Who FRAMED Roger Rabbit?

How many times have we read an article in a photography magazine or book that said to achieve better photographs we should frame our shots using things that are available to us in our own environment? Things like a tree branch or an arch. That’s all fine, but to make your images more personalized you need to explore new ways to frame, out of the conventional .

I must have been an explorer in my previous life. I love the unknown, taking chances, experimenting and finding new ways to approach and photograph things and then comparing the results. I find that this gives me so many more options and choices of images. It allows me to be more artistic and creative. So here is my photography tip of the day; try framing some of your shots and do it with great style. There are so many things right in front of your eyes just waiting to be used as a "natural" frame. Find them and use them to your advantage.

Break some rules! Who said the frame needs to be in the foreground? Who said the frame needs to cover less space than the subject? Who said the subject of the photo cannot also be the frame itself? And lastly, who said the frame needs to completely "frame" the four sides of the subject? Think outside the box!

Here are some samples I have encountered over the years:

What about a rain puddle? Isn’t that a frame?
(see the picture at the beginning of this blog)
















Danilo Piccioni © 2008 all right reserved.

Gone in the Rain with the wind

By Danilo Piccioni
The Italian Eye





September 2006, workshop in Venice under constant rain, definitely not a September Italian kind of weather if you ask me!
Despite the weather, we tried to be inventive, we tried to be creative and make the best of the time we had together.
Sheltered from the rain standing under the colonnades in Piazza San Marco, I spotted an abandoned broken red umbrella inside a trash can, partially sticking out, looking as if it was screaming : Pick me! Pick me! Make me famous!
So I went and grabbed it and I said: let's do something with this.
In addition to the rain, there was a constant breeze that day and all the nearby cafes in the square were closed because of the unpleasant weather.What better chance for me to borrow one of the café’s chairs and place it in the middle of the piazza and ask one of the students to pose for the shoot?





Doug was either a very good sport or he wanted to show off his new expensive rain proof clothing gear, but either way he sat with his boots in the water and held the umbrella against the wind and waited patiently for us to set up our tripods.
The first shot here shows how the image would look from a normal point of view: Standing up at eye level it’s not very flattering; everything is squashed down because of the deformation due to the wide angle lens; these incredibly beautiful buildings look short and fat and Doug sitting in the rain is just one of many things happening in my photo, not the subject.




I immediately changed lens from wide angle to medium tele, a 70 mm did the job quite nicely.
I also shortened the tripod down a lot and noticed that people passing by where causing the photograph to be overcrowded and distracting. I needed to isolate Doug from everything else.
That's when I decided to use a long exposure to create a sense of movement among the crowd and use them only as a colorful brush stroke effect in the background.




Using a long exposure allowed me to keep Doug and the Doge’s palace pin point sharp and blur everything else.
In order to achieve this and not over-expose the frame I had to add a Neutral Density filter in front of my lens. My frame was still over-exposed, so I decided to add my polarizer filter on top of it and increase the time to an even longer exposure.
I couldn't believe my eyes when suddenly a group of colorfully dressed Japanese tourists came along and I triggered away.

The result image?
Breath taking! And it was chosen as the front cover for SouraMagazine’s Nov-Dec issue, an internationally well known Fine Art photography Magazine in the UAE and in the industry.
Thank you, Doug, for being such a sport and a great looking model!


Click HERE to read the article and watch my images.

The Italian Eye © 2008

The Great Power of NO Color

By Danilo Piccioni

When thinking of black and white photography, the worst thing one could think is that B&W is a photograph without any color. It would be just as bad as thinking that a color image is a B&W photograph infested with colors. There are sixteen million shades of gray in the B&W world; trust me when I say that's a lot. There is no reason to think that a B&W picture is in any way inferior to a color one.

Typically a non-digital B&W shooter would use a colored filter attached to the camera; the filter allows the photographer to see the scene in B&W through the viewfinder so that he can decide how to shoot reality at its best using a different-color filter, e.g. yellow, red, green.
Today’s mid-range digital cameras have the option of shooting directly in BW or in color.
Now you just shoot and then decide later, and if you want, you can have them both.
If you are serious about B&W photography, you want to capture your exposures in color first, then convert it into B&W later in your Photoshop darkroom.

There are many different ways to create a B&W photograph in PS from a color shot. The worst thing you could do to your photograph is to chose the one-click method, to convert the color photo to grayscale.
These sample photographs show you the difference between a photograph that was converted with this automatic PS feature and the versions achieved by working with other methods in PS.
This and other tricks and techniques will be explained in full detail in my B&W course here and only here at Perfect Picture School of Photography.

Danilo Piccioni © 2007

Shut up and Shoot Up!

By Danilo Piccioni

Some of you may remember that time in the Venice-Workshop: despite the season it was cold and rainy. Who said it never rains in Italy?(LOL)

We were all bundled-up and heading out in the rain at 6 o’clock in the morning, but with an optimistic smile printed on our faces thinking, the sun will come out later, (yeah, right!)

As Bryan always points out, even unexpected and less-than-good weather conditions in a workshop can actually be an unexpected blessing in disguise (read: creative, unique photographs).

White, gloomy skies, not a single human being walking around in Venice’s Calle’ Venice (narrow streets), just us, the gondolas and the old buildings.

Think about it! What a great opportunity to concentrate on composition and unleash our creativity without for a moment being concerned by someone walking into the picture the moment we trigger our cameras. Can anyone ask for anything more?
Sure, a cappuccino and croissant, grazie!

In the first shot you can see me trying to stabilize the shot leaning against the arch and shooting-up. (No, it s not a stoned homeless person leaning against the wall in the vain attempt not to fall in the canal, LOL ).

I shot this closeup of the gondolas' ferro (the decorative front piece made of iron on this unique Italian boat), intending to isolate them graphically and at the same time include a soft (not in focus) background to give a little hint of the environment, making sure not to include any white sky, but still aiming up.

Although there is a bit of PhotoShop work in this photo, this is another good example of what getting on your knees can help you to achieve. Imagine how different this image would have looked if I was shooting from my natural viewpoint instead.

Remember, it’s all in your point of view!


Danilo Piccioni © 2007