Dexter Yarbrough’s Photography Tutorial for First-Time Camera Owners

Professional photographer Dexter Yarbrough, the man behind DJY Photography, shares some tips on shooting and taking care of cameras for neophyte photographers.

• Purchase a good quality padded bag to protect camera from scratches and bumps. Yarbrough adds, “A good camera bag is not a luxury item. It’s a necessity.”

From May 10, 2011

• Always make use of the camera’s neck strap or wrist-strap to ensure the camera’s safety and security when taking pictures or just simply using the viewfinder.

From May 10, 2011

• Have a memory card with the biggest memory capacity and set the camera’s picture quality to the highest, such as TIFF or JPG, to have high resolution pictures. High resolution pictures can be edited clearly afterwards using computer software and can be used for printing on huge banners.
• Dexter Yarbrough also advises to read the camera manual to maximize the use of the camera features. “Only don't try to read the whole manual at once, you will forget most of it. When I buy a new camera, I spend about half an hour with the manual before going out. I try to find one new technique that sounds like it might be fun to use and then try it out that same day,” Yarbrough exclaims.
• Use the camera’s fill flash setting when shooting outdoors with the subject’s face darkened by shadows. The flash will brighten the face and make them stand out from the background.
• To make sure the subject is in sharp focus, hold the shutter release button to lock the focus and then re-frame the picture while doing so. This will also improve the composition skills of the photographer.

From May 10, 2011

For more beginner photography tips from Dexter Yarbrough, visit dexteryarbrough1.blogspot.com.

Mastering Visualization: Dexter Yarbrough Delves into the Fundamentals of Good Photography

Just as architects draw out blueprints, photographers need to plan out each shoot. Without a plan, a photographer would be shooting with no clear direction or intent. Dexter Yarbrough expounds on the power of visualization – the first step towards amazing photography.

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

Producing photographs that would instantly captivate your audience begins even before you grab your camera and set up your equipment. It begins with knowing ahead of time what story you want your pictures to tell. This is called visualization. The concept was developed by Ansel Adams who formalized the lessons he learned from his experience as a photo-muralist for the Department of the Interior in Washington, DC during World War II. Ansel identified visualization as the first step of his “Zone System.”

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

The visualization phase is a detailed and vivid imagination of how you would like the final print to appear. However, Dexter Yarbrough explains that visualization is more than just mere creative thinking. Successful visualization also requires knowing your tools well. Once you have a clear picture in your mind, determine what tools you will need and what techniques must be employed to achieve the results you desire. Thus, you need to know what effects you can achieve when using a particular setting, lens, or filter.

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

Once you have completed visualizing, it will serve as your "game plan" for what you will do when you are actually out in the field taking photographs up to when you are in the darkroom developing your pictures or on your computer post-production.

View Dexter Yarbrough’s online gallery at www.djyphotography.com.

Beyond The Lens: Glamorize Your Portraits with Dexter Yarbrough

Employing a good technique and using the best gadgets are not enough. Dexter Yarbrough shares some simple tips you can use to create professional-looking portraits:

Strike a Pose
Your subjects may find it awkward to strike a model’s pose. Simply positioning the hands or feet in different ways can make for more interesting portraits. Have a pianist sit by a piano and place his hands on the keyboard or show off a ballerina’s perfect tip-toeing stint.

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

Strike up a Conversation
The sight of a photographer armed with a camera can be intimidating for some. Engage your subject in conversation. It is rare to find subjects who are not camera-shy. Talking will lighten up the mood and helps your subject loosen up and get comfortable being in front of the camera.

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

Knowing Your Subject
Dexter Yarbrough believes conversations go a long way. Not only do you help your subjects get comfortable, but this will give you some idea of what type of people they are. You can capture shots that show more of who they are as a person.

Candid Shots
Once you have established rapport with your subject, this will give you some insight on how they would respond to what you say. This will help you capture more candid, natural-looking expressions.

Get Closer
Closing in provides more detail of and focus on your subject and limits the clutter unnecessary objects create if you are too far from them.

From Dexter Yarbrough's Photos

Learn more tips and tricks at www.djyphotography.com.

More about Dexter Yarbrough, click here.

To Touch the Intangible: The Vision and Photography of Dexter Yarbrough

Vision, as Dexter Yarbrough writes, in effect, is the photographer’s keen eye for details and the bigger picture. Photography he simply presents as both an art and craft. He speaks as one who has spent a considerable amount of time shooting in and out of the sun and developing those shots in the dark room or using Photoshop.

From DJY Photography

Yearning to touch the intangible, Dexter Yarbrough, Investigation and Security Operations Director of Patton Solutions, pursues photography with the ferocity of a detective sniffing and skippering on the heels of a suspect. However, only things of beauty—and its immortalization thereof—are what he is after when he’s doing photography.

From DJY Photography

Dexter Yarbrough has been inspired to gather talented professionals into a creative lab, which he touted as DJY Photography. Though unbound by blood, these shooters are united by the same passionate DNA that drives them to chronicle fleeting moments as they happen. Skills, knowledge, experience, and the “eye” are their choicest weapons, alongside the camera.

Dexter Yarbrough has passed on to them the vision of immortalizing a memory—and everything that comprises it, including the width of a smile or length of a shadow—on a canvass that is different from that of a sketch artist or a painter, but nonetheless as tangible.

From DJY Photography

More information about Dexter Yarbrough and DJY Photography can be found at www.djyphotography.com.