Roho Ya Chui
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How many Megapixels does One need for Great Photos?
29/06/12 11:52
There are plenty of articles on that subject with mostly the same essence, “megapixel don’t matter or do they?”.
The newest Nikon D800 seems to be the dream of every photographer. Eventually 36 megapixel for a reasonable price and the photos will be brilliant. If you are a fashion photographer and the images will be blown up to billboard size it matters, but are we all going that big? Besides that, the higher the number of megapixel the bigger the image files and the bigger and faster the memory cards need to be and the storage on computers and backup drives. It will take for ages to upload the images to the computer, the image software might slow down when dealing with the high amount of big files and the backup hard drive will be full quickly. For what all the trouble with the big files when the images will be in a family photo book? Not that the family photo book shouldn’t be of outstanding quality, but we won’t see the difference between 16 and 36 megapixels on this scale. Maybe its just the idea that we get more for less what let us being so excited, like 36 eggs for the price of 16. The D800 is a great camera with excellent technology, yet a great photo needs more than that and no megapixel can replace the skilled and intuitive photographer with the eye for composition and light. Team them up and the results are great, no matter 16 or 36 megapixel.
Happy snapping!
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
4x4 Safari Jeep vs. Minibus in Kenya's National Parks
28/06/12 14:26
The Kenyan National Park authorities decided to ban minibuses from the parks effective from 2014. What does that mean and why are they doing it.
There are two sorts of safari vehicles one can spot in the Masai Mara, the 4x4 Jeeps and the (mostly) Toyota minibuses or minivans. The minibuses are the cheaper safari transportation comparing to the 4x4 jeeps. They are just like the minibuses on the roads in any place in the world except from their hatch roof for the people to stand up for a good look at the wildlife. For the rest they are the same. From the technical point of view that means that they struggle on wet black cotton soil roads after the rain in the Mara (and other places) and get stuck easily. They are also not made to drive off road and on safari roads, which makes them not as comfortable and safe as a vehicle that was made for these conditions. Besides that the drivers are often not trained to drive in the bush and miss the knowledge of a safari guide. The minibus is the budget safari vehicle and that makes it a problem in two ways. They cause problems in the parks and they cannot deliver the safari experience a 4x4 can, but they enable more people to go on safari, because they are cheaper. This is a dilemma. People should be able to go on safari to experience this genuine beauty and nobody knows for how long it will be there. On the other hand a safari in a minibus is not quite a safari. A minibus feels like a minibus no matter where it drives, on the streets of Hamburg or in the Masai Mara, it does not allow the Africa feeling one actually comes for.
For all these reasons its good that the minibuses are banned from the parks, but what with the budget traveller? It can be better to safe money on the accommodation rather than on the vehicle. There are great camping safari opportunities with a 4x4 jeep that have even the advantage of having your own private 4x4 for the whole stay. It’s a great and genuine safari experience and it doesn’t have to cost much. Think about it when planning your safari trip to Africa.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
No Cheating with The Light
27/06/12 14:37
Did you ever have doubts, if the images in a coffee table book were really images from the Okavango Delta and not from the Kruger Park? Photoshop makes everything look a like, so why not in a wildlife photo book? Well there are vegetation and animals species that would spoil the trick, but more reliable is the light. Although the great wildlife destinations like the Masai Mara, the Okavango Delta and the Kruger National Park are all in sub-Saharan Africa, their light is completely different and recognizable in images. The light of the Kruger Park is more pale and harsh. It doesn’t have the warm depth of the light in the Okavango Delta and the Masai Mara, not even in the golden hour. The Masai Mara light is bright between the golden hours, but it got still this earthy tone to it only East Africa has and the warm light just after sunrise and before sunset is marvelous and distinguished from all other wildlife areas. The light in the Okavango Delta enhances in a beautiful way all colors and makes them greatly saturated and eye catching. And of course the color of the animals differs in different light. So even if you look at an elephant portrait of a clean elephant (no soil on his face) the light tells you where he was. No cheating possible.
Try it yourself and put some photo books or images from the Internet of the different areas next to each other and you will notice the difference. The light tells where they come from. And if not, there might be something not quite right. Light doesn’t cheat.
Happy light capturing!
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
Epic Drama: The Great Migration
26/06/12 15:56
We probably all know the images of the Great Migration from documentaries, photographs and travel brochures and somehow they all feel dramatic. Wildebeest bodies crowded on the Mara River bank, hesitating, restless, and anxious. Then one is brave enough to make the first move or just pushed by the crowd, jumping into the water of the Mara River for the greener grass on the other side, swimming, desperately trying to keep its head above the rushing water. More wildebeest pushing, jumping, calling, following the one in front and the river fills with a line of swimming animals. And then one goes head under, the next wildebeest tries to turn around, but the strong current won’t allow that, its struggling and then the other one comes up again, they carry on to the other side. There is pushing and panic and desperation, the path out of the water up the riverbank is tight. The others try to find another path up the bank, fall, try again and more wildebeest are pushing from the river. Finally the first of the herd reach the rim of the riverbank and run onto the grassland. They made it. Now turning around to see how the others are doing. Pushing, calling, panic, fear, yet this herd was lucky, no casualty to the crocodiles. They gained access to the green grass of the Masai Mara and they will do it again and again, bringing their offspring to the Great Plains for food and survival even if that means to face the river.
This epic drama draws not only crowds of animals to the Masai Mara, but also visitors who want to see it with their own eyes. And there is no documentary that can let you feel being there at the crossing with the big herds and their mission for food.
Its photographer’s heaven.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
When Photography becomes the Best Therapy Ever
25/06/12 16:44
Have you ever had such a day that nothing would work, all you touched fell into pieces, you had the feeling that nobody likes you anymore, business is not going to work and sun is shining never again? There are several ways of dealing with such a day. You can burst into tears and cry until you fall a sleep, start eating ice cream and chocolate until you drop, blame everyone and everything around you for your misery, throwing things and many more other destructive not helping ways of coping options. But there is one solution for everything, photography. Grab your camera or smart phone, go out into the park if you can or just use the environment where you are and start photographing what you see. If you feel so bad that you don’t want to see, then look away and just press the shutter. Keep doing it until you feel exhausted. That means whatever negative energy was in you will have drained. Now have a look at the images. There might be plenty of artistic images of a mug of floor lamp, photographed through angles you never tried before. And there will be plenty of “weird” images you don’t have an explanation for and want to erase. Do so, erase them. They were the disturbing energy you were struggling with for the whole day. Now you are left with your artistic images and if you want or not, you will feel inspired and positive, ready for a new sunny day.
Happy trying.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
What Does a Photo Tell About the Photographer?
22/06/12 13:21
Before there was photography there were paintings. Every painter had (and has) its own “signature” in painting, a certain way to see things and a certain way in bringing them on the canvas. It was and is the painter’s way in working with light and composition what makes each of them special.
With photography one might be tempted to think that there is no own signature, because we all press simply the shutter. But there is. There can be ten photographers standing on the very same spot in front of a tree and photographing the very same tree and there will be ten different photos. They all bring in their own way of seeing and capturing things, their own personal way of doing things, their own personality. Just like a painter, also every photographer has his or her own signature in creating a photo while simply pressing the shutter. This is one of the main strength of photography. It enables everybody to create unique artwork. This unique signature is what makes the difference, what makes photos genuine and what makes people loving them. One can only grow in photography by developing and growing the own signature, like a painter, capturing what the inner eye sees.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
7 Things to Think of When Going on Photo Safari
21/06/12 17:17
Going on a photo safari is different from doing photography in a city or other holiday destination. There are certain things to keep in mind when preparing for the trip.
#1 Is there power supply in my Safari Camp?
You go on photo safari with your digital camera and additional equipment and pretty much all of it needs electrical power. Ask before departure, if there is power supply and if yes, which adapter you need to bring.
#2 How will the weather be?
Going on safari means being outdoors. This cannot be only challenging for the equipment, but also for the photographer. Inform about the weather conditions and ask for advice before departure.
#3 What lenses do I need?
Do ask this question to somebody who is used to the bush and not just somebody in a store. They mean well, but they usually underestimate the conditions one has to cope with I the bush in relation to the desired photos one wants to bring home.
#4 Laptop or iPad?
You can upload photos to both of them, but the photo processing capacities are very different. Think of what you want to do and make a decision before departure.
#5 Tripod or not?
It depends on what you want to do. There is little space in the game vehicles to set up a tripod, but its nice to have a tripod for low light landscape photography. Think carefully and make a decision before departure.
#6 Weight!
Are you flying from lodge to lodge or going by 4x4? This is crucial in making a decision about the weight of the equipment you are taking with you. Safari flights have strict weight limits, inform about them before departure.
#7 My health
Talk to your GP about the vaccinations you might need and get advice regarding malaria. Mind the different water quality. Bring a repellant, sun glasses and sun hat.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoaychui.com
5 Good Reasons to Love Photography
20/06/12 12:46
Why would anybody need reasons to love photography? I think nobody does. It’s just nice to mention some of them again.
#1 Photography captures precious moments
Can you imagine coming home with your baby, or getting married or seeing your child making the first steps and you do not have a camera to capture that? No, you can’t imagine.
#2 Photography lets us say what we can’t say
Have you ever been in a situation that you were so emotionally that you just couldn’t find the words or so overwhelmed that your voice wouldn’t do it? No problem, we got the image.
#3 Photography gives us joy
What did we do in the dark ages without digital cameras with us on holidays, cameras in our smart phones, photo books to spend the weekend with making them? I can’t remember. The joy of accessible creativity for all is what photography gives us.
#4 Photography makes communication easier
When you see something in a shop and you want to tell your husband or wife about it, what do you do? You take a picture, go home and show it to your spouse. No long exhausting explanations necessary, there is the photo.
#5 Photography tells us the news
When you look at the news paper, what do you look at first? The images. Sometimes they encourage you to read the article, sometimes they tell you already the complete story.
Please feel free to add more good reasons to love photography.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How Social Media Created a World of Virtual Teams
19/06/12 14:09
Multinational corporations work nowadays with virtual teams. That means that employees from all over the world are working on the same project and have never met in person. They form a virtual team. This is a progressive way of working and brings the best people together without moving them physically around the world. But it got its challenges. There are different time zones, different mentalities, different cultures, different languages and they actually only got in common that they work on the same project. That leads to misunderstandings and collisions that have big influence on the result of the project. In order to focus on the core of what they are doing, the project, photography can be utilized. Images are a universal language and when a photo shows a wheel it’s for everybody clear it’s a wheel, whatever name each person might have for the “wheel”. Well, there might be content difficult to show as an image, but there is a big opportunity in utilizing photography in the communication of virtual teams. And if no photo can be taken create one, create visual content. How great that works show the social networks. We are all part of virtual teams.
The photo sharing is the main fun on social media, because we all understand them, wherever we live and whatever our cultural background is. A flower is a flower and when we “like” the flower we join the community of all people who “like” the flower, we became a team, virtually over the image of a flower. And we feel as a team, because we all love the same flower, so we are connected in the love for the flower, just like the people working on the same project. Our world has become a world of virtual teams, with no physical distances anymore to overcome. An image goes around and connects who ever likes it wherever in the world. We meet people we got something in common with, although we might never physically meet and we are not alone in our love for the flower anymore, we became part of a team.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How to Make a Selection of Your Images
18/06/12 11:53
We probably all know how it is to sit with an overwhelming amount of images from a trip, event or any other occasion that makes us shooting away. And now we need to make a selection of all these images to show to our client, friends or family. The first thing most of the people do is erasing the images they think are not good. But it starts exactly there to make the right choices.
What is a good image? Ok, if you wanted to photograph a bird in flight and you got only sky that makes it a candidate to be erased. But with all other choices be careful. There might be images that you think now are not what you want, but they might be exactly what you need to complete a page in a photo book. They might be complimentary to the main image of the page and support its beauty, although you wouldn’t choose them to stand out alone. If you delete them now, you will miss them later. Be conscious that it is our mindset what makes us choose images!
If you just shot a wedding and the family of the bride asks you to show them pictures, you will think of this side of the wedding party when your are selecting the images. You will make sure that all of their family members are in the pictures. That will not mean that you will erase the images of the groom’s family. They will see a selection made for them. When you try to make a selection that suits all, you might experience stress, confusion or insecurity. That only comes, because your mind tries to jump right and left between the different expectations of the several parties of the event. As long as you focus on one “expectation group” or theme you will be fast and easy in making your selection. And when finished with one, focus on the next and go through the same body of work. You will be very efficient and secure in what you are doing, just like an editor for a magazine. The editor has an article with a certain subject and looks through a number of images to find the right one for that article. It’s the editors mind set what makes him or her stop at a certain images and knowing that’s it. Do the same. Set your mind in what you are looking for and it will do the job for you. It will make you stop at exactly the image you need.
Try it.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
Why Photoshop is Not a General Need in Photography
15/06/12 12:44
We all know the magazine images of beautiful people and products with the purpose to make us wanting them or wanting to look like them. To create these images one needs Photoshop, because as they are artificial needs, the images stimulating them need to be artificial too.
But for what reason do we need Photoshop for captured special moments? These moments were real. Or would you rather not really see the lion in the savanna or not really walk on the beach. It is the artificially perfect image from the magazine that makes us applying Photoshop to everything and by doing that destroying the captured real moment. If the picture doesn’t show what we saw, then we got to work on the photographic skills. Photoshop cannot make a picture a capture of a real moment, because it is made when the moment has gone already, later somewhere on a computer. Think and feel twice before doing Photoshop to your images. It might not do good to them.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How to Change DSLR Lenses in the Bush
14/06/12 11:28
How do you change the lens on your camera? Do you put the camera body on your lap; lens facing up and you turn of the lens and put on the other one?
The moment we change the lens on our DSLR camera we open the camera body to the environment. That means whatever is in the environment gets access to the insight of our camera and it does not belong there. We don’t want dust in our camera and on the sensor. It might not be to bad in a closed and quite clean room, but it gets really bad when we are outdoors and especially in the bush. This environment is already challenging for the equipment and don’t make it worse. When changing the lens have the body opening always facing down. If you have to do it while being on a game drive with no assistants in sight to help you, do it like this. Hold the lens while still being on the camera body with your knees, turn the camera body off the lens, set the lens aside, hold the new lens with your knees and put on the camera body onto the new lens while holding the lens with your knees. It’s a simple way of being fast in changing the lens, keeping yourself reminded of facing the camera body down and avoiding as much as possible exposure to the dusty environment. Try it first at home to be fast enough when wanting to capture the fast moving leopard with the right lens. Well, or travel with a couple of bodies and never have to change a lens.
Happy lens changing.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
Why Short-Term Photography Courses are Better
13/06/12 11:30
People often speak about wanting to sign up for a “real photography course”, meaning a course that goes over weeks and months through evening, weekend or online classes. But time says nothing about the quality of a course. If you wish to learn all about the technical features of photography, cameras, lenses and related software and you have only two hours per week the time to do it will take you months. But if you want to learn how to operate your camera only one lesson might be enough. Now you might think, it depends. Yes, it depends on what the person wants to learn, how quick a person learns, what knowledge is already there and what the goals are. This should be determined before the lessons start. What do you want to learn, for what reason do you want to learn it, where do you want to go in photography. Depending on the answers a number of lessons between one and four can be planned. Except from a basic lesson on the camera or for a specific photographic subject, four lessons are a good number of lessons to sign up for. They give you the time to get somewhere in photography with a beginning and an end. Setting out the personal goals in photography as a hobby or profession and get going in the first lesson. Working on it in the second and third lesson and evaluating the achievements in the fourth lesson gives the course a great dynamic and momentum in the photographic learning process. One might need some time to practice the learned before moving on with lessons or need a break for other reasons. Or one wants to carry on immediately. It is very personal and the personal conditions can change a lot with time. An individual and short-term approach takes this into account and adjusts the photography course to the individual circumstances of the student. That makes the short-term photography courses the better ones for the commited students.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How to Not Think When Photographing
12/06/12 09:43
Have you ever had the experience photographing a great place or event and thinking constantly, I hope this will turn out right, I hope they will like it, I hope this is what they want, I can’t get it right, I don’t know what to do … and many thoughts of the same disturbing kind. It’s horrible, isn’t it? And of course the images are not what you wanted, they are exactly what you were afraid of. How to switch of these thoughts or direct them in a positive way?
First thing, don’t get frantic when experiencing such a situation. By pushing yourself with force through these thoughts you make it worse and it will show in your photography. Instead make a “step back”, put down your camera, make literally a few steps back, find a bench to sit on and look at the situation. Even five minutes sitting there will feel like eternity, but they are necessary. Only when you let go, the pressure will flow away and you will start seeing again instead of being occupied by anxious thoughts. Reset yourself on what you see and what you want. Wait and focus on the light. It will show you what you need to see and do for the right approach to your desired photo. As a result you will be tuned in on photography and in conversation with the object through your camera. This “photographic trance” will take all your mind space and let no room for “alien” thoughts. Now shoot away.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
When Photoshop guru Scott Kelby explains Composition
11/06/12 10:19
Photoshop guru Scott Kelby, editor and publisher of the Photoshop User Magazine and training director and instructor for Adobe Photoshop Semiar Tour, gave at the recent Google+ Photography Conference a talk about composition with the title “How to crush composition”. The one-hour talk is available on youtube and PetaPixel announced it as going beyond the basics of rules of thirds, leading lines, and repeating patterns. Sounded interesting and I watched the video.
The first 15 minutes were already overwhelming, although in a different way I thought they would be. Scott Kelby was talking about a design workshop Adobe had set up in the 90ies to teach design. This workshop was a big success and also a failure. Adobe usually had 400 to 500 people attending a day workshop, but for this design workshop only 63 people came. The 63 attendees had the day of their life and were extremely happy about what they learned, but they were only 63 and not 400. Scott Kelby asked them at the end; why only so few people attended the workshop. The answer was that the other people at the office had said that they already know the design software. Kelby concluded that people seem to think they are designers when they know how to use the software. Only two out of the 10 planned design workshops were conducted and the second workshop was only done, because they couldn’t get out of it. As an explanation for the wrong idea about design Kelby concludes that it is our nature to want to learn the hardware and software. A natural conclusion for somebody who represents the software that gives people the impression they know design. Day workshops with 400 people pay better than workshops with 63 and let people think the software can do it all; that makes them only buy more software. Well and we the customers accept it.
I was tempted to stop watching after the first 15 minutes, but carried on until the end, hoping to learn something new about composition. I did not learn something new about composition, but about how to disguise a photoshop sales talk with a composition talk. I got the impression that photoshop determines what is good and what not and degrades the original object or moment to a framework for photoshop.
Ute Sonnenberg. www.rohoyachui.com
Professional vs. Amateur Photographers?
08/06/12 14:30
The Olympics are coming and there have been already many controversial discussions on how the photography rights will be handled during the games. There were rumors that it will not be allowed to share images on social networks in the stadiums and photographers were prohibited to photograph the Olympic locations during construction. Well, this week came the news that only small cameras will be allowed in the stadiums and any camera or lens bigger than the allowed size will be confiscated, but there are no lockers to keep them, so they most likely will be gone when you come out. As a response a discussion spun off from both sides, professional and amateur photographers. The amateur photographers were upset that they cannot take their great equipment with them and the professional photographers were cynical, stating that with the allowed camera and lens size one still can take great images. What is this about?
The professional photographers who are the official photographers of an event make their living from photography, invest constantly in their business and often have to pay to be allowed photographing an event. For a big event as the Olympics photo and press agencies pay for the right to take photographs. They need to earn that money back by selling the images to the media and online platforms. That becomes very difficult when everybody in the stadium with a big zoom lens gets in the position to photograph the event as well. At such an event it’s not that much about the quality of the images, it’s more about catching a moment and being the first to have it on the Internet. It’s a race.
That race can be real fun for amateur photographers, but is very annoying for professional photographers. The professional is working there and does not have the time and energy to play a game with thousands of amateurs challenging him or her. It’s completely understandable that everybody wants to photograph the Olympics when being one of the lucky ones having a ticket. But just do it for your own and your friend’s fun and leave the professionals doing their job. All photographers share the passion for photography. Respect each other’s role in the photography world and learn from each other.
Imagine being an electrician, called in to repair a power failure and the head of the household is telling you how to do it, because he built his electrical miniature train system himself. He can be of big help by telling the electrician when the failure occurred, which machines were running at that moment and probably other relevant information, but the actual work needs to be done by the called in professional.
If the amateur feels the desire to become a professional, do it! Follow you heart and make your passion your profession and respect those who did that already.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
Yin & Yang in Photography
07/06/12 14:33
Yin yang are not opposing forces (dualities), but complementary opposites, unseen (hidden, feminine) and seen (manifest, masculine), that interact within a greater whole, as part of a dynamic system. (via Wikipedia)
Photography has pretty much been a domain of men, although there have been great and famous female photographers, yet its mostly men who wield a camera. At least they were. One reason might have been society in the beginning years of photography that wouldn’t see technology, as something a woman should be doing. And within this reasoning is already a deeper answer. Technology is the masculine that, one can see. The masculine side, the yang, manifests itself in machines, therefore in cameras. The Greek philosopher Apollinaire called machines the “motherless daughters of men”. That implicates that there is no female side involved in the machines, which is of course impossible. In order to invent machines including cameras one needs intuition as well as technical knowledge and skills. Intuition is the female side, the yin, the unseen. It is common knowledge that we all have both in us, the yin, the female side, and the yang, the male side and so does photography.
The definition of yin and yang says, that they are part of a dynamic system, which means that there is a constant dynamic between the two sides on who is stronger and dominant. I think we can state that the male side with the technology succeeded for a long time in being the dominant side, leading to big business in camera equipment and accessories. Women had the impression that the technical side of photography was something they wouldn’t be able to understand and that kept many of them away from doing photography. If someone would have explained the technical side of photography in intuitional language this wouldn’t have happened, but of course the technical language was a masculine language. But digital photography changed all that.
Everybody can press a shutter. The technical knowledge wouldn’t have such a big influence anymore on the result as it had until then. The eye, wielded by the intuition would make the difference and this is the yin part. Photography seems to get a huge boost from the technology freed intuition. It opened new creative spaces and the technical side of photography with the recent camera innovations and photo apps stimulates and supports this trend. That doesn’t mean photography will now be only something for females, males have just as much yin as females have yang. They are only rearranged in the dynamic system and move towards balance in both, in women and men. The women get more comfortable with technology and the men more comfortable with their intuition.
The dynamic of yin and yang shows itself also within the technical side of photography. Take for example Canon and Nikon cameras and watch who is using them. The men who are using Canon equipment are very different from men who are using Nikon. One could think that comes from test results and test reports, yet eventually one chooses the camera that feels right. Canon is the more masculine product, grey lenses on black bodies, and Nikon is the more intuitional oriented product. Interesting enough Canon has started offering the choice between grey and black lenses. I don’t know if they are conscious about the reason, but they would reach by doing that also the more intuitional oriented male customers, who do not find masculine dominance important and the number of intuition conscious men seems to grow.
Is photography the visualized dynamic of yin and yang? Maybe it is.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
Sharing Best Practice
06/06/12 13:05
In the times without social networks and blogs, one had knowledge about something, another one was looking for that knowledge, but the two couldn’t find each other. Since the rise of the social media the world has become a world of sharing. We are not only sharing our holiday photos and thoughts, we are also sharing knowledge. The Internet and the social media provide free access (at least in most of the countries) to knowledge, facts, information and feedback on subjects one is interested in. We are connecting with people around the world to exchange knowledge and while doing that we inspire and help people in work and education.
Here some shares.
Find out which of your eyes is dominant:
One tip that instructors often pass onto the beginning photographers is to use their dominant eye (i.e. the eye they prefer seeing with) to look through the viewfinder. If you want to find out which of your eyes is the dominant one, here’s a quick test you can do: extend your arms straight out and form a small triangle with your hands. Looking through the triangle with both eyes open, frame something nearby (e.g. a doorknob) and place it in the center of the triangle. Then close your eyes one at a time without moving the triangle — your dominant eye is the one that placed the object in the center. (via reddit and petapixel)
A safe place to show and sell your images:
All of us who do photography want to show our images and hope that we can sell them to a magazine or as an art print. But how do we do that without the risk of the digital full size image being taken without payment? There is a place called www.photoshleter.com that gives professional photographers the opportunity to show and sell their images in a safe way. Another interesting place is www.artflakes.com that gives photographers the opportunity to sell their images as high quality ready to hang art prints, posters and postcards. Check it out. It might be something for you.
How do you choose your object?
When you think back how you composed images and how you choose the object you might come to the conclusion that you were looking for the light to be right on the bride or the sun setting behind a tree or light and shade playing with the color of a flower. It’s always an object with the right light we are looking for. So relax and just follow the light. It will point out the object for you.
How to train the eye?
There are lots of books and instructions about the right composition and the rule of thirds. They give a mind-dominated approach to something that needs an intuitional approach. Our inner eye that sees for us the composition is intuition driven. So train it intuitionally by looking at paintings from old masters. They are called old master, because they were masters in working with light and composition. By looking at their work we are training our eye in a way that we start seeing paintings everywhere and no thought about a rule is needed anymore. Our inner eye is strong and well trained.
Sharing makes us all richer in our artwork and no worry, that doesn’t mean that all the photos will be the same. We will develop even a stronger individual signature in photography what distinguishes our work from the work of others.
Happy sharing!
Ute Sonnenberg. www.rohoyachui.com
Visual EdVenture Retreats
05/06/12 11:50
There is a new word in the travel industry, edventure, meaning an educational adventure during your holiday or even an edventure retreat with yoga classes and other courses during a stay at a beautiful beach resort. It’s a smart synergy of words that explains very well the content of such a holiday. Education can be an adventure and going to an exotic place is an adventure too. Both together create an intense experience of growth during a relaxed and inspiring vacation.
We should have these experiences not only during our long waited for holiday once a year. These moments of retreat, education and growth are craved for everyday, especially after a hard day at the office or a never-ending rainy day or just as a moment to rest and relax whenever we need it. But of course we are not able yet to beam us to the Masai Mara at the end of the day to sit and photograph the lions and beam back when going to bed. It might be possible one day, but until then we got a great alternative: Photographs!
We can retreat in a visual edventure at any given moment with our own photographs on our computer, phone or tablet, images from the Internet or photo books. Every image teaches us something and takes us to a place where we are not at the moment we are looking at it. Give it a try. Open your photo library or go to the Internet and look at photos. There will be at least one photo you get drawn to and keep looking at. The image takes you to the place and moment where it was taken. You get “beamed” from the place where you are right now to the Masai Mara through the visual channel of the image and you can see, feel and smell the Great Plains. For a moment you retreated to the African bush to learn about its colors, animals and smells, yes even that is in the image. Feel it.
Fortunately we keep calling our photos just photos and not that mouth full “visual edventure retreast”, although that’s what they are.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How The Internet changed Photography Courses
04/06/12 12:04
The digital developments have not only changed photography from analog to digital or a library into a search engine; it also has changed the way we learn things and crafts.
The era of analog photography was the time with no Internet. One signed up for a photography course and learned probably for 90 % of the course about the technical features of photography in general and specifically about the specs of cameras and lenses. This was necessary, because that was the way to get access to the information, except somebody wanted to sign up at a library and read by himself through all the books. Also the analog way of photography demanded a higher knowledge of the technical side of photography in order to get the desired result.
Nowadays the cameras take care of a great deal of the technical side of photography for somebody to make the first step in this great hobby or profession. Often somebody gets started with a point and shoot entry-level camera and then wants to know more, wants to learn what is behind all of that and how to improve the results and to conquer more photographic challenges.
In order to learn more about the technical side of photography including cameras and lenses one doesn’t need to go to a photography course anymore. The Internet provides all information one might want to gather. The photography teacher nowadays has a different task. He/she guides the student in seeing the bigger technical picture, explains how everything works together and uses most of the time to teach the creative side of photography. This makes the process of learning more efficient and individual. Everybody learns at his/her own pace and the subject one wants to learn about. This way of teaching is not only more efficient and more individual, it is also more exciting by providing more time and space for the creative part of photography. And except you are completely fascinated by technique, the creative and artistic part of photography is the most exciting part. That means nowadays photography teachers need to focus on the creative and artistic side of photography to guide their students to the level in photography they want to achieve. The Internet cannot provide that. It can show inspiring images and one does learn from them, but the Internet cannot teach how to capture the feeling in the image and how to see. That’s where the photography course has its purpose with lots of time and space for creativity. Besides that, the desired results are achieved in a much shorter period of time as in the past.
Learning has become more individual, faster and exciting through the available technical media. And its biggest advantage is the space and time it creates to focus on creativity.
Be inspired. Join the experience.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com
How Intuition Determines Product Experience on the Example of an Intuitive Product as an Apple computer
02/06/12 10:42
Changes happen in the first place gradually, like filling a bucket with water. Quantities sum up until a critical point is reached and it “jumps” into a new quality. In the example of the bucket and the water the water starts running over the edge of the bucket or the bucket even falls over from the weight. It was full. A bigger example of the same is the financial crisis we are in. The quantities piled up until in September 2008 the bucket was full and fell over. The system “jumped” into crisis.
This process applies also to product developments and innovations. When looking very closely on the circle Apple made, the same routine becomes visible. The Apple I had already a small screen almost the size and shape of the iPhone/iPad. Only there was still an extra box necessary for all the operating hardware that wouldn’t fit in the screen yet. So research and development were focusing on the improvement of the parts that were still in the extra box until all parts were so small that they could “jump” into the screen. After developing part after part in a smaller and better way at the end the “bucket was full of water” and could flow over into a new product, the iPad. The screen from the initial Apple I became the computer.
This jump into a new quality of computers has consequences for the user interface and how a computer is experienced. One uses a tablet different from a laptop or desktop computer and a tablet feels and looks different from a laptop and desktop computer. On intuitional level we experience them in a different way and the user’s feeling gets disturbed when this is not reflected in the user interface. The user interface is the embodiment of the connection between the user and the tool tablet or computer. And if it isn’t an expression of that intuitional connection between user and tool it will disrupt the intuitional flow of working with the tool. The tool is not longer an extension of the user.
When developing the tablet the software was adjusted and with it the user interface, which was the right thing to do, because the intuitional connection of a user with a tablet is different than with a laptop or desktop computer. But the same new user interface was also applied to the laptops and desktop computers. That causes problems, because there the intuitional workflow is different and people are using them for different purposes. Maybe one day we will have only tablets for everything and if the screen is to small to do photo editing, we just project the image onto a wall or as a hologram into the room and work on it, but we are not there yet. For now, the wrong interface on laptops and desktop computers is disturbing intuitive work. We need segmentation.
As any email marketer knows, the email lists need segmentation in order to send the right content in the right way to the right client. A client in Spain needs a different approach than a client in China or a client in Houston. The same applies to the tablets and computer interfaces. We are still using both tools and in order to get the best out of them we need to be able to work intuitionally through an interface that reflects this specific intuitional connection. And it is specifically disturbing that a tool like an Apple computer that is highly intuition focused and therefore highly successful lost it, hopefully only for a moment, to see that. We need segmentation in the user interfaces, although the operating system is the same in order to continue intuitional workflow with these incredible tools. There is that “Chinese” client using a desktop and that “Spanish” client using a tablet. They represent segments of the same clientele, yet they are using different tools that represent essentially the same, but represent a different intuitional workflow.
And as marketers know, ignoring that leads to Unsubscribes.
The Invisible Hand of The Cloud
01/06/12 11:51
By the end of this month Apple will stop with MobileMe. The iCloud will be in its place and everything and everybody will be connected to everything and everybody else. The cloud will be the medium for storage, information exchange, updates, backups and what else we might want to do and not know about it yet. The cloud is like an invisible hand that can grab things out of nowhere back onto your computer or store images from your computer somewhere in space.
But just like everything else this got a downside as well. Those of you who have an Apple computer, phone or tablet and are on iCloud might have experienced also the somewhat scary hand that takes hold of your computer. You might be working just as normal on your computer and suddenly mailboxes get moved around in your mail program or safari feels like there is a knot in the internet and data can’t get through or your contacts in the address book change in numbers or suddenly mix up names and phone numbers. Most likely you are experiencing the invisible hand of the cloud. Someone in Cupertino might be working on iCloud and massing up your address book or emails. But these are only the examples when we can see that something is happening from outside in our computer. What else is happening? What else is this invisible hand doing when entering our space through the cloud and changes and takes whatever it wants?
Orson Wells might say, I told you that would happen, but what can we do? The cloud is the future and already the present, but were we asked? I find it scary and it irritates me when just somebody in Cupertino is able to interfere with my computer and I can’t do anything about it, have to stop working and waiting that this person got into somebody else’s computer.
Any ideas how to deal with that?
P.S. Not only Apple is the cloud, all others are too.
Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com