually foreground and background elements that can be included (usually other plants). A solo shot of a beautiful bud is even better with some elements in front of and behind the subject to give the composition depth.
TIP: Make sure foreground and background elements are
not directly in line with the subject, you want to make sure those elements don't
obscure or
distract too much from the subject. [/FONT]
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LIGHTING: The subject in a portrait should typically be about twice as bright as the background. I almost always use some flash. There is lots of light bouncing around most grow rooms, and it's easier to get even light throughout the shot because of the many reflective surfaces, just move around until you find the light angle you want, and if you want to add light a little bit of on-camera flash is great for adding fine detail, but too much will cause you to lose the background and with it the illusion of depth. Find that balance of 2:1.
TIP: Often the easiest way to balance flash is to first
add a bit of background light to raise the light level of everything
behind the subject up to where you can use flash
on your subject and it still doesn't look "flashy". Play with it.[/FONT]
[FONT=&]So, three rules, how can it be that simple?[/FONT][FONT=&] Well, it's not rocket surgery...I might have mentioned even though I own some of the best cameras in the world all my cannabis portraits are created using a
hand-held Samsung phone. It's not so much the kind of camera that makes a great photograph happen... the eye and diligence of the person holding it is the real magic. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]Finally, no matter how good you are, even professionals need to take
lots of images to find the
one that really works. Plus, they have
one more thing that helps them get the best out of their work, which is
some clear idea of what they want to do before they do it! Everyone, newbie to pro, can raise their photography to a higher level by doing these two things: [/FONT]
[FONT=&]1)
Take lots of pictures. Then, when you think you have taken enough...
take lots more. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]2) Invest a little time
studying some images
you really like of the subject you wish to photograph,
before you shoot it yourself.
See why they work, and
feel what they say about the subject and how the photographer chose to see them and told the story with one click. Look at the depth of field and the lighting and the focus. It's okay to try to duplicate other people's techniques...that's the whole idea! The point is simply, when you go into your shoot with a real sense of what you're looking for you are much more likely to find it. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]The truth is, every photographer's style is an
evolved fusion of lots of individual bits from the styles and methods of others. It takes time, and especially LOTS of practice, to develop proficiency. But with the wonderful world of affordable digital cameras eliminating all cost of film, nothing is holding you back.
If you think a photograph is beautiful, it is! Never let the opinions of others dampen your desire to create. Follow your own sense of art and your photography will fulfill
you. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]One more thing.[/FONT][FONT=&] I believe a photograph is a sacred combining of the spirit of man with the wonder of technology, to capture a unique moment so we can hold it...forever. Make no mistake, photography is art. And art is what
you make it![/FONT]
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So, what you perceive beauty to be...seek. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]What beauty you find...capture. [/FONT]
[FONT=&]For it is the sharing of beauty that makes
you beautiful.[/FONT]
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Peace, Hyena
Choose a few of your favourite photos and share them.
Gladly. This is just a general selection of shots to show a lot of different looks, even though they were all taken in the same grow room under the same general array of lights. Point of view is everything. A photographer is a hunter. Keep hunting until you find that one best way of seeing your subject. Then shoot!
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great write up. you guys give a lot to think about.
making things look different!
Nice buds & nice Pictures
