The photography process can be very overwhelming at times
making an image takes a significant amount of time, effort and money
In this video, I'm going to share a quick overview of my whole process
how I get from here, from sitting in my closet
to here, sitting in my closet with a final image in my hand
By the way, this is the current image of the month
it might look familiar because I made it very recently
just a few weeks ago in Michigan
I have a video that I'm going to leave there
I'm also going to leave the link in the description down below to my website
where you can, if you want to, purchase a copy of this image
We are going to talk about how I plan my shots
how I take the images in the field
how I select the best ones
how I edit them
how I share them online
and how I make the final print
my one and only rule when it comes to photography is to spend as much time as possible outside
with a camera in hand, of course
no matter where you are, there's always an image to be made
that being said, over time we might get used to our surroundings
because there is nothing new to stimulate our imagination
so going to new places every once in a while is extremely beneficial for our photography
when it comes to new locations, I don't do any scouting
I usually open google maps and look for anything that could be interesting
and that could be a lake, a pier, a park, a building...
or I just go on a hike
but basically, I just travel to the location and I go from there
and just to be clear, when I say that I don't plan any shots
that is true in 99.9% of the situations
the exceptions would be for sunrises, sunsets or full moons
to know where those objects will be in the sky I use an app called "Sun Surveyor"
thanks to this app, I know that for example tomorrow
the sun will be setting just behind downtown Chicago
so it would be a very interesting time to go to the Indiana Dunes and take a shot from there
I actually had this shot on my calendar so I wouldn't forget
but unfortunately, it's going to be cloudy, so that shot will have to wait a little bit longer
it's just an example of one shot that I will plan
all right, once in the field I'll just embrace whatever I might find
it is very important to not fight the conditions and the place where you are
if you had a shot in mind, and it's not going to work because it's raining,
or because it's sunny, whatever it is
just look for other shots and don't get stuck on that one
I try to eliminate or at least reduce friction as much as possible
I always keep my camera out of the bag within reach,
just in case I run into some interesting scene
for the same reasons, when it comes to settings, I should in auto
I use Program mode with my small compact cameras
and Aperture mode with my bigger full-frame camera
ISO is set to auto, up to 6400
and I use autofocus with the autofocus point in the center
if I need to adjust anything with the exposure I just use the exposure compensation dial
this way, I can focus on what really matters
and that is the composition, the framing, my subject, the image...
what I'm trying to say with my art
you know that I like to shoot in bad weather
and on those days, conditions are always changing, they change really quick
so that's why I don't spare any shots
because I don't know what that cloud is going to do in the next 5 minutes
because I don't know how the fog is going to roll
I don't know if the snowstorm is going to stop, or it's going to get worse
I just capture any image that I think I like, as soon as I see it
and then I'll have plenty of time back at home to select the best ones
I work the scene quite a lot, especially if it's one that I like
I will approach it from different angles, trying different lenses...
I'll try everything
because I shoot a lot, I end up with a lot of images
I use Adobe Lightroom and their cloud solution to store all my RAW files
I like it because it simplifies my workflow
I don't have to deal with external hard drives
and all of my images are, hopefully...
secured in the cloud where I can access them
from anywhere at any time using my phone or any other device that I might have with me
when I come back from a photography trip
hopefully, I will have a handful of images that I really like
those are the ones that I'm going to work on, initially
and share on social media, on my instagram, twitter, facebook and here in my youtube channel
at that point I will also delete the obviously bad ones
those that are out of focus,
those are blurry, or those silly ideas that I had in the field that didn't really work out
I leave the rest of the images, those that could be potentially good, sit there
sometimes for a few weeks, sometimes for months, or even years
actually, during the last few days I've been going through
some old images that I made in late 2019, I believe
I found some that I really liked
I shared them on my social media just now, one year and a half later
so, eventually, all of my images will have to go through some filters
I make a first selection, then out of those,
I will make a second selection, third selection, fourth selection, and fifth selection
that would be the final selection
I use the rating system in Lightroom
one star, two stars... and so on
until I get to the ones that I consider to be very, very good
five star images
those are the ones that will make it to my website
but we'll talk about that a little bit later
when it comes to editing, when it comes to post processing, I try to keep it as simple as possible
and actually, I've shared a few videos in this channel before that you can go and watch
I have a preset that I apply to all my images, it's just a starting point
and then I go from there, tweaking every image as needed
I use mostly Adobe Lightroom because it has all the tools that I need
but occasionally, I will use Photoshop
if I have to do some more advanced cloning or something like that
the last step of the process is, of course, sharing our images
and you should share your images!
because that's what photography is about, right?
to share what we felt, what we saw, with others
this is personal, though, so if you don't want to share your photography, that's totally fine
but if you do, there are more options today than ever before
I share my photography on social media
I use instagram, twitter and facebook
I do not use the apps to post on those platforms
I use Facebook's Creator Studio, I think that's the name
where you can schedule your instagram images
and I just Buffer to post the same images on my twitter and facebook accounts
I export those images to a size of 1000x1000 pixels
and then I add white borders around
I like to add those borders so there is some empty space around the images,
so they can breathe a little bit
while I'm a little bit more liberal with what I share on social media
my website is a more curated portfolio
only the images that make it through all the filters, the 5 filters
that I have in my selection process
will eventually make it to this place, to my website
so many photographers nowadays will stop here
just sharing their work online will be more than enough for them
but many of us like to see a physical copy of our work
I do prints and books
because of my lifestyle, I don't really have a permanent home, I can't own a printer
so I use a professional lab
after a photography trip, I will order a big batch with
the ones that I think are the best images from that trip
so I can take a look at them in real life and see what they look like
and if I have to correct something
once I like what I see, I can put them up for sale on my website
prints are awesome because they are very high quality copies of your images
but I like books a lot because they are much more convenient
I've made 2 so far
this was the first one, "Went West"
it's more like a zine
my second book is this one, "Becoming an American"
I released it last year, in 2020, during the pandemic
because... why not?
I liked quite a lot making these 2 books, I learned a lot too
and that's why I felt that I was ready to make my third book, that ironically is called "One"
this one right here
this is my first coffee table book, the quality is higher than the other 2 books
but I will be talking about this one and announcing it officially very soon
not today
but anyway, this was, as I said at the beginning of the video,
just a quick overview of my whole photography process
from the very beginning to the very end
from nothing to the print, book or instagram post
I hope it was helpful, but if you have any questions about any step of the process
please leave a comment down below
I could also make a more detailed video about a specific step or something like that
but for now, thank you so much for watching
and see you in the next one!