Yesterday I talked about Before the Basics. Today, the Basics. And by the basics I don’t mean depth of field, f-stops, lens speed, or anything technical. Lets talk about developing your eye – learning to see the picture and what’s interesting. Because, remember, you can take outstanding photos with a point-and-shoot digital on automatic settings.
1. Most of us want to take pretty pictures, especially when we’re traveling. Pretty can be exciting or boring – it all depends on how you see. (And for Harry Potter fans, I’m not talking about Professor Trelawny.) So first, start looking at pictures in the newspaper, magazines, books – and when you see something that catches your eye, look at it carefully. Why do you like it? Consider color, texture, contrast, perspective, movement and placement of the main subject as you look. And always consider light.
I saw this photo in the newspaper and it caught my eye immediately because of the perspective, shape, and how it drew my eye into the photo. Then I noticed it is people – people all over a train. So the shape drew me in before I even comprehended the subject of the photo.
2. Go out and take lots of pictures – photograph your kids at play, walk around the neighborhood, walk around your downtown, take a drive. Remember – it’s digital – you can take as many photos as you want. Then look at your photos carefully. When you start realizing why you are attracted to a certain picture, it’ll make it easier to line up your shots that way.
3. Don’t automatically reject shots that aren’t what you thought you were taking, or that seem “not pretty.” Look carefully for the unexpected. In this photo of the Temple of Heaven in China, I was interested in symmetry and didn’t notice the person in the lower right corner. I didn’t used to like pictures of people in photos when my objective was something else.
However, in my opinion, it’s a much better photo for having him in it. For one thing, it gives scale to the building. It’s always interesting to have something identifiable in a photo to judge the size of the main focus.
4. Always look around you – don’t just look forward. When you are walking look to the sides and turn around and look back. I wouldn’t have seen these busses and the car in Chongqing, China if I wasn’t looking around me constantly.
And what a fabulous photo I got – what contrast! This photo tells a story. I could have just taken a snap of a small car to show what people drove, but that would have been static. This photo is anything but static – and has some drama, besides.
5. Little by little I’m going to go over some of the photos in my galleries on susanreep.com and explain why I think they are good photos. You may disagree and that’s fine. I will say, however, that over the years, as my eye has become more trained, I find interest and beauty in subjects I would not have previously considered.
Let’s start with this one. I was in Cambria and saw this starfish.
I just took a quick photo because I’m always interested in pattern. I didn’t realize until I uploaded it to the computer that the texture and pattern of the water showed on the starfish also. And I hadn’t noticed that the starfish had “attitude!” I like his pose.
These two pelicans I think are particularly good because they draw your eye from slightly off center to the edge of the photo.
You don’t have to always center your subject. It’s usually more interesting if you don’t unless you are going for symmetry.
And in this photo, symmetry was exactly what I was after.
The pattern of the water really caught my eye as well as the duck. We know it’s a duck, but there’s a little bit of mystery about it. It’s a smooth, rounded head in a round circle of water.
Here’s a photo of an anhinga in Costa Rica.
I was taking photos from a very unsteady boat and was unsure if I could capture the bird or not. But not only did I get the anhinga, there is a Northern Jacana in the foliage. At one time I would have thought, dang, there’s a black spot in the photo and I wouldn’t have liked it. In fact, this is a good example of getting more than you bargained for!
Finally, light. Talking about light fills volumes in itself. When I was in Lugano, Switzerland, I took so many photos of swans. In this particular photo, I was interested in the way the swan was holding his feathers.
I had no idea that the light would be such that the feathers would be almost transparent. I suspect that almost any photographer would tell you even if you think you know why you are taking a photo of a particular subject, you’ll get more than you bargained for.
I see all these photos in a new light! It is interesting to know what an artist thinks about their own work, both before and after.
[...] a photographer, one has to be alert at all times. I’ve done a post on developing your eye and what to look for in a photo. I’ve gotten pretty good at scanning the area around me [...]