How Do I Shoot? What Do I Look For? Here Is My Own Method:
I get asked these questions occasionally by people trying to understand how I go about finding my unaltered abstracts.
It turns out I have several specific ‘rules’ in my head when I am out in the field looking for photographic images in the decay of the world.
0) On location right before I shoot, I try to empty my mind and NEVER identify the name of the objects in front of me. Naming things, even in your head, stops you from seeing the actual forms. For example, thinking something like ‘rusty wheelbarrow and bucket’ changes the way you see what is actually there Your mind wants to identify things and put them in discreet categories. Allowing this makes you blind to the overall possible forms that contain only parts of the identifiable objects. It’s your brain that creates these ‘edges’ that limit your vision, something you need to always be aware of.
1) The first thing I look for is ‘line and form’, the relationships among the shapes and lines of a scene is what first attracts me, usually from a bit of a distance from the actual final shot. Sometimes the lines and forms are made by colors, other times decay or even the manufactured shape of an object. Color is a big thing for me, as I spent the first part of my career as a mostly Black and White photographer looking only for form and line. To me color adds an extra dimension. I no longer shoot black and white.
2) Next I look for complexity and detail. This is the usually a level beneath the larger line and form shapes. The more complex or more colorful this detail is, the more likely it is that I can find something there. A word about detail: I love it. Sharpness and detail is very important in my final prints and that is why I print them large. This is a strength of photography; sharp fine detail adds interest. f/`11 or f/16 is where I try to shoot in order to maintain this detail.
3) Now I finally look through the camera viewfinder at what I’ve found. This is where I design the image inside the restricted frame, keeping sure to always look at the edges of the frame. I zoom in and out, move back and forth, up and down to get a balanced graphic design in the frame. It is at this point one realizes that there are many many nearly equal choices that might work. I don’t overshoot here, but usually make several slightly different choices. Overshooting at this point makes editing and choosing the final image much more difficult and even confusing, so make some hard choices right here.
4) Some technical things I normally do:
I always shoot in RAW format. Shooting in jpeg or some other format means that your camera makes all of the technical decisions of how your image looks. This is unacceptable for me.
I prefer to shoot in direct bright sunlight. This adds contrast to the images, and sometimes shadows that add to the design.
I shoot at high shutter speeds. I do this to reduce camera shake since I’m usually shooting on the fly with no tripod. This used to not be possible, but now that digital cameras have great ‘low light’ sensors, you can just dial up the ISO speed to get the shutter speed and f/stop combination you need.
I NEVER use auto white balance. I just choose the white balance that roughly matches the light situation. Using auto white balance will give you a different white balance for every single frame you shoot depending on the colors in the actual frame. This becomes a nightmare when editing.
I recommend using a camera with a ‘full frame’ sensor. The quality of the sensor is everything these days. If you don’t have a lot of money, go on ebay and buy a used pro camera that is a few generations down. For example a used Nikon D700.
I edit my RAW images in Adobe Lightroom. Next to the camera itself, my most valuable tool. RAW image editors now can do almost all of the things one used to do in Photoshop, AND they do it before the original raw data has been turned into pixels, resulting in higher quality.
I wait a day or three before editing what I shoot. Why? Because when I am out shooting I have definite preferences for what I have just done, and that can lead to a prejudice while editing. Looking at the images after I have forgotten this artificial hierarchy helps me to actually see what I have more easily. It is important while editing to keep an open mind and seriously look closely at each image. It turns out that what I thought was my best shot in a shooting session more often than not, isn’t.
I hope thinking about some of these tips will help you in your shooting. We as artists are not lone competitors, we are comrades. Free exchange of experience and information is important. Thinking otherwise is somewhat delusional.
We all stand on the backs of those that have come before us in order to reach up to our own heights…
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