A Quick Tip For Better Photos
Whether you just want a good family picture or you’re a seasoned photographer, patience is a must in order to get those great photos. Sure, there are things like sports, weddings, etc where patience may not be as appropriate. However, for 99% of us we can apply this the next time we look through that lens.
Most people make the mistake of getting just the smiley photo. But sometimes the gold is in the before or after when no one knows you’re taking pictures (another reason not to use flash). Take a look at the picture above. The one of the left is sweet, but the one on the right is sweet plus some. I still like the one on the left (I took both of course). There’s nothing wrong with it. However, everyone wants photos that POP. The one on the right makes clients feel like they’re in a magazine.
That’s why it’s important to have a photographer that you trust, and that will be patient to get the right shot instead of just another shot.You may be thinking that you can’t do this, but you can. Next time you snap a few shots of friends, or family. Just stay behind the camera for just a little longer than you normally do. Go ahead and tell them that you already got a good picture, and tell them to talk for just a second. Eventually they have to stop fake smiling. :)
Here’s to better photos!
Tips and Techniques for Taking Better Pictures
Don’t you love those photos that pop? You’re looking at an image of a lovely landscape, a posed portrait, a famous face or spontaneous sports shot and it actually looks better than if you were seeing it in reality. It’s vivid, breathtaking in its perfection.
Rarely manage anything close to this myself, at least not on purpose. There have been nice photos I’ve taken at a favourite vacation spot up north, which have a bit of this quality, but I credit Mother Nature far more than I do me. Breathing life into a photograph is in part achieved because of talent. But technique is also a factor and on that score I’m still a work in progress.
Ansel Adams had talent in spades. His black and white landscapes had clarity and depth. But he put quite a bit of it down to technique, which he attempted to share with others through the Zone System he developed with fellow photographer Fred Archer. A technique that determined the best film exposure and development, Adams said it was not his invention, but a “codification of sensitometry” he and Archer worked out.
The System gives photographers a method of precisely defining the relationship between how they see the subject and the end result. A further explanation can be found on Wikipedia: Wikipedia Zone System
While talent may not be enough to turn your photos into works of art there are many online resources to help you improve technique, which will ultimately improve the end result. Here are a sampling:
photo tutsplus Understand and Using the Zone System
DPS 5 Simple Secrets to Sharper Photos
photo tutsplus Basic Recipe for Taking Great Pictures
DPS Beginner’s Guide to Vivid Shots that Pop
Digital Trends Make Pictures Pop
Take 'Glue' Photos For Better Memories
Is something missing when you begin thumbing through your vacation photos from years ago? Do the memories seem a little disconnected and dim? Does that magical time become a puzzle that can’t be finished. Well read on road-trippers and memory makers. I will show you how to fill in the blanks with a little photo note taking or lets say…some memory ‘glue’.
Do you remember how proud you were capturing all the right moments and scenes while on your last vacation? Do you recall the anticipation of waiting to see your photos once home? Its all so fresh in your mind. You’ve made reprints or your digital doubles for everyone, updated the photo album or iPhoto library and now the whole thing begins to settle and fade.
As months and years pass, you begin to sift through past photos you dust off to relive. Faded memories start to come to life like a dry sponge in a water, yet something is strangely missing now. The photos start to bring alive that time of your life, yet the memories aren’t as well connected as they once were. You continue perusing the photos that chronicle the time you so well documented. You did document it well didn’t you? The realization begins to settle in that there are pages missing in the chapters of your mind. Has this happened to you?
We depart on that well planned trip or vacation and reach for the camera at all the obvious moments, a landmark, a sunset, a family shot or anything similar that deserves grand notation and then we forget everything else. Consider for a moment, its the everything else that could be your holy grail in making your recall of that time more connected and complete years down the road when you stroll memory lane. That “everything else” can become a veritable ‘glue’ keeping our memories more completely intact.
For example, years ago we took a flight in to a remote Alaskan cabin. I photographed all the obvious hi-lights. Years later, looking through these photos, I began to relive memories but there seemed to be gaps preventing me from reliving the complete picture. After looking at all the photos I asked myself questions whose answers couldn’t be rendered from the photos made. What did we eat? What did the weather feel like? How did we prep for a trip like this? What rations were made to comply with the weight restrictions of the small Cessna. How did we do it? What were were our thoughts? Was I even there? Intangible clues left out from a typical picturesque moment.
More recently, trip photography has become much different. I bring back photos, upon first inspection, that look like I was handed a camera for the first time. Stuff that would definitely NOT make it into the pages of Sunset Magazine. There are now pictures of a messy picnic table or eating area, rain on windows, wet things, odd things, shot of duffle contents before stuffing it, shot of the messy cabin upon arrival, shots of a packed car, a messy driver compartment, a loaded canoe, hotel exterior, parking lots, you get the idea. These all carry secret messages for later decoding.
Believe it or not all these photos become your ‘glue’ for allowing you to completely relive memories long after they have begun to fade. Adhering the masterpiece scenes into a whole memory. Photos that get to the heart of how you really felt and what you were thinking. A snapshot of your mindset if you will.
What is the ultimate ‘glue’ photo? Something you may not normally photograph or include in your greatest hits, perhaps. Think of it this way, I can make a portrait of you, but if I photograph your CD collection as well as your bookcase I will know so much more about you.
