Focus on the Person First and the Scenery Second
Remember those old family pictures where the person in the photo was small and the background mountains or water or buildings were soo big? It can work much better if you are closer to the person and just use a part of the scenery to emphasize the view.
Kate at the Annapolis Waterfront using early morning light and the reflection off of the water.
Sophia on my desktop at the window. Notice the natural light from the side of the window and how it lights up her face. The background in this shot is not important, rather the expression on her face is.
Get Closer
The biggest mistake most new photographers make is being too far away from the person or item they are trying to photograph. When you are more accomplished at taking photos, you will begin to ask yourself where do I want the subject of my photo to be? Do I want them to be at the bottom right part, or the bottom left, or off center?
It really makes a big difference as to how you can crop your photograph and what kind of software program you can use on your computer. That is why many photographers take so many photos at different angles, so they don't have to do too much croping either in their photography lab, or on the computer.
It is all about the lighting, really it is!
A major part of any photograph is the lighting. Remember when you used a 35 mm camera and your batteries went dead, you got no picture, right. Waisted many a roll of film right? Well, thanks to digital, that is no longer a problem. Getting used to the camera is more of an issue.
Back to the lighting, if you have a new camera, play with it, use a flash, then do not use one, see the difference. At least you won't be waisting any film that you have to have developed.Go outside in the morning, take photos of your car, or house or garden, but remember to take the shot with the sun at your back.
No matter what camera you are using the sun should always be at your back or off to the side when you get a little bit better at composition. Check out this photo
This was taken at 6:30 a.m. in natural morning light, you can see the morning fog on the water.
Try to emulate that when you can.Morning sunlight is always soft. This was taken using a Canon AE1 100 ASA speed.
Til next time.
Diane
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