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Tips for better photographs Full version -- from the start Top 2 photo tools -- at least use the first one! Building blocks of composition -- they make up your picture Combining the elements of composition -- to tell your story Summary -- it's a short one Depth-of-field -- how to get it right General equipment advice TIPS -- sound advice and some one liners Composition lab -- How some of the photos came to be BETTER
LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY by
Bill Smith My
hope in this is to help you make better landscape pictures when you walk up to
the scene. I assume you want to
take the picture within a few minutes. Ideally
one could wait for the time when conditions and lighting are better but that’s
another story! Photography,
as all art, is about communication and telling a story. Strive
to record the spirit of the place. You
are making a portrait of the Earth – not just taking a picture.
Such deserves your best. For
those starting out (so you can stop thinking about it) Best
camera – is the one you have. Things you can controlCamera
position – height above the ground, angle and distance to the subject; horiz/vert
picture Thing
you can’t control Basic
light direction & quality – although you can take the photo at a
different/better time LIGHT The direction is the most important aspect. Whether it is from the front, side, backlit or top lit profound changes are made to the scene. The quality of the light comes next: how harsh [direct sun] or soft [overcast] is it. Overcastness comes in many varieties! Whatever type of light produces the effect you want in your image is the best type to use. Alternately, choose your scene to match the light available! The quantity
of light has little bearing on the look of the scene but has a big influence on
lens aperture and shutter speed. Unfortunately,
quantity is the most visible but least
important. TOOL:
Previewer mask
TOOL:
Tripod This is the #2 tool for better pictures. I know if I could do without it I would! Use a tripod. It holds the camera so you can concentrate on composition – not concentrating on holding the camera! It allows for longer exposure times than you can handhold. The tripod will wait for clouds to pass or the wind to die down better than you will. It allows you to look around without building anticipation of having to snap off a shot. It makes you slow down and think. This is a good thing. Getting
better pictures starts with you. There
are some compositional principles you need to be aware of. With these in mind, all you need is practice and to evaluate
your results to get better. So,
A
PICTURE is made up of BUILDING BLOCKS of COMPOSITION LINES
& SHAPES Lines in a picture direct our minds and eyes. They contribute to the stability and dynamics of the composition, influencing our emotional response as well. Lines are created by tonal and color contrast. Straight lines are visually decisive while curved ones are more leisurely. Lines usually have size: branches, small streams, flower stems, mountain ridges are all lines. By changing camera position we can alter the position of lines within the picture space, and thus influence the visual and emotional effect the lines produce. Wide angle lenses used close need precise positioning. Lines can terminate within the picture or run to the edge with different implied effects. Between lines are spaces that create shapes. Shapes are powerful visual elements too. A line is a narrow tone with a different tone on each side – thus 3 tones or colors are present. Where 2 tone areas meet you have an edge. An edge is not as significant as a line as it has one fewer tones. Use lines, edges and shapes to arrange your picture space more thoughtfully! TEXTURE Texture, like lines, is often a major motivating visual force. Most of the time the viewer is unaware that texture is the reason. Texture reveals the impact of external forces and hints at complexity. Like depth in a picture, texture is nurtured by the photographer and can be enhanced or diminished. Light direction is your primary control. Side and backlighting often bring out strong texture. Overcast conditions bring out texture in grasses that direct sun cannot. Shutter speed affects the texture of moving water; longer exposure blurring the water more. Lines and shapes are strong visual elements that give compositions their structure. Textures fill in the details and are the subtleties that keep you involved in viewing the picture. PERSPECTIVE
- DEPTH IN A PICTURE Photos are 2D representations of a 3D world. You must consider how effectively you are conveying the illusion of depth. We interpret perspective clues in pictures the same way we do in life. You can enhance or diminish these clues by the lens used and choice of camera position. Camera position (perspective) depends on you. Walk around the subject if you can. When the subject seems to be looking back at you – that is often the position you want to shoot from. Remember knees can bend (low camera position) and often a few feet more height makes a big difference (getting over foreground shrubs). Try both vertical & horizontal modes. Avoid the tendency for bull’s eye vision of putting the subject always in the center. The primary purpose of lenses of different focal length is to change the perspective – not to fill the frame! Wide angle lenses used close to a foreground object enlarges it relative to the background. This distortion of “reality” creates the illusion of distance in an image [all parts of the printed photo are equally distant from the viewer]! Find the spot that gives you the perspective (viewpoint & emphasis of your subject) and use the lens focal length that fits it in. Light objects and warm hues tend to be closer to us while cool toned ones tend to recede. Objects in focus also tend to appear closer than out-of-focus ones. Overlapping objects really state that the partially covered object is farther away. Backlit situations throw strong shadows that become larger as they near the lens and this increases our sense of depth. Front-lighting and overcast days tends to flatten perspective.
Let’s put together the previous 3 building blocks of lines & shapes, texture and perspective into the creation of a photograph: The overall purpose is to show the subject and express our feelings about it clearly. Order in the image is necessary else no message will be delivered. Order comes in many types and degrees. Too much rigidity can be static and boring while too much looseness can be chaotic. Effective photos are blends of order and tension among their elements. A wonderful speech is one organized in a clear way and delivered dynamically. The same is true for the effective expression of a photograph. There are NO RULES for composition but there are ways of organizing the elements in a photograph that make a clear visual statement and hence expressing ourselves effectively. These are the principles of dominance, balance, proportion, pattern/rhythm, and deformation/distortion. All visual arts use these but photographers have to use them differently as we already have existing objects (mountains, fields, water …) whereas a painter starts with a blank canvas. It has been said that “The painter constructs, the photographer discloses”. The difference is big. The photographer depends on light much more so than other visual mediums – we can’t change it really except by time. We depend upon light using its intensity, quality, hue and direction to organize our picture space. Light is our paintbrush. 1-
Principle of DOMINANCE Sometimes it’s good to replace the subject by its simpler counterparts of lines, shapes, textures and perspective otherwise you get too emotionally attached and too enamored to the subject to view it properly without bias. Dominance means something in the composition (often a line or shape) is the strongest influencing element. This center of interest is often that due to its color, size, tone, location or symbolic value. A red maple tree will stand out in a forest of evergreens. You can temper a strong center of interest by including more background or adding smaller but similar objects that take some of the attention (additional yellow flowers to the side and perhaps softer focus as well to counter a prominent one). Still your center of interest acts as a resting point. Avoid getting stuck into repetitive composing patterns such as putting the center of interest always in the same area & size [ex. left & below center]. Too much of that creates monotony and may make you incapable of really examining your subject. Not all pictures need a center of interest! If the subject forms a pattern that is more visually appealing than any of its parts then no center of interest may be needed (a field of flowing grasses might be changed by adding someone walking through it – the center of interest then may become the person, which might become an engaging portrait). Perhaps shoot, or think & search with your previewer mask, scenes in which you organize the scene: 1. without any center of interest so you are forced to think in terms of balance, proportion, balance & rhythm and distortion of space. 2. by placing the center of interest near one of the 4 edges or corners. 3. by placing the center of interest at the center 4. by using dark spaces between picture elements actually form the center of interest as we too often focus on the highlights. 5. by using 2 or 3 equal centers of interest Once you understand the value of the placement and size of the center of interest (or its absence) as a tool of composition to yield meaning, then you’ll be able to use them creatively in your photography. This takes practice by shooting and using your previewer mask. 2-Principle
of BALANCE We see many things at once and each of them commands some portion of our attention. How much attention we give to any particular object depends on its color, shape, tone, symbolic importance, our personal interests and experiences and who knows what else. What keeps you looking longer at an image? Often it is visual variety in which the various forms (lines, shapes, textures …) each command some of our attention so our eyes and mind rove about the image. Most times a center of interest is needed to give our eyes a reason to look as well as a resting point from looking. Conversely, a center of interest needs some minor players to allow a break from looking at it! Most great pictures have this arranged balance of elements even if the viewer isn’t aware of it. Balancing all the visual elements in a scene is fundamental in the proper location of the center of interest – not usually the other way around. Basically there are symmetrical and non-symmetrical balance. Symmetrical is usually very formal as there is a center axis about which things are arranged (as standing in the center aisle of a church taking an alter shot). This type brings equilibrium to mind and may be exactly what you want to convey your message. Non-symmetrical balance usually yields more dynamic compositions due to the tension or competition between objects of different color, shape, size and so on. Slight changes of camera position can alter the balance so that the attention given to competing elements in a scene may take more interest than they should from the center of interest. This is why a tripod is so important in holding the composition so that you can study it. Imbalance is generally not good as there is no overall unity and can appear haphazard or accidental. Its shock value has a place but you decide where that is. In a balanced photograph the viewer examines the various parts of the image and we accept the pattern established by the photographer. Realize that our life experiences play a role too. Objects may command attention because of what we know or think about them and even a small such object may be more visually interesting to the viewer than the photographer’s intended subject. 3-Principle
of PROPORTION & RHYTHM Proportion is simply how large or small the visual elements of a picture appear. The relative size of each to each other is key. The size of objects influences our understanding of what’s going on in the image. There are many ways and levels of understanding a given situation. Thus choosing the proportion of space for each object is not an easy matter. For example, cows in the foreground of an image with a hilly background naturally brings them the most attention and your mind also drifts to dairy and if you grew up on a dairy farm, then those memories come back. However if you backed off from the cows so they were small then the more distant hilly background attracts more attention and you may drift into times you were out hiking. You need to assign proportions to those scene elements to best fit the idea or feeling you want to communicate. Related to proportion is rhythm. It is a key element too. Rhythm in photography, as in music, depends on patterns (of lines, spaces, textures). The repeated pattern is rhythm. It brings order and a sense of dynamics to a scene. Compositions without a center of interest often have strong rhythm. Repeated patterns and their relative size affect the way we look at a photograph and how we interpret it. Examples of rhythm in landscapes are ripples in sand; spacing of trees in the woods; and groupings of flowers. Rhythm is the way of Nature – I doubt you can improve upon it. Many of my effective landscape compositions have rhythm as a base – look for those inherent rhythms and what they are telling you about the landscape. There are NO RULES of composition nor probably should there be. Rules stifle your imagination and creative growth and won’t show your subjects in the best light. Use the principles of visual design to combine them with consideration of what you want to communicate to the viewer. Become a viewer of your finished work too and see if you’ve accomplished what you set out to do. Your pictures will improve and you’ll find your photography will be constantly exciting! GETTING
the RIGHT DEPTH of FIELD OK, we’ve looked at visual design elements and composition. That is your #1 concern for landscapes. Next comes focus point and depth-of-field (aperture setting). Depth of field assures that the perspective you desire is maintained. Roughly, for any lens and aperture setting there’s twice the depth of focus beyond the focus point than in front of it. Usually the focus point is your main subject. Less in-focus objects are less important. Sharpness has a major effect on the picture. Sometimes due to the nature of depth of field I change the focus point (often closer) as I may want more foreground sharpness than I’d get if I kept the focus point on the main subject. Some things are easy: to get the most depth of field you need to use the smallest aperture (like f/16 or f/22). A minimum depth of field may be desired if you decide that anything but the main subject in focus will be distracting so you use a wide open setting like f/2.8. How do you decide to use middle apertures? Like adding herbs to a stew it is a matter of taste and experience. If your camera has a depth of field preview button you can use it to study the scene at different aperture settings (boy is that tripod handy here). Go beyond what looks good to see all apertures. Start from both ends of the scale and see if you arrive at the same aperture each way. Once I decide what’s best, I usually close down 1 to 2 more stops as what looks sharp in the viewfinder tends to be too soft in an enlargement. Short
ideas on how to improve your pictures
Strive
to record the spirit of the place. You
are making a portrait of the Earth – not just taking a picture.
Such deserves your best. Think about what you want to communicate. Previsualize the scene and use that previewer mask – slow down, you’re shooting too fast. Lens choice – as a self-assignment, stick primarily with one fixed focal length so YOU have to move into the correct position to set the perspective. If you’re new to zoom lenses, it is too easy to stay in one spot and just zoom in or out (remember that camera location determines perspective). I use zooms a lot and they’re great for quick compositions when you don’t have time to move & compose (people & moving things) but we’re talking stationary landscapes here! Aperture should be set to yield the look and feel of the scene. Don’t set it where the lens is its sharpest and generally disregard the resulting shutter speed (as you’re using a tripod, right?). Shutter speed does take priority if you’re hand holding the camera or if the picture will benefit more by a particular shutter speed than aperture (moving water, blowing wind). Shutter speed can be adjusted longer by adding neutral density or polarizing filters to avoid aperture changes. Choose subjects that work with the lighting you have on hand. Deep woods shots usually don’t look good on sunny days due to strong shadows with empty detail. Wide angle lenses can really accentuate the foreground while keeping a lot sharp throughout the scene. There is an exaggerated effect of distance which yields a distinct separation between subject and background. Camera quality: The camera has never taken a picture by itself. You put the quality into the picture. Know your camera’s features, especially exposure control. If you’re shooting a scene that’s 80% snow you need to give 2 stops more exposure than normal as meters want to expose as if the scene was medium gray. Since snow is white, it needs more exposure. Your photo kit: keep it simple. 1 or 2 zooms vs. a bagful of single focal length lenses. Don’t hesitate to experiment; take that questionable shot – it may surprise you & you’ll learn from it. Maybe dedicate a shot or 2 out of every roll for this. Evaluate your work. What would you do different if you could take the picture again. Try cropping the final print to find a more dynamic composition. Don’t judge the picture solely by the mini-print! Printing is the other half of “telling your story”. The mood of an image can change drastically if the print is lighter, darker or different tint. Great compositions don’t happen by accident. For example, a deliberate viewpoint; foreground item and its emphasis; and adding framing to blank sky all help to separate the good from the great. Camera position can be very important; sometimes an inch change will make or break the picture. Walk around – don’t take the same viewpoint as someone else. At times use negative space to emphasize your subject. Fog acts as a great way to add negative space or to subdue a busy background. I like the see-through effect of thin fog. Look at any book by Freeman Patterson: Photography and the Art of Seeing; Photographing the World Around You?: A Visual Design Workshop; Photography for the Joy of It; and Photography of Natural Things. These help you learn to see (and not just look). Analyze the work of photographers you admire; try to figure out how they took it. Look at how they used light; the lighting conditions and time of day. They know the principles of visual design! Great photos come from a through knowledge of light and a keen awareness of everything around you from very common things to unusual phenomena. Weather is ever-present from clear, blue cloudless skies to stormy clouds. Be aware of how weather can dramatically improve your photographs. When the sun sets, don’t put your camera away; the lighting is often extraordinary after the sun sets. The 20 minutes just after the sun sets is known as “sweet light” as the reddish glow from the sunset casts warm glows on things facing the west. Also the mixture of this red light and blue skylight can be very dramatic. The characteristics of sweet light changes constantly, second by second. Use a tripod. It holds the camera so you can concentrate on composition – not concentrating on holding the camera! It allows for longer exposure times than you can handhold. The tripod will wait for clouds to pass or the wind to die down better than you will. It allows you to look around without building anticipation of having to snap off a shot. It makes you slow down and think. This is a good thing. GENERAL
EQUIPMENT ADVICE Get to know your lens. Shoot a lot of film through it. As an experiment resist the temptation to change lenses even though another focal length (or zoom setting) might seem more appropriate for a given subject. Do a lot of walking to see how perspective changes with the subject closer or farther back. Stretch the principles of dominance, balance, proportion, pattern/rhythm, and deformation/distortion (after you have learned them well) and look forward to unexpected and often rewarding results! Normally I don’t have any filter on the lens to minimize glare and any image losses due to a filter but will use a skylight to penetrate haze or polarizer to knock down glare. Polarizers can be set below “max” as it is easy to overdo polarization. Finally The
art of photography is what precedes the moment of exposure. |
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Bill Smith Photography
-- call toll free 1-877-468-5523 |
