Posts Tagged ‘Take Better Pictures’
How to Take Better Pictures With Your Camera Phone: Get Close
When, as a kid, I wanted to learn about photography, I’d go to the library. (For my younger readers, that’s a big building which, at one time, had books in it rather than dozens of people sitting at computers updating their Facebook statuses.) At that time, photography books fit pretty well into two categories:
- Books with beautiful photos and no information at all about how to take them
- Books filled with pages upon pages of information on developing your prints and using equipment that I wouldn’t get my hands on for another 15 years.
There wasn’t much in the way of instruction about how to take a consumer-level camera and just take better pictures. That’s why, when I found it, the work of Nick Kelsh was such a revelation. In his book How to Photograph Your Family, he broke photography down into three simple rules:
- Get close
- Take more photos
- Turn off your flash
This was instruction I could work with. Later on I’ll look at points two and three, but in this post I’d like to explore the effect that getting close will have on your photos.
How getting close improves your photography
I have to start by saying that any “rule” of photography has probably been broken at least a thousand times to amazing effect, so when I make a photographic suggestion, just translate that as, “This will probably work well a good bit of the time, except when it doesn’t.”
Getting close allows your viewer to focus on your subject and eliminates distracting elements from your photo. Here’s a picture I took of my Mom’s (mean) cat, Kitty:
Kitty was sitting on a couch with a print pattern and a blanket thrown over its back, next to a floor lamp. While I was grateful for the light the lamp provided, neither it, nor the couch, nor the blanket, added anything to the image I wanted to capture. As such, I got (dangerously) close to Kitty and took this shot. The distracting elements are (almost) gone. (I still kind of hate that the lamp’s stand is in the background.) The focus is on the cat, where I wanted it.
If you’re taking a photo of your children, what is important to you? Is it the place they’re sitting, the pants they’re wearing, or is it their faces? Some of the most beautiful children’s portraits I’ve ever seen were of nothing but the child’s eyes.
This isn’t just true for portraits, though. By making your subject the star of your photo you help direct your viewer’s attention to what you want them to see. Click here to read more.
How to Take Better Pictures With Your Camera Phone: Get Close
When, as a kid, I wanted to learn about photography, I’d go to the library. (For my younger readers, that’s a big building which, at one time, had books in it rather than dozens of people sitting at computers updating their Facebook statuses.) At that time, photography books fit pretty well into two categories:
- Books with beautiful photos and no information at all about how to take them
- Books filled with pages upon pages of information on developing your prints and using equipment that I wouldn’t get my hands on for another 15 years.
There wasn’t much in the way of instruction about how to take a consumer-level camera and just take better pictures. That’s why, when I found it, the work of Nick Kelsh was such a revelation. In his book How to Photograph Your Family, he broke photography down into three simple rules:
- Get close
- Take more photos
- Turn off your flash
This was instruction I could work with. Later on I’ll look at points two and three, but in this post I’d like to explore the effect that getting close will have on your photos.
How getting close improves your photography
I have to start by saying that any “rule” of photography has probably been broken at least a thousand times to amazing effect, so when I make a photographic suggestion, just translate that as, “This will probably work well a good bit of the time, except when it doesn’t.”
Getting close allows your viewer to focus on your subject and eliminates distracting elements from your photo. Here’s a picture I took of my Mom’s (mean) cat, Kitty:
Kitty was sitting on a couch with a print pattern and a blanket thrown over its back, next to a floor lamp. While I was grateful for the light the lamp provided, neither it, nor the couch, nor the blanket, added anything to the image I wanted to capture. As such, I got (dangerously) close to Kitty and took this shot. The distracting elements are (almost) gone. (I still kind of hate that the lamp’s stand is in the background.) The focus is on the cat, where I wanted it.
If you’re taking a photo of your children, what is important to you? Is it the place they’re sitting, the pants they’re wearing, or is it their faces? Some of the most beautiful children’s portraits I’ve ever seen were of nothing but the child’s eyes.
This isn’t just true for portraits, though. By making your subject the star of your photo you help direct your viewer’s attention to what you want them to see. Click here to read more.
