And It Starts...

Welcome to Marc Payne Photography - From The Ground Up!

Over the course of almost a year, my knowledge of digital photography has skyrocketed. I thought it only proper to share the wealth. The knowledge I've attained has been from going to photography club meetings (Tidewater Digital Photography Club - TDPC), reading, talking to other photographers, and just getting out and using my camera. A great majority of my knowledge has come from the reading aspect of my learning methods. As a pilot who's away from home for 2 weeks at a time and has nothing but time, I found it easiest to read everything from magazines to online articles and everything in between. When the weather isn't fighting me, I like to go outside and try to apply what I've learned right away to help seal it in my memory.

These methods of learning were all very influential to me, but I've been feeling like I'm missing something. That something is writing. I find that I retain knowledge the best when I write down what I've learned. With that said, this blog will hopefully serve all of you loyal readers and have the added benefit of helping me build my knowledge and continue growing as a photographer.

Some of you may think, well who is this guy to teach me anything about photography? Has he ever been published? Is he making money on his photos? Etc, Etc... Well to answer that question I'd like to say that I've never been published in anything big. I've had a handful of shots published in the local newspaper as well as a few of my photos used in a few E-articles on www.nowpublic.com. As for making money, I'd first like to say that photography doesn't have to be a source of income for you. A lot of people find that involving money will only make photography less fun. However, I am shooting (no pun intended) to make photography a supplemental income to my career as a pilot. If you know anything about aviation, you'll know that pilots that are still paying there dues barely make enough money to live off of. So with that said, my first paid photo-shoot is coming up towards the end of this month. This isn't because my work hasn't been of quality until now, rather it's all in the marketing. I am horrible at marketing and have just recently really started trying to develop my marketing knowledge and build a client base.

To give you a few examples of my early work compared to my recent work, please take a second to glance at a few photo comparisons from then and now. I personally feel I have much to learn but I also feel like I have a great understanding of the fundamentals and merely need to hone my photography skills.

Portraits Example:

Before -

After -

The 1st photo is ok but it has alot of harsh shadows on her face from the sun. The second photo still keeps the golden light from the sun in the photo but the face is well illuminated and most importantly her eye(s) aren't in the shadows. Composition is mediocre on the first shot. There's alot of empty space above her head. The second photo makes better use of the background without wasting space unnecessarily.

Skyline Example:

Before -

After -

The first photo is very bland and it doesn't pop. There is to much space above and below the buildings themselves. There's no detail in this space so it compresses the look of the skyline and makes it look smaller. It could use a much tighter crop. The second photo has a tighter crop making the buildings look bigger in the photo. The colors and detail in the second photo far exceed that of the first photo. The second photo is much sharper as well.

Pet Photography Example:

Before -

After -

The first photo looks more like a snapshot. The on camera built in flash was used, making the photo look washed out. In the second photo, no flash was used. The first photo has alot of distracting background elements where the second photo the background fades into darkness. Granted the second photo is black and white and the first is color, but the principles are the same.

So these are just a few examples I've tried to come up with to show the difference in quality just a few basic techniques can make. I could go more in depth on each photo but instead I'll start my next post with the basics "From The Ground Up!"