Andy Batt Studio

Photographing people is incredibly difficult in so many ways. People don't stay still, they have many facial expressions (some of which are not very photogenic), and most people have their own idea of how they want to look in the final picture. Despite all of these obstacles, photographing people can be the most satisfying experience in a photographer's career.

While meandering through a Google search for "people photography" I found a website for a company called Andy Batt Studio. Andy is the photographer for the company and he has worked with over 35 clients such as Dell, Adidas, Nike and Levis . His company specializes in taking pictures of people in a variety of settings. They have portfolios dedicated to sports, dance and music which took my breath away.

The first portfolio has a plethora of sports shots. Many of these pictures are taken at the climax of every game, showing off the incredible skill of these athletes. The camera angle in each photo is positioned perfectly to capture the subjects achieving the unbelievable.







The dance photos shows the immense strength needed to become a professional dancer. These images really explain to the viewer the balance between strength and elegance. The lighting being used gives a"spot light" ambiance, as if the viewer got VIP seating on the stage with the dancers during a performance. They are truly beautiful.








Lastly are the images that are taken for the music industry. All of the pictures are of the band members, doing whatever they feel like to express themselves. Although many of the pictures are taken in the same place, Andy has still captured the uniqueness of every individual by changing the lighting or the angle of the camera. These seeming small changes impact an image significantly.












Andy Batt Studio is truly an amazing company with hundreds of stunning images. These photos are inspirational and they demonstrate how photography is truly an art form unlike any other.
http://www.andybatt.com/

Common Rules for Photography

I know there is no "right or wrong" way to take a picture, however, there are a few guidelines that can be helpful to make an image more impressive.

The Rule of Thirds: This concept covers where to place the subject of your image. The idea is to avoid placing your subject in the center of the frame; rather, you should place it where the lines intersect on the image below.








Fill the Frame: If you have one subject that you want to focus on (such as a person or animal) don't stand 15 feet away and take the picture. Get up close and don't be afraid to fill the frame with your subject. It will make your image more memorable and striking.







Natural Framing: If you are in a location that has something hanging down from above your subject, (such as a tree branch or a building) or an object in the foreground (such as a plant or fence) than you can incorporate that natural framing into your photo. This is a simple technique that will make your photos look very professional.








Point of View: To make your photo collection really divers, take you photos at different levels and point of views. An image will change dramatically if you take it from a worm's point of view compared to a bird's.









Leading Lines: Be conscience of the lines in your image and use them to benefit you. You have complete control of how to move the viewer's eyes around your image and utilizing lines can be really helpful.










Photographs created by Jennifer Bilek
Guidelines information contributed by http://www.aea1.k12.ia.us/lois/ruleofthirds.html

Unreachable Expectations

When we walk up to the register at any drug or grocery store, we are bombarded with magazines and tabloids showing one of three things. The first is the "best and worst celebrity bathing suit shots," showing images of cellulite thighs and flabby stomachs. The second is fitness magazines with tanned models with little on, weighting 90lbs. Lastly we see magazines with quick-fix headlines like "how to lose 20lbs in 2 weeks and keep it off!"

Most women after looking at these images of flawless skin and perfect abs end up being escorted home by Ben and Jerry and are welcomed home by their broken in couch. We try to eat right (most of the time) and we try to fit in exercise between work and picking up the kids, but somehow it doesn’t seem to be enough.

So after all of our hard work, why can’t we look like the models on fitness and design magazines? Well, I’ll let you in on a secrete…neither do the models! The men and women who are photographed in these magazines do not look anything like the finished product. They are older, scarred, larger, paler and so much less attractive than they are perceived in the 2-D form.

Through the use of Photoshop and other photo manipulation programs, these people are cropped, skewed, altered, tanned, and changed to an unrealistic perfection. Barbie would even envy the women who are in some of these magazines. Take a look for yourself.

As you can see, this woman looks fifteen years younger in the image on the left than the original on the right. Her jaw construction has been significantly altered. Her skin has been smoothed over and all of her blemishes have been removed. The manipulated image even shows evidence of her eye shape changing as well as her lips and shoulders. This hopefully demonstrates how even the models who are praised for their extreme beauty aren't good enough to be placed in a magazine without extreme alterations. To see more photos like these visit www.digitalphotoshopretouching.com and watch how the professionals can change anyone’s raw image into an unobtainable figure.

The Photo that Changed Everything

Photography seems ordinary in the modern day due to its frequent exposure in our daily lives; however, photography trudged through many journeys before it became what it is today. There is evidence of basic principles of photography being discovered as far back as 16^th century, but it wasn’t until 1826 when a man by the name of Joseph Nicéphore Niépce created the first permanent photo. He did this by coating a pewter plate with a Judea bitumen solution and allowing it to rest for around eight hours in the windowsill of his summer estate in France. The sunlight chemically dissolved the sections of the Judea bitumen solution that were exposed to varying amounts of sunlight. This is how the famous photograph, View from the Window at Le Gras, was created. Although it has faded significantly over the years, it is still in tact to this day. This photograph is more than a page in a history book; it acts as a constant reminder how far we have come from Niépce era. Conversely, it also reminds us of how important it is to push the boundaries and never accept any task as impossible. (photography.nationalgeographic.com, Philip Greenspun, Photo.net/history)

-Jennifer Bilek