Chris Marquardt

Chris likes shooting pictures during the holidays because it's so different from any other time of the year. Lights, for instance, create a mode, and you can use the placement of those lights, with a shallow depth of field, to make a beautiful image. But you don't want to use a flash. It'll completely kill the mood that you're trying to create. It'll also wash things out and blind your subject. Ultimately, killing the mood. You could use an orange gel on the flash or bounce the flash off the ceiling. That could help.

Chris is offering his eBook 1 Hour 1000 Pics, and how you cull photos and keep the really good ones. Download it here.

Chris Photo tip this week is about indoor photography. Here are a few projects to practice indoors.

1. The hands project. Get someone to hand model for you and take some pictures. Hands can really tell a story, especially older hands. 

Chris joins us to talk about Winter Photography. Winter is one of Chris' favorite times of the year, and with it comes getting ready to take some great pictures in the cold. But that comes with its own set of challenges. There's a lot of white. Fog. Overcast skies. And cold! But these kinds of conditions can create some remarkable conditions worth taking pictures of. So always have a camera in your car this winter. If you're worried about batteries dying in the cold, use a film camera. You can get them cheap now. 

Leo says some of the best photos he took on his vacation wasn't with his Sony A7IV, but with his iPhone 11 Pro Max. The Deep Fusion feature does an incredible job. Chris also wanted to talk about the DJI Mavic Mini. He's impressed with its navigation features, and it shoots 2.7K video, which is just fine for most people. And it's very affordable at under $400. Chris uses a DJI Mavic Air and even though he's a pro photographer, he only uses it a few times a year. So the Mavic Mini is a good buy for the casual drone enthusiast.

Chris is back with our assignment ... GOLDEN. Here are the photos that caught Chris' eye:

Review Photos

https://flic.kr/p/2hG8VVH

https://flic.kr/p/2hrG4Hw

https://flic.kr/p/2hv3Xyx

All photos:

Chris joins us to talk about using Wider Angles. The new iPhone has a .5x ultra wide-angle lens, and often we can include things in our pictures that we don't want. So Chris recommends doing a background check to see what is in the background. Also, do a "border patrol" and check what's at the edges of your image. See what's going on as it might be intruding in the frame. 

Another issue with ultra wide-angle is a slight distortion at the edges of the frame. Anything at the edge can get stretched. To avoid it, place your subject more towards the middle. 

Chris joins Leo to talk about using your camera to collect things, taking pictures of things you like and make that your digital collection. You can then back them up to Google Photos and use it to organize your images according to collection, color, face, just about anything. It's a great way to learn photography management. 

Chris says that there are five things you can do to practice your photography:

1. Fifty Steps/Fifty Photos. Chris says to walk fifty steps and then take fifty photos.  This will challenge you to look at a scene from various angles.

2. People/No People. Take pictures for one hour without people in a touristy area. Then try going to a remote area and take only pictures of people. It's a great challenge.

The FOCUS Assignment. All photos: https://www.flickr.com/search/?group_id=362537%40N20&sort=date-posted-desc&view_all=1&tags=TGfocus

Photos to review:

https://flic.kr/p/2hdTUsX

https://flic.kr/p/2hfk9Jb

https://flic.kr/p/2hhiaXL

Next assignment: GOLDEN (suggested by birenamin)

Chris wants to talk about how you can mix and match techniques to minimize your workflow. Perfection: stop seeking it. It's your enemy. Accept that everything is a draft. Besides, most people will not look at a photo the same way you do. 

Doing something makes you right. People without dirty hands are wrong. The doing is what gives you credibility.  

Lastly, being done is the engine of more. The more you do, the more you want to.

Check out more from Bre Pettis Cult of Done Manifesto here.