Month: June 2019

These lessons will focus on taking great pictures, so good that you can create one of a kind photos. Please read all our lessons as they are short and cover: FOCUSING, CAMERA POSITIONING, BACKGROUND, LIGHTING, FRAMING and more topics!

Lesson 8: The importance of repetition

Typically, what makes one of a kind photos is not only their clear focal point, unusual/beautiful backdrop, balance and color, but also their sense of repetition to create a greater sense of cohesion.  Sometimes this repetition can be done with design, either in structures, such as repetition of windows, iron grills, or staircases.  Other times, it can be done with decoration, art or fashion,  as we have seen in earlier lessons with women wearing floral patterned dresses underneath floral blossoming trees.  Still other  times, this can be done with shapes or color, as we see in the picture below the same tone of red of the roses mimicked in the red of the car. 

What the effect of this repetition does is to draw disparate elements together (e.g. a rose vs a car) in ways that creates a sense of harmony.  So the next time you are wondering whether or not to take a photo of things that are vastly different in size, shape, color, or design, try seeing if you can find enough repetitive elements in the picture so that they  can come together in an usual, thought-provoking yet pleasing way.   

 

In the mean time, have fun taking your one of a kind photos!

These lessons will focus on taking great pictures, so good that you can create one of a kind photos. Please read all our lessons as they are short and cover: FOCUSING, CAMERA POSITIONING, BACKGROUND, LIGHTING, FRAMING and more topics!

Lesson 7: Action shots

Few things make for a more one of a kind shot than an action photo.  Typically, people pose for photos and say, “Cheese,” which creates often an idealized static look at family life, social events, etc. 

What often creates a more one of kind photo look is to get people doing things.   Certainly, the look might be more chaotic and unpredictable,  but the action often creates more suspense, drama or even a sense of fun in the story you want to tell.  

Take this photo, for example, of this woman getting balloons ready for a party. 

Typically, we tend to photograph finished products, the prepared meal, the fully decorated home.  But catching someone in the midst of a party preparation can actually show a sense of anticipation/chaotic-ness of an event about to unfold which may be missing from your typical family event photos.   

Here is another picture of something we rarely see in everyday life.    Two grown women celebrating by an apple tree,  causing us to wonder why they are so happy. 

  

The types of emotions in action photographs is often less predictable than in your typical “posed” photos, so it’s worth experimenting with if you are to create memorable, one of a kind shots.     

In the mean time, have fun taking your one of a kind photos!

These lessons will focus on taking great pictures, so good that you can create one of a kind photos. Please read all our lessons as they are short and cover: FOCUSING, CAMERA POSITIONING, BACKGROUND, LIGHTING, FRAMING and more topics!

Lesson 6: CREATING A LAYERED LOOK

With the naked eye, we naturally have depth of field.  In a two dimensional space on a photo, however, this third dimension tends to be flattened.   The three D effect that we see in real life tends to disappear when captured on film.

One of the ways to recapture the three-d effect in photos is through layering.  By shooting over or through things in the foreground, we artificially recreate that third dimension.     Here is an example of how to artificially create depth.   The photographer uses camera positioning (crouching) as well as shooting through the flowers/gift bags which “frame” the stuffed animal to create a layered, three d effect.

 

In the second photo, layering is is used more extensively as the camera literally has to  shoot through flowers in the foreground to get to an almost hidden subject.  The effect of  depth created in the second photo almost “pulls” the viewer into the photo as if they were falling into the sunflower field.  We might try to increase the depth of field even more  by shooting the subject from a slightly higher level (see camera positioning). Remember, the more techniques you have under your belt,the richer and more textured your photos will be.

In the mean time, have fun taking your one of a kind photos!

These lessons will focus on taking great pictures, so good that you can create one of a kind photos. Please read all our lessons as they are short and cover: FOCUSING, CAMERA POSITIONING, BACKGROUND, LIGHTING, FRAMING and more topics!

Lesson 5: FRAMING.

Ordinarily, to offset a picture from its surroundings, we use a picture frame.  The frame works to keep our eyes from drifting off the picture on to something else.

In photography, we seldom have a wooden frame to keep the viewer’s eyes inside the photo.  Instead, we have to “create” frames inside our picture. Photographers use many natural and human made objects to “frame” their picture, including things such as doors, walls, archways, boughs of trees, and numerous other “natural frames.”

Take a look at this picture.

Notice that the line of the tree line just above the figure’s head seems to nicely “frame” her by creating a hole where she is standing.  Here is another example of a “frame” created by a tree hanging directly overhead of the woman we saw in the “camera positioning” lesson.

Frames do not have to be round holes or natural archways as we see in the pictures above.   Sometimes they are triangular shapes, curved  or  solid lines,   but they do have to help point the viewer’s eyes toward the focal point of the photo (see examples below).

  So the next time you take a photo, try to locate some sort of frame or line that will point the viewer’s attention toward the focal point.  You would be surprised how much sharper your one of a kind photos will be!

In the mean time, have fun taking your one of a kind photos!