Yes, that's me in 1969 |
Back in the days of me and my 110mm camera, I would simply
point the lens in the general direction of what I wanted to shoot, press the
shutter release and live with the results. For 99 percent of the population who
take photos, there’s nothing wrong with that. At all. It’s called taking a
snapshot, and that’s part of the reason why cameras were invented in the first
place. My baby album is filled with snapshots of me as a little tyke, and I don’t
think that any of them would win a prize. I wouldn't trade any of them for the world.
If you plan on taking more artistic photographs, however, simply
snapping away isn’t going to do it for you. You will want to learn the basics
of what is known as shot composition.
There is a little bit of science that goes along with this.
Our eyes don’t necessarily gravitate to the middle of an image – be it a
painting, designed document or photograph. We tend to scan parts of the image first
before we look at the middle of the image. This was noted back in 1797 by art
critic John Thomas Smith, who first coined the term the Rule of Thirds.
As you can see by this illustration, the naturally eye flows
to these four points on your photo. So, if you have a point you want to emphasize,
you can put it right on one of those intersection points. Say, a person’s eye
or a striking feature of a building. Instead of just shooting a face, you put that
face off to one side of the photo, allowing for the subject to interact with
the scene.
You don’t even need to necessarily use the points. If you
are looking at a gorgeous sky, put the horizon line at that bottom third line
in the frame, and click away. If the sky is boring, but the foreground is
amazing, put the horizon one third from the top.
How do you know where these marks are on your camera? Many
allow you to turn on a grid that projects onto your camera’s LCD screen, making
lining up she shot easy. And, if you misplace
the shot in the shutter, you can always use a photo manipulation program on
your computer to get it cropped down to look good.
Another trick used by photographers is to think near, mid
and far. Taking a photo of a large building or a mountain is awesome but
shooting something or someone in the foreground gives your photo a real sense
of depth. That’s why a lot of photographers I have spoken to through the years
have advised me to shoot my shots very wide – not zoomed in too tightly on the
subject. This way, I can always crop out what I don’t need after the fact.
In this example, my good – and photogenic – friend Joe
Farago posed for me on the terrace of a hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. With Joe in
the foreground, I was able to give the background a little bit more emphasis so
show just how grand it truly is.
The key to getting great photography is to continue to
practice as much as you can. Experiment. Soon, you will get a feel for shot
composition, and it will come as second nature.
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