Happy #TravelTuesday one and all! Yes, that’s right, it’s so much of thing that it’s entirely appropriate to wish people a good day on #TravelTuesday! And with that I, Dave Williams, am here on ScottKelby.com, coming at you with wisdom and news and whatever musings have crossed my mind this week!
Firstly, just to recap on what I’ve been up to: I arrived back from the Faroe Islands on Friday and I loved it! If you ever have the opportunity to explore this off-the-beaten-track cluster of 18 awesome islands, do it! As for the next mission, well I’m currently in the air over the Atlantic bound for Calgary where I’ll be picking up a rental and heading to the Rockies—keep up on that over on my Instagram and Facebook if you so wish, and feel free to drop me a line with any suggestions while I’m there!
So, this week I want to show you some photos from Team Epic and tell you why they rock! The idea behind this post is to offer you a range of motivation, and show you some critique (albeit unwarranted; the team will only find out when they read this post that I actually did it!) Let’s do it, starting with Peter Treadway!
This photo rocks because not only does it demonstrate the lengths Peter went to in order to get the shot, it also demonstrates his understanding of colour and tone. He has balanced the light beautifully to give a good dynamic range across the scene, using his skill with controlling what our eyes are drawn to with a combination of light and depth. The image is nicely framed, with the boat entirely in the frame and considerately close enough to the edges to not waste space, but not so close that it looks off. Finally, keeping it brief, the actual moment itself with the clear love in the expression on this couple’s faces just tips it over the edge for a win. That’s why this photo rocks. Next up, Mimo Meidany.
Okay, this image clearly rocks, but here’s the reason why: – The framing is so well-considered, using the final distance of the lens in tandem with the actual distance from the doorway and the Louvre pyramid to get each positioned and sized just right. That also reflects in the framing here where Mimo has used a bold framing, which despite being quite large contains elements that break it up like the highlighted gates and the tire markings on the ground. Further to this, as well as Mimo’s signature hyper-long exposed clouds with their awesome streaks, this image technically shows a serious contrast between true black and white but has been adjusted in post to offer a range in between those two values, which somehow doesn’t appear to show a great deal of contrast. This image rocks! And next up, Mr. Fernando Santos!
Check this beauty out! Somewhere in deepest, darkest Austria lies a twisty-turns Alpine road with a quaint church nestled in the foothills, featuring towering peaks in the background. Utilising this scene to its full advantage, Chicky Nando has created a scene of warmth, depth, and of beautiful sectioned leading lines all pointing to one spot. Whether it’s the road, the grass, the hill, the tree line, or the Alpine peaks, each of the lines crossing through the three dimensions of this image points straight back to one spot: – the church! Very, very nicely done, and that’s why this photo rocks! And, I guess that leads us to Mr. Roberto Pisconti.
With Pisco, let’s mix it up with one of his epic portrait shots. Take a look here, firstly, at how technically perfect this image is with those eyes tack sharp and a great creative use of the light where the attention is drawn to the features of the face, falling off where it meets the shoulders and neck just enough that they remain an unobtrusive element of the image, but not so much so that they pull our attention. The top of the head is cropped just right where it’s enough that it’s deliberate, but not so much that it negatively impacts the look. In post, the toning has been expertly done, with quite a complicated set of colours, combined with a skin tone to add a massive punch of pizazz to the shot! Mr. Pisco, this photo rocks! And, on to Mr. Kuna.
A portrait of an entirely different kind, Mr. Rocket Man has composited a series of images here, blending them seamlessly to create a picture-perfect frame of a young astronaut with one of Mr. Musk’s finest rockets soaring into orbit overhead. When compositing images it’s important to create something that could pass as real in terms of blending the images, and this means matching the tones and where necessary, lining up the pixels. Erik has nailed it with this amazing image; it rocks! And now, Cathy Baitson.
Take a look at how captivating this image is. The scene we see is a metal worker in a forge, with a roaring fire off in the background and the sense of someone who has stopped for just a moment amidst a busy day at work. The feeling he gives of connecting with the viewer is no doubt a result of the expert direction of Cathy, and the consideration she’s given to the composition here is what helps to draw us in, but balances nicely that all that’s going on is a compliment to the scene rather than a distraction. Nice one Cathy; this rocks! Next up, the boss!
Founding member of Team Epic, Scott Kelby, has smashed it in this rocking Parisien scene. There’s depth, composition, framing, atmosphere, and most importantly, there’s this: – The Eiffel Tower, an absolute icon worldwide, has not been used as the subject of the image, but as a feature within it. This helps us to depict such iconic places in a new light and means we are likely to draw in an audience to an unfamiliar view of a familiar object.
And with that, I invite you to follow Team Epic on Instagram via their images above and to consider this unwarranted critique when it comes to creating your own images. Thanks for reading, and as always, you’re welcome to reach out to me if anything in this article needs a little more explanation!
Much love
Dave
