Beat Eisele | Fotografie.

Check twice before you delete. And shoot RAW.

2010-09-19T11:17:00.000+02:00

In cases like this I am very happy I shoot RAW because of the reserves you get out of a file if necessary. Yesterday I was testing the light and took a shot in aperture priority mode to see what I shall set my camera to. I didn't intended to keep the shot, it was a light test only. Using the matrix metering mode gave me a far too dark picture.

I changed the metering mode to Spot, took an average of her hair and the background and started to take the scene as intended.

Nevertheless I was curious about this specific picture I found in Lightroom yesterday. I pushed the Exposure + 3,0. And this is what I got. Phew... I think, with a little work, this could turn out as a pretty awesome image...

Thank you Canon. And thank you Adobe.

Don't fight the light.

2010-09-18T21:37:00.001+02:00

Sometimes I come home after a shooting, go through the shots I took and among all of them is ONE picture, that makes me go wow. It doesn't happen every time. Don't get me wrong. It happens in one out of ten shootings, maybe.

When I take all these shots and compare them I find out two things that they have in common. All of them have massive technical flaws. And all of them have a lot of mood.

Which might be no coincidence...

The color of light.

2010-09-09T20:09:00.001+02:00

I am well known for my almost always either partially or completely missing concepts at shootings. "Intutional and creative usage of what is around and try to beat the maximum out of it" describes what I am doing in a nicer way.

Yesterday I was facing the following situation:

1 Beautiful, very creative model with the urgent need to paint herself in black acrylic color.
1 Small bathroom with white tub, white ceiling and blue ceramic plates
1 camera, 1 lens, 1 speedlight and a pair of these ~~bloody damn cheap crap~~ cactus triggers and receivers.

The cactus' had a bad day and didn't work. The ambient was not enough to achieve a good result. So I did what a desperate photog does: I used the speedlight in the way it was designed for. On camera. I bounced over the ceiling just to give it a try.

The result of a first test shot was more than unfruitful. Flat and boring and bleh.

I turned the head of the flash to the right, pointing directly towards the blue walls and dialed its power up one stop. I wanted to color the light blueish to get a cold atmosphere. Never tried this but I read something about it on a blog recently.

Well, it worked like a charm. Sometimes I am just ~~a lucky little bastard~~ amazed about the possibilites one can get out of almost every situation.

Why quality does not matter.

2010-09-06T19:33:00.005+02:00

A few years ago, I just started taking pictures in a more serious way, I had a chat with an old photographer. I met him at Zurich mainstation. A chat between two guys with a camera around their neck.

He was a news reporter and took pictures for newspapers for like 50 years. Now as he is retired he likes to take pictures of airplanes with his Lumix and is still excited about the possibility to go into a photo store and print his fresh images on photo paper. Straight from the chip! Crazy new technique! Sometimes he takes candids of pretty girls, too, he told me with a smile. He was really the character. He allowed me to take a portrait of him as a souvenir.

Looking at my camera and asking me what my subject is I explained that I wanted to take architecture shots of a stairway on that afternoon. But that I failed because it was too dark in there.

"You can't push the ASA higher on that Canon? Bloody japanese machines! Highly overrated! I always said that! And they are far too expensive! Plastic stuff!"

"Oh, of course I can. But increasing the ISO causes noises and the picture quality decreases equally."

"And?"

"Well, it's not good to have a noisy picture. That's proof of bad quality and a bad job."

He sighed and told me something I still remember and probably never will forget:

"Let me tell you one thing, young man. Quality is not important. It is not important if your picture is perfect sharp. Or perfect lighted. Or if it has noise or other flaws. That's all not important. Important is only one thing: To HAVE a picture at the end of the day. It is always better to have a picture, even if it has its flaws, than not having one. If you don't shoot because you think the quality will not be sufficient, you probably will miss some of the best pictures that will ever appear in front of you. Don't care about quality. Just shoot!"

I was thinking about his words yesterday as I set the ISO to 1600 and dialed the shutter down to 1/4 before I took this picture. He was right. It's always better to have such a picture, than not.

Esthetics of the invisible.

2010-09-04T19:55:00.000+02:00

Sometimes the unexpected and accidental can give your vision of art a new direction. A few months ago I took a picture. It turned out blurry and looked strange and odd as I checked at in on the display of my camera.

I nevertheless didn't delete it. At home, a few weeks later, I stumbled upon it again on my harddrive. I found that it has something. Something completely different than my usual work. I realized that I like it more than any other picture I took in the past few months. And I took A LOT. Really.

From time to time I wanted to go into that direction again.
I wanted to capture the mood, not the subject.
Mood itself shall be the subject.

After almost 3 years these pictures are still among the very few shots that I really love.

Being in the middle of personal changes and bored of what I did over the last months it seems to be the perfect moment to think again about these kind of pictures. Find out how and why they fascinate me. And maybe twist the direction of my photography a little bit more into that direction.

Not knowing where this will lead. Not knowing what the value of theses pictures is. Knowing that on the market and in forums people won't cheer like usual when I show some nice new glossy portraits. Knowing that what I do is neither technically nor in terms of directing or setup-wise a big achievment.

But knowing that I like these pictures more than anything else I did over the last years is reason enough to continue.

Focus and perspective.

2010-08-22T16:37:00.004+02:00

Being a photographer can be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing discovers itself in that moment when you realize that you have this gift called creativity and the eye for good moments and, if you try hard, the ability to create beautiful pictures. I started a few years ago with streetphotography. I was walking my streets and took pictures of things I liked. Or that looked interesting to me. Just for fun. And for practice.

I uploaded them to communities like Flickr, DeviantArt, Fotocommunity and was happy about the 200 clicks the better shots got.

Then I started to take pictures of beautiful girls. I improved fast. The number of my followers doubled and tripled and the clicks and faves per picture started to rise. A good picture of a nice girl gets ten thousand clicks. In one month.

That was amazing. I was really excited that finally something I did seem to work. So I focussed on people photography. The clicks and faves proved me right. But one of the results was that I followed that path, forgot about what I really liked to do and focussed on girls only. That was so terribly wrong.

I found myself in a corner of the so called photography industry that doesn't looked like the place I was heading for when I started to take pictures. I was stuck in the portrait corner. But I was to flattered and happy about the cheering of the audience to see it.

After more than one hundred shootings and about 2500 edited and processed pictures of beautiful girls the only feeling I had with my photography was boredom. I was tired of it. I continued, but the results declined in creativity and uniqueness. Instead of getting better I went downhill. Fast.

The curse, or one of it's symptoms, being a photographer, is success.

If you focus on what works, what your audience likes, you will probably lose the spirit of your own work. If shooting girls is what really amazes you and you do great and your audience loves you for it all is fine.

But what, if these pictures are not what your photography really is about? You will find out that you ended somewhere where you never wanted to be. And one day you will be so tired and frustrated and burnt out that you start thinking about quitting.

I am not in the position to advise others what and how and why to shoot. I can talk only for myself and what I did.

I stopped doing what I did for the last 3 years. Took my old camera, one lens only, went to a place I've never been before and tried to capture the essence of this place, my own personal essence and feelings I had when I was there, in pictures.

Like in the old days, walking the streets with a camera. I took pictures for myself only and don't even thought about a possible audience to show them. They are my pictures. And nobody has to like them. Besides me.

And suddenly I realized again, what it is all about. Slowly I found out that these shots are much more precious than all the other stuff I did in the last year.

I start to like taking pictures again. It's not the final destination and no happy end, but it's a station on the path of finding out what I really want. What my photography is about. Where I want to go.

Sometimes you need to go back, take yourself out of the system to see the whole picture where you are part of. Re-adjust your focus. Change perspective. To be able to see again, what was always there. And everything can start to make sense again.

Perfect imperfection.

2010-08-03T17:32:00.001+02:00

It happens in the frequency of a sinus curve. Once a year or twice, from time to time, I sit down, look at my pictures and think that I missed something. I try to reveal beauty, perfection, pretty- and uniqueness. I do this with the attempt of technical perfection. Composition, light and exposure wise. And I really try hard. I do.

But it does not work. All I got is 10 fists full of nice, pretty and sometimes really good portraits. Not more, but not less either.

In these moments I get sick of this razorsharp, evenly lighted and good - in the mainstream meaning of the word - framed pictures. I'm so sick of nice and beautiful perfection.

Perfection won't show real beauty.

A perfect thing,

moment, mood,

person

is not beautiful.

Never.

Hunting for perfection is masturbation.

Imperfection might be the answer.

The reverend.

2010-08-02T22:34:00.005+02:00

If you can't expose a picture properly due to missing flashes or reflectors, sometimes going for heavy overexposure and digital postprocessing afterwards is worth a try. Because it is always better to have a picture than none.

Here comes the reverend.

Opium for the masses.

2010-07-31T13:19:00.010+02:00

It's sad and funny in equal measure what one should do to please the audience.

Don't go and create art, look for perfect moments and capture unique light situations. Don't try to shoot subtle, beautiful everyday scenes.

Just go and take a picture of a beautiful busty girl and your click and fave stats will sky rocket. Sex sells. Yesterday, today and probably forever.

Photographer's creed.

2010-07-25T10:46:00.001+02:00

[..."This is my camera. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My camera is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My camera, without me, is useless. Without my camera, I am useless. My camera is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories. I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage as I will ever guard my legs, my arms, my eyes and my heart against damage. I will keep my camera clean and ready. We will become part of each other."...]

Negative space.

2010-07-24T14:48:00.002+02:00

Sometimes, a story needs space to unfold.

Just like a person needs air to breath.

Ways to improve photography.

2010-07-23T22:22:00.003+02:00

Shoot slow. Think of the camera as an analogue, very expensive to use tool.
Don't start shooting to get things going and stupid snap around. The first picture MUST be part of your selection. Every. Single. Time.
Compose. Compose as if there was no cropping tool.
Don't postprocess. Light is a gift. You either take it and use it or leave it. Colors are colors as you shoot 'em.
Don't stage the things. Life is interesting enough. So are people.
Shoot moods, not stories. Shoot personalities, not models. Shoot things. Trees. Houses. Even concrete. Think of the things as if they were individuals. Every thing has it's story to tell. See it. Show it.

Wait for the best light. Don't waste time and pictures on average, flat looking stuff. Wait until the things look the way you like them. Go and come back later if necessary. Repeat.
Shoot for the picture itself. Shoot for yourself. Shoot for jesus christ and the holy ghost. Don't shoot for the audience. Never. Ever. You must not please anyone. You don't. Really.
Learn to estimate your pictures. Evaluate your work. Be hard.
Have fun. And stop shooting when you dislike the way your photography evolves. Have a break and wait for inspiration. Don't force something. You can't force creativity.

It's so cold here in the sun.

2010-07-19T22:10:00.002+02:00

Some Pictures are more precious than others. This is one of mine.
It shall be the basement of my blog. Thank you for one of the very best shootings I ever had, Patricia.