16mm, f/2.8, 1/20th sec, 1250 ISO, 1D Mark IV
From yesterday’s “Travel” class.
A close-by object introduces depth
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Category Archives: Composition
Crop
One tip that may help you make better pictures: crop in the camera.
We always look at the image in the centre (or roughly in the centre) on our viewfinder. But next time you take a picture, look at the edges. Ask yourself: “is everything I see on the edges really necessary?”and remove everything that is not necessary, by:
- Moving,
- Zooming in,
- Focusing selectively,
- Repositioning yourself, or
- Aiming your camera differently.
For example, like this:
Do this simple thing and your pictures will be simpler, and better.
Shooting an event: choice of shots
A few tips, on and off over the next few days, about shooting events. Events such as parties, clubs, openings: lots of people and they are camera aware.
Today: What to shoot. I recommend that you shoot “all three views”:
- Overview shots, showing “the whole thing”: wide shots with the entire venue, entire room, and so on.
- Medium shots, with one or two people
- And finally: detail shots. An aspect of the room. The stereo and a CD that’s playing Notes on the fridge. Or like in this shot, the food:
(Can you see that I bounced the flash off the ceiling behind me?)
If you shoot plenty of all three views, you will have plenty of material for a great album. And people remember the details!
3D
A reminder of how to make your photos three-dimensional.
You do this by:
- Using a wide angle lens, the widest you can
- Getting close to something
In the photo of the Israeli tank, I used a 16mm lens on a full frame camera – this would be a 10mm lens on your crop factor camera.
The “close-far” effect is due to you being close to one thing and far from others. The wide lens enables you to compose like that.
So – get wide – get close!
A rose by any other name
I took this “grab-shot” at the Kodiak Gallery the other day with a Canon 7D and 50mm f/1.4 lens:
Canon 7D, 50mm f/1.4 at f/1.4, 1/250th sec, 800 ISO
This shows that with the right lens, you do not need flash. You also do not need a macro lens every time. You can use what you have, if you keep your eyes open.
Also note:
- The secondary subject blurred in the background
- I used exposure compensation (+) to ensure the white background showed as white, not gray
- I am not afraid to go to 800 ISO or beyond to get the right fast shutter speed.
- I am using off-centre composition, rather than Uncle Fred’s “subject in the middle”
Simple. Just keep your eyes open.
Architecture tip
When you shoot architecture and you want a straight photo, with no distortion, like this:
…then you need to do the following:
- Step back. Way back.
- Use a long telephoto lens.
- Do not aim up or down: keep the lens parallel to the ground.
- Consider using a tripod if the lens length is long.
You will now get an “undistorted” picture where the background is enlarged and drawn in to the subject.
Tilt chair
No, not the chair – what I mean is, I tilted this to get the chair in:
Dutch Angle, they call it. Hollywood term, mispronunciation of “Deutsch” – i.e. German.
As I have mentioned before, I tend to use angles for four different reasons:
- To add dramatic interest
- To add energy, dynamic motion.
- To make diagonals horizontal or vertical.
- To fit it all into the picture.
Don’t discount that last reason. People will assume I was being creative, but often I just want to fit it in. And -depending, of course, on the subject- that suits me fine. I once heard Peter Power, one of Canada’s premier photojournalists, say the same at a workshop I took. I agreed then, and I still agree!
And sometimes you til because you can’t stand up straight:
Just kidding. Really.
Curves
Tip: always look for, and when you see them consider using, curves.
We like curves. While straight lines take us (and in the case of photos, our eyes) like a freeway to our destination, curves are more like a gentle river, or a winding mountain road, where it’s more about the trip than about getting there.
Imagine putting a bride on these stairs: wouldn’t that look good?
A few portrait pointers
Today, a few quick portrait pointers.
Here’s a picture from a very recent portrait shoot:
Why did I shoot this the way I did? What went into the decisions? I thought it might be good to share some of my thoughts.
- I used a standard key/fill light arrangement, with the key light a small softbox aiming straight into the face, and the lower-powered fill light an umbrella-mounted flash on camera right.
- I ensured the positioning of the key light gave me a catch light in the eyes.
- I used a low-powered hair light in a snoot.
- I selected a dark background (grey paper) so that I could emphasise the subject.
- I used a background light with a Honl grid, so get that nice oval shaped light behind the girl.
- I also used a Honl gel from the “Hollywood” and “Autumn” sets. I chose the blue-ish colour for its subtlety and for the way it so nicely contrasts with the girl’s hair and skin colour.
- I took many pictures with the girl in many poses – mainly her own natural poses. Here, I particularly liked the S-curve in the pose and the triangular shapes in her legs. “S”-curves and triangles are good!
- Finally, the bit of the stool that is visible and lit provided balance with the other yellow colours.
Every shoot is different, but here you see some of the decisions that can go into a portrait.
Wide
What lens to put on your camera?
Sometimes it is difficult to decide. But sometimes it’s easy.
Social events are easy. When shooting such events, where there are people socializing, eating, drinking, I recommend a wide angle lens between at least 24 and 35mm “35mm equivalent” (greater range is ok of course).
Meaning that if you have a full frame camera, use a lens in that range. If, as is more likely, you have a crop camera like a Nikon D5000 or Canon Digital Rebel, you use a lens 50-60% smaller to give the same effect, i.e. a lens in the 16-24 range. Like a 17-40.
At yesterday night’s event with Wendel Clark, ex Leafs captain (below) I used a 16-35 wide angle zoom on my 1.3 crop camera (I used the new Canon 1D Mk IV).
I do this a lot, and so can you.
Remember to get close to people.
Another option is to use not a zoom, but a wide angle prime lens. On my full frame camera I use a 35mm f/1.4 lens quite often for these events.
The pictures that the three above are part of will be on Oakville.com in the next few days.