of visuals and haptics - what kind of creative are you as a photographer?

photo by Borj Meneses for Digital Photography Plus

How you present your photographs shows what kind of creative you are as a photographer. What kind of creative are you? Haptic or visual?

Have you ever wonder how some photographers reached a particular style that individually represent them - or why people viewing specific photos react more or appreciate certain pictures more than they would other photographs?

Ever think why some photographers present their subjects totally different from what they are in reality - how some banal objects are distorted to form an ambiguous image quite unlike what they really are?

photo by Nanette Villanueva for Digital Photography Plus

And then there are others who choose to present their view of the world for what it really is. They either document, enhance, or even emphasize, but not totally veering away from how the image is supposed to be.

Which is the right or wrong way in presenting your image as a photographer? Is there a proper or an improper way or even a much better way of viewing or appreciating photos?

How a photographer choose to present their vision of the world has a lot to do with the mental processes they underwent in arriving at the final image. It has got something to do with what creative type a photographer as an artist is.

So what kind of creative photographer are you?

There are 2 kinds.

photo by Christopher de Venecia for Digital Photography Plus

One is a visual photographer. They use their camera to document the world as it is. A camera becomes a recording device and a lot of importance is given to the subject. Documentaries and photo-journalistic works are typical example of a visual photographer. Their photographs make us react more strongly to actual events or images. It enables us to view things and places that we’ve never experienced or seen before. If you as a photographer give an objective view of the world reflecting the images within it as it is, or if you as a viewer appreciate this kind of photos or images, you are a visual creative.

photo by Nanette Villanueva for Digital Photography Plus

Another creative kind gears to a more expressionistic, intuitive way of presenting their images. They do not just capture images they incorporate their most individualistic way of personal expression. Colors are determined by their own emotional or personal symbolism. They break from tradition, as they present the essential nature rather than the physical nature of their subjects. Images are distorted or abstracted, moved or rearranged to liberate their inner vision actively imparting part of themselves to their photos. These types are called haptic photographers. A viewer appreciating this kind of photos more can be haptic creatives.

There is no right or wrong or much better way of appreciating or viewing or expressing things in photographs. It is just the way people are, showing how they are creatively wired. No matter what type of creative you are, it is in your own disposition as a photographer to make your own image work. The possibilities are endless. Do not let someone else dictate or set the limits to what you ought to present or achieve in your images just to be appreciated. Do not compete with others in their own turfs, create your own niche, and don’t be influenced by fads. The important thing is you enjoy the process of making photographs to continue doing so. In the end this will allow your creative capabilities to shine forward and be recognized.

on dp+ as a "company" notification - please disregard

facebook logo

The new Facebook set-up allows you to create Lists where you can subdivide friends and put a label according to level of relationship. There are major relationships that require approval from the party you included on your list like Family, Company and School and there are also regular lists, a sort of classification list for the personal use of the one owning the account like close friends, acquaintance, restricted and your own sorting labels.

Digital Photography Plus logo

One of our dp+ members listed herself as an employee of Digital Photography Plus. dp+ administrators didn't mind it at first because we thought it was just a way for that member to organize her stuff so we let things be. When Facebook presented the advantage of making a List in its new set-up, dp+ admin thought of creating one for digital photography plus. Upon encoding the name, it was disallowed because the name was already being used in the list.

So one of the administrators just added the names of the members of the group to that list only to find out that this is a mistake since the list registers as a company making the members its employee. dp+ apologize for this error. dp+ is a group/organization, it is not a company or a business entity. If any of the members received a notification to this effect, please disregard message. Thank you all for your understanding.

dp+ 2nd monthsary

September 17, 2011,  Digital Photography PLUS Facebook group just got 2 months old since July 17, 2011. Happy monthsary everyone!

dp+ group milestones at 2:

1. dp+ group site already has 261 members

2. 257 Likes on our official fb page

3. 53 members on dp+ blogsite.

3. the addition of a photo gallery administrator for dp+ official page - Hieronymus Rosales

photo by Hieronymus Rosales of Hieronymus Rosales
for Digital Photography Plus

To all members, thank you very much for all your support! Please also be reminded that every member can suggest people to the group. Here's to more members and unleashing creative photography genius in each one. Cheers to all!

new dp+ photo gallery administrator

photo by Hieronymus Rosales for Digital Photography Plus

Digital Photography Plus is proud to announce that Hieronymus Rosales aka Wong Raven Rosales is now the administrator of Digital Photography Plus photo gallery. He will be the one in charge of scheduling and creating a photo gallery for each member of the group. 


Welcome to the dp+ family, Hieronymus!

dp+ photo galleries

dp+ photo galleries are photo albums created for dp+ members on our official page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Photography-PLUS/242285489128553) and this site. It is a means of showcasing a particular members representative works sorted in an album or in a page for easy viewing of a particular photographer's work.

A photo gallery is created for members who are:

1. connected to dp+ official page. It means that they followed this link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Photography-PLUS/242285489128553 and clicked the Like button

2. approved members of Digital Photography Plus group on this link: http://www.facebook.com/groups/164854913587122/?ap=1

3. registered members of dp+ blogsite with this link: ttp://dpplus.blogspot.com/

4. Connected members should also have at least 5 contributed photos to the group.


It is on a first photo posted, first to be exhibited on a photo gallery basis. A photo gallery administrators will post the works of members in an album to showcase their uniqueness and abilities to create a powerful body of works.


Thank you all for your marvelous contributions!

definition of a professional photographer

photo by Lourdes Inosanto of Lourdes Inosanto for Digital Photography Plus

By definition, what is a professional photographer? Are there parameters that delineates a pro from say an enthusiast or an amateur photographer? Are there certain rudimentary skills that you need to possess before you get considered as one.


Here's a little bit of trivia. Hope there aren't any violent reactions, hahaha.. just a thought provoking piece to talk about - so what is a professional photographer by definition?


Simple - it is someone who is a photographer by profession. It means he or she earns a living through photography. So if you take photos as a hobby, no matter how good you are, you remain an enthusiast. Those, on the other hand, who take pictures in the park no matter how amateurish can be considered a professional photographer. Happy shooting! :)

digital camera's full frame and non-full frame proportion

This is a must to know if you are a photographer who plans to shoot for magazines using a digital camera (an editorial photographer), or if you are a magazine art or photo director, or a magazine editor - what the full frame and non-full frame digital camera proportions are in connection with your magazine size. This is especially important if you are one of those photographers who prefer to be in control of how much your photos should be cropped. For editors, art and photo directors you need to know in advance whether or not a photographer's camera is full frame or not, to calculate the space for your masthead for cover photos so that you will know how much of the photo you can tightly crop without sacrificing the photo composition.

Here are the proportions:

photo by Edmund Chan
Canon 5D mk2 - full frame

photo by Warlen Hipulan Rodriguez

Canon 1100D

The size of a full frame digital camera is 3 inches longer in length in proportion to the usual magazine size of 8 1/2 X 11 inches. So if you are using a full-frame camera and you are shooting for the cover of an 8 1/2 X 11" sized magazine, aside from the provisional space you will allot for the masthead, you should allow space for the cropping of additional 3 more inches on its length.

But if you are shooting for National Geographic, no need to make provision for a 3-inch space for cropping. National Geographic takes the actual proportion of full frame cameras, all you need to allot space for is the masthead.

Non-full frame cameras, on the other hand, are the exact proportion of an 8 1/2 X 11 inches magazine. Here you can control the cropping of your photos and preserve the dignity of your composition.

These same proportions are in effect when you have your photos printed in a vertical orientation, too. In the pre-digital days when people use mostly film cameras, notice that when you enlarge a photo to fill the usual 8 1/2 X 11-inch photo paper, some of the areas are automatically cropped either on top or at the bottom in a vertical orientation just like a full frame digital camera. This is because full frame cameras adopted the proportion of a film camera. So if we want to preserve the cropping of our photos when we have it printed the best thing to do is print it with either a white or black border. Notice that after the photos were printed with border, the left and right-side borders of the prints are thicker than the borders on its top and bottom side in a vertical orientation, clearly demonstrating  the difference in proportion.

dp+ guidelines to non-photo posts to the group wall

Digital Photography Plus welcomes posts other than photos to our group wall.


This way, non-photographer members who are also connected to the photo industry (example photo equipment and gadget suppliers, galleries, photo labs, make-up artists, models, events planners, seminar and workshop organizers, etc.) get to announce their stuff on the group wall. It is a privilege we extend to our group members that should not be abused.


Here's dp+' guidelines to all announcements and ad-like posts:


1. As a courtesy to all other group members who also want to show their stuff - please DO NOT flood the group wall with announcement and advertisement-like posts.


2. Try to limit your postings so you won't monopolize the wall.


3. One post is enough for one message. Do not post the same stuff all over again in either group wall or as a comment to photo posts. There are many ways for your information to get through. You may post it with a photograph or try a different angle to your announcement.


4. Another tip is, if you want your post to get on top of the group wall feed, you can invite friends to join the group so they can comment on your post. Any comment gets your posted stuff on top of the group wall.


5. Announcements and advertisement like-post can only be shared on our group wall. Here is the link to our group wall: 
http://www.facebook.com/groups/164854913587122/?ap=1


Please DO NOT post them on our official FB site with this link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Photography-PLUS/242285489128553.


A general guideline to all posts NOT authored by the one posting: PLEASE CREDIT YOUR SOURCE. When sharing tips and interesting stories or links, please make sure that it is properly attributed. In the same manner that we want to be always credited when our photos are used by other people, please extend the same courtesy when we use other people's intellectual properties in our posts. 


At dp+ we treat each other as brothers and sisters in photography, simple courtesy and politeness will go far in terms of improving our relationship with everyone and towards achieving our personal goals. 

dp+ group site guidelines in sharing photos

photo by Omar Jordan de Guzman for Digital Photography Plus

dp+ is a photo sharing group, Membership is free and we welcome photo sharing from member photographers for them to get an overview of how their colleagues welcome their works. dp+ therefore assumes that all photo submissions to the group are original works of the posting photographer.
















The following are NOT acceptable for posting to the group:


1. DO NOT post photos that are not your original work,

a. Only the owner of the photograph should post his or her own photos. Even if the photo is a friend's photo and even if you have the permission to post them, please refrain from doing so to avoid future complications.

b. Do not claim other photographer's photo as your own and share it with the group. It is not only unethical, it violates the copyright law.

c. Do not post other people's photo you edited or manipulated. The group is not about editing or photo manipulating, it is about your own photograph. Only post manipulated or edited photos that you yourself took.

d. Reproduction and mirroring of another photographer's image are not considered original work, it is not acceptable for posting.


2. dp+ accepts a good work of art, even nude photography is welcome. Just please DO NOT post pornographic images or those that are obscene, sexually explicit and provocative in nature.


3. dp+ does not allow defamatory or objectionable content or those who aim to induce hate, malign or cause harm to other's reputation. These are strictly unacceptable to the group.


4. dp+ assumes that all photographs posted to Digital Photography Plus Facebook Official Page* and Facebook Group* do not violate any intellectual property rights, trademarks, right to publicity or privacy, moral rights and the copyright law.

You are not only ruining your credibility as a photographer when you do this, repetitive violation (3 times) will block you from the group.


5.  The group is created as a photo rendezvous for all member photographers. Just as much as you want people to comment and Like your work, please also take the time to Like and give remark to other people's works. It is not a rule but a goodwill that would go a long way in assuring a pleasant relationship with other members.



Lastly, the group appreciates well meaning constructive criticism. The group is not created to be patronizing or just to praise photos or to have one's craving for appreciation to be instantly gratified. It aims to help "make more good pictures happen". It is through constructive criticism that we learn to improve our craft. It should not be taken as a personal affront or taken to be the only correct way in doing things. Please remember that it is just the opinion of one person and not the entire dp+ populace in general or the only perfect solution in doing things. 


Being appreciated for the critique though does not mean that one can use the privilege to abuse, humiliate or make a show off of one's skills. It only means that members are given the privilege to critique in order to help fellow members improve their craft. If the critique is important enough but something which can cause humiliation or affront to another member it can either be said through a personal message (NOT in the comment box where everyone can read) or NOT be said at all.


this is applicable to this site and the following dp+ site links:

*dp+ Official Facebook page link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Photography-PLUS/242285489128553

*dp+ Facebook Group link: http://www.facebook.com/groups/164854913587122/?ap=1

a call for submission of self-portrait of dp+ members

photo by Allan Manalac of Allan Manalac

Attention all dp+ members:
please submit a photo of yourself photographing yourself as a self-portrait.
This is for posting to dp+ photo gallery of members.





























Just post your photos to our official site with this link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Digital-Photography-PLUS/242285489128553

To view other photos on our photo gallery, please check out this link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.256869414336827.69707.242285489128553&type=1

who can join dp+?

photo by Michael Tamura

dp+ is open to the following:

1. photographers - All kinds. This is the key people in this group. It doesn't matter whether you are a professional, an enthusiast or hobbyist, a newbie or an amateur as long as you have an itch to shoot photos. It doesn't matter whether you just shoot digital or film. It doesn't matter what format you use, and what brand of camera you prefer. It doesn't even matter if it is a pinhole or lomo or just a mobile phone pic, just as long as you produce images you'd be proud to affix you signature to, then you're in.

a self-portrait by Benjax Rivera

photo by Omar Jordn de Guzman

2. those who shop for good photographers - Prospective photo buyers are welcome to the group, whether you are involved in advertising or editorial, journalistic or commercial photography. If you want to shop around for a good photographer to assign projects to or if you merely want to learn what to look for in a good photograph or photographer for that matter, or learn the issues facing photographers these days, this group is also for you.

3. those who want their pictures taken - It includes models who want their pictures taken for their portfolio or just an average Joe or Mary who always want to have captured images of him- or herself that he/she can be proud of, or anybody who needs a well represented image of him or herself. This group is also for you.

4. those who are in any way connected to the photo industry - Like photo equipment and gadget suppliers, galleries, photo labs, events planners and organizers, etc., this is a targeted audience to show your stuffs. (Just try not to flood the wall with advertisement-like post or limit posting so you won't monopolize the wall.) This group is for you, too!

bare expectations

photo by Benjax Rivera

A representative work by Benjax Rivera, one of the long standing members of Digital Photography PLUS way back when it was still a Friendster group in 2007.

Doing one of the things he loves best, nude photography, Bare Expectations is a sample of his creative style.

dp+ background information

2007 Digital Photography Plus image photo
photo by Gina Villanueva Uyan 

Digital Photography Plus started as a Friendster group in 2007 with over 1,400 members in different parts of the world. Its original format was forum-based where members can post and comment on various photography topics or issues, share tips and ideas, compare gears and gadgets, contribute photos, and have their photos assessed or given constructive criticism by fellow members. It is a venue where photographers whether professional, amateur or enthusiast exchange ideas and learn from each other, a place to showcase what set them apart to prospective clients, among many other things - a virtual place that paves the way to "make good pictures happen".

Unlike other groups, dp+ is not a demanding group. It does not require meetings and constant get-togethers since many of the members are outside the Philippines to physically participate.

As the name implies, it is NOT a group solely devoted to digital photography, the PLUS in all caps means that the group covers all forms of photography including film in its different formats. 

dp+ making good pictures happen

photo by Gina Villanueva Uyan

"You don't just happen to make good pictures, you make good pictures happen."
- Gina Villanueva Uyan

This is what sets apart really good photographers from the mediocre and "making good pictures happen" is what photography is really all about - which is what Digital Photography PLUS is all about. It is the site where we encourage good pictures to happen - to fluorish and grow.

Under the spirit of camaraderie, each one are brothers and sisters in photography sharing a common passion for their craft. It doesn't matter if you are an amateur or a newbie, a hobbyist or an enthusiast or a professional photographer. At Digital Photography PLUS we are all together as one family in the group with a common goal of inspiring each other to make good pictures happen and showcase it to let the world know.