Scroll Down for the Tips
This picture was taken on the famous Beale Street, in Memphis, birthplace of the blues. Evening crowds often gather their and musicians such as the one here pictured set out their "tin-cans" and spontaneously play their music for whomever will listen. In this series is another, which I will try to post which is an excellent example of a picture that "says something". The broader scene shows a ten or so year old kid sitting in front of the player watching g his every move. The musician has bells on his ankles, a harmonica around his neck, and other one-man band devices to expand his music-making abilities.
In my portrayal of Beale Street on a web site by that name, I chose this closer cropping which focuses more on the enthusiastic admiration of the pretty young girls, for whom the young musician was all too eager to serenade. The cigarette behind the ear adds a little to the tone of the evening and place. I chose this closer cropping and angle to use for this "CyberArt", which is what I call a picture that begins with a photograph and is manipulated in PhotoShop or other image-altering software to render a different look. although several effects were applied to this photo, the main effect is posterization, which reduces the levels of gradation.
These are in no particular order. They are general, but fairly reliable tips (not rules), which can be used with any kind of camera including simple or complex operating film or digital cameras.
- Never, ever, ever, under my hopes for your penalty of death by serious torture, ever, ever, tell your subject, individual or group, child or adult, to say, “Cheese”, when taking or preparing to take their picture. I can’t tell you the horrors that professional portrait photographer endure when trying to take pictures of people, especially children and youth, who have been conditioned by this photographically malignant word. Don't say any other cheesy, or stupid word either.
There are a variety of ways to gain a suitable expression. In the case of an entire group, whom you can’t possibly watch all faces of at one time, simply say something like this:
“Please listen to me as I count to three. I will count to three several times, and take your picture each time I say three.
“Please keep your eyes open and on me; you, yes, there in the center left, look at me please, not at the dog behind me. Thank you.”
“Everyone please just have a pleasant and natural face. Now I am going to count to three—eyes open wide, looking at me, one, two three. Great! Now again.”
“Repeat this as many times as a general rule as there are people in the picture, and at least twice that when three persons or less.”
- Unless it is a panoramic scene, get in close. Fill up the frame. Crop close. Don’t necessarily cut off tops of heads or anything, but maybe even do that, if it looks good to you that way.
Think of how most people would take the particular photograph you are contemplating. Then look for another angle, something in the foreground, or background, unusual lighting pattern, or just anything to add a “fresh view”. Put your own personal spin on it. Add drama. Make a statement. Try to make your pictures “say something.” What does that mean? Think about it and in another post I will tell you what it means to make your pictures “say something.”
- Delete, or discard your culled-over bad or marginal out of focus, dark or light (in most case discard these, unless it is moose mating in your front yard, or something), or motion blurred, ugly, lousy pictures. Even if it IS of your only child. No one wants to see ugly pictures! It makes you look bad, it wastes memory, or space, or could have the silver reclaimed from or otherwise recycled to save the planet. What I am saying is to throw pictures away that you know immediately, or maybe just hauntingly deep down inside, that these pictures suck. Go on, and throw or incinerate them.
- Study other pictures, both great photographs and oils and such. Study art. Learn some of the thoughts and analysis of great artists. Learn about what these greats of the ages thought about what makes for good lighting, and composition, colors, props, poses, etc. You can also learn a lot by studying films and motion pictures old and new, color, colorized, and black & white movies. Study pictures in slick magazines. Note the lighting, composition, hand and leg placement. The tilt of the head or none. The bend of the waist. The props. You can have a new look at TV with the same motive and intent. Some of the greatest masters of lighting who have yet existed are there on the tube. And some of the worst. Learn to know the difference.
- With most pictures of things. I mean just stuff, that is worthy of photographing, it may be advisable to consider animating the picture. That means placing people, not up against the wall, or grinning broadly, but just interacting with this “stuff”. You may after such a consideration decide that the Stuff, stands on its own without such animation. But the odds are good that animating your otherwise borderline-interesting subject, will create an exponentially more intriguing photo.
- Learn the affects of, “depth of field”. No mystery. Let me simplify this scary photographic term. replace the word filed, with focus, thus becoming “depth of focus”. See now? It means the depth from which the foreground begins to be in focus to the depth or distance where focus is no longer acceptable. Depending on many variables, the depth of focus may be half an inch or it could be almost infinite.
Depth of field can be use to blur busy or distracting backgrounds and turn the concentration on the object of your photographic interest. Depth of field can be used to make a two dimensional photograph appear to be almost three dimensional by, well, by adding depth. Depth of field can be manipulated for a hundred different creative purposes or more.
Depth of filed can be increased or decreased in a variety of ways. Here are just a few: By backing up or moving closer to your subject. By using a high number f/stop (the numbers like 3.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 22). By changing your shutter speed, within the bounds allowed by movement of either you or your subject. By increasing or decreasing your ISO number. By increasing or muting lightning. There are others, which lead me to the next point.
- Read your camera manual if available. If you don’t have a manual, you can probably find one either at eBay or on-line, or from the manufacturer. Read it once and take in the abundance of information you find there. Mark the sections that may give you a headache. Set the manual aside and then a while or day later, read the whole manual again, concentrating on the headache sections. Read it again later. Read it and ask someone if you can’t understand it. But read it until you know what it is saying. It will explain depth of field and f/stops, and even with many automatic cameras including most point and shoot cameras, it will tell you how to go “Off Automatic” and understand the little icons and how to use them to your creative advantage.
- Learn a posing system. Later, I will introduce one or more posing systems here. But you can start now by building a notebook with photos that appeal to you copied or cut from magazines and by studying great art found in books and museums.
When you are composing your photo, don't be limited by what you see in the viewing frame, just to keep the camera right side up. You've often seen photographers turn their cameras sideways. This is because they are trying to match the composition of the subjects vertical or horizontal orientation to the actual shape of the picture that will be finally delivered. There are a lot of good reason to do this. One reason refers to an earlier suggestion; It allows you to get closer to the subject or zooming-in, thereby filling the frame more fully with the subject, which is usually a good thing. Of course in the case of a scenic, a landscape, a horizontally shaped building or car, or in the case of a group photo--the standard right side up composition is just fine. One caution, if you turn your camera sideways while using your flash, you will want to consider which direction will be most suitable for the flash to come from--left or right. This will determine which way you rotate your camera to reach a sideways composition.
That’s all for now. More later . . .
