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Two of my favorites seasons for taking pictures are
spring and fall. You just can't beat the vibrant colors of
spring flowers as they emerge from their wintry sleep or
the autumn colors as trees prepare to shed their leaves
for the winter ahead. For us in the northern hemisphere
spring is already upon us while in the southern
hemisphere it's now autumn.
No doubt you'll be out there with your camera capturing
the majesty of the spring or fall colors, depending on
the hemisphere you live in. If it's been awhile since you
picked up your camera you may have forgotten some of
the golden rules of photography. So, with that in mind,
I thought I'd devote this issue to "Sceneramic
Photography 101."
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| peripheral image enhancement... say what? | | |
 How many times have you dubbed your shots as boring
because there's nothing of interest going on in them?
They have no flow, or there's no focal point, or the
main subject just didn't stand out like you thought it
should've... and so on. What went wrong? You just
knew when you set up for the shot it was going to be a
winner. So what happened? Well, the term I like to use
to describe it is "peripheral image enhancement." Here's
what happens...As you set up for your shot, your brain is aware of
everything else going on around you. While you're
looking at a small, rectangular image in the viewfinder,
subconsciously your brain "sees" everything else going
on around you. The effect is a mental "enhancement"
of the picture beyond that of the camera lens. You're
fooled into thinking there's more going on in the picture
than there really was. To avoid this problem you must
learn to tune everything else out and concentrate only
on what you see in the viewfinder. Mastering this
technique will improve your photography dramatically. | | |
| rule of thirds | | |
 The "rule of thirds" is a good rule to remember when
composing a picture. Basically you imagine a tick-tack-toe board in your camera's viewfinder with three
vertical and three horizontal sections. When framing your
shot you simply avoid placing the main subject in the
middle frame. That's it! That's all there is to it.An example of this technique might be when framing a
landscape shot such as a sunset over a lake. If you
want to portray a sense of spaciousness, you simply
align the horizon with the lower imaginary horizontal line
of your tick-tack-toe board to show more sky. If you
want to portray a sense of closeness, you simply align
the horizon with the upper imaginary horizontal line to
show more of the ground. Shifting your subject to an
off center position will make your pictures more
dynamic. Try it! | | |
| you mean I can take vertical shots too? | | |
 Many photographers forget that they can turn their
cameras 90 degrees to take vertical pictures. There's
nothing in any camera handbook that says, "do not tilt
your camera from the horizontal
position." Subjects like tall buildings, waterfalls or
people are best suited to vertical shots while groups of
people, cars or animals are generally better suited to
horizontal shots.Experiment by taking both vertical and horizontal shots
of different subjects. Compare them afterwards and
decide which you like best. With a little practice you'll
be able to make a quick decision as to what orientation
will work best for a particular picture when "eye balling"
a scene. | | |
| closer is better | | |
 We've all seen pictures where the main subject is so far
away you can't make out who or what the picture is
actually supposed to be of. Heck, I've got some old
family photo's where I can't tell if I'm looking at Aunt
Audrey or Uncle Charlie because whoever it is is the
size of an ant in the picture. Unfortunately the natural
instinct of a photographer is to try to include as much
of everything as possible in the picture. I'm here to tell
you, resist the urge... get closer not farther away!You don't need to provide every bit of detail because
our minds do a wonderful job of filling in the surrounding
details for us. Besides, zooming in on a subject creates
a more intimate and personal experience for the viewer.
So next time you feel compelled to take two steps
back, stop yourself and take two steps forward
instead. You'll be amazed at the results. | | |
| using fill flash | | |
 Pictures of people taken outdoors on bright, sunny days
always look contrasty and shadowy. That's because
film or digital technology can't capture the same range
of light as the human eye. The shot may look great
when we're setting it up, but the finished image can be
very disappointing.Try using the in-camera fill flash feature of the camera
for your outdoor shots. It'll add just enough light to
soften the shadows while giving a more natural,
pleasing picture. When I'm taking outdoor photographs
of close-up subjects I nearly always use my fill flash no
matter whether it's bright and sunny or cloudy outside.
Try it and add some "pizzazz" to your images. | | |
| until next issue... | | | I hope you've enjoyed the articles. If you know of
someone who might also enjoy our newsletters, please
feel free to forward them on. If you have a topic or
question you'd like me to cover in a future issue, please
drop me an email. Until next issue, it's bye for now from John and Linda... Email Article Ideas... | | |
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