RB Photo and Design

Its been 6 months today since we lost our Charlie. I love you my bestest pal and miss you so much....

This is some of the best advice I have ever received. K eep I t S imple S tupid. The next time you are editing an image, take a moment and ask yourself if what you are doing is really enhancing the image or are you trying to improve a mediocre image. With programs out there like Photoshop and Portrait Professional, it is very easy nowadays to do all kinds of things to our images. Adding texture layers, doing selective coloring and softening a persons skin are super simple. But are these effects really enhancing your images? If the image is awesome to begin with why add these effects? Now I am not saying that editing effects have no place in photography, there are plenty of instances where adding a slight vignette will greatly enhance the subject matter of the image and there will always be that person whose images can benefit from some cloning and skin softening but it is very easy to overdue the editing and ruin a picture that on its own would have been great. I see a lot of portrai...

When setting up your subjects to photograph, avoid placing them in the center of the frame. Place them to the right or left of the frame leaving the empty space in front of the subject so they have room "to look into". Try using the rules of third. Placing your subject in one of the spots circled in the above image. Make sure your horizons are straight, and do not put your horizon in the center. Make a decision on which is more interesting, The sky/skyline or the foreground. Use diagonal lines to to draw the viewers attention to your subject. When photographing a group of people place them in a grouping that resembles a triangle or a circle surrounding one or two of the subjects. Watch out for trees and power lines "growing" out of your subjects head.Try to use backgrounds that are clean around your subjects head and aren't cluttered in the background. One last tip...Do not place your subject in the direct sunlight or facing the sun. Always place the sun behi...