My favorite part of the wedding day is the reception. After the traditional first dances, and speeches are done, and the wedding party starts to let loose. The party is in full swing and the best man is giving “The Dougie” his best attempt in an effort to win a dance battle against the bride. While capturing these images I want the viewer to feel like they were in there, in the moment. My goal is to not light up the entire room like a Christmas tree. I want to see the light from the DJ and the motion on the dance floor. This is how I do just that.
have an understanding of shutter speed and how to make the blur work for you and the photo you’re taking
use flash to keep the core focus on your subject
when using longer shutter speeds and flash, keep in mind that you have to tell the camera when to fire the flash so consider using front curtain sync instead of rear curtain sync
Guest writer J. Dennis Thomas is an Austin, Texas based photographer and the author of the Nikon Digital Field Guide series by Wiley Publishing as well as the author of Concert and Live Music Photography, Pro Tips from the Pit and Urban and Rural Decay Photography ,Finding the Beauty in the Blight published by Focal Press. He is also a frequent author of articles on photographic theory and technique for Digital Photo Magazine.
keep the whole guitar in view, specifically the head stock
compose loosely, so when editing you have more control in how to crop the photo
include brand names, especially when a brand hires you
Although I now work in the commercial world, my passion started with documentary photography. I was, and still am, obsessed with Annie Leibowitz’s work with the Rolling Stones and I loved William Egglestone’s color observations of the mundane world he found himself in. When I find a free day, there is nothing that I enjoy more than walking out with my camera to document someone else's life. However, unlike the plethora of studio lighting tutorials available, there seems to be a real lack of articles on documentary photography. Here are six tips on how to improve your images.
standing on the side doesn’t get you anywhere, get up close to your subjects
use a wider lens so you can get close as well see more of the subject
show a different/new point of view so people see something different, there are thousands of documentaries make yours stand out
make sure your images look similar so they flow together, look aesthetically pleasing. this ensures continuity
make sure your composition makes things interesting, don’t stick to the same composition and composition can mean something in film (i.e have someone/thing that stands intentionally)
make use of candid photos but don’t over load your documentary with them
to take this picture i used a slower shutter speed of 1/60 and followed the core subject while it was moving to create a blurry background that showed movement
this photo has two subjects, with parts of each blurred in order to show movement. I used lighting to give the photograph a warm feeling and gave the camera a slower shutter speed to ensure movement was shown.
in order to create blur an object has to move while one is taking the photo
how blurry something is depends on the objects speed, speed of the shutter and the angle of view
the longer a lens is, the smaller the angle of view is, to put this into context see pg 131
distance can also aid in making the subject more or less blurry; the closer the object is to the camera the more area the object will cover when moving which will result in more blur
you can control the amount of image area affected by increasing the shutter speed, the faster the shutter speed the less blur there will be
techniques such as freezing are used to make the subject clear and the background blurry
panning is used to make a subject slow down by moving with it
there’s no right/wrong to take a photo, but having a basic understanding of the aesthetic choices you can make when taking a photo is important
Do you believe that your images are objective representations of reality? You might be mistaken. Here are a few arguments why.
Because of subjectivity, ones photograph can never be truly objective (there’s always going to be a bias from the photographer)
This is because you can not erase your own involvement that was necessary to take the picture
How Does This Happen/Why You Can’t Eliminate Bias
Subject and Perspective
choosing a subject is bias, you choose that particular subject because you were bias in favour of its looks
there will be even more bias when you choose to take your photo, because your perspective and choice of how you set up/take your photo is all non-objective
Perspective on a Topic
subjectivity is very visible when one is taking a photo of a subject without any models/humans, this is because the framing and positioning of the scene can change depending on the photographer, this creates bias and the photo taken looks different from the actual scene
Development of a Photograph
editing, or lack of, shows the subjective view of the photographer and what looks best according to their taste
as the article puts it “your way of developing an image is an individual decision”
Presentation of Your Photograph
how you present your photograph is a bias and personal choice
Conclusion
there is no such thing as an objective photograph because of all the bias and personal choices involved in taking a photograph
pictures are just representations of the photographers reality
I know, it’s a loaded question. Heck, it’s a loaded word, that one — good. According to whom? By what measure? Who do you think you are to criticize my work? I know. And, I agree. But I suspect there are still a few checks we can make to see if an image is headed in the right direction. Let’s look at five of them!
there are things to keep in mind when taking a photo to make the picture more interesting/different
these aren’t the only tools to use, there’s more than one type of good photo, these are just some things to keep in mind
technique
is important, the ability to capture the contrast of colours as well as possible luminosity in an image
composition
is more than just the placing of an image
if you google your subject and find many similar compositions/photographs of the object, perhaps you should consider changing the composition of your photo to make it more interesting
unique compositions are preferred, your photograph should be composed of simple “building blocks” (i.e, lines and basic shapes) that draws one’s eye from one side of the photo to the next
use colours and patterns to evoke emotion
basic understanding of elements and principals is beneficial
subject
subjects can sometimes create a subconscious response, in some cases this can be negative (i.e, if the subject has been over done, the photograph may be discarded because they’ve “seen it before”, like flowers)
“Even if it might otherwise have been interesting, people will probably have seen something similar so many times at this point that they've become anesthetized to it”
try to pick a unique subject, and a unique/new perspective when taking your photo
story
stories can get viewers to think more about an image
gets people engaged with the potential story, they can be thinking about a photograph long after they saw it
integration
elements and principals should strengthen each other (i.e, colour can enhance contrast, lines can enhance movement)
i really like this photo because the photographer used the colours and reflection of the water to their advantage, this inspires me because the water looks enchanting
this image shows the different colours in space, this is inspiring to me because it shows how small and insignificant our entire world is in the grand scheme of things, and how much more there is to explore
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