« Desgin Your Space with Photos | Home | Taking the perfect shot »
Taking Photos on Vacation
By guest | August 31, 2009
It’s a great idea to take along a digital camera when you travel. Seeing always comes before taking, so how you view the scenes around will determine how great your shots look. The results may be surprising.
Shooting What You See
Sometimes you might have taken a photo that looked good in real life but didn’t look so great on the computer. This might be because of the type of lens you used. Your eye sees through an arc of 40 degrees. Viewing a general scene like a skyline is a way to test this for yourself. Without moving your eyes to either side, note what you are seeing. Analyze the same scene as it appears in the view-finder. Now take notice of what is no longer visible or what is now visible. By zooming the lens back to around 40 degrees you’ll get the same framing as your eye. You can work this out by trial and error until you know what zoom setting will give you exactly what you see with your eye.
Composition
Composition is the art of ‘framing’ the photograph or arranging the elements so that it draws the viewer’s eye to what you want seen or noticed. Here are some basic rules of composition:
1. The Eye Scans Diagonally
The eye usually scans automatically from bottom right of a picture diagonally across to the top left. You can see this in action using your photo editing program by taking any picture from your files and flipping it horizontally. Flipping changes the weight of some of the elements in the picture, some gain more weight, some almost disappear. You can use this rule, for example, in portrait photography.
Position the model with his or her body turned to the left about 45 degrees. Direct him to make loose fists and rest his hands on his legs. Get him to look at you without moving his body. This is a head to knees pose. View the image through the camera. Possibly you’ll notice that first your eye moves to the hands, and they direct it upward diagonally to the model’s face. Take this photo, and then flip it in the computer using photo editing software. Evaluate each version for the most efficient communication?
It is a good exercise to look though a book of photographs and see how this rule works. Many artists use this principle by positioning or framing so an object or color points the way to the central element of the picture. Breaking this rule can also cause a deliberate jarring effect.
2. Frame the Photograph
The edges of a photograph are like the fence around a house. In this way space is defined. Print and frame one of your favorite pictures and you’ll get the idea. Everything in the picture becomes more ‘defined’. By deliberately posing your subject in a window, leaning in a doorway, or between trees you can apply this principle. Place your subject before a featureless or out of focus background like an ocean scene and you can achieve a contrasting effect. Without any other elements in the picture, the eye is automatically drawn to the person.
Framing to include enough of the background to add mood will make for a better picture. Avoid if you can any background that is too cluttered or contains forms that overwhelm your subject. These are best avoided, if possible. As a general rule, you can use the background to help tell the story. Frame your scene so the end result provides answers to these simple questions
Where is this scene located?
What is the identity of the subject?
What is their relevance to their surroundings?
What is the subjects purpose for being where they are?
The Rule of Thirds
This rule divides the image into thirds horizontally and/or vertically. The central zone is for the subject. Or where the grids form intersection points. Most landscapes have the sky in the upper third and the subject in the middle section. The bottom third or foreground acts as a foundation to the subject.
With portrait photography, vertical composition is generally preferred. If you imagine the frame to be divided into thirds from top to bottom, the face appears where the top and center sections meet each other. This way you achieve some space above the face and a better view. This also balances the space on both sides of the subject.
Sometimes a feeling of intensity and immediacy can be created by close-ups.
Practise makes perfect. Take lots of photos and analyze the ones you like – and the ones you don’t like. You’ll quickly learn the basics of this rewarding hobby.
Tags
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Comments are closed.