Ahoj, this is Zdenka. How to stop taking boring shots in photography and video?
I read your comments below the videos and I often see... how do you see the shots?
Well, let me show you framing and composition techniques, guidelines.
Let me just show you the way I do it. Throughout the video
I'm going to also announce a winner of the last creative camera challenge,
and at the end, new task will be given.
Composition and framing
is exactly the same in photography and video with any camera.
It doesn't matter if you have mirrorless or DSLR or smartphone or action camera.
Any camera goes. You're going to be doing exactly the same thing in a video.
The only thing you're going to add is movement to it.
So I want you to try everything I'm going to be showing today.
Once you take the shot, turn the camera upside down and look at the shot.
If the composition is good, it's going to look good.
If not, you need to change something
I was in this location a couple of weeks ago
doing some filming here, and I decided to come back
because there is everything I need to show you, all the tips
and all the guidelines. A typical beginner would take, most likely
just overall shots of this place missing out natural frames.
Let's talk about that.
You can get more attention of your subject or
or anything interesting in the background if you take advantage of natural frames.
It can be windows, it can be walk through, walkways,
it can be bridge, it can be trees and it can be bushes, shooting through.
Have the foreground nicely blurry and the background nicely sharp.
And then in a video, just add movement to it.
A beginner would come to this place and would take shots
most likely like this, missing all those wonderful lines.
And the lines don't have to be always straight.
It can be diagonal, they can be curvy, they don't have to be permanent.
They can be even ocean waves moving through the lines.
They will lead you to your subject.
For example, flowers.
They always lead you to the center of the flower.
Look at all those leading lines.
The beginner would walk around and take photos
like these, always placing the object right in the center of the image.
And there is nothing wrong with it if the subject is very strong.
But you can get that
little more interesting composition, more creative composition
if you turn on the grid line, and follow the rules of thirds.
You can place the main area on either line or even horizon level
and then you can place your main subject wherever those lines cross.
Here are some photos as I walk through this little place to show you
some examples.
And then in a video, again, add movement to it.
You've got your composition right there.
A beginner might want to take interesting
overall or closeup shots of this place and
might end up with something like this. But a beginner might not think about about
looking for textures and patterns.
A pattern is if there's an object repeated multiple times in the frame
and texture will tell you if it is rough,
smooth, soft, hard, it will just tell you the feel of it.
If you're going to be filming in a harsh light,
and especially if the light is sideways like evening,
you might end up with beautiful shadows and a highlight,
so it will look very good.
If you gonna be filming in a kind of like a soft light,
you're not gonna get really that much of a detail.
So where do we see
pattern here?
Right behind me, these boats.
A beginner might take photo exactly of an object perfectly in a matter.
But not too many beginners are thinking about finding a symmetry.
Symmetry is when
half of the object is exactly the same as the other half of the object.
It can be like a reflection in the water.
So let me go around and find some symmetry,
symmetrical photos of objects
to give you a perfect example.
There are two more guides, but now I'm going to take a little break
and announce the winner
from the last creative camera challenge.
The theme was focus.
The focus had to be correct and where it was supposed to be.
Here are top three images, which are the most eye catching and most interesting.
This one is first shot of a fly taken by a Rajkumar.
This dog portrait taken by Violet
and this cat
portrait taken by David. And the winner is....
Congratulations, Rajkumar.
It's a very difficult to chase fly
to take photos like these. Especially if you are doing micro shots.
You submitted the right photo for this topic.
You are winning a $50 Amazon gift card.
A beginner usually doesn't pay attention to the background.
Keep it simple.
Keeping it simple creates a negative space
if you cannot find very simple background, then simply grab a telephoto
lens, lower the aperture to F 2.8 at least, and then make sure that
the object of the person is sharp and everything else
turns out blurry.
Beginner
would most likely come here and take overall shots of this place,
ended up with kind of a cluttered,
busy photo.
Don't be afraid to zoom in, fill up the space,
even if you are missing a little part of it.
If you are taking photos of a person, it's all about the expression
All these guides,
those guidelines will help you
to come up with more creative shots to see them, to find them.
The best way to practice them is to pick one such as symmetry,
shoot that the whole day and then next day pick something else and so on.
And if you're more into video, take some photos too,
because that way you will start seeing it and then just add the movement to it.
Creative camera challenge time.
You have until July 31st to take series of photos in one location
using these composition guidelines and frames.
It can be a mix of them.
Don't use just one guideline.
The series must consist of minimum three photos, maximum seven photos,
and please don't upload them separately, upload them
as a whole under one post in the camera challenge Facebook group.
The link is below the video and a video description.
The most interesting photos, the most eye catching and also technically
perfect comes the composition and framing will be chosen.
One winner will receive $50 American Amazon gift card.
Give it the thumbs up, subscribe for more or leave a comment below
and have fun shooting. See any next video.
Cau... Ahoj...