Tips from Jeff:

Tip1: What subject matter makes for great photos?
There is no formula for a good photo.  There are only good photos to you.  Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder when it comes to photography.  What you find interesting and meaningful may have a totally different meaning to others.  If you believe in your work then let it stand on it's own.  Personally, the LOVE SUCKS photo is one of my favorite photos taken out in Las Vegas of the side of a semi trailer left near the airport.  I thought it showed that in the cruel underworld of gangs and taggers that some of them had a soul and one's was broken by a girl.  The contrasting yellow and red and white really bring out the photo.  The black outline separating the colors indicates to me that there has been a wall put up since this person was heartbroken.  Find the subjects in your eye that are under represented to others.  Or take a photo of something that you want to share exactly as you see it.  Complicated photos often confuse the viewer, keep it simple and always make sure it has a meaning to you above all else.

Tip2: How do you get an interesting view of a subject?
Angles and lines draw a person into a photo.  Line a long road diminishing in the distance or the way you can stand above someone to take their portrait instead of at eye level.  So many photos are at the eye level and if you notice they are never quite as satisfying artistically.  They may be technically interesting but lack the emotional power you are trying to capture.  If the photo to the right was done at eye level it would be just like a ton of photos you could see on Myspace.com  However standing on some scaffolding that was in the yard gives the perspective of her looking over her glasses.  Insert your own impression of her mindset, "Get down from there right now so we an go" or perhaps "You think you are all high and mighty up there?!"  Regardless with she was thinking there are a few things to notice, how the background is blurred to not indicate how far from the ground she is along with the placement of the hair around her.  It is not angled no seeming to drop to one side or another.  These indications tell us she was not laying down looking above her and not sitting on the ground but standing.  The picture also allows for more light to surround her especially her hair and let the natural colors radiate and bring more vibrance to her photo.

Tip3: What kind of lighting do you need?
Lighting can be one of the hardest parts of photography to control when doing photos of large areas.  The early morning light is long and bright white while the afternoon light is more red or orange and harsher on the skin.  The perfect time would be noon or there about for omni-directional light from directly above.  It also removes most shadows if you are going to be taking close up photos.  The photo shown here is of Union Station in Los Angeles, CA.  It was taken at 8 o'clock in the morning while I was waiting to board a train to Seattle.  The light from the large windows shown behind really is the subject of the photo.  While it is used to bring out the textures and details of the woodwork it also is part of the photo by it's soft rays emanating from the panes of glass in the back.  The far end of the room while dark allows for the depth and perspective to work correctly in allowing you to be able to tell that the room really is so large that even those huge windows can not fully light it in the morning. 

Tip4: Shutter speed = blurred backgrounds or subjects
Just like sound, light is affection by motion.  You hear a train coming for far longer than when it passes you.  The doppler effect with sound can be mimicked with light as well.  As you movie the camera right or left the light will streak along that same line.  To capture an instant in time when someone is jumping up or water is falling, you will need a faster shutter speed to see them in mid-air.  The shutter speed will also allow you to get a more ghostly feel to them.  The longer the shutter is open the more a chance there is for light to hit it and if that light either direct or indirect moves, it will show on the photo.  For more dramatic lighting be sure to check out the step on time lapse photography.  The photo to the right was done with a longer shutter speed than with a shorter one.  It was also taken while walking to ensure that there was a blurry image all around the central focused image.  This can be done with filters but I find a simple step forward will suffice. 

Tip5: Aperture Settings like turning on the faucet
*More to come*

Tip6: Patience with time lapse photography
Night time is the best for getting the lights of passing cars to go by your lens and capture their streaking patterns on film.  Time lapse photography is one of my most favorite ways to take a look at our surroundings.  The trick to it however is not to over expose the image and turn your blacks into grays.  You need to take varying lengths of time for the image and see how the final product turns out.  The photo to the right was done at South Coast Plaza with some stationary neon lights from the walking bridge to offset the mostly dark street.  The red streaks are from brake lights and the white are form headlights.  Notice that the lights are all on different lines, that is because some cars are higher than others and perhaps in a different lane as well.  Be sure to get the right angle when doing these shots to get the different layers of lights as in this one.  At times photos of time lapse streets are one dimensional and leave much to be looked it.

Tip7: Night shots and perfecting the glows
Photography is all about light and how it reflects off of our objects.  With night photography you have to have a mastery of these skills to be able to pull off reflections and glowing neons and signs.  The image to the left was taken at Disney's California Adventure at night for 15 seconds.  Any longer and the rides may have started to move therefore blurring the image.  Any less and the largest aperture setting would be too small and not let enough light in making the image dark.  There is also the speed of the film to consider.  I was using ISO 100, however a higher ISO would have let me take a shorter shutter speed while keeping the same aperture setting.  The downside to higher ISOs is that the quality of the picture will be diminished.  Higher ISOs have lesser and lesser fine details and greater graininess.  Be sure you have a good match of all 3 items, shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  I suggest that if you are going to be doing your first night photos stay with ISO 100 and just vary your shutter speed and aperture setting.

Tip8: Editing you almost perfect pictures
*More to come*