Making pictures, so simple, but man it is hard to master, I’ve put together a list
of 5 great tricks to turn your everyday stuff into epic, awe inspiring photos.
Hi, I’m Adam and welcome back to first man photography, we’re gonna jump straight into
number one in just a second but before we do that this video is sponsored by squarespace,
if you need a domain name a website or an online store make your next move with squarespace.
Right we’ll start with a very basic one but it’s something that often gets ignored,
even by the very best photographers.
We all very naturally think about what to include in our frame, a beautiful tree, a
lovely rocky foreground or the stunning mountains away in the distance.
But of equal importance is what we decide to exclude from it.
As photographers, we don’t have sounds, smells or words to play with, all we have
is what we place within the four walls of that frame so things should not be creeping
in there by accident.
Being intentional about where we place objects in the scene and how they work in relationship
to each other is what good composition is all about.
We’ll talk about how to do this a bit later on but when composing an image, it’s all
too easy only to focus on the subject and have all your attention concentrated in the
centre of the frame.
Before you push the shutter button, take a moment and check around the edges, for those
unwanted elements and make the necessary minor adjustments.
With landscape photography though, this is not always possible because we do not control
our subject.
It’s usually on occasions like this when I decide to use the crop tool, either in camera
or in post-processing.
And by excluding portions of your native aspect ratio it then enhances the remaining elements
in your frame.
Also, don’t be too quick to clone things out in post either, one editing trick I learned
from Joe Cornish is that if you do have a distracting element in your frame that could
not excluded in the composition, rather than cloning, just try using a brush to remove
some the brightness or saturation, two things that very much draw our attention.
Another way to use this idea to your advantage is when we strap on a long lens.
Not only does the compression change the relationships inside the frame but it also lets us pick
out stunning elements from a much wider vista.
I love these type of images because they also activate the viewers imagination to fill in
what is happening outside the photograph, adding to the whole experience.
Last week on twitter I asked “If music has chords, does photography have an equivalent?”
I got some fantastic replies and I think my favourite took things down to first principles
where basically, both musicians and photographers are making their artwork by recording wavelengths.
One of sound and one of light.
With music we might start with a simple chord progression, add in a bass line, then the
drums kick in and finally the melody soars over the top.
These layers build up to form the eventual composition which is rich and full and a delight
to our ears.
The same concept applies to photography but instead we layer up visual elements, we use
the artistic elements to craft a visual symphony.
I’ve made several videos about this now but Lines, shape, form, value, colour, texture
and space are our instruments and how we apply them and how they interact together are what
determines the character of our final image.
Problem is though with music, we instantly know when a note is wrong, it makes us cringe
and we can hear something is not right.
But with photography things are not so obvious and very often people can’t figure out why
their image doesn’t feel right, or how other photographers are able to craft great compositions
every single time.
It’s by putting the time in to learn about the the artistic elements and principles and
the various rules of composition that will undoubtedly unlock new areas of creativity
for you.
Can you be a great photographer without learning this visual theory, of course, that’s when
people say “he’s got the eye”, but it’s a complete myth when people say it can’t
be taught.
You can absolutely learn it.
As photographers, perspective is one of our most effective tools and it is by adjusting
our perspective that allows us to arrange the objects in the scene to our liking and
it’s particularly important for landscape photographers who want foreground interest
without having to move big logs and rocks around.
A common mistake is when people think that zooming in changes perspective.
Perspective only changes when we move the actual camera.
So lets demonstrate this with our trusty old friend Optimus Prime here.
He’s going to stand on this tripod and not move at all.
We’ll move the camera around and see how an image of the same subject can look completely
different simply by changing perspective.
Lets put a little highlight on him to make him look good and then we’ll start with
this slider shot.
Notice how as the camera moves, Optimus stays in the centre of the frame but the background
behind him changes.
Knowing this we can then decide which parts of the background we want to include in the
frame and exactly where to place them.
It’s extremely powerful and works the other around too, if you know you want the distant
mountains in frame, you can then freely move around and find a suitable foreground.
It’s not just side to side either.
Lets grab the camera and look down on Optimus, suddenly the floor becomes the background
of the image.
Looks pretty crappy here….. but this photograph shows how we can use it isolate a subject,
create a nice negative space and use it to our advantage.
Now lets get down low and point up at Optimus.
He still hasn’t moved but now the ceiling has become the background.
I used this method just the other week when I was shooting the bluebells in front of the
medusa tree.
So start moving around to find those new perspective, it’s good both in life and photography.
I’m gonna share some strategies on how to make it in 2023 in a minute, but as you know
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One of my all time favourite photography quotes is when Ansel Adams said this….
When Ansel Adams said this, in modern terms he was also talking about the post-processing
but it’s still a quote that really resonates with me.
The digital world is fast, instant and chaotic and the stream of amazing digital photographs
is almost overwhelming.
But slowing all this down and bringing your photograph back into the physical world is
one if the most fulfilling experiences a photographer can have, especially at a gallery or when
being viewed by someone.
It most definitely is our performance and if we don’t make the effort to do this,
we’d be a bit like the musician who never plays a gig.
I’ve got lots more videos coming up about printing your photos so please do subscribe
and hit the notification bell but one of the best pieces of photography advice I ever received
was to shoot photos at the scene like you are making a print rather than just a digital
image.
What this does is stops me rushing my compositions, I make sure everything is technically sound,
I’m not desperately trying to shoot everything and I would rather walk away with one print
worthy image than 10 average ones.
It really does help me to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Another thing I can’t stop thinking about is that printing your photos is the ultimate
form of backup.
We used to secure things digitally, but we’re now at the point where we should be backing
things up physically.
In a world where images are becoming increasingly Ai generated, story, human story is going
to be more important than ever if we want our photography to have any relevance at all.
For a long time I have encouraged people to build a narrative around their work but can
you tell a story with a single photograph.
Well absolutely you can but it doesn’t have to be a fully formed script in your mind when
you actually shoot it, I often shoot things just because it feels right.
But a single photograph can tell a rich and nuanced story and we shouldn’t forget the
old cliche of “a picture paints a thousand words”.
Pretty much every photo tells something of a story because it is capturing a snapshot
in time and freezing it forever.
It shows what was happening, who was involved and possibly sometimes even why, such as a
wedding.
I like this image here because it was the end of a good day but the wooden stile you
see there does not exist anymore, it’s since been vandalised and instead replaced with
extra bricks sticking out the wall.
So the story has become more relevant.
Next we have the subject of a photo.
If there are people in the photograph it becomes much easier to tell the story.
We can see their expressions, actions and interactions all of which suggest a narrative.
We can see laughter or sadness and it immediately allows a connection to those people.
The context and background of an image can suggest a story.
Photographs of lone trees are popular because we love the story of resilience, standing
alone against all the odds but still surviving.
Or a picture of an old rundown building can tell a story of decay or desecration in this
case.
Next we have the story of the person behind the camera.
The way the photo was taken, the perspective, focus, composition and lighting.
It’s the photographers interpretation and we can direct attention with the elements
and set mood using the artistic principles and that all contributes to the narrative.
Then finally we have the viewer themselves.
They bring their own interpretation and emotions to a photo adding more layers to the final
story.
And that’s why we should put our work out into the world, because we just don’t know
when our photos are going to connect and resonate with people in ways we never imagined.