Chapter 32: Extra Tips for Assignment Success
Extra Tip 1. Real Estate
Whether you are in the studio or on-location, there are crucial factors to consider when making successful photos. They are content, lighting, and composition. Content is the subject matter you choose as part of finding your photographic identity and discovering what kind of photographer you are (see Chapter 13). Composition is the way you choose to arrange the visual elements within the frame. The composition you capture can make or break an image. It can create a sense of harmony and unity that supports the concept, the story, and subject matter or it can cause confusion and disharmony. This book won’t go into detail about composition or the principles and elements of design, but it can offer some advice as a supplement to your learning about composition in your photo classes.
As the Director, you are in control of how the visual elements are arranged in your frame. You will either have to construct a purposeful composition by physically arranging visual elements in the scene or you will find vantage points that position elements within intended, well-designed compositions. The goal of your composition should be to use every square inch of real estate in the frame so all the visual elements contribute to and support your concepts. When you compose images, think of a garden as a metaphor for your photographic compositions.
For example, let's say you have a defined, fenced in area of fertile land that is 80 x 100 feet. Before you plant your garden you will have to decide how to fully and efficiently use that real estate to get the most vegetables from the space. You will also need walkways so you have access to your plants. Every square foot of space has a purpose whether it is for a vegetable bed or a walkway. When the garden is planned properly, every element is an important part of the real estate. Every element is in compositional harmony, supporting every other element. Any masterful photograph, whether it’s a landscape, a still life, or a portrait, uses the space within the frame so that every visual element has a purpose.
Extra Tip 2. People Photos
When working with people, respect their time by being ready to make photos before they arrive. Annie Leibovitz once said that, “When you go to take someone's picture, the first thing they say is, what you want me to do?” Unless you are doing street photography, people ask you to tell them how to move, where to stand, and how to pose. You may also have to help them generate the expressions you want for your photos. Psychologist Robert Plutchik proposed that there are eight distinct emotions: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. Think about which of these you want to evoke in your subject.
In addition, there is an infinite spectrum of expressions that can happen from one expression to the other. Think about how the expression of your subject will support the ideas in the photos. Portrait photographer Howard Schatz is a master of evoking emotional expression. Schatz has two series of photos you should check out titled, “In Character” and, “Vanity Fair: In Character.” As part of the image galleries on the website, the photographer explains how he directed the subjects so he could evoke and capture a wide range of expressions.
Extra Tip 3. Anticipating the Action
Anticipating the action is very different than the sense of anticipation discussed in chapter 8. This topic has to do with having your senses on high alert so you can capture the peak of action at the perfect time. Street photographer and photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson’s goal was to capture, what he called, the decisive moment. “This moment occurs when the visual and psychological elements of people in a real life scene spontaneously and briefly come together in perfect resonance to express the essence of that situation.”
Cartier-Bresson was able to anticipate the precise moment when he could, “capture this fleeting, quintessential, and holistic instant in the flow of life.” Sports photographers become experts at riding the energetic wave of anticipation. As coach Wayne Gretzky told his hockey players, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” A masterful sports photographer needs to anticipate not only when to make the photograph, but also where to aim the lens. But, the energy behind those photos is the anticipation that motivates them to see, after the shot, how the photo looks on the camera’s preview screen.
http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/decisive_moment.htm
Embracing anticipation activates the fight or flight part of the brain that keeps your photographer alert and on edge, prepared for whatever surprises come up. And whatever happens you will be ready, like a reflex action to push the shutter release! If you want to have the lightning fast reflexes of Cartier-Bresson you will have to develop two important skills, knowing and intuition. These skills are needed to fully use the feeling of anticipation.
“Knowing requires conscious attention and it is intentional. Intuition is immediate and does not require conscious reasoning. Conscious awareness occurs alongside unconscious processing. Both are required to release the shutter at the right place and time to capture the decisive moment.” https://petapixel.com/2013/08/12/the-decisive-moment-and-the-human-brain/ Conscious awareness is when you slow down and look at everything that is happening in your field of view. You see birds flying, people walking, and clouds floating by. If you are looking with intention, you will perceive patterns that help you predict what is going to happen. Anticipation helps you focus in on what you intuit is going to happen so you can be prepared to make the photo.
Extra Tip 4: Keep Your Practice Alive!
Make photos every day, even if you use your phone. Make a commitment to post photos every day on Instagram, not with the intention of getting more likes or followers, but because it’s how you hold yourself accountable to your commitment. Use Instagram in the same way a musician practices their scales. Make photos every day for a week. Next, make photos every day for month. Make photos every day for six months. Keep doing this and eventually you will become the photographer that you hope to one day be!
Whether you are in the studio or on-location, there are crucial factors to consider when making successful photos. They are content, lighting, and composition. Content is the subject matter you choose as part of finding your photographic identity and discovering what kind of photographer you are (see Chapter 13). Composition is the way you choose to arrange the visual elements within the frame. The composition you capture can make or break an image. It can create a sense of harmony and unity that supports the concept, the story, and subject matter or it can cause confusion and disharmony. This book won’t go into detail about composition or the principles and elements of design, but it can offer some advice as a supplement to your learning about composition in your photo classes.
As the Director, you are in control of how the visual elements are arranged in your frame. You will either have to construct a purposeful composition by physically arranging visual elements in the scene or you will find vantage points that position elements within intended, well-designed compositions. The goal of your composition should be to use every square inch of real estate in the frame so all the visual elements contribute to and support your concepts. When you compose images, think of a garden as a metaphor for your photographic compositions.
For example, let's say you have a defined, fenced in area of fertile land that is 80 x 100 feet. Before you plant your garden you will have to decide how to fully and efficiently use that real estate to get the most vegetables from the space. You will also need walkways so you have access to your plants. Every square foot of space has a purpose whether it is for a vegetable bed or a walkway. When the garden is planned properly, every element is an important part of the real estate. Every element is in compositional harmony, supporting every other element. Any masterful photograph, whether it’s a landscape, a still life, or a portrait, uses the space within the frame so that every visual element has a purpose.
Extra Tip 2. People Photos
When working with people, respect their time by being ready to make photos before they arrive. Annie Leibovitz once said that, “When you go to take someone's picture, the first thing they say is, what you want me to do?” Unless you are doing street photography, people ask you to tell them how to move, where to stand, and how to pose. You may also have to help them generate the expressions you want for your photos. Psychologist Robert Plutchik proposed that there are eight distinct emotions: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy. Think about which of these you want to evoke in your subject.
In addition, there is an infinite spectrum of expressions that can happen from one expression to the other. Think about how the expression of your subject will support the ideas in the photos. Portrait photographer Howard Schatz is a master of evoking emotional expression. Schatz has two series of photos you should check out titled, “In Character” and, “Vanity Fair: In Character.” As part of the image galleries on the website, the photographer explains how he directed the subjects so he could evoke and capture a wide range of expressions.
Extra Tip 3. Anticipating the Action
Anticipating the action is very different than the sense of anticipation discussed in chapter 8. This topic has to do with having your senses on high alert so you can capture the peak of action at the perfect time. Street photographer and photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson’s goal was to capture, what he called, the decisive moment. “This moment occurs when the visual and psychological elements of people in a real life scene spontaneously and briefly come together in perfect resonance to express the essence of that situation.”
Cartier-Bresson was able to anticipate the precise moment when he could, “capture this fleeting, quintessential, and holistic instant in the flow of life.” Sports photographers become experts at riding the energetic wave of anticipation. As coach Wayne Gretzky told his hockey players, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” A masterful sports photographer needs to anticipate not only when to make the photograph, but also where to aim the lens. But, the energy behind those photos is the anticipation that motivates them to see, after the shot, how the photo looks on the camera’s preview screen.
http://truecenterpublishing.com/photopsy/decisive_moment.htm
Embracing anticipation activates the fight or flight part of the brain that keeps your photographer alert and on edge, prepared for whatever surprises come up. And whatever happens you will be ready, like a reflex action to push the shutter release! If you want to have the lightning fast reflexes of Cartier-Bresson you will have to develop two important skills, knowing and intuition. These skills are needed to fully use the feeling of anticipation.
“Knowing requires conscious attention and it is intentional. Intuition is immediate and does not require conscious reasoning. Conscious awareness occurs alongside unconscious processing. Both are required to release the shutter at the right place and time to capture the decisive moment.” https://petapixel.com/2013/08/12/the-decisive-moment-and-the-human-brain/ Conscious awareness is when you slow down and look at everything that is happening in your field of view. You see birds flying, people walking, and clouds floating by. If you are looking with intention, you will perceive patterns that help you predict what is going to happen. Anticipation helps you focus in on what you intuit is going to happen so you can be prepared to make the photo.
Extra Tip 4: Keep Your Practice Alive!
Make photos every day, even if you use your phone. Make a commitment to post photos every day on Instagram, not with the intention of getting more likes or followers, but because it’s how you hold yourself accountable to your commitment. Use Instagram in the same way a musician practices their scales. Make photos every day for a week. Next, make photos every day for month. Make photos every day for six months. Keep doing this and eventually you will become the photographer that you hope to one day be!