Chris Orwig Photo Resources / Tips from Flash on the Beach '08

Below you will find some photo projects and a few book and lens recommendations. The info is in no way exhaustive, yet I hope that it will provide you with a starting point from which you can delve deeper into the wonderful art and craft of photography.

Cheers,

chrisorwig.com - photography portfolio

lynda.com - chris orwig's video training

amazon.com - chris orwig's adobe press books

brooks.edu - where i teach

A few Photo Projects

1. Shoot 30 images from any other perspective, except for eye level.

2. Shoot 20 portraits, but don't include the face in the portrait.

3. Shoot 20 images where your main focus is to reduce and simplify. Often times, photographs are overly complex and thus, the viewer is distracted and the visual impact is lessened. Strive to create 20 clear, clean, simple, poignant and compelling photos.

A few Books

Click on the links below to view the books at amazon.

Tao of Photography | Image Makers, Image Takers | The Photographer's Eye | Avedon Portraits

Photography and the Art of Seeing | By Nature's Design | Recolleciton, John Sexton | Ansel Adams

A few Lenses

If I could only have three lenses I would have the three Canon lenses shown below. Here are a few tips when using these lenses.

Wide (16-35mm)
When shooting wide, pay attention to lines and be sure to have a foreground, background and maybe even middle ground subjects.

Normal (50mm)
The 50 is one of my all time favortie lenses because it requires you to physically move to change perspective. This lens has taught me more about photography than any of my other lenses.

Zoom (70-200mm)
When shooting with a zoom lens, pay attention to the background. Zooms have the ability to compress distance in a wonderful way.

Now for a few general tips. If you are new to photography I recommend you shoot at your lowest f-stop. A low f-stop means a shallow depth of field. This is a great way to begin to learn how to use depth of field in order to draw the viewers attention towards different aspects of your image.

Have fun shooting!
Chris O.

© chris orwig