Photography

Full Moon (well, almost)

Beautiful Hungarian Wax Peppers in the garden...

A fellow photographer gave me the idea of taking a photo a day for one month. We'll see how I do! This one, for September first, is a beautiful plant in my parents' front yard.

Obviously (and yet not so obviously), every good photograph must have a subject.

The idea of photography is to see something that catches your attention and capture it on film (or file). A common thing that happens with a beginning photographer is that they see something they want to capture, and shoot - but the result is not always what they wanted. Though they have their 'subject' in mind, most people forget one very important thing to remember - that things appear very different to a 'selective' human eye than when cropped into a camera frame. When you look at a scene, you see what sticks out to you. When you take the picture, however, the camera just records everything it sees. So, the awesome mountain you remember, in your vacation photographs, becomes a distant object with a lot of distracting buildings and one big, ugly SUV in the foreground. The trick is to make sure that the camera is 'seeing', as much as possible, the same thing you are.

Composing your picture plays a big part in attracting the eye to the subject instead of to its surroundings. For instance, make sure your subject is the prominent figure. Practically, this means:

1)Your subject should fill the majority of the frame. In other words, when taking a picture of a person, make sure that they are bigger (at least, in the frame) than the tree they are standing next to - or otherwise, you might be taking a picture of the tree! And don't leave so much 'background' that people wonder what you were taking a picture of.

2)Keep an eye out for potential distractions (ie. trees or other articles) that might appear to be growing out of the persons head or take over the frame. The goal is to make the viewer effortlessly notice what you noticed, and not all the other things in the foreground or background.

3)Make sure your subject is in focus and the background is out. A good way to accomplish this is with depth of field, which I will be covering later. But in brief, make sure that your subject, not the fence behind it, and not the bush off to the side, is in focus.

4)Make sure to observe the rule of thirds (see Photography Basics: Composition). This will ensure that they viewer's eye is drawn to the subject

Oh, and make sure that you do have a subject! Don't just point your camera at that field because it makes you feel good. Usually you won't end up with the picture that you were looking for, because your eye can take in a much bigger area than your camera, and unconsciously leave out unsightly and distracting objects.

Examples:

In this picture, the neighbor's house is very prominent and very distracting. Also note that the peak of the house is clipped off.

This next picture is of the same house, but from a much more advantageous angle. The light post helps to frame in the subject, and all of the subject is in the frame.

View my work @ http://www.rweavernest.com/album/

Ever wonder what makes a good photograph? There are three main factors, one of which I'll cover today. The subject, the placement of that subject in the frame (composition), and the lighting.

Composition is a very important aspect of an attractive picture. The first thing you should do is decide where you want the eye drawn when someone looks at the photograph. Many beginning photographers/hobbyists make the mistake of centering their subject in the frame, subconsciously believing that the center position will bring the most attention. While the center is ok to use on occasion, it gives a confrontational feel to the picture and gives the viewer the impression of being attacked rather than observing. Most people do not realize this, but it does make a difference in the way you 'feel' about a picture.

Instead, implementing the 'rule of thirds' will give a pleasing feel to your pictures and allow the viewer to become a part of the atmosphere as if he had walked up to the scene. So what is the 'rule of thirds'?

The rule of thirds is essentially mentally dividing your camera 'frame' or viewfinder into 9 parts - three horizontal and 3 vertical. Think tic-tac-toe grid. For landscape pictures such as sunsets, most times the horizon line should be placed on the lower horizontal dividing line. If there is a subject such as a windmill or lighthouse in the picture, it should be set at one of the vertical dividing lines. For portrait (people) photography, placing the eyes at the upper horizontal line with the whole body mass slightly off-centered toward one of the vertical lines, leaving 'look space' in the direction they are facing, gives a relaxed feel, instead of making the subject feel 'crowded' or as if they are going to fall off the edge of the picture.

Here are some examples of using the 'rule of thirds'.

Note that here are two horizon lines with the subjects (birds) off-centered, giving them space to fly into.

Obviously, the lines are used as general guidlines, not hard fast rules... ultimately, it is up to the photographer's discretion. Photography is an art, not a science!

Practice to develop the feel that you want to convey.

view my work @ http://www.rweavernest.com/Photos.html