 Technique: The most important "secret" of good photography is the thought the photographer
puts into a picture before s/he even considers what type of film
to use! The point here is that we have to train ourselves to
think before we shoot! What color is our subject? How
can we make that color (or shade) stand out? Look at the example
here,
and see how the simple choice of using a background that matches
our subject's (blue) eye color can improve our pictures. In the
lovely picture to your left, notice how the blue-violet shadows
to the right of the model's head accentuate her blue eyes. Notice,
too how half the face is in a light shadow, adding depth and
texture. We have to ask ourselves: What do we want to emphasize
in our picture? How will we direct our viewers' eye to our subject?
If it's an outdoors photograph, how will we separate our main
subject from any other distracting elements in our photograph?
At which angle should we shoot? Is it important to establish
place in this photograph (i.e., is it important for the viewer
to know where our subject is? Or do we want to hide the location)?
If we're shooting people, what is our victim's least appealing
feature (i.e., a large nose, a bald head, pot belly, lotsa wrinkles,
etc.:)? How can we hide or de-emphasize it? What's our subject's
most appealing feature (i.e., eyes, profile, smile, boobs - oops!
sorry, I couldn't resist:) ? How can we emphasize the attractive
aspects of our subjects? These are the questions photographers
have to ask, before we shoot. THINK before you shoot!
MAKE a photograph - don't "take" a snapshot! Learn
to "design" your picture before you pick up your camera!
Take a piece of paper and a pencil, and sketch out what you want
in the picture you're considering; this will be a great help
in the beginning, and after a few weeks or months of doing this,
you'll start to do it all in your head, and won't need the pencil
and paper any more. I promise you that a good photograph doesn't
require the genius of an Einstein - it just takes a little thought
and preparation (creativity and practice doesn't hurt either)!
You don't have to study photography for 20 years, just train
yourself to think before you shoot! Don't try to plan
out 100 subjects all at once; think about one or two, and then
use 10 rolls of film on just a few ideas. Shoot from different
angles; shoot from different heights; shoot with different lighting
angles; shoot with color film; shoot with black and white film;
think, then shoot! Pretty soon, you'll wake up one day and realize
that you've changed; you'll look at the world differently; you'll
"see" things most people never even notice; one day,
you'll realize that you've become something special; something
different, but different in a most amazing and wonderful way;
you will have become - a photographer!
© 2001 |
| From whom should you buy your photographic
equipment? Hey, it's
your hard-earned money, so you should buy from anybody
you darn well like! However, one of the advantages of buying
from another photographer is that, unlike "salesmen,"
who just want to "sell" things to you, a photographer
will know what you need, and what you don't need;
a photographer will know why you'll need something, and
why you won't need something; a photographer will have
actually used the equipment being sold, and will be able to offer
advice based on real-life experience. Of course, the facts that
photo/videographers (like us) are usually much better-looking,
a lot smarter, definitely kinder, and unquestionably much more
creative than other folks, doesn't hurt either, does it? ;-) |