I think the publications both turned out great, I have some “behind the scenes” video from shoot, which is always fun. I am just having a couple WP issues as to how to make is look great in this format. Soon I’ll have the video portfolio link working on my home page, and I’ll put the 40-under40 video in there….thanks for looking…

Jupiter Magazine

Palm Beacher magazine

To see the entire thing, you’ll need to come to the airport, and spend time on the first floor, but this is a small sample of what will be there…..ENJOY!!!!

The West Palm Beach skyline at sunset

City Place at twilight

Okeeheelee Golf Course

Wadodahatchee wetlands

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts

www.stevenmartine.com/lakeland/

ENJOY!!!!

A change of royalty for Lakeland, Florida

I unload my 7 bags of crap into his 40 something ish floor condo overlooking all Miami and the beach….and let me say…DAMN!!!!!!! the view was amazing!! and then get to work.

Jones invented a digital reader, similar to a lot that are on the market, except….it’s smaller, lighter, stronger and available. Not sure if you tried to get a B&N one over the holidays, but their availability wasn’t until march…bummer for the christmas shoppers…. His reader, called the COOL-ER, is exactly as the name says….a cool little device that will hold more than anybody can ever read….

With the release of the Ipad last week…Jones and I talked about how that would effect him, and honestly, after putting some thought into it, I’m going with the COOL-ER, an Ipad may be good if your a gamer, downloading the entire you-tube collection or just plan on sitting for weeks on end  submersed in the digital world. One third the size, yes, paperback book sized…the COOL-ER is a digital book, designed to take with you and read, perfect for just that, reading…..and as I get older, time is my most precious commodity, and reading is my favorite way to relax, unwind and spend a few quiet moments that are so rare.

Commercial and Editorial photography Steven Martine talks about composition and lighting techniques.

At 17 years old, standing in the Associated Press office of Portland, Ore., I met Jack Smith, a Northwest journalism legend. He asking me a question that refined my vision as a photographer: “What is the purpose of this image?”

And from there, I launched into the classic journalistic speak about changing the world, making a difference and creating a call to action. And then he said something that I’ll always remember: None of the aforementioned things will happen if the photo isn’t strong enough to prevent the reader from turning the page. Compositon had to be strong, content had to be powerful, and the moment had to be right. All three things had to work so the image will have the staying power that lands in on the front page, in the portfolio, or framed on your mother’s wall.

So, lets jump into composition.

There are some basics of composition that will help make your images stronger, more visually powerful, and ultimately reluctant to “turn the page”.

The basics of composition include the rule of thirds, changing your perspective, cleaning up the clutter, and filling the frame.

There are dozens of other tips, but these few will get you started in the quest for stronger, more powerful images.

To put it simply, the rule of thirds states one should never put the interesting aspect of the image dead center in the middle of the picture. When you frame and compose your shot, think of your viewfinder as being divided into nine small squares, and the premise of the thirds is that your center of interest is on one of those lines.

Changing your perspective: My dry cleaner smiles every time I show up with a story about “changing my perspective”. I have ruined suits and tuxedos simply striving for a better image and changing my perspective. Once I shot a preview for a county fair in a pig pen, and standing up just didn’t make for a good image, but a pig’s-eye view (i.e., on the ground with the swines) was the winning shot. I have been in the ocean, climbing up a tree, or standing on something less than stable, all in search of a better image. Call it what you want, but 99 percent of the images you shoot are shot while standing up. To make a more interesting image, change your point of view. A guy whom I admire greatly says that good photographers “bend their knees.”

Cleaning up clutter: Paying attention to what is happening behind or off to the side of your subject, and removing the “clutter” will lead to stronger images. My pet peeve is power lines showing up in photos; unless I am shooting for FPL, I don’t see why I should have power lines in my photos. Cleaning up also includes paying attention to anything protruding from your subject: trees, telephone poles, and such. Make sure the backgrounds are clean, and thus the subject pops a little better in the image.

Filling the frame: Robert Capa, one of the pioneers of wartime photography, said,“If your pictures are good enough, your not close enough.” This can be interpreted many ways, but compositionally, make your subject prevalent in your image. Do not ever photograph your mom and the Eiffel tower while she is standing at the base and you are so far back, trying to get the entire tower (from top to bottom) in the image. This is bad. Bring dear ol’ mom close to you, while you are still far enough away to capture the whole tower, and then she will be dominant in the frame, and the tower will be a detail in a different third of the image.  Filling the frame with your subject is one of the easiest ways to make your pictures more dynamic. I am a fan portraits that show only two-thirds of a face, focusing in on the eyes and smile make for striking images.

Another important aspect of making a dynamic photo is waiting for “the moment”.

There is always a moment when everything happens and offers the best image possible.

Recognizing it, catching it, pushing the shutter button at that moment will lead to images that you will cherish forever.

It is best explained by the master himself,  Henri Cartier-Bresson, who revolutionized photography by capturing what he called “the decisive moment.”

“Photography is not like painting,” he told The Washington Post in 1957. “There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life itself offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera.  That is the moment the photographer is creative,” he said. “Oops! The Moment! Once you miss it, it is gone forever.”

Stay focused and wait for the moment.

THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS WERE EDITED FROM THE CARTIER-BRESSON’S OBIT THAT APPEARED IN THE WASHINGTON POST ON AUGUST 5, 2004.

More than 3 decades later, I am still the one in charge of the family photos; in fact, I was invited to my sister’s wedding if- and only if-I would bring my cameras and my kids.

So, over the years, I have learned by trial and error. I am my worst critic and as a professional, I can easily see what is right and wrong with the pictures.

(Bless my mother, who still thinks my random out of focus “art” shots are worth keeping in the shoebox.)

The images that I am hoping to help with are the “party picture” shots that happen somewhat spontaneously at family gatherings. The tips and advice should help make those images a little better, and may even land one or two in a frame, as opposed to the shoebox.

Even with today’s foolproof point-and-shoot digital cameras, making a good family portrait requires a little planning.

Light is always an issue; more of it makes for better photography. Inexpensive point-and-shoot cameras are not known for being great in darker settings. Natural light and window light is a photographer’s best friend. One suggestion is to make your family portraits early in the day or afternoon. If you, as the photographer, line your subjects up so their faces are lit by the window light, and thus you have your back to the light, it usually creates a dynamic image. Be aware of casting a shadow on the subjects, since you, as the photographer, will be standing in between the subject and the light source.

If your family portraits need to be late in the evening, and thus lit by regular light bulbs, here are a few suggestions to make the image work: 1) Make sure your camera flash is on (a common mistake); 2) Turn on all the lights in the room you are shooting in. Again, light is your friend. Turn up your ISO (the little number on your camera that determines how much light sensitivity you will have);3) It is helpful to brace the camera on something, be it a bookshelf, door frame, basically substituting as a tripod (if you don’t already have one).

Playing with the ISO number is a little trick that will help indoor photography immensely, When you are shooting in straight daylight, your ISO should be low, say 100. Then while moving indoors, bumping it up to 400 (maybe even 800) will give your camera more light sensitivity, and at the same time, make your images a little bit more pixilated or “grainy”

So for this month, practice on getting a good and steady exposure. Tune in next moth, where  I will focus on composition and how to make the properly exposed images even better.

Stay focused and happy shooting.

What is the best camera?

The answer is always the same: It’s the camera you have with you.

It may sound simple, but you can’t make an image without a camera.

Iconic images have been made by people who simply carried their own day-to-day cameras. Remember the tragic image of the Air France Flight 4590 Concorde that caught fire in July 2000? Or the image of the firefighter during the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing? Both were shot by some guy with a camera, not a “professional” photographer.

Which camera is right for you?

This is a question that I answer regularly for friends, family and clients, and it always comes down to a few key thin:

What kind of things do you like to photograph?

How much equipment do you want to carry?

And, of course, What is your budget?

Pointers to keep in mind when buying cameras

What you like to photograph will have a big effect on your camera choice. If you are one who just shoots party pics, daylight images of your kids in the park, a prize-winning catch, or your orchids to email to New York relatives, I suggest any point-and-shoot consumer camera that is 8 megapixels or higher. Point and shoot cameras are defined by the small size, and it comes with a lens that can not be removed and automatic features like exposure and autofocus. Most have image stabilization, the ability to shoot a better image in a light challenged conditions. Some higher-end-point-and-shoots have the ability to be turned into a manual mode.

Some of these cameras are just a bit larger than credit cards, but can shoot nice daylight images; they start to struggle when light (or the lack of it) is an issue.

I recently bought my bride a Canon Powershot SD780 (retails for under $300), and it was perfect for our vacation in Puerto Rico. She uses it regularly to document the lives of our two little girls.

But, when it comes to taking pictures of these two little girls on the soccer field, a  beefier camera is required.

Enter the DSLR – digital single-lens reflex, basically, a digital version of the film camera we all carried in college. The cameras nowadays have a series of automatic features, the same found on point-and-shoot cameras, as well as the ability to change lenses. DSLR cameras have been packaged with one or two lenses, with prices starting as little as $600. Some brand name DSLR cameras can work with older lenses that you may already own. Nikon, for example, has never changed their lens mounting system, thus a lens from the ‘60s will fit on a digital camera body of today.(Although most automatic features will not work when vintage is mixed with new.)

The DSLR is a favorite for light travel; being able to change lenses, zoom into something and compose a scene makes the DSLR the camera of choice.

I recommend purchasing a pre-packaged system supplied by the big names in digital cameras. Both Nikon and Canon offer consumers great starting packages hat bundle a camera lens.

Then, of course, there are the professional-grade cameras and lenses, which are very durable, very heavy and very expensive. One of the biggest advantages to a pro-series camera is the “lag-time”, the time in between pushing the button and capturing the image. On a point and shoot, this could be a second or two, enough to make me crazy. However, when you buy a camera marketed to the professional, the lag time is unnoticeable.

Professional lenses will cost substantially more. Glass lenses are generally better and more expensive than their plastic counterparts. Professional lenses have bigger apertures that allows the photographer to let more light in the camera. For example hen shooting without a tripod or flash on hand in a darker situation-such as inside a high school gym or church-the larger apertures make up for the lack of light.

I occasionally shoot high school basketball for the local paper and it would be impossible with out the professional-grade lenses. I document more than a dozen weddings a year, and am always, always up against lighting challenges, so owning the expensive lenses allows me to make images that would otherwise be impossible, such as shots lit by candlelight in a dark church, for example.

Having the right tools for the job-whether it’s wedding photography, shots of the kids on a Saturday, or party pictures to update your Facebook, Keeps everybody smiling without having to say, “Cheese!”

So…fast forward to the now……my dear friend asked if I could photograph her daughter’s wedding……it was a no-brainer……then she tells me it’s at Multnomah Falls, quite possibly one of the most photogenic places in Oregon.  Through college, the falls was one of my regular routes as a collegiate cyclist, the place holds a special place in my heart.

Documenting a wedding there was very cool, and doing it for a very very dear friend was just the BEST!!

ENJOY!!!!