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23 eBooks For Photographers That Are Completely Free

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3 Quotes for the Creative Photographer

By: Mat Coker

Most of us photographers struggle with our creativity. As time goes on you’ll likely experience fewer moments of passionate inspiration and longer periods of hard work and creative dryness.
It was during a period of creative dryness in my photography business that I discovered a whole breed of photographers who had been able to express their creativity in surprising ways.
They brought every part of their life to their photography, found beauty in unlooked-for places, and got in over their heads. Their ideas were just what I needed to breathe new life into my own photography.
Let me share with you three quotes that will help you understand yourself as a creative photographer.

It’s liberating as a creative photographer to forget about making money or
comparing yourself to other photographers and just go play with your camera.
For me, it’s climbing sand dunes or wading through water at sunset. It brings me to life.

1. You Bring Your Whole Self

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.” – Ansel Adams

When you first became a photographer you likely focused on finding the perfect camera and lenses. For a while, it was all about chasing gear. But in the end, the gear doesn’t satisfy. Unless it helps you expand your creative horizons it becomes a worthless dust collector sitting on a shelf somewhere.

These are my favorite cameras to use. The Fuji x100s is perfect for everyday life. I’m 

nostalgic about the photo quality of the iPhone 4s. It was the first phone camera I ever 

used. The Fuji XT1 along with a portrait lens and silent shutter mode is perfect for portraits.

You probably tried your hand at copying what you saw on Pinterest or other photo sharing groups. I bet that once you were successful you got bored and moved on quickly.
Gear and gimmicks don’t satisfy you. In fact, you’re more likely inspired by the books you read, even though they are non-visual because they fire up your imagination.

Two winters before this photo was taken, my imagination had been fired up after reading 

“The Wind in the Willows.” But I had no idea how to capture that in photos. That is until 

one spring when the bay that we live on overflowed its banks and took over our yard! I bought 

a dingy for my son, put on my chest waders and spent the evening in and on the water. Ratty 

would be proud of us.

The creative photographer brings to their work their whole life, their whole selves. That usually includes a whole host of other creative endeavors like music, painting, writing, or acting, even if you pursued them at different moments in life.

Though I loved photography as a kid, I was a musician before I became a photographer. 

Knowing what it’s like to perform and connect with the audience, I always look for those 

engaging moments when I photograph bands. Is there anything more engaging than 

Alice Cooper in a straight-jacket staring down the barrel of your lens?

An Alice Cooper performance goes beyond the music and incorporates drama as well. 

The story that is played out for the audience is part fiction and part biographical. Alice 

brings everything to the stage, including his past battles with alcohol, showing the audience
and fellow musicians what can be accomplished in life and art.

2. Making Beauty Out of Chaos

“I don’t just look at the thing itself or at the reality itself; I look around the edges for those little askew moments – kind of like what makes up our lives – those slightly awkward, lovely moments.” – Keith Carter

As a creative photographer, you’re often going to feel like you don’t fit in. You’ll likely find it hard to commit to one type of photography for the rest of your life (or as a business).
Here’s one idea that might characterize everything you photograph; beauty out of chaos.
Creative photographers are often at the fringes, on the edge of chaos and order, in unpredictable situations, trying to make something beautiful in difficult situations.

Many of us deeply resonate with Carter’s words as we “look around the edges for those little 

askew moments.” While it’s natural to photograph the happy, predictable moments of life, I’m 

most at home looking around the edges. When a little guy “acts up” he’s taken out of the 

game to the edges for a time-out. But aren’t these the defining moments of life? I was 

drawn by the boy’s face and his inability to look his father in the eye.

The situation was irresistible to me as a photographer. It was a “theological” moment and 

I was fascinated by the boy’s unwillingness to look his father in the eye. He expressed 

himself through his hands and fingers instead.

I love that even the dirt on his arm speaks to his guilt. You can’t plan these moments, you 

just appreciate them as they come.

You’re likely drawn to “the real,” not being satisfied with mere poses but what happens between the poses, at the edges of a photo session – those “slightly awkward, lovely moments.”

No parent in their right mind would allow their kids to play in the curtains. Those curtains will 

end up a complete mess. But, even for just a moment, I saw beauty in that mess.

Sometimes those moments in the window are more serene. I couldn’t help but notice 

afterward that the curtain ties were “slightly askew.”

3. You’ve Got to Get in Over Your Head

“I realize more and more what it takes to be a really good photographer. You go in over your head, not just up to your neck.” – Dorothea Lange

With the pursuit of the perfect camera behind you (happy to use whatever camera you’ve got on hand), and Pinterest a distant memory, you bring everything you’ve got to your photography. But even when you find yourself up to your neck, you’re still holding back.
There’s nothing to force your creativity quite like walking into a situation that puts you in way over your head. You’ll be forced to figure out what to do at the moment.

I still remember the first time I took the stage as a musician. It was a high school talent show 

on a makeshift stage in the cafeteria. All I could think was, “How did I get myself into this?” 

I knew I wasn’t qualified in any way to be on that stage (even though it was just a bunch of 

tables pushed together). But the moment took over and I knew I was made for the music.
To this day, I look for raw emotion when photographing musicians.

I daresay that, for most of us, going in over our heads means overcoming ourselves. Overcoming
our social anxiety, fear, and laziness. While a little social anxiety, introversion, or laziness can kill your creativity – it can also fuel it.
Successful creative photographers talk about how they challenged themselves through their fears and assumptions and constantly embraced constraints that forced them to grow as people and as photographers.

What do you look like as a creative photographer?

I love hearing from you. Which ideas do you resonate with and what do you look like as a creative photographer? Let’s chat in the comments below.

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How to Simplify Your Life as a Photographer

By: Mat Coker

Whether you’re an amateur or a professional photographer, complexity, confusion, and chaos are your enemies. When your life is chaotic and you’re feeling out of sorts, you’ll be unfocused and your photography will suffer. As a creative person, the last thing you want is to neglect your creative pursuits like photography.

“The more simple we are, the more complete we become.” – August Rodin

Here are 5 ways for you to simplify your life so that you can focus clearly on your life and love of photography.

Embrace simplicity in your photos by including as little as possible in the frame. In this photo, 

I eliminated the foreground as well as boats and other objects that could have been in the
frame. All our attention is drawn to the clouds and the lighthouse in the distance.

1. Tidy up a mess

“Have nothing in your homes that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” – William Morris

One of the simplest ways to bring some order to life around you is to tidy up a mess. Find space that you’ve got control over and clean it up. Start with your desk, or clean up your bedroom. Maybe you’ve got piles of stuff laying around the house. Choose one pile, sort it out, and put it away.
Once your space is clean, make it beautiful. Make a print of your favorite photo and frame it. Place it on your desk or hang it on the wall. Creating a tidy and beautiful space around you will help you simplify the chaos and encourage your creativity.

With nothing else present in this photo our full attention is drawn to the little jellyfish.
Sometimes simplicity in photos is hard to achieve because there are so many other
distracting elements.

2. Organize your photography gear

“There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” – Jackie French Koller

Gather up all your photography gear into one place. This is especially helpful if you’ve got equipment stashed all over your house or apartment.
Clean it thoroughly, sort it out, and sell what you don’t need. By simplifying your gear, you’ll have fewer decisions to make and you’ll be freer to take photos when you’re in the moment.
For example, instead of wasting time wondering which of your eight lenses you should use, you’ll have three favorite ones from which to choose.

Silhouettes are an excellent way to simplify and draw attention to your photos. The
frosty glass adds an interesting background.

Organizing and simplifying the gear you own is one way to simplify your life. But another way
is to simplify your desire for more gear.
Photographers are notorious for suffering from GAS – gear acquisition syndrome. Buying new
gear is necessary from time to time, but sometimes buying stuff is an easy way to feel like a photographer rather than actually being one.
Make the most of the gear you’ve alredy got and only purchase what will truly allow you to take more creative photos.

I love taking photos with my Fuji x100s because it has just one prime lens. I don’t have to
think about lens choices or focal lengths. Instead, I forget about my camera and just observe
what’s around me.

3. Learn one new thing

“Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.” – Martin H. Fischer

You’ve embraced simplicity by cleaning up some small space, you’ve made that space more beautiful by printing and framing one of your photos, and you’ve begun relieving your GAS.
Now, take your favorite camera and lens and go learn something new. But learn just one new thing at a time. As a creative photographer, you’re likely eager to learn many new things and become a better photographer. That is a worthy ambition. But don’t pile on too much learning at once. That will only hold you back.
Choose just one article, book, or course, and master that before moving on. DPS has a lot of tips and articles for you to learn from, but they have also organized and simplified topics with their books and courses.

I decided to spend some time trying to learn food photography. It’s a fun skill to study about. I 

needed to create some sort of background for this coffee mug and decided to stack up a few 

other mugs behind it. I like the repetitive pattern, another form of simplicity in photos.

4. Create a photography project

“Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful.” – John Maeda

With your new learning, why not tackle a photography project?
Many photographers have thousands of disorganized and disconnected photographs. And they have dozens of ideas in mind for what they will photograph next. Make of list of everything you’re interested in trying as a project and then choose one thing from the list to accomplish.

I have a growing collection of silhouette photos with my living room window. Soon, I’ll gather 

them all together and choose my favorites for a photo book. The symmetry in this photo is an 

element of simplicity.

Instead of the chaos of too many options and ideas, choose one thing and bring it to life. Maybe you could take a day trip to a favorite location. Or gather together friends for a portrait project. Maybe you should sort through photos from the past and create a photo book.
In just a few days or weeks you could have a finished project and something new to hang in your tidied up space. Tackling a project will help simplify your life and bring order and accomplishment to your day.

Close-ups simplify portraits by eliminating distracting backgrounds. Toddlers and kids have 

lots of fun peering into the camera or playing peekaboo.

5. Photography business

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” – Leonardo da Vinci

It is natural for photographers to consider starting a photography business. It’s a natural move since entrepreneurs and creative people are cut from the same cloth. Starting a photography business may seem like the ultimate way to live as a photographer. But even with a business, you must keep it as simple as possible.

I love to show up early before family photo sessions. Arriving at the harbor at 5 am in the 

morning, I captured this beautiful silhouette of a father and son heading out on one of the 

Great Lakes to fish.

If you’re already in business consider ways that you can simplify your photography business:

• Keep your business aligned with what you actually love to photograph.
• Offer one type of photography rather than doing everything.
• Choose a simple pricing strategy.
• Create a simple mobile-friendly website.
• Put limits on how long your workday will be.
• Create simple systems to make your workday flow.
• Carve out lots of time for family and friendships.

I played baseball as a kid and feel nostalgic about it in the autumn months. Photographing a 

single object, such as a baseball, is a way to practice simplicity in your photography.

Start simple and make steady progress

Take the next 90 days (3 months) to simplify your life and your photography. Clean up your spaces, appreciate the gear you’ve got, learn just one new thing, and bring it all together with a photography project. If you have a photography business or are thinking of starting one – keep it simple by keeping all the parts simple.
Let me know in the comments what you plan to simplify first.

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5 Reasons Why You Might Want to Try Black and White Photography

By: Nisha Ramroop

There are different schools of thought when it comes to black and white photography. Some believe it was a technical limitation of the past that you need to get over and move on. While others see it as a creative choice, that needs to be explored in great depths.
As camera technology gets better, with more emphasis on improved color ranges, why would you choose to shoot or process your images in black and white? In this article, we’ll look at five reasons why you might want to shoot or convert your images to black and white.

1. B&W Helps you see differently

The old “Masters” of photography shot in black and white initially, because they had no choice. Even with the advent of Kodachrome, which introduced the world to color photography, there was still a pursuance of black and white. This was because black and white was (and still is by some people) seen as photography in its the purest form.

When you remove color the emphasis shifts to the other compositional elements of the image. These include lines, shape and texture, contrasts and tones.
With this in mind, it is obvious that not all images will translate well to black and white. So, look at all the elements and deduce what else you have to work with, besides color.

Many times black and white helps you develop a different perspective from what you are used to seeing, which nurtures your photographic eye.

2. B&W Eliminates distractions

You are used to seeing the world in color and there nothing is wrong with that view. Sometimes this contributes to other elements or details being lost or taken for granted. Some of the elements (highlighted before) required for a great photo include contrast, texture, lighting, shape, and form.
When you shoot for black and white, you challenge yourself to remove the distraction of color. These include color casts and differences in color temperature (ambient light sources), as well as specific colorful elements that are strong, which may reside in the background or take away from your story.

Monochromatic imagery forces you to focus on form, shape, and texture while composing. If your emphasis is on making colors work together, these elements are sometimes overlooked. With black and white, distracting colors are now translated into shades of gray that add to your image.

3. B&W Offers creative choice

Since your world is in color, it is safe to say that color photography depicts reality and is more realistic. Thus, black and white photography is viewed as a rendition of reality – or how you interpret what you see.
When you remove color, you not only isolate the different elements, you are compelled to find how they relate to each other. This helps you explore and create different ways to tell your story.
When you take away color, you remove what your viewer is used to seeing. Now you are charged with finding the stronger elements in the scene and figuring out how to use them to convey what you want to depict.

4. Adds emotion or mood

Something about the variance of tonal ranges, rich blacks, and deep contrasts appeal to us psychologically. It creates a connection that makes you stop and pay attention to what is being presented.

Many photographers use black and white for storytelling in travel and street photography, as well as when portraying religious or cultural activities. Monochrome in some genres connects, enhances and strengthens emotions and mood.

5. Timelessness

Even though this is lower on the list, it is one of the more common reasons why some photographers shoot in black and white. Monochromatic photography adds what is seen as a timeless quality to your images.
Black and white photos seem to transcend reality and take you back to a time gone by. Historically there were color schemes that were specific to types of film or trends in digital photography that can date your image. The removal of color makes it tougher to figure out when the image was taken/produced.

Bonus

You no longer have to imagine what your scene will look like in black and white, as current camera technology allows you to try this on the spot and see if it works. While some photographers prefer to shoot in black and white, others prefer to shoot in color and then process or convert their images to black and white to get a different or better tonal range.
Note: If you shoot RAW format and set your camera to its version of the monochrome setting, you will see a black and white preview on the LCD when you review your images. But you will still have all the color data available in the RAW file at the post-processing stage. This gives you the best of both worlds – a quick b/w preview and ability to convert later.

This image was shot in black and white using the camera’s monochrome settting.

This image was shot in color and then converted to black and white in the processing stage.

While black and white photography still has an important role in photography, please note that not all subjects translate well to this mode. Even though a strong composition is not color dependent, sometimes the power of the photo is its color. This is why it is good to know when to use black and white.

If you are interested in pursuing the monochromatic, look for the other elements of composition like texture, shape, form, lines, and contrast. Experiment with shooting and processing black and white images and figure out which resonates with you more.

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Rekindling the Romance of Black and White Photography

By: Herb Paynter

There is a renewed interest in the romance of black and white photography for several good reasons. First, hyped color is becoming boringly predictable. Second, automated software presets and templates deliver a predictable variety of pre-digested looks that can be applied to any image and deliver similar results.
Just as Hollywood movies have fallen into the same predictable themes and plots, color digital photography has lost some of its originality to over-processing. As you noticed, the common theme here is predictability. Serious photographers want to do unique and serious work and that all points to a resurgence of black and white images.

In the Beginning

There was a certain warmth and personality to black and white prints in the days of film and darkrooms. Photographers got involved with this medium for more than a technical exercise, it became a conduit for personal expression and emotional input. It was a way for the photographer to be involved in every aspect of the process.
Black and white prints were produced in a more personal way than color prints. While color prints were cranked-out mechanically by drugstore photo labs, black and white prints were produced one at a time by photo-artisans, many times in makeshift darkrooms.
These darkrooms didn’t have to be state-of-the-art facilities; any room large enough to house a small enlarger, four 8×10 trays, and a clothesline would do. Many times bathrooms were taken over for the evening simply because they had running water, a countertop, and electricity; the three necessities of a well-equipped darkroom.
Taping off the small window with a bath towel and duct tape was simple, and a hand towel stuffed under the door sealed the deal. A nightlight wrapped in Rubylith made a perfect safelight.

You can make a stronger statement with black and white than you can with color. 

Nothing “pops” like good black and white.

Black and white was a labor of love

The lure of black and white was personal expression more than technical achievement. The drugstore produced stacks of little glossy snapshots in an envelope, but YOU were creating one-of-a-kind masterpieces worthy of wall placement. The wannabe artists weren’t really in a bathroom, they were in a custom photo lab.
Creativity was the mystical elixir that compelled us all to work in hot, cramped little rooms without proper ventilation, dipping and dripping various chemicals on clothing, tables, and floors. The acidic smell of stop bath and fixer lingered in the air and on hands and clothing for hours.

The RGB image above provided over 4 billion colors that could be pushed and shaped. This 

monochrome shot provided only 256 tones to do the same job. With film, this would be nearly 

impossible but with digital…

Sometimes entire 25-sheet packs of photo paper were needed to produce a single perfect print. But all the expense and inconvenience was willingly paid for the sake of the prize and the pride of the print. In the end, the masterpiece was paraded around for all to appreciate.

This original RGB capture of the lava pools in Hawaii presented a challenge. How to capture and 

delineate detail in the extreme shadows and highlights. Tough enough for color but almost 

impossible for monochrome.

Those were indeed magical escapades, but ones that can still be replicated (to some extent) today in the digital world. The stifling air, low light, and acrid aroma may be a thing of the past, but the personal expression and purity of purpose are all waiting to be relived.

The Romance

Black and white photography quietly transports your mind into a playground of creative thought; a semi-guided tour into your imagination. Black and white photography doesn’t enclose your mind inside the bookends of a specific color scheme. It sets your imagination free to discover a place filled with emotion and open to interpretation. Black and white photos deliver moods, not just pictures.
Color can totally capture your mind, but not always in a good way. Here’s what I mean. Once you see a color picture, mental blinders close the deal. You can no longer imagine the scene your way. Before you know it, you find yourself subconsciously critiquing the color rather than interpreting the subject. Color captivates your mind but black and white enables you to dream.

The Reality

Both film and digital cameras capture color information and transpose that color into black and white images. But there’s a significant difference in the way it’s done. Black and white film in the hands of an old-school darkroom artist can produce a print that captures the imagination, though a straight RGB-to-B/W conversion from even a good color photo can deliver ho-hum results. Here’s why.
Black and white film is composed of silver-halide particles that are uniquely sensitive to specific colors but this spectral fingerprint doesn’t automatically carry over to digital image sensors. A scene’s colors captured with panchromatic film will produce different values than the same scene captured by digital sensors.
This means that YOU must get involved shaping the luminance (brightness/contrast) values, and adjusting the chrominance (spectral / color) values of the RGB image. Color frequencies influence the tonal values when converted from color to black and white. Fortunately, both the chrominance and the luminance are controlled in virtually all RAW Interpreter software.
Digital cameras follow a purely statistical recording process and thus, don’t emphasize the strength of one color over another. Different film manufacturers (Agfa, Kodak, Ilford, and others) parsed these color values slightly differently. The photosites in your digital camera’s image sensor simply count photons (the atomic level of light measurement) and use electrical current to set the gray levels.
These values vary based on the camera’s current ISO, white balance, and color mode settings. Just as both black and white and color images captured with film cameras were influenced by various colored filters, these color settings affect both color and tonality values in digital captures.

This is the original RGB image shot in San Juan Puerto Rico.

The Problem

When a digital image is captured in monochrome (Black and White) mode in JPEG format, the camera discards all RGB information and retains only a very sparse number of gray tones. While this sounds like a logical way to arrive at black and white values, it’s not!
Monochrome negates the nuances of spectrally-weighted color transformation. Quite simply, the process removes the emotion and personality of the image. Each camera’s engineering team determines the way each color is parsed as a gray value, and we know how emotional engineers are. There’s a reason we tend to avoid guys with pocket protectors at parties.

This is a simple conversion from RGB to B/W with no adjustments, as your camera would do.

When you capture images in black and white (Monochrome) mode, you are literally at the mercy of the engineers who wrote your camera’s algorithms. But while some very interesting color/monochrome translations are provided by camera manufacturers, you are still locked into someone else’s interpretation. So what to do?

This is the conversion from RGB to Grayscale using Camera Raw’s HSL Grayscale tools. The intensity and saturation of eight different colors determine the internal contrast of the gray tones.

The Solution

There are several ways to address this problem.

1. Record all images in both B/W JPEG and RAW formats.
2. Investigate the interesting results that can be achieved when monochrome images are captured in one of your camera’s “scene” presets. Experiment with your camera’s settings to get a fair sampling.
3. When digital images are captured in RAW format, all spectral (color) information can be accessed (see below) and used to influence the tonal values.

To add a little sparkle to your monochrome, try the Colorize option in Photoshop’s Hue/Saturation 

dialog box.

The Two-Stage RAW Approach

When these controls (provided by Camera Raw and a number of other RAW Interpreter software apps) are involved in shaping the spectral information into B/W, some absolutely magical results take place.
Remember, both the luminance and the chrominance need to be optimized for the best results in RGB-to-Monochrome conversions. I suggest that the chrominance be addressed first and the luminance second. This combination of controls provides all the tools you’ll need to take total control of your black and white images.

The chrominance settings reside in the Black & White Mix panel.

The luminance is adjusted in the Basic – Black & White panel.

In Camera Raw, toggle back and forth between the original RGB image and the current settings using the P-key, noting the colors in the original and the influence that each color slider has on the final product.

When either of these processes is put to work, you become creatively involved in converting colors into gray tones and the magic of silver halide interpretation gets replicated in the digital process. And here’s the kicker… using digital controls, you can surpass the mile markers established by the black and white masters of the past.
This is scary good stuff, and Ansel would have loved it.

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