Thursday, April 9, 2009

It's All In The Framing

It's all in the framing.  A good photo is made by many things - lighting, composition, emotion and framing for example.  Some photographers are all about the framing and it's a good thing.  Don't know what I'm on about?  Then grab a piece of cardboard and cut a 1 inch by 2 inch hole in it, then find an interesting subject and frame it up with your holey cardboard.  You can play with what the photo would potentially look like by moving your cardboard around until you find the most pleasing frame for it.   Practice for a week and then go back to taking photos - I bet your photos will look so much the better for all your hard eye workouts.  

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Deliberate Spontaneity

When does taking a photo stop being an abstract and start being a mirror of what the photographer is thinking at that moment?  

If it's just point and click then there's no forethought or premeditation behind what the final product looks like.  And, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this, it's kind of like catch what you can so that the photo is spontaneous.  Then there is the photographer with a keen eye and an awareness of what his, or her, subject might do next. The ability to plan ahead with a final product in mind can be the key to making a great photo.  

The next time you take out your camera give it a go - think of a shot you would like to get and plan for it.  Be ready for when it happens.  In the interim, warm up with being spontaneous but be ready for when that "moment" happens.  I call it "deliberate spontaneity".   You know it the moment it happens.  It's that perfect photo, the one that captures emotion, the essence of someone, their defining moment.