Andreas Gurskey recently made big news in the fine art photography world for selling a photo for 4.3 million dollars.  Pretty insane right.  Well the photo has been object of a lot of criticism and acclaim over the last few weeks, but the one thing you can not take away from Andreas Gurskey’s work is his ability to see the whole picture.  Gurskey has a knack for seeing patterns in the environment, in crowds, and in places you wouldn’t expect (like the 99 cent store).  His work proves that you and should inspire you to look for art EVERYWHERE.  Sometimes you just to take a step back…maybe even way back to get a different perspective at what you are looking at.  Always ask yourself, “I wonder what this photo would look like if I took it from over there?” or at this angle.  The other thing Gurskey is known for is that when he displays a photo, he doesn’t hold back.  He normally prints his work to ginormous sizes.  The print that sold for 4.3 million was around 12′ wide by 7′ high and had impeccable detail and texture.  All of his work does.  Here is a look at some of his work.

The 99 cent store

Kuwait Stock Exchange II

And here is the photo that sold for 4.3 million dollars to a private collector.  Let us know what you think about that.

I have to give a big thank you to my sister Jen for coming up with this topic.  What the heck do all these things mean on my camera dial?  They could also be somewhere on your point and shoot…Let me give you an idea of what I am talking about.  If you have a DSLR…or something that looks like this

Then you may have a dial on top of the camera that looks like either of these.  The top one is a Nikon dial and the bottom one is a Canon dial.

Even if you have a point and shoot my bet is that some of these same figures and letters are somewhere on your camera.  Now the trick is figuring out what they mean and how to use them…or should I use them.  The goal here is taking better pictures of your kids…right.  And a big part of that is understanding your camera and how it works and what it’s limitations are.  Just like GI Joe always said “Knowing is half the battle”…important words to live by.  Ok, I may be overstating, but it is kind of true.

All right, let’s get down to it.  What exactly do those thingies on your dial mean, what do they do, and should I use them or not.  First off let’s figure out what they mean.  Here is a quick guide to let you know at least what the buttons stand for.

The first thing I want you to do is ignore and don’t use any of the little picture icon settings like: portrait, landscape, close-up/macro, sport…etc.  Those aren’t magical settings that are going to make that particular photo look fantastic and brilliant.  They are presets that the camera companies have pre-programmed to try to help you out in those situations.  In my opinion you don’t need them, and they can often mess you up more than they help you out.

Onto the letters and a little more about their meaning.  I will go in order of importance (in my opinion)

• M – Manual Mode – That means that the shutter speed and the aperture are completely in your control.  The upside: You have the most creative control in manual.  The downside: Probably the hardest to master.  *Note: I would say the majority of professional photographers learn and shoot in Manual Mode.
• A or Av – Aperture Priority Mode – In aperture priority mode you select which aperture you want to shoot at and your camera auto selects the best shutter speed for a “correct” exposure.  This mode can be very helpful if you are in a situation where your light is constantly changing.  In manual mode your fingers would be busy changing settings, in aperture priority mode, you set the aperture and the camera does the shutter speed.  Did you notice the ” ” around the word, correct?  Without getting into too much technical stuff, just know that you may still need to do some tweaking to the image to get an exposure to your liking.  Overall this is a good setting to use in a pinch.
• S or Tv – Shutter Priority Mode – You guessed it…you select which shutter speed you want to shoot at and the camera will select the aperture for a balanced exposure.  You know what…honestly…I wouldn’t worry about using Shutter Priority.  Aperture Priority is much better to master (in my opinion).  So for right now, don’t use it.  Oh, and why Canon decided on Tv for Shutter priority?  It stands for “Time Value”.  They are trying to keep it Old School.
• P – Program Mode – This is a little bit better than fully auto.  The camera is still picking your shutter and aperture for you, but you can still adjust a few things you couldn’t in Auto mode.  You can control the flash, the ISO (film speed) and white balance of the camera.  The upside: Your flash won’t automatically pop up for almost every single photo.  You are in control of when the flash fires or not and a few other things that control the quality of the photo.  The downside: You are losing a lot of creative control with the camera choosing your shutter speed and aperture.
• Auto or green rectangle – Auto Mode – the camera is in complete control of…well…pretty much everything.  You are just pointing and shooting (probably not why you bought a DSLR).  It is controlling your shutter speed, your aperture, when the flash goes off, the white balance of the photo, and the ISO the photo is taken at.  The upside: This is a good way to learn if you are just starting.  Begin to notice how shutter speeds and aperture work together.  The downside: Zero creative control.  Your DSLR is a effectively a large, expensive point and shoot (which is totally ok when you are starting out.)

My challenge to you would be to learn how to use your camera in the M for Manual mode.  But we can take baby steps.  At least now you know exactly what those buttons are.  You can start to explore by using them…skipping over a bunch of them and take note of what does what on your camera.

Once you start to master these different modes you will notice how much more control you have over your photos and how good they will start to look…of course you know Canvas Press is here to make any of those amazing photos you take into canvas prints for you ;-D…Just in case you forgot.

Are you beginning to get all nervous and breaking out into cold sweats at night because you can’t think of that perfect gift for your mom, dad, wife, husband, uncle, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa or best friend? ( I could have gone on with that for a while).  I know at some point in our life we have all been there.  Stressing about giving that PERFECT Christmas gift.  Seriously, in this day in age where it is so hard to come up with an imaginative idea to give someone where do the ideas come from?  Oh, and don’t bother asking that person you are shopping for what they want because more than likely the response will be…”Oh, just get me a gift card and I will go and get something myself.”  Wait…isn’t the whole POINT of Christmas to give a gift so the person your are giving it to doesn’t have to go and get it themselves…..insert puzzled look on my face….And how much fun can wrapping a gift card be?

Here is what I propose to you.  Give your loved one (I won’t do the list again) a canvas print from us here at Canvas Press.  You can take any of your favorite photos, upload them and we will make them into the absolute perfect Christmas gift that I guarantee they will love.  Why? You ask.  Because photos melt peoples heart, photos are memories of a specific moment that will live a long and healthy life and they can recall a happy occasion or event with a simple glance.  You can be the big hero this year at Christmas by turning one of your photos into a canvas print.  Oh, and another reason to do it is…what else are you doing with all those photos on your camera or phone?  You have had this perfect Christmas gift hiding right under your nose and you didn’t even know it.  Go ahead and make one and pretty soon you will be addicted to making more canvas photo prints for everyone!…Well we can hope.

Smith was a photographer for Life magazine and perfected the photo essay while working for them.  He could tell a complete story without any words whatsoever.  He is well known for being a bit on the bristly side and was a well known perfectionist.  When you look at his photographs and photo essays the stories he was telling through his camera still rings true today.  Do a google search for him and you will be amazed by how he is able to capture the human emotion, in war time and in peace.  Smith actually was on the Pacific front lines during WWII and was wounded by enemy fire.  His war images are some the most honest and thought provoking of that genre.

In this image think of the story he is telling.  What does the photo say to you.  Where is this man going?  Where is he coming from?  And notice the foreboding clouds in the background…lots of symbolism there.

I’m telling you, the guy was a genius at telling a complete story with one photo.  Think about Eugene Smith when you are taking photos.  What story are you trying to tell with your pictures?

We are all about giving you the tips on how to take better photos of your family, pet, vacation photos…whatever floats your boat.  But you may be doing things to mess up your photos that you didn’t even know you are doing.  Here are 5 common mistakes that we all have made that inevitably mess up that family photo.

1. THANKS MOM, NOW I’M SEEING SUN SPOTS – Everyone in the photo is squinting and you can’t see Dad’s face because he has a baseball hat on.  What happened?  Well, you took the photo during the brightest part of the day and everyone is facing the sun or the sun is directly overhead.  This causes everyone to squint and casts really dark shadow’s on everyone’s faces.  Now I know you were at Disney World and you really wanted to get the shot with the flying Dumbos in the background and that is fine.  So you have to take the good with the bad, but look around for some different options.  One option is to find a shady spot for everyone to stand under to get that photo.  Another option would be to find an angle where everyone isn’t facing into the sun and you can still see Dumbo flapping those ears in the background.  The last option would be to wait until a cloud comes over to give you that perfect even light you need…of course on a cloudless day you may be waiting a loooong time.
2. YOU CHOPPED MY FEET OFF! – You have seen this one.  You see everyone’s entire body…except for their feet in the photo.  The photo “rules” for composing a group or individual portrait is to crop either A. Just above the knees B. Mid-Thigh or C. At the hips.  Anything below the knee can look a little strange.
3. THE PHOTO IS VERTI-ZONTAL – It’s not quite vertical and it’s not quite horizontal.  Somewhere in the middle makes it a crooked photo.  Now some wedding photographers try to pull this off, but it rarely works out as a good photo.  Try your best to keep your camera level while taking the photo.  Find a horizon line somewhere in the background as a guide to help find that perfect level photo.
4. I ONLY SEE THE TOP OF GRANDPA’S HEAD! – Taking a large group photo can be kind of stressful.  Take your time, even though most of the family wants to get back to eating, drinking, or whatever it was they were doing.  Something that can easily ruin a great family shot is people hiding behind other people in the back.  And all you end up seeing of them is the top of their head or half of their face.  It’s not enough to tell everyone, “If you can’t see the camera then you won’t be in the picture.” Because you will have the smart aleck uncle who is barely peeking his eyes over someone’s shoulder.  Look through your camera and check to see that you can see everyone’s face through the camera…again, take your time, it’s worth moving people around a little to make sure everyone is in the photo.  Sitting some people in the front in chairs helps with the tiered effect when you don’t have steps to stagger people on.
5. PUT THE DRINKS AND FOOD…DOWN – During the Christmas season you are likely to be at several parties or family gatherings and these are all fantastic photo-ops because you are visiting with people you haven’t seen in a while and enjoying good food and maybe a little eggnog.  But nothing will ruin a photo faster than someone holding a plastic plate of half eaten food.  Take a quick second to have everyone put their plates and drinks down before taking their photo.

We hope you take these tips to heart and try to remember the mistakes that so many of us have made in the past.  This is a festive and happy season and we would hate for a ruined family photo to bring down anyone’s spirits.  As always, you can count on Canvas Press to give it to you straight.