In this video,
I'll show you how switching up your shooting height
could make a big difference
to your photos.
Hello I'm Gavin Hoey
and you're watching AdoramaTV
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for us photographers.
In this video,
I'm going to have a look
at one of the most common mistakes
that we make as photographers
and that is shooting everything
at eye height,
which is 5' 6" off the ground for me,
so I'm going to try shooting eye height.
I'm going to try getting lower,
I'll try getting higher
and see the advantages
and disadvantages of each.
Now for this to work we need a great location,
so I'm really lucky
that I've been able to come here
to this field in Norfolk,
that is full of tulips.
We're here with the permission of the owners,
in fact you may see them wandering around
later in the video,
but for now let's get a model in,
let's get shooting.
So to help me out today
I've got the amazing Jade,
Jade's here braving the really quite cold
and breezy conditions
and the first look I'm going to do
is just the standard eye height.
It's the easiest to do.
It's the most familiar to do
that makes it a really good choice to begin with.
Let's have a little look.
Here we go Jade.
I'm just shooting in aperture priority,
letting the camera do its own thing.
I can go for wide shots.
I can go for close-up shots
but whatever shot I do,
it is the familiar scene
and when it comes to getting creative
this perhaps isn't the best choice,
so whilst it's a great start,
let's see if we can do something a bit better.
So if you're up for a bit of a challenge,
getting yourself lower down
will give you pictures that are a bit more unusual.
This is moderately tricky to do
but here's the advantage,
when I look at this at the moment,
I can see the trees as the background of this picture,
however when I get down lower,
that changes.
So down here
most of my background is now sky
and if I make use of the "flippy foldy" screen
on this camera,
I can get down really low,
I mean absolutely right down the bottom here
and now I can't see the trees at all.
This does give for a really unusual
and dramatic angle
and creates quite interesting pictures
but comes with a couple of problems;
the first one is you might get yourself
a little bit dirty
especially if you're on muddy ground,
and secondly getting back up again
doesn't get any easier as you get older.
So the final look is the most challenging
in as much as I want to get higher than Jade,
now to do this you're going to need
maybe some tall building
or maybe drone photography is your thing?
I'm just going to use a set of steps
but whatever you do?
This has the potential
to be the most dangerous,
so make sure you consider
your safety and your model's safety
whenever you are getting above your model.
So climbing up on my steps
I now see this whole field of tulips
in a new way
and I can shoot it in a different way as well,
so if I just shoot it in the way I've done so far,
well I can see the background
just like I did when I was shooting at eye height
but because I've got this elevated view point
and a long field of tulips
I can actually frame it differently.
I can actually frame it so I can't see the trees anymore.
The thing to watch out for today,
right now is my shadow.
My shadow is actually in the picture,
the Sun is on my back
and when I shoot wide and I'm looking down
I can definitely see it.
If I were shooting right down on the floor,
I wouldn't see my shadow in the picture
so easily, so watch out for that!
Frame it out or of course use post-processing.
So those are the three shooting positions
I want to try, so what we're going to do now
is get Jade changed slightly.
We'll move around the field.
We'll set some lights up
and we'll do a little shoot.
Jade are you ready?
Yes.
Okay let's go for it!
This is a great reminder that there's no right or wrong
when it comes to photography
for example shooting at this spot
really low down with a wide-angle lens
emphasizes the foreground tulips
and diminishes the background trees.
But a few minutes later
get the step ladder out,
look down on to Jade
and now I'm seeing the world
in a completely different way.
I need you to stand a little back
so you're in the shade,
that's it, yes.
It's really important when you're shooting pictures
that you try all the different heights,
in this case I was convinced
the best position to shoot from
was really down low
for that dramatic angle
and big blue sky
but when I got back home
and looked at the pictures,
the ones I preferred
were the ones I shot at eye height!
Getting right down into the dirt
gives a dramatic shot
with the red tulips,
the blue sky and the green leaves
but then two frames later.
I'm elevated up in the air
and this is what I'm seeing.
Okay turn around to face us.
Okay walk towards us then Jade come on back.
As we came to the end of the shoot,
the Sun had got lower in the sky
and I switched things around
shooting directly into the light
and filling the shadows with a reflector.
But getting down low
and including lots of sky
really didn't work
because it's just blown out white.
Shooting at eye height worked much better,
lovely backlighting on Jade's hair
and getting elevated gave a great look
with a much simpler background,
especially if I switch lenses
to something a little bit longer.
So there you go changing the height
at which you shoot really does make a difference
to the pictures
but which one is right?
Well of course the answer is,
it depends what you want to achieve.
They all work in the right circumstances.
Now if you've enjoyed this video
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I'm Gavin Hoey,
thanks for watching!