Learn from a Pro: Outside Magazine

{photo by Camille Seaman}

While at my parents’ house the other day, my dad handed me the September issue of Outside Magazine. Have you seen it? It’s a must. It’s a special on photography and the artworks contained in the 132 pages were spectacular. I’m going to share some of the best photography advice from professional photographers from the “See It Their Way” article.

{photo by Paolo Marchesi}

“GET DOWN! Never shoot from eye level unless you only want to get what people see every day. Drop to your knees or belly.” -Paolo Marchesi
“LONG LENSES SUCK. Like Robert Capa once said, ‘If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.’ I use two lenses—one normal, one wide. I get as close to my subjects as my camera’s focus will allow.” -Joshua Paul
“THINK DIAGONAL. The subjects in great photos rarely line up with the vertical or horizontal axis of the frame.” -Outside Magazine’s editors
“READY, FIRE, AIM. You don’t have to look through the viewfinder. Instead, try looking people in the eye, smile, and continue to shoot frames with your camera held surreptitiously at waist level. Your apparent cease-fire and eye contact will help put your subject at ease—at least until he hears your camera firing. Lowering your camera also changes the perspective of the photo.” -Jason Florio
“BE GOOD. Take beautiful photos and your audience will find you.” -Robert Maxwell
“STAY LOOSE. Antonin Kratochvil gave me this, and somehow it makes sense when he says it. If you try too hard, if you’re too uptight, the photos never seem to work. You’ve got to be like an athlete and react to what happens. That’s how you capture those moments of serendipity. It’s especially important in other countries. Maybe you’ve got culture shock, food poisoning, or something else. You’ve got to tolerate the differences and flow with things that you didn’t plan or expect. If you stay loose, it’s going to work out.” -Chris Anderson
“ANYONE CAN SHOOT CHAOS. But the most perceptive photographers can make compelling pictures out of uninteresting moments.” -Alex Tehrani

And one last tip about purchasing cameras… where you can also check out Outside’s article, “Sharp Shooters” for their list of top 10 cameras.

“Most amateurs obsess over image quality. Eight-megapixel images are generally sufficient for printed spreads in this magazine. If you just bought a camera, chances are you have more than ten. Most pictures, though, end up on the Web, and the ones that are printed are rarely enlarged beyond four-by-six. Worry more about the image you’re framing and less about your pixel count. And when you buy a camera, think about shutter lag, aperture control, and exposure compensation. Those things do matter.” -Jake Chessum