Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
PHOTOGRAPHY
CAMERA SKILLS
Learn how to see and take
really great pictures every day
DAMIEN DEMOLDER
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ADVANCED
PHOTOGRAPHY
CAMERA SKILLS
FROM THE MAKERS OF
EDITORIAL TEAM
Written by Damien Demolder
Design Simon Warren
Production Oliver Cotton
All photographs Damien Demolder
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CONTENTS
6 ADVANCED PRACTICE
8 THINKING PHOTOGRAPHY
12 EQUIPMENT
14 CAMERAS
20 LENSES
25 TRIPODS
26 EXPOSURE MODES
30 WHITE BALANCE
34 METERING AND EXPOSURE
38 RAW VS JPEG
42 SHARPENING
46 COLOUR CONTROLS
50 NOISE
52 CONCEPTS
54 STORIES AND IDEAS
56 CROPPING
58 USING THE VIEWFINDER
60 DRAWING ATTENTION
64 COMPOSITIONAL MISTAKES
66 FINAL NOTES
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ADVANCED PRACTICE
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ADVANCED PRACTICE
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THINKING PHOTOGRAPHY
Thinking
photography
Have a clear idea of what you want to show from the start
IF YOU were to build a
chest of drawers for your
bedroom, you would probably
at least make a sketch before
taking your saw to the planks
of timber. To start without
planning would surely lead to
disaster: drawers that dont t
their apertures and perhaps
a base smaller than the top.
No one would attempt to get
underway without at least a
moments consideration of
Right: Simple
elements
with a
clear story
Below:
A strong
pattern
broken by
silhouettes
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THINKING PHOTOGRAPHY
Above: The
cool blue
reflections
of early
morning
Left:
Wind-blown
grasses set
against a
sea shore
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THINKING PHOTOGRAPHY
A simple
contrast of
straight lines
and curves,
light and
shade
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Equipment
I HAVE a copy on my desk
of the Photography Year
Book 1974. It is a book that
showcased the best of both
amateur and professional
work that year, and contains
excellent, if stylistically
dated, photographs of
sport, landscapes, portraits,
reportage and, of course, a
ne selection of naked ladies.
This was a year in which
Nikon professionals might
have been using the
Nikkormat F2, and amateurs
the FT. Those in the Canon
camp may have been sporting
the FTb-N for fun, or the F-1
if they were pros. Striking
technology that year included
the Canon Datematic a
camera that could print the
date on your negatives. My
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CAMERAS
Cameras
Theres not too much you actually need
TO BECOME an advanced
photographer you need to
be able to control apertures
and shutter speeds, so make
sure your camera lets this
happen. Beyond that we are
looking at incremental benets
and features that apply to
certain particular types of
photography or situations.
Over the next few pages
well look at the different types
of camera on the market and
highlight the features to look
for in each that will give all you
require at your ngertips. You
might be surprised by how
little you need.
CAMERAS FOR
LANDSCAPES
What we require in a
landscapers camera is
pretty straightforward. If you
are shooting conventional
landscape-type images, your
priorities should centre around
drawing as much detail from
the scene as possible.
To do this, we need a mixture
of high pixel count and low
noise performance in a camera
that offers long shutters speeds
and the ability to be mounted
on a tripod obvious I know,
but mentioned to emphasise
how little is required.
Shot from a
bus on the
spur of the
moment,
with a pocket
compact
camera
SENSOR SIZE
Sensor size in landscape
work is only an issue in that it
can have an indirect impact
on noise, the view through
the viewnder and the use
of wideangle lenses. Larger
sensors tend to use larger
pixels, which tend to be able
to gather light more easily.
The reduction in the amount
of amplication needed as
the digital signal is passed to
the processor means that,
generally, larger sensors
produce less image noise than
smaller sensors.
Even though landscape
workers tend not to use high
ISO settings, they do enjoy
keeping the shutter open for
extended periods to ensure
the lowest ISO setting can
be used. This generates
long-exposure noise in
images captured at 1/4sec or
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CAMERAS
Landscapes
usually
require
excellent
detail
resolution
Having more
pixels makes
it easier to
make big
prints
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CAMERAS
Effective
pixel count
Sensor pixel
dimensions
4 million
1625x2450
5.4x8.1in
8.1x12.25in
6 million
2000x3000
6.6x10in
10x15in
10 million
2736x3648
9.1x12.1in
13.7x18.2in
12 million
2832x4256
9.4x14.2in
14.2x21.3in
14 million
3050x4625
10.2x15.4in
15.3x23.1in
16 million
3264x4928
10.9x16.4in
16.3x24.6in
18 million
3456x5184
11.5x17.3in
17.3x25.9in
20 million
36485472
12.7x18.2in
18.2x27.4in
24 million
4032x6048
13.4x20.2in
20.2x30.2in
30 million
4425x6800
14.6x22.7in
22.1x34in
Good detail
in low light is
always more
important
than low
noise levels
A rough guide
to print sizes
from a range
of standard
pixel counts
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CAMERAS
CAMERAS FOR
WILDLIFE AND ACTION
The principal consideration for
a camera that will be facing
lots of fast-moving subjects,
and subjects that pop out
without any notice, is a good
focusing system. You want
a system that is able to nd
what you are looking at very
If you like
decisive
moments,
youll need a
camera that
reacts when
you press
the shutter
DOES IT HAVE
TO BE AN SLR?
The short answer to this
question is no, and the long
answer is it depends. You
certainly do not have to use an
SLR camera to take advanced
pictures, or very good
pictures, but on occasion
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Not all
nature and
wildlife
involves
fast-moving
creatures
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CAMERAS
Compact
cameras
can be used
in confined
spaces
without
anyone
noticing
Good AF in
low light
makes an
ideal street
camera
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Barrelling
has left
the distant
uprights
really bent
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LENSES
Lenses
At f/4 on a
f/1.4 lens,
you can
have quality
as well as
selective
focus
ZOOMS OR FIXED?
Zooms have come on a long
way in the last ten years and
present a good option even for
serious photographers. They
are convenient too, and save
time and money compared
with owning all the individual
focal lengths necessary
to cover the same range.
However, zooms are more
likely to suffer from curvilinear
distortion and present the
photographer with subjects
with bent edges.
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LENSES
Wideangle
lenses can
be used for
portraits
Distortion xed
Your
girlfriend
will notice
curvilinear
distortion
before you
do. Itll make
her look fat
Barrel distortion
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LENSES
HOW TO MAKE
A LONG LENS
LONGER FOR FREE
Heres a quick, cheap trick.
When shooting wildlife,
for example, you might be
surprised by how long a focal
length is necessary to ll your
frame with the creature of your
attention, to make it obvious
that it is the subject of the
picture. You might expect a
500mm lens would be enough,
but when there is a leopard
100 yards away it will still look
very small in the frame.
Wildlife photography, as with
most sport, is most often shot
with the camera in landscape
orientation leaving the
greatest distance between
frame edges on the horizontal
axis and your leopard only
occupying a small proportion of
this space. However, if you turn
the camera on its side, shooting
in portrait orientation, suddenly
the distance from left to right is
dramatically reduced, and your
leopard, still the same size in
the frame, now takes up much
more space on the horizontal.
Shoot upright
to fill the
frame when
your lens is
too short
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH
AND
Improve your
photography
this
From this to
O Study in your own time
O Receive detailed feedback
from a professional tutor
O Students are assigned
a personal tutor
O Split the monthly
payment costs
O Half-price magazine subscriptions
O Subject-specic, bite-sized
courses from only 75
O Dedicated student area
and online forum
FOUNDATION IN DIGITAL
IMAGING TECHNIQUES
COURS
FEES ONLYE
195
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TRIPODS
Tripods
Three legs to stand (still) on
THE CONCEPT of the
tripod is quite simple it is
a device for keeping your
camera still. When the camera
is still you can decide which
shutter speed and aperture
combination to use based on
what is best for the picture.
When you handhold the
camera, your aperture and
shutter speed will be restricted
by what you can manage
without risking camera shake.
If you use a tripod you
can set a shutter duration of
10secs, which will draw in
enough dawn light to allow
an f/22 aperture that will give
front-to-back sharpness. Youll
be able to use the ISO setting
that delivers the best detail,
resolution and smoothest
tones. If you dont use a
tripod, you cant. It will also
make it easier to study with
care what is in the viewnder.
This contemplation time will
improve the quality of your
composition no end.
It is a pain to carry a tripod
if, as well as taking pictures,
you are going shopping, sightseeing, or on a family day out.
However, if you are just out
to take pictures, carrying a
tripod is no more bother than
carrying the camera bag itself.
Get an over-the-shoulder
tripod carry case to make your
life even easier. You wont get
cold hands then, either.
The fact is, if you need highquality images that display ne
detail and extensive depth of
I only needed
f/16, but
using ISO 100
was critical.
The shutter
speed had to
be 1/2sec
WHAT TO BUY
Tripod choice is a matter of personal
preference and you wont know what you like
until you try a few. Ask friends if you can have
a go with theirs, or find a good shop where
the staff will help you to try out a range of
different designs. My preferences are for a
model that is still quite tall when collapsed,
as this means the leg sections are long but
few, making set-up and take-down quicker
with fewer locking clasps to operate. I like
hip joints that allow the legs to spread to a
very wide angle, so the camera can sit low
to the ground and the legs can deal with very
uneven ground, and a long centre column
that rises via a geared winder (not essential,
but useful). Geared head adjustments make
Crank shaft
Geared head
Strong clasps
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Exposure modes
If you didnt pick the aperture, its not your picture
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EXPOSURE MODES
SHUTTER
OR APERTURE?
In general, you should pick
the one that allows direct
control of the element that
is most important to the
picture you are taking at the
time. As a basic guide, if your
subject is moving, or you are, it
is more important to take
control of shutter speed,
IN PRACTICE
While there are plenty of people who will tell
you that certain subjects should always be
approached with a particular exposure mode,
there are in fact no rules. Each situation
should be considered on its own terms and the
desired effect. Sports photographers probably
use shutter priority most of the time when
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EXPOSURE MODES
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EXPOSURE MODES
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Street scenes
often look
better when
you can
appreciate the
colour of the
street lights
White balance
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WHITE BALANCE
I AM constantly amazed
at the number of serious
photographers who set their
camera to auto white balance
and leave it there. It does a
great job, they tell me, and
they are right, it does it
does a great job of detecting
the colour of the light in the
scene you are photographing
and an equally good job of
neutralising it.
When I used to work for a
fashion photographer in the
studio, achieving a completely
neutral colour balance was
really important, so we could
show the exact colour of fabrics
used in the clothes. This was
critical rstly so the designers
could demonstrate what they
had created and secondly,
so that customers could see
precisely what they were buying
and whether or not it would
go with their shoes. This kind
of photography was factual
record work, but most of what
enthusiasts do is not.
In most of what we do,
whether it is landscapes or
street photography, it isnt the
colour of the subject that we
need to record, but the colour
of the light that is falling on it. A
sunset is no sunset if the pinks
and oranges of the horizonbound sun are removed, just
as the sickly green tint of the
modern uorescent strip light
is an important element in
conveying the atmosphere of
the gang that hangs out in the
car park.
We all judge atmosphere
though colour, labelling certain
colours warm and cool
they make us feel a certain
way and they trigger emotional
reactions. Without colour
casts, a lot of photography
would be empty.
WHITE BALANCE
SETTINGS
There are only two colour
balance settings you really
need for most of your
photography, and they
are daylight and custom.
Auto
Above: Using
the cloudy
setting can
help to
add some
warmth
Cloudy
The daylight
setting
shows the
real colour of
the light
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WHITE BALANCE
Auto
Daylight
Above:
Auto white
balance can
steal warmth
from your
pictures
CUSTOM BALANCE
Every decent digital camera
has the facility to take a white
balance measurement and you
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WHITE BALANCE
Right: In
situations
of mixed
lighting like
this, find
something
white to read
from. I used
the display
counter
Below:
Light colour
is key to
atmosphere,
so be careful
not to
remove it
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Metering and
exposure compensation
Taking control of exposure will make a world of difference
METERING in most cameras
is pretty much an automatic
process, but believing the
camera is right all the time
is not something you should
indulge in. However intelligent
a camera system is supposed
to be, it cant know what you
are thinking, and neither can
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As the
metering
saw things
-2EV of exposure
compensation
made this picture
WHY THEY
GET IT WRONG
A metering system is set up to
measure the brightness of the
objects in the scene in front of
your camera. Some systems
can link themselves to the
focusing system, to see where
the focus point is and to gain
a better idea of what you are
doing. If it knows where the
focus falls, it can prioritise that
An exposure
for the
atmosphere
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Above: Tonal
seperation is
the key here
Below:
Expose for
the subject,
not the frame
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Exposed for
the flowers
Right: The
light is the
subject in
this picture
Below: Know
what the
subject is
and what it
will need
Exposed for
the scene
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RAW VS JPEG
Why bother shooting raw?
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RAW VS JPEG
JPEG
Raw files
nearly
always
contain
more fine
detail than
those saved
as JPEG
Raw
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RAW VS JPEG
Above:
White
balancing
is much
easier with
a raw
file when
lighting
is mixed
JPEG
Raw
In low light,
in-camera
noise
controls tend
to destroy
the detail
that raw
files retain
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RAW VS JPEG
In-camera JPEG
Above: When
tempering
highcontrast
situations,
the tonal
data saved in
a raw file is
invaluable
Inset: The
white and
coloured
areas here
represent
burnt-out
tones in the
JPEG file
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SHARPENING
Sharpening
All digital images need sharpening, and the
camera isnt always the best place to do it
IF YOU ever fancy a good
punch-up, get a bunch of
photographers together and
lead the conversation towards
the issue of image sharpening.
It rarely fails to draw heated
discussion and, frankly, could
separate twins there are so
many views that are held on
to as tightly as a toddler holds
a teddy.
What strikes me so often,
though, is that the opinions
that are used as hammers
with which to bash opponents
can be quite second-hand,
read online or passed on by
some genius. It is not always
In-camera
Software
In-camera
processes
sharpen
edges but
not really
fine detail
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With
the right
sharpening
applied, even
compact
camera
pictures can
be full of
micro detail
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SHARPENING
in a detailed picture
those of the trees in the
far distance, for example
might be beyond what your
camera can manage in the
split second it takes to process
your JPEG les and save them
to the memory card. Your
computer can spend much
more time on the job and can
do it in a more detailed and
complex manner. Cameras
only nd the most obvious
edges and leave the ner
detail smoothed over.
The trick then is to nd the
camera sharpening setting that
does the least, and which will
allow you to apply your own
sharpening later in software.
Depending on the type of
camera you have, this might be
the normal setting or none.
Manufacturers build their
cameras according to who they
think will buy them and what
their skill level is likely to be.
Excessive
edge
sharpening
can give the
appearance
of an
extended
depth of
field
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SHARPENING
Low sharpening
High sharpening
Sharpening
halos are
more obvious
when simple
objects are
set on plain
backgrounds
Not sharpened
Sharpened
All digital
images
need some
sharpening
to draw the
detail out
from the file
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In-camera
colour controls
Colour controls and looks in-camera can be useful
I THINK the urge to boost
colour saturation in every
picture to give it more impact
has now passed for most
enthusiast photographers or
at least, it is beginning to pass.
Whacked-up colour saturation
really does deliver impact, but
usually the wrong sort. When
the rst thing you see is the
colour saturation, even before
you notice the subject, there
is something wrong with the
priorities within the picture.
Of course, that doesnt mean
Dominant
colour tones
can have
a serious
impact on
the way
people react
to a picture
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Below:
Low colour
saturation,
low contrast
and a warm
orange tone
WHY BOTHER?
The obvious answer to why
you might be bothered to go
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An altogether better
reason for using incamera controls is that if you
spend a couple of minutes
adjusting the colour and
contrast settings of your
camera before a shoot, it
demonstrates that you are
actually thinking about these
things beforehand, and actually
previsualising the pictures you
expect to get on the day.
Thats a kind of planning. It
means you are thinking about
the mood of the pictures you
want to take, which means you
are probably thinking about
depth of eld, focal length
and shutter speed too and
that can only be a good thing.
It is this sort of planning that
will make your pictures work,
because you have really
thought about what you want
before you start shooting. That
is a much better and more
organised way of working than
shooting away all day and then
trying to make something of
the images when you get back.
Using in-camera controls
does not mean you will be
successful, or that your
pictures will suddenly be
elevated in meaning, but it is
certainly an excellent start and
demonstrates that there is a
thought process going into
their creation.
SAFEGUARDS
AND AIDS
As I mentioned in the section
on shooting raw and JPEG,
I tend to save both formats
at the same time. Cowardly,
I know, but the idea is that
I hope to use the JPEG but
have the raw le to fall back
on should I need it. I do this in
everyday shooting, and know
that should an exposure error
occur because Ive had to react
Above:
In-camera
contols
set to low
saturation,
neutral tones
and low
contrast
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You can
recreate the
look of any of
the lms you
used to enjoy
shooting with
Above: With
contrast and
saturation
set to the
maximum, I
added a bold,
warm-up
colour tone
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NOISE
Noise
Noise is the great
curse of digital
photography. Isnt it?
In low light
situations,
noise can
contribute to
atmosphere
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NOISE
Pictures
dont have
to be noisefree to be
effective
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CONCEPTS
CONCEPTS
ONCE you have the technical
side of photography under
control, you then have to start
to tackle the hard bit the
concepts and ideas. There
are plenty of very good
photographers who admit that
it is engaging the imagination
they struggle with most. At
the same time, many naturally
creative photographers get
frustrated by not knowing
enough about how to make
the camera do what they want
it to do.
When you are able to
combine the technical and the
creative, you have a very good
chance of making exceptional
This picture is essentially about blue. The story it tells is of a cool evening in the
winter, when the sky was blue but darkening and the mountainside was making a
neat mirror image in the rippled water. The triangles combine to lead us around the
frame, but the overriding message is look how blue the light is. Simple
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Stories
and ideas
Every picture tells
a story. Some are
shorter than others
THE LONGEST book
Ive ever read is The Count
of Monte Cristo its a good
4in thick, long, complicated,
frustrating and it took me
three holidays to get through
it. The shortest stories I come
across regularly are the Sun
Spots in the Sun newspaper.
Three or four lines are very
cleverly put together to rstly
grab the attention, secondly
hold it, and thirdly to give us
a laugh on the way to work in
the morning.
I tell you this to demonstrate
what you already know that
some stories are long and
some are very short, but both
types aim to do the same
things: to inform and entertain.
When you conjure a genius
idea for a picture, it does
not have to be as involved
as Prescotts History of the
Conquest of Mexico. Although it
could be. Your story could be
A: Light breaks
through the
tree cover to
illuminate a
clump of waterside grasses
B: The shape
of a migration,
set against
the romance
of a winters
evening sky
C: Bamboo
leaves in
the breeze.
China-blue to
echo ancient
decoration
D: A timeless
Thames tug
toned for the
18th century,
but shot on a
cameraphone
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Identify what
interested you
and work out
how best to
show the good
folks back
home why
you got your
camera out
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CROPPING
Cropping
Cartier-Bresson never
cropped his pictures.
Good for him!
IT MIGHT seem a bit strange
to some people (and Im
assuming you are reading this
book in the right order) that
Ive introduced the subject
of cropping an image before
weve got to the section on
arranging the composition in
the viewnder. Cropping is
surely something you do in
software after the event I
hear you all cry. And, of
course, it is.
But as advanced
photographers, it is only
natural that we will be
thinking about the nal crop
as we regard the wonderful
view and the compositional
elements within it. If there is
any cropping to be done after
the shot is captured, surely we
need to think about it before
3:2
Squarer
crops often
help to
trim away
information
thats just
not needed
1:1
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CROPPING
6:8
5:4
Cropping is a very
powerful creative tool
its not just for trimming
off mistakes
6:17
16:9
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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERA SKILLS 57
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Use the
viewfinder
to ensure
horizons
are straight
and that the
foreground
isnt too
distracting
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Left: Check
the frame
edges dont
cut off
important
details
Below:
Keep watch
as critical
elements
move across
the scene
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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERA SKILLS 59
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Drawing attention
to the subject
Now, thats what I want you to look at...
LEADING LINES
You all know what leading
lines are and what they do, so
I wont bore you with them. I
just wanted to make sure you
remember they exist and that
they are useful.
A stream can take you
right from the foreground to
the foot of the mountain in
the distance, via all the big
boulders and the bridge, while
lines of lavender converge on
their way to the horizon, and
the shoreline curves around
the bay taking in the bathers
SPOTLIGHTS
Just as a spotlight is used
on stage to pick out the
leading actor from the chorus,
you can use a patch of light to
lift your subject from the other,
similar, objects around it, or
from a darker background or
surround.
Our eyes are drawn to the
lighter areas of a picture and,
when the rest of the frame is
relatively dim, a spot of light
from the sun, a reection,
or a street light can be a
powerful tool. A spot of light
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When you
make a
frame you
elevate the
subject, and
the viewer
cant help
but notice it
BREAKING PATTERNS
This is one of my favourite tools
for making a subject stand out.
In its simplest form, it involves
a picture that is lled with a
set of parallel lines or a grid of
squares. Somewhere within
the frame is a subject that goes
against the pattern a ball,
a line that travels diagonally
or some other shape that
contrasts with the conformity
of the surroundings. The
great thing about strong
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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERA SKILLS 61
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A tiny subject
in a massive
picture, but
you knew
where I
wanted you
to look
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Selective
focusing
Eye contact
is irresistible
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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERA SKILLS 63
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COMPOSITIONAL MISTAKES
Compositional mistakes
Avoid distractions by paying attention to detail
IN PHOTOGRAPHY, the
best way to get your message
across is to ensure there is only
one thing to concentrate on.
As soon as there is competition,
your message becomes diluted
and your point lost. By ensuring
the environment is right, and
that there are no distractions
in the frame, you can make
your message and meaning
travel to the viewers brain so
much faster.
The brain is very easily
distracted and it really
doesnt take much to draw
concentration away from what
you want that person to see.
Try having a serious conversion
with a TV blaring in the corner
to get a feel for what I mean.
STRAIGHT EDGES
If you are one of those people
who cant sit comfortably
in a room if a picture frame
Distracting wonkiness
Pictures
featuring
lines that
arent level
make it
difficult to
concentrate
on the
subject
Straight
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COMPOSITIONAL MISTAKES
Distracting foreground
Distracting details
Clear subject
Large blank
expanses
at the base
of a picture
can create
a hurdle for
the viewer
to jump over.
Make it easy
for people
to get to the
subject
Elements
popping into,
or leading
out of, the
frame draw
the eye away
from the
subject
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ADVANCED PHOTOGRAPHY: CAMERA SKILLS 65
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FINAL NOTES
LOOK
HARDER
IF PHOTOGRAPHY
were simpler one of those
disciplines you could master in
a week and everyone could
take stunning pictures, life
would be much less interesting.
That success requires a range
of understandings, practical
skills, technical knowledge and
artistic appreciation means
that photography is a form in
which we can wallow for ever.
Success, for the most part,
is incremental, and at each
stage we are rewarded with a
self-satisfaction that lasts until
we are able to take our next
step. As we move on we see
last years work in a new light,
with some pieces surviving
in the portfolio while others
suddenly become shallow and
less meaningful.
As we grow older,
experiencing new aspects of
life, our attitudes to all sorts
of issues change, and we
begin to see in a different way.
Beliefs we thought solid get
challenged, priorities adjust
and our focus constantly shifts
in new directions sometimes
just by tiny degrees. These
changes make us look at
the world from new angles.
What once was a pile of trees
becomes a beautiful wood
lled with ltered light, texture
and atmosphere. What was
once just an old biddy next
door becomes a source of
inspiration, history, wisdom
and more texture. Objects that
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ADVANCED
PHOTOGRAPHY
CAMERA SKILLS
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