09 March 2009
What is ‘good picture’?
Anybody who wants to take a ‘good’ picture needs to understand what ‘good’ picture is. How can one do that? The best and the easiest way to see what is good and what is not is to open your photo album and start to look carefully at all pictures and just think why actually you consider one picture is better than another. May be better light or composition? Try to understand which side is the strongest in your style of taking pictures. What kind of pictures you do better. And then just have a look around. Try to look at things like you see them at the first time. Pay attention to shapes and shadows. You will see that shadows can be different and that they have different colors. And also look at the reflection of the things on the surface of water. Think how you should hold your camera and at what angle so the picture of the reflection at the mirror or water would be clear. We will tell you all these little tricks and will teach you how to make collages.
Of course all this new knowledge won’t change you but will help you to understand how to look at the world with photographer’s eyes.
A shooting point
First of all what does a shooting point mean? It is the position from which photographing is made.
For example if you stand at the bottom of a skyscraper and try to photograph it, it will seem very high and majestic. It is possible to name such point of shooting «a point of shooting from a position of an ant». If you stand on a roof of a skyscraper and photograph the panorama of a city that you see in this case people say that the picture is made «from height of the bird's flight». This are only two examples from uncountable set of possible points of shooting.
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People often forget that creativity of a photo begins with how the person put what he or she sees on the film.
Usually you automatically photograph everything that you see from the level of height of your eyes. If you take a picture of a person of his or her height you simply lift the camera to the level of the eyes and do a picture. If you photograph the person at a short distance, and he or she is not fitted to a shot of vertical orientation then depending on your height, you incline the camera upwards or downwards. If the objective looks downwards the object of shooting is deformed. At such position of the camera the sizes of a subject decrease, and the prospect narrows. If the objective looks upwards then the prospect extends and subjects and people become wider and higher. In any case the scale of objects is deformed.
There is no obligatory rule that you have to photograph everything being standing and having the camera lifted to the level of your eyes only because you have got used to look at the world this way. Next time when you shoot a picture of a person of his or he full height aim the objective at its waist. If it is not in the objective view-finder, step back so that it is completely appeared in your shot. Now the person will have normal proportions and look as in life.
Now try to imagine how a child, and a dog, and a tall basketball player percept the world. Just break the monotony of the photos, which are made from the habitual level of eyes. Try to make pictures of a profile and of an underside of subjects and people. Go up on stairs and make some pictures from above. Make pictures by experimenting with different distances. The majority of photos are taken from average distances. Why not to try to take a picture of a person from a long distance and then from the shortest distance? Possibly you will learn that a working range of distances from which it is possible to photograph much wider than you assumed.
Taking pictures of people
You need to start with a choice of good lighting. Usually amateur photographers do not care much about lighting. However lighting is a key to success. If you take a picture out of a premise try the sun do not get into eyes of people. The bright sunlight forces people to narrow and to close eyes. They are irritated and are trying to overcome influence of blinding light. Let them look aside from the sun and their faces will get the normal unchained expression. If a person’s face appears to be in a shade use the built-in flash. If you take a pictore indoors open curtains putt people about a window into beams of the soft diffused light coming through a window. Then take a picture at such natural illumination.
You need to experiment with a foreshortening: find a position of your camera at which your object looks most effectively. In most cases it corresponds to the position of camera at the level of eyes of the person. But if your grandmother has a double chin, take a pictuter from higher point. The second chin would be hidden.
Then try to approach to your model as close as possible so your model would fill all the shot. Why would you waste a half of the shot for a background? Besides of that as closer you approach to the person as his or her excessive fatness looks less. Try to make a half-length portrait or approach even more close if the model does not object. The main thing of a person is his or her face and it is necessary to remember about it all the time. The shot composition is essentially facilitated if the camera is equipped with a zoom-objective.
Eyes are the most important part of the person and the main element of any portrait. However as practice shows even the most remarkable portraits, which have been taken indoors with flash can be spoilt because of the effect of “red eyes”. To reduce this effect open curtains and turn on all the illumination. It can solve the problem but not always though. If it happens and on your photos pupils of people have turned out red take advantage of a special pencil for removal of this lack or address this problem to experts.
How should you shoot a group portrait? When you take a picture of your family or of meetings of old friends first of all you need to remember one important thing: you should use the shot format as much as possible. Try to do not spend in vain shot centimeters. You need to ask everybody to stay as close to each other as it is possible. Make sure that bodies of people are blocked, and faces are also as close as possible. Do not worry about how their feet will look on photos. Take a shot of "half of bodies" of the group portrait so that the basics of the picture would be occupied with smiling faces of people.
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The best photos of people turn out to be the pictures that were made in relaxing conditions when people feel at ease. And it is better if they are photographed while they are being engaged to any business or games. Such photos are often admitted to be the best and even the most cheerful. Do not let yourself go on with the desire to put people in a pose and to ask them to say "ch-i-i-i-z" (cheese) to force them to smile. Instead of doing that just photograph them the way they actually are even if the child has overturned on itself the most part of his breakfast.
Here are some advises how to take pictures of people at easy conditions:
- Be always ready to shooting. You cannot just say: «Wait a minute, I will come back quickly I need to take my camera. I want to take a picture of you ». Therefore you always need to have your camera near to your hands.
- Take pictures quickly. Learn how to throw the camera up instantly, then arrange a shot and shoot the picture in few seconds. Sometimes it is necessary to be able to take a picture so that the photographed person would not know that you are taking it.
- Photograph people in movement. If you wish to take a picture of what your child is doing at the moment, approach to him as close as on the picture it would be visible what exactly he is busy with. If he is building some models or reading a book, it is necessary to take the picture from the distance of 1-1,5 meters.
- Use zoom-objective possibilities. By coming closer to the child, you may distract him from what he has been doing. Exactly for such cases cameras with a zoom-objective are really useful. You get closer to the object of shooting and at the same time you are not moving.
- Be patient. Having chosen a suitable point of shooting it is better to get prepared for shooting and patiently wait for the opportunity as on hunting. Let the child return to the game. Hold the camera on your lap and wait for the most interesting moment in his actions. Then quickly take a picture and after that you can say to yourself: «I could do it!»
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