Is This the Kind of Photograph You Make? Is This a Good Photograph?

www.dennismook.com

Recently, a friend of mine forwarded this photograph to me.  I looked at it and immediately thought "this is the kind of photograph most people, i.e. snapshooters, make.  If my friend reads this blog, I hope my friend is not offended by me posting this, but I thought this image is a good lesson on how you, as an individual who wants to make better photographs with your point-and-shoot camera, can look and learn from others mistakes.  Learning, by looking at others' photographs, is an important part of photography.  Looking at both good and poor photographs are both important for photographic growth.

Here are more of my thoughts when I first looked at this image.  What is the subject?  Is it the sunrise, the man or the color?  Who is that on the beach?  What is the photography trying to capture or say in this photograph?

Off the top of my head, here are some things you can do to improve your photography:

a)  identify what the subject of your photograph is and move in close so the subject really is the main focus of your image.

b) don't put your subject in the dead center of your image.  Think of a tic-tac-toe grid and put your main subject at the intersection of two of the lines.

c)  if the light from your main subject is coming from behind, get very close and meter only on the subject, eliminating the back light.  Otherwise, you will get a silhouette of your subject.  One way to do that is to either walk in close (or zoom in), point your camera at the main subject and excluding the bright back light, push the shutter button half-way down to see what the camera reads as the best exposure, then switch your camera to manual mode (M), set your camera's shutter speed and aperture (usually there are wheels or dials to do this easily) to what it just read as the best exposure, then recompose your image so it is pleasing.  Don't forget to reset your mode to A, S or P when you are finished with that shot.

d)  hold your camera steady by holding your elbows into your sides.

e)  press the shutter more than once.  Sometimes the second image is sharper than the first and sometimes an expression is better or eyes aren't blinking.

d) if you are using a slow shutter speed, turn your body 45 degrees, relax and at the end of an exhaled breath, gently squeeze the shutter button.  You may be able to get a sharp image.  But you are always better off using a tripod if possible.  Use the image stabilization built into your camera, if it has it.  People who are taught to shoot firearms will know that technique.

e)  get in close.  Then get closer.  Too many people have their main subject as specks in the image.

f)  in the camera's viewfinder or LCD, look at the background.  Don't have a pole growing out of your main subject's head.  In fact, always look at the entire frame in your LCD or viewfinder.  Eliminate distractions, move in or move out, zoom in or zoom out, move left, right, slightly down or up to get the best composition.  The entire frame is important, not just the main subject.  You don't want anything unwittingly distracting from your main subject.

g)  if there is a living thing in your photo that is the main subject, always focus on the nearest eye.  The eyes have to be sharp.

h)  crop in the camera.  Carefully compose your images.  Look at all four edges of the frame.  But don't crop people at their arm or leg joints.  In other words, don't crop at the wrists, elbows, knees, ankles or neck.  Crop up midway between joints.  If you have to crop a tight headshot, crop the top and not the chin.

i)  if photographing children, pets or flowers, get down on their level.  Don't shoot down on them.  It is much more interesting if you are at eye or blossom level.

j)  go out and photograph on bad weather days.  Bad weather is always more interesting than good weather.  Cloudy or overcast days are better than blue sky days.  Why?  Shadows are open.  Flower photographs are much better on overcast days.  Nice open shadows and saturated colors.

k)  don't be afraid to turn on your flash (use "On" instead of "Automatic") on sunny days.  The sun casts shadows under the eye of your subject and can make them look like a raccoon.  By turning on the flash on sunny days, your camera will pretty much automatically "fill-in" the shadows.  The same goes for any medium or small subject you may be photographing, especially flowers on bright sunny days.  If there is too much fill-in (you want to have some shadows that are full of detail; you don't want to eliminate all shadows as shadows define your subject), you can reduce your flash output.  How?  This is why you need to read your user's manual and have it with you on your iPod or smartphone.  Go read it again!

l)  photograph flowers from below looking up at the sky.  That is a much different look and can make a wonderful image.  Use your swiveling LCD if your camera has one so you don't have to lay down on the ground.

m)  when photographing landscapes, the best light is found from dawn to the first two hours afterwards and from two hours before sunset until sunset.  If you have a tripod, the light an hour before dawn and an hour after sunset is also wonderful.  The warm, very directional light is much nicer than the bright 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. harsh shadow sunlight under which many make photographs.

n)  place your focusing sensor over your subject's face, press your shutter halfway down to lock the focus and exposure, then recompose your image by slightly swiveling your camera which puts your subject 1/3 to the left or right of center.  If you try to just place the subject in the image at 1/3 right or left of center, many cameras without "face recognition" will focus only in the middle and your subject may be out of focus.  If you camera has a "face recognition" mode, use it and it will find the face, precluding you from having to focus and recompose.

o)  use natural light when possible.  That little flash on your point-and-shoot camera is not good for general photography because you cannot remove it from the camera.  You photos will look flat.  If your camera can take an external flash, you might consider buying one with a remote cord to get your flash off the camera.  Much better images with the flash off the camera.

p)  if you are doing landscape photography, position something interesting in the foreground of your photograph to "lead" the viewer's eye into the photograph.  Usually, you can place that foreground object 1/3 in from the left or right and 1/3 way up from the bottom.  Remember the tic-tac-toe grid?  Place the foreground subject at one of the bottom two intersections.

q)  don't put your horizon in the middle of the frame.  If the sky is much more interesting than the ground, place the horizon 2/3 down from the top of the frame--show more sky.  If the land is more interesting than the sky, place the horizon 2/3 up from the bottom--show more land.

There are many more tips.  I'll be giving more in the near future but that is enough for now.

Enjoy!

Thanks for looking.
Dennis Mook