Live the Dream | Joe Markiewicz

Live the Dream | Joe Markiewicz

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.comCheck out my about.me profile!

Live the Dream | Joe Markiewicz

http://vimeo.com/12865835

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.comCheck out my about.me profile!

Breaking The Rules Of Photography — Before You Break The Rules

                  Sunset in Scottsdale Arizona by Cincinnati, Ohio Photographer Vincent Rush

I was having a casual conversation with a renowned photographer. And he proudly said that it was all about breaking the rules – he never follows any rules. He said he does that because if he followed the rules he would never have grown beyond those rules.

Though breaking the rules is creative, lately I’m getting the feeling as if it’s becoming a fashion statement – such statements seem to be lacking depth and knowledge and irresponsible. I have a more conservative approach to “breaking the rule” rule. It is this attitude that prepares you for a long haul at photography. So go ahead and break those rules; but here’s a checklist before you set out to break them.

1. Know the rules

   You can’t break something you don’t know about. You need to understand what the rule is, why is it practiced and what is the barrier it poses to your creativity. Certainly there must be a drawback else why would you bother to invest time in breaking the rule.

2. Perfect the rules

   Understanding the rule is not good enough. You should be perfect at following them. If you are not, you are already neglecting them. That’s breaking the rules in a sense – but it also implies what level of control you have on your art and equipment. Practice till you set some of the best examples for yourself. You will realize, at some level the rule gets in the way of your creativity and results. Now you know you can explore further.

3. Don’t reinvent the wheel

   Most of the times people just end up reinventing the wheel. I asked this photographer “Do you make use of the rule of thirds?” He answered that he never followed any rules. The rule of thirds is a rule of composition that helps you frame shots which are aesthetically more pleasing. This and similar rules are tested by specialists and through big surveys. When you make such a statement saying that you don’t follow the rule of thirds, you are saying you don’t invest efforts in making your composition more aesthetically pleasing. You may make some great compositions and then you may make some other – but in this context they are more of exceptions than rules. At the end of the day after shooting a few hundred shots you realize all the best shots follow some or the other rule of composition.

4. Work to get better results

   Breaking the rules is a great idea provided you get better results than you’d have got following the rules. What’s the point in breaking the rules when you end up with something which doesn’t make sense? Get better results – that’s the way creativity is rewarded.

5. Experiment

   Breaking the rules doesn’t work by itself. You have to spend hours experimenting with light, composition and several other parameters, get creative, visualize and try again. Explore your talent and get creative. Getting creative is the way to breaking the rules. It is when rules get in the way of your visualization and creativity that you have to chose not to follow them. Creativity is what makes a photograph stand out of the thousands. Creativity gives you the edge and you realize the individuality of the photographer within. The more you experiment, the more you get experienced and the better your work becomes.

So go ahead and break the rules. But tick off this list first.


Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

11 Tips for Photographing Pets And Children

 Photo by Cincinnati Photographer Vincent Rush of Cincinnati Sports Photography

Photographing children can be fun. They have entirely different reactions to the camera, are very unpredictable yet lovely in their own ways. And most of this is true for pets too. Here are a few tips to help you make the most of it.

1. Be Patient: In photography patience can be ultimately rewarding (or frustrating on a bad day). Children and pets are unpredictable so it may take quite some time to get the shots you want. Things are mostly out of control and waiting it out is the key to success. So, don’t be irritated,try to be cool and get familiar with child
2.  Be Ready: Don’t let your patience get the better of you. Be alert and prepared. Keep your eye on the viewfinder and don’t hesitate to shoot. In the days of the digital you can always delete the unwanted shots. Set your camera to continuous-auto-focus (or the sports mode) so that activity and movement doesn’t throw the subject out of focus. This setting is present on almost all consumer and DSLRs nowadays.
3. Maintain Distance: If you are not family and not a friend it’s advisable to maintain a distance to avoid distracting your subject. Also there’s a technical angle to this reasoning. Shooting pics from too close may induce unwanted geometrical artifacts and distortions. Thus rely on a zoom lens.
4. Come Close: Against the exact opposite of the above, sometimes you may intentionally want to get close to get some geometrical distortion to get a funny look to the shots and the faces of you pet(s).
5. Capture Natural Poses: While kids can be directed to pose, try to freeze some natural moments to eternity. You’ll cherish these for the times to come.
6. Keep Friends and Family Close: When shooting pets or kids it’s good to have one of theirs close ones to assist you. When you are holding the camera it can become quite difficult to make the child smile or pose. This also can induce reassurance to kids who are not comfortable with a stranger following them around with an scary something.
7. Use Props: Children either love to pose or hate it. In such a situation you can use props and toys to engage them.
8. Expression: Most important feature of the photograph, keep the expression natural and original.
9. Multiple Shots: Children and pets are always moody, unpredictable and very active. Thus it becomes quite a task to get it in a single shot. Always shoot in continuous mode and if your camera doesn’t come with this feature, be prepared to hit the shutter-release every few seconds. Later when you sort them on your computer you can pick and choose to keep the best.
10. Color: Lively and energetic as children are peppy, vibrant or soft colors compliment them and the entire scene. Try to avoid dark and dull colors unless you know what you are doing.
11. Angle and Perspective: It’s important to get your camera to the level of your subject for a vast majority of the shots and normally means being on your knees at the very least. But feel free to break the rules and try some crazy angles to portray the madness in the scene.

From Advanced Photography 8/23/2010

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

The A List:: Super Sports

 Little League Sports Action Photograph of Eaton Ohio Little Leaguer, by Vincent Rush of Cincinnati Sports Photography

Robert Beck is a Sports Illustrated contract photographer with over 25 years experience shooting all manner of sports events. He's as comfortable applying his skills to his son's flag football game as he is to prowling the sidelines at the Super Bowl. We recently asked him to share some tips from his A-list of sports shooting advice.

• The first thing I look at is the background. Whatever the action is, the background will complete the picture. I don't want a busy background—a lot of fences or light glaring off a fence. A lot of people in the stands are okay, but I don't want one person walking by or just standing around. Some sports are good with the bench as background, like lacrosse or football, with coaches and players behind the action. Shooting Little League is trickier. The field is an odd shape, and I try to crop out distractions. I shoot the batter so the bench is in the background as opposed to two parents and otherwise empty aluminum stands reflecting light. The rule of thumb: real clean or real real.

• The first lens in my kit is the 70-200mm zoom lens [AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G IF-ED]. Very sharp, very fast, and if I have to shoot through a fence, I shoot wide open and the fence won't even show. It also offers me a lot of flexibility in composing; too tight, I zoom out, too loose, zoom in. My next lens is the 200-400mm [AF-S VR Zoom-NIKKOR 200-400mm f/4G IF-ED]; fabulous for any sport, just perfect.

• I'm shooting D3 right now almost exclusively. I also have a D700 and a D300. Focusing is quick on all, but the D3 is a little faster in its burst. But I suggest you don't get caught up in shooting sequences. In reality the high point of action is really one or two frames, especially in sports where a ball is struck. The ball is only going to be in there for one frame, and if a kid is fielding the ball, the ball's only there for three frames. Generally, five frames per second is fast enough.

• The truth is that professional sports are almost easier to shoot. The younger the kids, the less you can anticipate—they don't have a sense of timing like the pros or older kids; the young kids are all a little bit off the timing. Be prepared.

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

The Difference Between Bokeh And Depth Of Field

       Joe Markiewicz autographed Home Run baseball presented to Vincent Rush. Photo by Vincent Rush

Bokeh and depth of field, both the techniques help the photographers in creating beautiful photographs. In the approach of photographing at lower f-numbers, the distinction between depth of field and bokeh vanishes and the hobbyists and enthusiasts often end up using the terms bokeh and DOF interchangeably. To photograph the aesthetics of the subject and the background, one should be clear about what DOF and bokeh stand for. To effectively use the two techniques, let’s have a quick view at depth of field, bokeh and the differences between the two.

What Is Depth Of Field

The depth of field refers to the area of sharp focus in a photograph. When taking a photograph, sometimes it may be desirable to have the entire image sharp and at other times you may be interested in focusing only a small portion of the scene. You can easily achieve the desired effect by tuning the camera to aperture priority mode for either high depth of field or small depth of field.

A high depth of field is the scenario where everything in the plane of focus is in sharp focus. The shallow depth of field on the other hand is the technique of focusing only a small portion of the plane of focus resulting in effectively focused subject amidst defocused background and foreground. The shallow depth of field helps in profoundly separating the subject by beautifully blurring the background clutter.

What Is Bokeh

Bokeh is the aesthetic quality of blur in out of focus areas of the image. Bokeh is the terminology used for defining the quality of blur achieved at shallow depth of field. Bokeh thus refers to the quality of blurred imagery rendered by the lens for out-of-focus points of light.

The bokeh refers to the circular discs formed as the result of blurring the background. The pronounced  bokeh effect is created when the camera is tuned for shallow depth of field. The effective brightness in the background of the subject renders  beautiful imagery to the out-of-focus areas, thus, resulting in smooth, soft circular discs in the background.

The Difference Between Bokeh And Depth Of Field

The above definitions clarify the fact that the depth of field and the bokeh are not same. While depth of field is the technique of presenting the area of sharp focus, bokeh is the craft of artistically presenting the out-of-focus area of an image. Bokeh is more of a qualitative aspect of the photograph. You can eventually identify the bokeh as good or bad, but there is no way to adjudge the depth of field in terms of qualitative adjectives. The DOF is determined by the camera-to-subject distance, the lens focal length, the lens f-number, and the format size or circle of confusion criterion. The bokeh on the other hand is influenced by influence the phenomena outside the focal plane like foreground / background brightness, lens aberration, speed of the lens, color and shapes & patterns of the subject, etc.

Thus we can say that bokeh is dependent on depth of field but depth of field is in no way dependent on the bokeh. The bokeh and the depth of field are two different techniques used for specific purposes. The sole purpose of depth of field is to represent the area of sharp focus in the photograph, whereas bokeh is artistic quality of out-of-focus area. The two techniques (shallow depth of field and beautiful bokeh effect) when used together produce stunningly beautiful and creative results.

From Advanced Photography

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of http://mainstreetmonroe.com and Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

 Eaton Eagles 6th Grade Football vs Valley View Spartans of Germantown, Ohio by Vincent Rush

By Nancy Hill
Everybody has a camera, so why should you bother taking pictures? Let someone else worry about shooting the family reunion, the kids, the sports. You can always ask them for prints. Right?
Maybe not. You could be missing out on a lot if you settle for someone else’s photos instead of learning to take good pictures yourself. Here are 10 reasons why it’s well worth the effort to learn to take good photographs yourself.

1. Photographs are personal. Only you know how you see the world.
Everyone views the world differently. Your perspective is unique. Your sister will not capture your family reunion like you would. She will focus on the kids, while you like how many generations are in your family. Your best friend with her fancy camera does sweeping landscapes. You were with her on the shoot. While she was fussing with her tripod, you were fascinated by the kids fishing with their mother. She never even thought to look. Only you can capture the world you live in. Leaving it up to anyone else will mean your vision is lost.

2. Photographs provide an historical record.
Maybe all those Little League games you go to seem tedious after a while, but 20 years from now, your kids will love looking at those pictures, recalling their glory moments (and they will remember some), the kids on their teams, and the coach who kept believing in them. Same goes for other things in your life. Taking photos of your house will remind you of what you once valued, and what your tastes were. Cars change, woods give way to roads, property is sub-divided, old homes are torn down. Having photos of how things are now will give you a record when things “ain’t what they used to be.”

3. Taking photographs will kick your brain into a creative mode.
Simply by looking through the camera and deciding what part of the scene in front of you belongs in the picture will kick your creative side into action. The more you shoot, the more your creativity will come out. It’s a wonderful part of you. Let it play.

4. Photography is great therapy.
This is close to number 3, but it goes beyond creativity. Photography can help you see the world differently. If you’re upset, grab your camera and go out looking for beauty. You’ll find it. If you’re down, spend an hour shooting photographs – of anything – your house, your yard, your city, flowers, animals. Life through a camera lens is full of wonder. Focusing on how the world around you looks can also help break through your negative thoughts.

5. Photography is a great way to make new friends.
Photographers – amateurs, hobbyists, and pros alike – love to talk about photography. You’ll never lack for company if you join a photography club. You’ll also learn a lot more about photography by someone who takes good photographs than you’ll ever learn in a book.

6. Photography is a way to share your life with others.
Sometimes it’s hard to talk to family members. Just because you share relatives doesn’t mean you have much in common. Sharing your photographs with them is a good way to break through barriers, to show someone what’s important in your life. You can also share travel photographs with groups interested in the area you visited. The photos you took of soil eroded around a river might be just what a environmental group needs to get a grant to save the area. The possibilities are endless.

7. Photography is a gift you can give others.
Cards with your photographs on them make great gifts, and a calendar of family photos is a perfect present for your parents who have everything they could possibly want or need. Getting cards and calendars made has never been easier; you can even have it done online. You can also use your photographs on mouse pads, shirts, mugs, and even postage stamps. What could be more personal?

8. Photography will improve your web site and/or blog.
Your words alone aren’t likely to keep people on your web site for very long, so you need to include graphics. You can always use someone else’s work, but your own will be easier, more personal, and say a lot about you. Don’t overlook the power of a good photograph. It can take your web site to a new level.

9. Photography brings accolades.
Your images might not make you famous, but being known as someone who takes good pictures is a real self-esteem builder. It’s great to hear, “Wow! That’s beautiful! Can I get a copy?” Even a simple, “You take such good photographs. How do you do it?” makes the effort worth while. Praise is good. None of us can get enough of it.

10. Photography can bring in money.
Yep, it’s true. Take good photographs, and chances are you can pick up some extra cash. Whether it’s taking your neighbor’s kid’s high school senior pictures, winning a little cash in a photo contest, or selling your cards on a web site, photography can bring in some extra cash. Maybe someone backs into your neighbor’s fence and they need a photo for court. Who knows, maybe you’ll get so good your work will be published in newspapers or magazines some day. You could start small. Lots of magazines, especially women’s magazines, pay $25-50 for cute kid shots. There are lots of possibilities.
The more you learn about photography, the better your photographs will be. The better they are, the more confidence you’ll have – not just in your photographs, but in yourself. Don’t waste another minute — Grab your camera and start shooting!

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

Steelers vs. Packers, Bart Starr and Super Bowl 45

Sitting on the couch with my Dad, watching my very first NFL football game I can still hear him cursing the day that the Steelers had drafted “The dumbest quarterback in history….”Bleepin” Terry Bradshaw! I remember more colorful language as he proclaimed that they Steelers should fire Chuck Noll, That Terry Hanratty or Joe Gilliam should be in a QB and on and on and on
.
Dad was from an area just outside of Pittsburgh, in a town called Washington, Pennsylvania.

2 minutes later…all was right with the world, as Franco Harris scooped up a deflected pass off of Frenchie Fuqua and ran into football history with the immaculate reception.

From that day on, I was a Steelers fan.

Growing up in the Cincinnati and Dayton region, I used to win a lot of lunch money on Steelers vs. Bengal’s week. I had a Steelers lunch box, rain coat, note book and a whole host of Steelers swag. On the rare occasions that the Bengals would win and my classmates would hit me with “Score Board, Rush!”, I could always retort with “Trophy Case!”

I’m also a fan of Bart Starr.

In 1993, as I was getting my Amway business started, I became good friends with an Amway Diamond by the name of Larry Winters. Larry was one of my business mentors. At the time I probably only had about 50 people on my team and wasn’t really on the radar as a future success story.

Larry’s team was about 3-4000 people strong at the time, and as a result, he was running his own “Major Functions”.

In January of 1993, Larry brought legendary Green Bay Packer quarterback Bart Starr in as a guest speaker for the weekend.

I had the honor of being asked to host Bart while he was in town.

As a result I got to drive Bart around, take him to dinner and spend about 5 hours with him. It was one of my most memorable events I ever participated in. Bart was a truly genuine, down to earth human being and one of the nicest guys I ever met. He taught me a few valuable lessons about leadership, compassion and people skills that I still hold tight to today. And he also signed a football and a helmet for me.

As a result I became a semi-Packer’s fan as well as a Steelers  fan.

So today on Super Bowl Sunday, while I root for the Steelers, I remain a Bart Starr fan. And no matter the outcome of Super Bowl 45, I can always find comfort in the trophy case.

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!

Making Money With Photography

              Mount St. Joseph College Football photo by Cincinnati Sports Photographer Vincent Rush

From Advanced Photography

Here are 10 ways to make a good start at making money with photography. Some pursue photography as a hobby or interest. However as any other field of art, photography is a good way to make money while you are at it. It may not be one of the most promising and money making stream to choose as a career, done wisely it can prove to be a stable and reliable income stream . In the days of film, the number of people pursuing photography as a career was limited to few gifted people, but in the days of digital photography, the art of photography has reached its zenith. It has become a promising income stream with some effort involving internet marketing and creativity to blow-off the common man’s expectations with outstanding photographs.

Make Money With Event Coverage Events are a huge source of making money with photography. Be it weddings, sporting events, company meetings, graduation ceremony, school activities, etc all require to be documented in forms of photographs. The organizations hire the professional photographer for covering the events and pay them like anything. On an average basis, a wedding photographer charges $2000 to $5000 per wedding. Similarly, sports photography is also a huge market of making money. 

Make Money Online One of the best ways to make money with photography is to establish online presence as the photographer. Internet is the easiest source of reaching to large masses and gaining popularity (and eventually gaining the benefits of “word of mouth”). Become the part of the viral internet marketing through:

Stock Photography: Stock photography provides an excellent platform to the buyers and the sellers of the photographs. The stock photography sites encourage the photographers to submit their best works (and maintain the online portfolio) and provides the best deals to the buyers.

Building A Web Gallery: The other smart way to showcase your work to the world is to create a web gallery. You can either build your own website or a photo-blog to display your photographs or can choose from Picsengine or Wix.com which help in building the online portfolios without the hassles of maintaining the website. Social Networking And

Sharing Sites: Social networking sites are an effective way of gaining popularity. Upload your photographs to the social networking sites and offer the photo-services to attract the potential customers. Apart from the social sharing sites, there are some sites like Demotix.com which pays you for submitting the newsworthy images. 

Specialize In “What Sells” To make money with photography, you need to look at the commercial aspect of photography. Get an overview of the market stats to know what sells the most. You have to be thorough with this one. Find out what sells the most not only in terms of the subject, but in terms of image quality, concept and license (royalty-free, rights-managed or copyrighted images). Once you are done with the ground work, you gain an insight into what is favored by the audience and likewise you can start working in that direction for providing the photographs which  are liked by the masses.

4)     Creativity Is The Key To Making Money Your creativity, vision, imagination and the presentation skills provide you an edge over the other photographers. The stock photography sites, the web designers, entrepreneurs, advertisers, etc mostly avoid picking up the common photographs. The photographs they pick and choose reflect the brand and convey some specific message and thus, each of them is looking for something unusual, different and striking. If you can offer the creative photographs which convey the message or highlight the concept, nothing like it. So, even though you specialize in what sells the most, the one thing which gives you an edge over the others and of course help you draw money is your creativity

   Post-processing As A Medium For Making Money In the course of learning photography, the photographers eventually turn out to be the masters of the post-processing skills. Right from making some crucial post-processing adjustments for correcting the color cast, contrast, saturation, sharpness, etc to introducing some special effects in the photographs, the photographers can make a good income by utilizing their post-processing skills (also termed as the photo-finishing skills). You can easily make money by offering post-processing services like creating a realistic torn photo-frame effect, converting the colored photographs to black and white, restoring the old pictures (and resurrect the faded color in Photoshop), etc. 

  Photo-Journalism Is A Great Source Of Making Money Photography is as diverse as its applications. Ranging fromstreet photography to conceptual / story telling photographs, you can make good money by offering your photographs for editorial purposes to magazines and newspapers. This gives you an opportunity to make money as a freelancer (as a hobbyists or an enthusiast). Instead of just offering the photographs to the magazines, you can earn a good income by selling the stories with the photographs shot by you. All you need to do is to invest in some creative effort to wrap the photographs around the content like photographing streets, customs, traditions, buildings, people, etc when traveling to some distant city / state with the intent of presenting it as a documentation sells well with the magazines

    

  Shoot For The Advertisement Campaigns Marketing is the evergreen stream of income and shooting for an advertisement campaign alone can help you make good money. But getting the offer for an advertising campaign requires a lot of effort on your part; where the major role is played by the contacts at your disposal and the richness of your portfolio. It requires you to be a technical expert (having sound knowledge of the basic concepts of photography and command over the equipment) to produce the sharp, creative and impressive photographs required by the advertising agencies.

 Join A Professional Photographer As An Assistant Joining a professional photographer as an assistant serves a dual purpose. Firstly, it enables you to make a living with the salary offered by the photographer and secondly, it helps in gaining experience and exposure. Working on various projects with a professional / freelancer photographer comes in handy for understanding the issues between clients & photographers and helps you in exploring the opportunities as a beginner.

 Make Money With A Home Studio Economically speaking, the best of way of earning money is to cut down the costs. Instead of investing in a full-fledged studio, its better to maintain a simple home-based studio with bare necessities. It just takes a DSLR, a tripod and the artificial lights to get started with a decent business with home studios. This kind of set-up comes in handy for photographing the table-top products ranging from a pencil or pen to the textured walls (and balls, fruits, etc) which help in contributing to your online portfolio with stock photography sites (or can make way to owned website galleries). A home studio set-up opens up the opportunities for experimenting with various subjects at your disposal 

 

Every business needs photos for various purposes —for brochures, websites, company events and meetings, advertisements, etc. These photographs reflect the brand of the company and gives recognition to the products and the services they offer. Owing to the above said facts, the companies tend to hire the photographers permanently and pay them huge sums for the photographs which speak about the company at large. Apart from this, the businesses dealing in real estates also offer good deals to the photographers for photographing the property and portraying the houses and flats as attractive as possible

Posted by Monroe Ohio photographer Vincent Rush, Cincinnati Sports Photography and Dayton Sports Photography of Monroe Ohio. Vince Rush can be contacted by phone at (877) 858-6295 or by email at vrush@rushintl.com or visit http://CincinnatiSportsPhotography.com Check out my about.me profile!