Tips for Creative Photography



Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008

by
Your Photography Now

The creative photography world is very adventuresome, where the photographer really shows their vis
ion. The world is seen and interpreted differently. The photographer picks and chooses his ideas from a wide array of tools and techniques. With filters or lenses, the photographer can distort and alter reality, or at times, reduce the elements of a scene to a abstract composition. As a creative photographer, you have two challenges, one is to perceive a subject in your own way, and the other is to be able to execute your interpretation of that subject technically. Most of all, keep in mind, that photography should be fun. If photography starts to become a chore, then step back and take a break from it. This article is intended to stimulate, encourage, and give you ideas on how to help make your photography exciting to you. With our photography, to most of us, its a hobby and a private endeavor. We make personal statements with our photos, whether we realize it or not. Who we are as a photographer, are shown in the subjects we shoot, and how or what techniques we use to capture them. You will not find any set rules on how to be a creative photographer, you have the freedom to express yourself in your own creative way. Like all creative arts, photography does require practice on our part. First, you need to sharpen your senses to the world around you, notice small details, motion, colors, and shadows. Secondly, you need to sharpen your skills required so that the basic camera controls of your camera become second hand nature to you. Learn to let the subject speak to you, and learn to listen. Learn how you can use your equipment and technique to say something different and something personal, about you as a photographer. To often we pass the world around us, taking in only a small fraction of the colors, shapes, and events that happen in our everyday lives. What you see every day, can present you with new and fresh images, photographic possibilities, only if you take the time to examine your thoughts and feelings about what you are seeing. Also, think of the ways you can arrange and present those elements. You will need to learn to trust your eye, and follow your instincts to develop your personal sense of taste. By broadening your vision, you can learn to see better pictures. Its easy, just look around more, and pay more attention to what you see. A foolproof formula to making a photo that will immediately catch a person's eye is to give priority to a single element. A striking example is shapes. We often think of a shape as an outline created by an object. When shapes become, in essence, the subject of a photo gives both visual power and an abstract quality. To make shapes a main subject of your image, you must zero in on them with your camera, eliminating busy or distracting backgrounds. And if your wanting to get the maximum impact, it is vital that there be a strong contrast between the shapes and the surroundings that define them. In emphasizing shape, your camera angle is very crucial. In general, a straight on angle that minimizes the three dimensionality of the subject is the one that will produce a flat, distinctive shape in the photo. A simple example is in the photo below, the wreath on the paneled door. A shape of course does not need to be a stand alone in singular splendor. But when you encounter a scene that has two or more of the same shape, it works to crop one of the shapes into a reinforcing echo. Good photographers will often use lines in their photos to direct the viewers eyes to the main subject. They also recognize that the lines can create a sense of depth or even show motion in a photo. You will find that when lines themselves become the subject, the effect can be very stunning. It really doesn't matter whether the lines are straight or curves, whether they take you to or away from the subject, what is important is that the lines be dynamic. In looking for lines to photograph, its often best to watch how these lines can work with each other, since the interaction can add to the photo. Another point in photographing lines, is watching these lines during different times of the day. Lines can be dramatically defined when the light hits from a low angle, as in late in the afternoon or early morning. The repetition of shapes, lines, and colors, is another visual element that can star as the subject of an eye-catching photo. As in this photo of the staircase, the regularity instills a pleasing sense of rhythm and harmony into the picture. But remember there is a fine line, meaning that to much uniformity can make a photograph visually boring and the secert to using patterns cretively is to find ones with variations that catch the eye of the viewer. Patterns are usually best revealed by flat, even lighting and a straight on camera angle, since both tend to make an object appear to have less depth, allowing repeated flat planes to predominate. Ultimately the most important aspect of a photo is the visual impact it has, its ability to convey the feeling you want to express in it. Sometime dramatic impact can be achieved by deliberately ignoring traditional compositional rules, or even turning them on end. A photo that breaks the rules will have a certain aspect of tension to it. To me this tension results when the relationships of elements in a scene are very exaggerated in size or color, or even the space between them. You can easily exaggerate by enlarging distances or reducing distances in a photo. Still life's, is one of the easiest ways of photography to sharpen your skills while creating original pictures. Still lifes are simply arrangements of inanimate objects. They can be arrangements that you as a photographer just happen upon, or they can be groupings that you arrange just for the photo. The examples of subject matter for you to shoot is only limited by your imagination. Look for still life's every where you go, from your own attic, barn, or city streets. One of the most exciting aspects of still life's, they allow you to work at your own pace, giving you the extra attention to how all the elements will work together in the final image. In your search for scenes to photograph, look for combinations that are visually distinctive. The scene can tell a story, as in the photo here with the wash bowl in front of the window, and the chair, and the rug on the floor. Experiment with your camera angle until your scene shows the elements in the most pleasing balance. Remember, not to be afraid to improve upon the scene, feel free to shift the position of the elements or to eliminate the distracting ones. If the natural lighting that your using is to harsh, consider using a reflector or your flash to provide supplementary fill light in shadowy areas. With this photo to the right I was limited as to camera position by not being allowed into the room, and not much available light except for all natural lighting. I do believe it sets a mood for this photo for a primitive country look. Remember that one of the most important aspects of creative photography, is getting to use your imagination as much as you want. On overcast, and dreary days when the sky is grey and lighting is very flat, most people are inclined to leave their cameras at home. But believe it or not, the potential for creative photography is actually better on a overcast day than one that is dominated by bright, direct sunlight. The reason behind this is the quality of the light. Instead of producing very harsh contrasts among the bright highlights and dark shadows. Light which is coming through a layer of clouds, is both even and diffused. This is a helping aid by giving soft and subtly contrasts. Scenes photographed on a overcast day will work better if you move in and fill the whole image area with shapes and colors since the whole sky is usually a washed out grey color. Remember that even though the sky is grey, it can still be very bright, and when included in your scene, it will misinform your camera's metering system. Try to remember to take your reading off of the foreground, 18% grey card, or you can even hold your hand out in front of your camera and get a reading off it. Also, the overcast lighting is excellent for outdoor portraits. Its soft and diffused quality is always flattering because it reveals the contours of the face with faint, almost imperceptible shadows. Usually, on grey, cloudy days I would always load up my gear, and start driving the country roads to see what I could find interesting to shoot. As in the photo to the left of the cabin and barn, you never know what you will run across. Every time I look at this photo, the very first memory I have of that day was, "Man was it cold out there" and I still get shivers to this day. I shot all day long just in this location, and of all the buildings on site, even the horses in the corral on the side of the barn. I have small gallery settings of some of the photos taken that day on display in Libraries. The soft and hazy look created by fog and mist can be especially effective in creative photography because it obscures more then it shows. In fog or mist, the farther away the subject is from you, the more it seems to dissappear into the murky background. Even a busy scene like trees in a forest, are simplified. Fog, just like sand or snow, has a tendency to fool your camera meter into underexposing your shot. I usually try to bracket, and use 1 - 2 f-stops more then what my meter tells me. Or just take a reading off your grey card or foreground. I bracket, to see the different effects each shot has, and then go with the one I like the best. This photo was taken on a early foggy morning as the sun was rising, I liked the effect of the suns light on the leaves, with the trees in the background fading out to nothing. I hope that you have found this article informative. I am planning on writing a Part II to cover more aspects into the tips for your creative photography, so keep checking back for that article. Keep it simple, and happy shooting.
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