The act of taking photographs is not just about pressing the shutter and releasing it. Behind a good image, there should always be a prior process. Photography means to look, think and plan, so trigger is just another step in the process. And it is more important than any of the other steps. Let’s summarize this process in three easy steps. But first … What is a good photograph?
What is a good photograph?
True, if we dedicate ourselves to giving the camera shutter obsessively, sooner or later we will get a good photograph. But what really sets a photographer of a “take-pictures” is that the first picture is what you want and the second, however, does by chance. Photography To Remember says photographers, we must be content with getting a good picture by chance, but we must look for it and work on it.
Obviously, there is a guide to define what a good photograph is and what is not, because it is somewhat subjective and tastes nothing there can ever be written. But overall, a good photograph is one that has been designed and planned. It can be planned part of the process or the entire process. The accident may have an important factor in a photograph, but cannot play the lead completely.
Step 1: Light
The art of photography is to catch the light, so the first step to taking a good photograph is to control the light to be in it. What about lighting parameters, which should be considered?
Natural or Artificial?
Natural light is that which comes from the sun (directly or indirectly) while the artificial comes from any other light source. The main difference between them is that the artificial light may be completely controlled by the photographer while the natural is more difficult to control and should be done by, for example, different types of reflectors. It should be noted that there is no need to choose between one type of light or other since both can be upgraded.
Light with colour?
- The dominant colour can help convey your picture what you want. You can use the white
- balance creatively to get the same effect, but can also serve filters and colour gels for the
- light that reaches the subject of a certain colour.
- In what direction?
There are several directions that focus light that are fairly typical:
Front Light. That light that head in the subject. It has feature that eliminates the textures of the subject. For this reason, this light produces the flattening images that are impoverished because of the volumes.
Light Side. It is the light which is positioned to one side of the subject. The fact illuminates only one side of the subject and makes the volumes generated shadows that enhance the textures and volumes.
Backlight. The placing will get the point of light behind the subject. The first thing you get when you take a picture against the light is that the subject becomes an
Outline. This has endless possibilities for creative level. For example, the human eye can quickly recognize what belongs to the silhouette or may interpret it as something totally removed from reality. Your approach is to decide how to use the back light.
Omni Light. This light is situated just above the subject. It produces shadows on the same subject that may not be very aesthetic. On the other hand, it creates a very dramatic effect.
Light Nadir. Unlike the overhead light, the light nadir is achieved by locating the point of light just below the subject. This is the strangest light to see in a photograph, is the least used because its results are very natural: the shadows that are generated in subjects not found in nature. Anyway, as already mentioned, in your judgment as a photographer must decide if you are interested in using this light for purposes more or less creative.
These are not all existing types of lighting. In addition, the photographer can (and should) change whenever possible the angle at which light falls on your subject to get the result you want. Furthermore, in each situation may be more desirable illumination angles or others. For example, in the pictures is usually advisable to avoid frontal lighting.
A tip: if you want to take advantage of natural light, do not let the position of the sun that send about the lighting of your photograph. Move the subject, spin it, and put it in the shade … anything you can think is good to get your pictures. Experience!
Diffusers, yes, or no?
What do you want for your photo: hard light or soft light?
Hard light. Generates high contrasts in the subject and very sharp shadows. Overall, the shadows of the photographs must be controlled very well so that no information is lost on them. But there are times when, whether for whatever reason, you might want to generate shadows to enhance the volume of the subject, for help in the composition to create dramatic effects …
Soft Light. The subject is illuminated more homogeneously so as to eliminate or greatly reduce the shadows, creating a sense of softness. Get a soft light is more difficult to get a hard light. For this you must have the help of diffusers. You have several options: get a diffuser for your flash, build your own softbot or even bounce the flash light diffuser in the largest and most popular: the roof.
Step 2: Shoot
Actually, the “shot” is the last time this second step. Before pulling the trigger, you must be aware of what you’re photographing:
The shutter speeds. Are you going to hunt a movement? or are you going to try to reproduce it? Choose well! If you’re not sure, this article can help!
The aperture. How much depth of field you want in the picture? Are you interested in focusing on a particular item or the entire image is in focus? If you walk a little fish in this area, have a look at this article!
The composition. Do you know the amount of composition rules are there? You can see some of them in this article . Your choice is to follow them or break them, depending on what you get in your photograph!
Now, as you can “click”.
But do not think your work is done. A third step:
Step 3: Does it reveal?
The photo development is a topic, which is a bit tricky. Some purists argue that a good photograph should be partly right before going through the processing. I personally find that the defendant should improve the picture, not to create a new image. Of course, it is bad to be handy with Photoshop and creating new worlds from an image, but maybe that would move away from the picture to get closer to the graphic arts.
In my opinion, as I said, the development should improve the photo, you must give it personality, bringing it closer to your own tastes. Sometimes we do a picture and we’re not happy with it because we see it “very heap.” From here we recommend processing all the images that you believe appropriate, because although a photograph is not spectacular in the beginning, may improve a lot with a good (and light) processing.
That said, how can process a photograph?
Photoshop and Light room. They are large and, with them, will not need anything else to do everything you want. Gimp: free software. Well, nice and cheap (free, actually) Pixelmator. Only available for Mac but it is a powerful editor, easy to use. Photivo. Variety of tools you can use as you want. Digikam. Processed, archived and saved.
