The experience of taking photos

“Fall in love with the art.”

I’m no professional photographer but I can definitely see my own growth. I cringe at my very own photos taken 2-3 years ago and would totally do differently now.

I’ve pulled my thoughts together and tried to figure out why some photos work and don’t work from my experience. Photography is very subjective process and that this is an opinion piece based on my learnings.

The artist comes first

Many people who start out in photography focus a lot on the camera, lens or the f-stop they use, when they should study the fundamentals of design. If you understand basic composition, angle, lighting, balance, symmetry and colour theory - this makes a bigger impact than the camera itself. Why? Because those things are harder to change in the editing process.

I delete my photos based on the composition, lighting, angle and layout - not over using the wrong lens or f-stop. Yes, these things are important too but the average person isn't going to say “Hey, you used an amazing lens” or “Beautiful f-stop”.

Practice on your mobile phone first, if you can’t get it right on your mobile phone than an SLR isn’t going to make you better.

The photo

So you need to capture a 'good' photo.

Ask yourself, what do you want the focus to be?

Are you capturing an atmosphere, an essence, emotion, the people?

Where do you want people to draw their eyes towards?

You or the background? Make that distinction between subject and the background.

Consider the following:

• Light
  Make sure there is a source light (preferably natural light). If you practice enough in low light situations, working with daylight will be a breeze. If you are working with some harsh lighting, try and use it to your advantage like I did with the example below. 

• One-third rule
  For your subject to placed left, centre, right or top, middle, bottom.

• Angles
  Move your camera around to try and figure out how to best display the subject. Flat lay, close up or cropped. My go to is 45 or 90 degree angles.

• Spend that little extra time
  Photos tend to look best when people aren’t walking in the background. If you can spend that little extra time, wait it out and retake the photo. You can also spend time doing the opposite, adding items in the background to add to the atmosphere.

Why this photo worked and the future vision

This ‘before’ photo was taken in a rush because I waiting for people to be out of the view. Even though it was not taken at a good angle I knew I could save the photo during editing. So sometimes, even though you think you might have taken an unusable photo, try and see the potential in it and how far you push it creatively.

The reason why my phone camera came out is because I was drawn towards the lines, pattern and consistency of the tea cans. Now that I have identified the why, I’m going to make the ‘why’ the subject.

The next time your camera phone comes out, ask yourself why did I find this cool? That might give you guidance what to focus on. Whatever comes to mind first is probably what you want your subject to be. This photo works because the repetition of objects and teapots and it is a dead give away that I am in a tea shop.  

Before

After

Why this photo didn’t work

The photo below is flat because you don’t know where you draw your eyes towards. Is it my shoes, the levels or the bottom floor? Nothing interesting is happening besides that it is taken from a high angle. Also:

• Too many objects, colours and patterns to absorb for the viewer

• Objects feel scattered

• Unsure what those blocks are on the bottom floor

• The perspective is slanted

I definitely missed the mark on this one, even though it felt exciting at the time. As a viewer, you cannot tell what type of building I am in. Is it an art gallery, university campus, library or an office? There is no object that is dead giveaway to tell the viewer where I am, so what is my intention? Other than I’m high up in some building, so this photo doesn’t make the cut. This may sound odd but criticise your work as if your art teacher was giving you feedback.

Just pick one

I cringe at people who post 4 of the same photos at slightly different angles. When you take photos, you tend to take a few with the intention to select the best one.

Learn how to pick one and make a statement, unless you are trying to tell a story.

Nope: This is slanted and even if I fix the horizon in post, it may cut off the public market sign.

Nope: Still slanted and the hallway lights in the middle is distracting. I want the viewers to focus on the red signage.

Winner: The farmer market sign is more in focus and the hallway lights is softer. I got a little closer to the manhole, so it feels a little more intimate.

Once you have decided which photos, now head to the editing process here.