Thinking Inside the Box

Thinking outside the box is a notion that means thinking differently, unconventionally, or from a new perspective. It's a phrase that's been around a while, certainly since the early 70s. It usually refers to creative thinking as it applies to business, art, or almost anything. Unfortunately, thinking outside the box is a catchphrase that has become more than a little cliché.

In photography, thinking outside the box, and applying those thoughts to the processes of picture making, sometimes yields cool, dynamic, and big-time wow-value results. Other times, it yields results that, for lack of a better word, suck. But hey! You don't try you don't get, right?

If you're a photographer, you can apply thinking outside the box thinking to lighting, composition, post-production, almost any aspect of the photographic process.

Interestingly, and as this catchphrase applies to photography, we're often advised to think outside the box (by mentors, instructors, and know-it-all blog writers) as we make pictures: Pictures that remain, well, that remain inside a box!

The box, of course, is the geometric shape of the vast majority of photos that are snapped, regardless of the aspect ratio utilized. That's why I like telling shooters to think inside the box rather than outside the box. Why? Because, when it comes down to it, photography is all about what goes inside the box--that square or rectangular shape that constitutes the image's canvas--even when photographers are straining their brains thinking outside the box, or trying to.

Could thinking inside the box be the new thinking outside the box? Wow! Maybe I'm setting a trend here? Or maybe I'm simply starting to think and sound a bit Master Po-ish?

YOUNG CAINE
You cannot see.

MASTER PO
You think I cannot see?

YOUNG CAINE
Of all things, to live in darkness must be worst.

MASTER PO
Fear is the only darkness.

On second thought, this inside/outside the box stuff ain't nearly as inscrutable as Master Po's take on things and I doubt it's remotely trend-setting.

Anyway,

Here's the deal--

Don't become obsessively caught up in a thinking outside the box mindset until you know what goes inside the box, that is, what should go inside the box. You know, as in how to put, photographically put, things inside the box in a competent and appealing way. And please! Don't use thinking outside the box as an excuse for pics that suck.

If an image sucks it sucks. It doesn't suddenly not suck because you, the self-proclaiming thinking outside the box photographer, believe your viewers are too dense or simple or unsophisticated to grasp the artistic merits of your thinking outside the box masterpiece when viewing it. It is what it is. And if it sucks it sucks. End of story. Sometimes, when photos suck, you get points for effort but you still don't get points for results.

Another way of looking at this is from the perspective of rules: You know, those pesky, old-school, Rules of Photography. Yeah, I know, rules are made to be broken, especially rules that apply to things of an artistic nature. But it's been my experience, as both a viewer and (occasional) creator of artistic things, that the artists who break the rules best are the artists who know the rules best.

You think Picasso couldn't draw and paint in a classical style that adhered to the tried-and-true rules of drawing and painting? You think he didn't fully understand those rules? You think he didn't spend a big part of his life learning the rules before he broke them? Before he broke them in ways that secured his lofty place in art history?

Think again.

So before you go all renaissance-shooter with your thinking outside the box approach to photography, pretty girl shooting or otherwise, spend some time thinking inside the box. Learn how to make thinking inside the box photos shine. Then start thinking outside the box, developing your own, unique, style and approach to your work. Odds are you're not going to effectively break the rules until you know those rules and can consistently apply them in capable ways.

Personally, I've been doing this photography thing for a long time. Regardless, I'm not often overly comfortable taking too many liberties with the rules and breaking them with my thinking outside the box ideas. More so when I'm shooting on someone else's dime.

It has also been my observation that a lot of what's passed off as thinking outside the box creativity ends up being ideas that have already been conceived and executed by someone else. They're like recycled, thinking outside the box, ideas. Ideas someone else has already thought of. Ideas that were created by someone who was thinking outside the box before you or I were. Most importantly, someone who made their thinking outside the box ideas work.

Some people say, as it applies to artistic things, there's nothing new. I'm not sure that's true but, then again, I'm not sure it ain't true.

The pretty girl at the top, poised like a cat, is Nautica. I've shot Nautica a bunch of different times over the past 4 or 5 years. This one is from three years ago, shot in my studio when I still had a studio. I used my Mola 35.5" Euro beauty dish for the main light with a couple of kickers behind her, both of them strip boxes. I also used a white bounce board or two for some subtle front fill.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Time flies when you're shooting every day. It's been nearly a week since I've updated the blog! A week!

Besides working with a whole bunch of pretty girls for LFP/Hustler this past week, some really cool stuff has gone down regarding the PGS DVD: Our first sponsor is officially on board!

For those who haven't already guessed, that sponsor is Innovatronix, Inc., the company that brings you, amongst other cool stuff, the ExplorerXT: The dopest, Pure Sine Wave Inverter, portable power units in the known universe. Leastwise, in my neck of the known universe.

If you have a sec, do me a favor and click on Innovatronix's links I just provided. (Or on the graphic in the right-hand column.) Show them some pretty girl shooting love! Doing so isn't about pennies from heaven raining on Jimmy, like when you click on those Google AdSense links, it's simply helping me thank them for becoming a Pretty Girl Shooter DVD sponsor.

I'm also in contact with another manufacturer: A quality, photo/lighting gear company who is considering becoming a sponsor. Not gonna tip my hat. Don't know if it will come to pass. We're still just yakking back and forth. I'm just saying and, hopefully, by doing so, putting some good vibes out there while they consider my proposal.

And BTW, I'm not intending on turning the DVD into one big commercial or infomercial for a bunch of photo companies. I'm limiting the advertisements to two sponsors. That's all. Just two companies who will each have a short "spot" on the DVD. In fact, I've so far only approached two companies and I'm batting .500. If a second sponsorship doesn't become reality, no biggie. The DVD is still gonna be produced. We'll just go with one advertisor. Production is scheduled to begin no later than the middle of July... with or without a second sponsor.

As it stands right now, the DVD will be out before the end of the year. You'll be able to purchase direct, via this blog or another Pretty Girl Shooter website that has yet to be unveiled-- I also have the domain, prettygirlshooter.com, by the way. The DVD will also be available at select retail outlets as well on-line through various websites.

I'm stoked! I'm planning some cool stuff for the DVD including informative appearances by some very special and well-known people in the world of glamour photography. Ya see, other than the pretty girl models, it ain't gonna just be my mug you're looking at or my voice you're listening to on the DVD. Did I just hear the collective sounds of many sighs of relief? No matter. I'll keep ya posted as this stuff develops.

The DVD has one, major, overall goal: To help it's viewers become better shooters! Oh yeah, and also to put a couple of bucks in my pocket. I guess that's two goals. Oh well! One goal, two goals, probably more. What can I say? I'm a no bullshit kind of guy and I'm not gonna act like I'm doing this strictly for altruistic reasons... even though I am a regular, albeit occasional, practitioner of altruism.

Speaking of "time flies," the pretty girl at the top is Paola from a couple of years ago. Damn! Seems like just yesterday I snapped Paola's pics. I shot Paola with my Canon 5D w/ an 85mm prime. Used three lights to illuminate her: A Novatron M500 modified with a Photoflex 5' Octodome for the main, plus a couple of Novatron M300s, on either side, for kickers. I probably also had a reflector or two worked into the mix, as well as a fan, off to the side, to blow her gorgeous mane.

Who Wants to Up Their Game?

If you're serious about your game, your photography game, and you're looking to spend a few bucks to help accomplish that, ignore the marketing hype about every new camera body that comes along on a frequent and regular basis and buy glass-- The best glass you can afford!

Nothing will improve your game, i.e., beyond learning more and practicing as much as you can, like good glass.

You think more megapixels is going to take you to the next level? Wrong. A better processor? Most likely not. Digital SLRs with all the state-of-the-art bells and whistles? Photographers, please.

Knowledge, practice, and glass is your ticket to photo Nirvana.

Beyond that, and assuming you're not strictly a natural light shooter, I'd suggest purchasing good lighting gear. Not just lights and modifiers, but also some quality grip equipment to help you deploy your lighting and wield your camera and glass like a Samurai warrior unleashing his deadly katana.

I know, I know, you're on a budget. Aren't we all? But, for some reason, every time Canon or Nikon releases a new camera body plenty of photographers seem to find the money to buy them. How do I know this? Cuz I'm clairvoyant! Actually, because I spend enough time on photography forums to notice the flurry of threads that announce the OPs' new camera acquisitions every time a new camera body is released by the Big Two. (OP being the Original Poster.)

And how about all those hyped-up rumor-mill posts that pop up all over the net, the ones about new camera bodies on the horizon? It's amazing how those rumors make so many shooters wet... from the saliva drooling out of their mouths.

Then, of course, the rumored camera is released, lots of people buy them, and those people then post new pictures snapped by their new cameras. Frankly, I rarely see much improvement over the old pictures they snapped with their old cameras.

I'm not down-playing good camera bodies. Certainly upgrading from a cropped sensor to a full sensor will usually show improvements in the shooter's photos. But still, those improvements are often marginal without the addition of good glass and effective lighting. Re effective lighting: I'm not referring to those, as I mentioned, who are mostly available and/or natural light shooters. But good glass, of course, will also and always "up" a natural light photographer's game.

Currently, I own three lenses: A Canon 17-40mm f/4L, a Tamron AF 28-75 f/2.8, and a Canon 70-200 f/4L. Optically, they're all great lenses and they adequately and effectively cover all the focal lengths I need for my line of work, i.e., from 17mm on up to 200mm on a full-frame-sensor camera body. (The Canon 5D.) For those times when there's other glass I need and don't have, I can always beg, borrow, steal, or rent it.

Besides a couple of Canon Speedlites, I also own 4 monolights: Three Novatron M300s and one Novatron M500. The Novatrons are hardy, robust, and effective. They are medium-priced lighting instruments: In and around the $400+ price range. They are incrementally adjustable, keep color temperature nicely, recycle quickly, offer plenty of practical accessories, and output enough power for the work I most often perform.

I have a decent-enough collection of light modifiers and controllers: A 35.5" Mola Euro beauty dish, a 5' Photoflex Octodome, plus various other soft boxes, reflectors, scrims, flags, and umbrellas. I also have enough grip to utilize most any and all of the lighting gear I own in a multitude of ways. Add to that some Pocket Wizards, a light meter, and other things I carry with me and I'm well prepared for most anything I do photographically. As a former Boy Scout, the concept of being prepared was effectively beaten taught to me. Leastwise, when it comes to photography, it stuck.

Thanks to the good folks at Innovatronix, I also have some terrific portable power gear which means I'm very mobile with my lighting and grip, freed from the bonds of available A/C power!

If you're a hobbyist, do you need that much gear? Maybe not. But if you carefully consider what you most often shoot and where you shoot it, you should be able to come up with a list of things that will make your photos shine. And one of the LAST things on that list should, if you've done your homework and/or are listening to my advice, be the latest and greatest camera body from our beloved marketing-savvy camera manufacturers.

The pretty girl at the top is Kita from a shoot this past week. Kita was shot and lit almost identically to Charmane, who was featured in my last update. Like I mentioned in my last, I shot 4 pretty girls that day. MUA was Nikki. There are days when I feel like the Henry Ford of pretty girl shooters.

Here's another snap from behind-the-scenes showing the lighting, albeit this time I oriented the camera for a landscape aspect ratio shot. Man! My client's white cyc sure could use some paint!

A Comment Spawned Update

I don't know how many of you go back and read the comments to the updates I've posted but, quite often, there's some great info in them. BTW, I really love reading and posting and answering comments so, whenever you feel the urge to say something, please do. I don't respond to everything but I respond often enough.

As a comment to my last update, "Merging Technologies, Merging Media, Merging You," an anonymous reader posted the following. I thought I'd turn the comment into an update because, well, because I've been shooting all day, I'm tired as hell, I want to update and I can't think of anything else to write about.

"I hate to say it Jimmy but every photographer turned videographer I've ever worked with was a pain. Photography and video are 2 different animals. Photography is about capturing that one perfect moment. Video is always moving so it can't stay perfect. Photographers seem to have a problem accepting that. My last run in with a photographer/videographer was with a guy who said he needed 4 hours to set up a talking head."

Here's what I posted in response:

"I don't disagree that, from the perspectives of many people, and in many ways, photography and videography are two different animals. But being a long time photographer AND videographer, I see it a little differently. I notice all the similarities rather than the differences.

Take digital photography, for instance. So much of it, the technical stuff that is, was born of video. Videographers have been using gear with CCD and CMOS chips for a long time. Videographers have been white balancing, dealing with reduced contrast and blown-out highlights, working with scopes that look-like and act-like histograms (wave flow monitors and vectorcopes) for I don't know how long.

From a technical standpoint, making the segue from film to digital photography, for me, was a snap. That's not a brag. It's simply because I had years of experience as both a videographer, as well as a photographer, when digital photography busted onto the scene.

BTW, I don't think this is going to be all about choices. I think video and photo technologies are merging to the point that photographers won't have much of a choice, leastwise, those trying to make their livings with cameras in their hands. How so? Because clients are going to ask... then demand it. Just my opinion."

And that's what I believe: I believe many pro photographers, from photo-journalists to commercial shooters and beyond are going to have to bite the bullet and make video part of their skills set. It's all merging and integrating-- still and motion picture capture. And it's gonna be part of the game for the majority of people who make their livings, as I already said, with cameras in their hands.

The pretty girl at the top is Charmane from today's shoot. She was one of four pretty girls I photographed today. I lit Charmane, on a white cyc, with 4 Profoto Acute 2 heads. That required 2 Profoto power packs. Image was captured with my Canon 5D, 70-200 f/4L, ISO 100, f/11 @ 160. Not a whole lotta processing applied to the picture other than the (obvious) B&W conversion.

Below is a BTS shot (behind-the-scenes) from today. I know a lot of you like seeing these kinds of pics and today, for once, I remembered to snap a few.

I shot the BTS pic with the same camera body but with my Tamron AF 28-75 on it. The perspective looks a little weird: She's much closer to the 7' Photoflex Octodome main light (left forefront) and the medium umbrella fill (right forefront) then she looks in the pic. There's a KinoFlo Diva-Lite 400 on the right-side of the image if you're wondering what that black vertical thing with the yellow lettering on it is. The Kino, by the way, doesn't play into the lighting I set up, it was just there, in the studio, and I was too lazy to move it. (Not that it was in the way or anything.)

Merging Technologies/Merging Media/Merging You

If any of you think digital imaging technologies aren't merging at a rapid pace, think again.

If you're making your living as a photographer and you think it's a bad idea to merge your skills, i.e., by integrating multiple imaging technologies into your skills arsenal, think again.

If you don't think change is constant... I emphatically encourage you to think again!

I'm not talking about simply buying a Canon 5dmk2 or some other dSLR with video capability and thinking you're "all that" because, suddenly, you can shoot video with your pro digital still camera. And I'm not talking about hocking your first born to some evil corporation in Dubai who feeds off indentured labor so you can afford to purchase a RED camera. I'm talking about learning the art and craft of these multiple, merging, digital, imaging technologies and putting that knowledge, somehow, to work.

Yeah, yeah. I know. It's already time-consuming enough keeping up with photography. Well, it's not. It's not enough, that is. You need to keep up with more than that.

Hey! No one forced you into becoming an image capturing fanatic!

And don't give me that "I'm just a hobbyist" crap. Or the "I don't need to learn more stuff than my photography hobby requires" line. C'mon! Admit it! While those lines might be true for some of you, maybe way more than a few of you, there's plenty of you who harbor secret hopes that your "hobby" can someday become your career, trumping the money you're now making doing whatever it is you now do for a living. I'm not saying that to crow cuz I make my so-called living with cameras. I'm just saying.

I don't think it's an anomaly that photographers of Alexx Henry's caliber are adding video to their bag of tricks. BTW, check out Alexx's site. (By clicking on his name above.) Some truly kick-ass work there! I also don't think it's coincidence that some "A" list shooters are also embracing these merging technologies in various ways: Guys like Chase Jarvis and Vincent Laforet and more. Again, I'm just saying. You can hear it and ignore it or you can hear it and run with it.

Here's another one, i.e., another photographer embracing video, featured in a New York Times article, RIGHT HERE.

BTW, if any of you, after watching the video, were thinking you should start using hot lights, as depicted in the video, instead of strobes because you're put-back by those sticker-shock prices for high-end, mega-marketed monolights and/or packs-n-heads some manufacturers are asking demanding, think again. Those HMIs are pricey. Very pricey. And I don't even wanna think about what that focusable parabolic umbrella from Briese costs. Of course, you can always rent that stuff, assuming you live somewhere where rental houses are nearby. Once again, not trying to be a smart ass. Just saying.

Round Pegs in Square Holes

When it comes to pretty girl photography, composition is about artfully, pleasingly, and eye-catchingly putting round pegs in square holes. Alright, I'll admit it's more like putting curvy things in rectangular spaces but, as an analogy, that's not as instantly recognizable as "round pegs in square holes" or "square pegs in round holes" or whatever.

I went with the round pegs/square holes thing for this update's title cuz I prefer being an "easy read" kind of blog writer. Website Grader gave me high marks for writing at an elementary/primary school level. Who knew writing like a 6th grader was a good thing?

Sometimes, I wonder if many photographers have difficulty chewing gum and walking at the same time. I often see images that are wonderfully lit but poorly composed. How does that happen?

Obviously, many shooters take much care and exhibit mad skills when lighting but, when it comes to framing the shot, the model is simply placed smack-dab in the center of the viewfinder and snapped. That's not always a bad thing if enough space is left so the image can later be cropped in an interesting way. But then I see so many images where its pretty damn clear that the model was framed in a pedestrian way and nothing changed when the image was later cropped.

I'm not saying that every image requires unique, less-often-seen, or dramatic composition. But often, small nods to eye-catching, aesthetically-pleasing, compositional techniques yields generally better results.

Photos don't provide views like human eyes do. With our eyes, we don't see things with precise and definable borders. If you do, you might consider visiting an ophthalmologist.

Photos have borders. The subjects of photographic images are constrained within those borders. That's why composition is so important. That's why its important for you to get creative when thinking how you're going to place those curvy things within the confines of rectangular spaces.

I used to think you can't teach composition. People were either born with an eye for it or they weren't. I've changed my mind on that. Certainly, there are many people who seem to have a natural eye for composition. But for those who don't automatically and instinctively frame up a shot in a compositionally interesting way, learning the rules of composition are as important as learning to paint with light. Often, the two are completely entwined.

While lighting is important, as is posing, emotion, attitude, art direction, makeup and hair, and more, don't neglect the power of composition and it's artful uses. I guarantee effective use of composition, even if its done in subtle and marginally noticeable ways, will have a positive impact on your photographs.

The pretty girl at the top is Sofia from a couple of years ago, shot against a blank wall in a house in Las Vegas. Photoflex 5' Octo for the main, couple of kickers, either side for highlights. Used a blank wall as a BG cuz the art guys wanted to do cut-outs and paste on some other BG plate.