Buying a digital Camera?

I found this site well before I purchased my personal camera and found it by far the most useful. It broke down all the technical jargon, asked me to reflect on my photography skills and then gave me a self-scoring quiz to do. Based on my score it suggested several cameras that would meet my needs. I eventually bought one from the list it suggested and have never wished for more features nor did I feel I over-purchased.

I used it again when I was looking to purchase a class set of cameras for my school.

Shapes

Shapes are 2D elements that are included within photo. Shapes, much like lines, can be used to achieve different feelings or moods within your photos. Rectangles and circles alone come off as boring as they tend to be ordinary and usually mirror the frame of your image. Diagonals and triangles create conflicts to the rectangular frame of a picture and therefore attract the viewers eye.

There is a two fold meaning here. Shapes are the objects within the photo or the way in which multiple subjects are "lined up" in a photo. Ever notice how class pictures or family photos always have a sort of triangular shape to them? The tallest person goes at the middle back to become the peak of the triangle and then there is the next tallest then the next until you've got the shortest of the row on the ends. That's because triangles represent power and photographers want to make groups feel powerful.

Take a look at the picture on tomorrow's front page of the paper. Bet you it is someone standing in front of or with something. That person and the other subjects have been framed to be in some sort of shape... try tracing out their major features and see what you come up with.

I find this one of the more difficult concepts to keep in your head when taking a photograph. I’m still at the stage of keeping lines, colour and the rule of thirds in a photograph so if shapes do appear (other than the subject of the photo) it is usually be fluke or chance. I’m quite interested in trying to keep adding this element to my pictures in conjunction with the other concepts and found the concept of the use of triangles as shown here very helpful to try and emulate.

Lines in Composition

Lines serve 2 extremely important purposes in the composition of photographs.

Firstly, lines create mood. A vertical line can create a sense of power or tension by chopping up a picture, a horizontal line can create a sense of peace or calmness or a curved line can create a sense of balance. Put more than one type of line in a photograph and they can either enhance each others effect or they can contradict and counteract an effect you may have been going for.

Secondly, lines can guide the viewer’s eye into and within the photograph. In North America we read all written materials from left to right. Little did I realize that we also “read” art and photos from left to right as well. A well-placed horizontal line on the left edge can lead the viewer’s eye into the picture.

From the pictures that I posted you can see the horizontal twig draws your eye straight across to the dragonfly which is vertical and thereby stands out. And in the loom picture, the horizontal wood leads your eye gently into the picture and then you are tempted to look further at the diagonal lines of the loom strings.

I learned these techniques from a class I took but as I continue to expand my knowledge and search the web I found a great breakdown of both meaning and example on this website by Gloria Hopkins.

Rule of Thirds

Little do we know it but every photographer sets their photographs up to be especially appealing to your eye. There are "hotspots" for the location of key elements within a photograph. Imagine every picture split into 3 equal parts both vertically and horizontally (see this visual). Where the intersections of the lines are, are considered to be the power positions of a photograph. Place a person's head, a mountain or any other part of a photo you want to emphasize in any of these 4 four positions and you have a much stronger photograph than if you had placed the subject smack in the center.

Check out these articles by Michael Fodor or The Digital Photography School for more information or examples.

On the right, you'll see some examples where I've used this principle.

Using Colour in Composition

Colour or Color (no matter how you spell it) within a photograph "is characterized by attributes such as hue, value, and saturation" according to wikipedia. The use of colour in a photograph can be either subtle or bold and can make a statement depending on how you choose to use it.

When searching the internet I stumbled onto an article and a blog by Ron Bigelow which I found informative and let me know that the 3 pictures I've put on a slideshow to the right adhere to correct colour composition guidelines.

Stay tuned for the rule of thirds!

Photography

In the digital age there is a growing number of amateur photographers out there and I am one of them.

I tried as a child to take good photos but got turned off by the cost of the film along with the long wait times between taking the snapshot and seeing the final result. Add in learning about Aperture and Shutter Speed and I was destined to find something easier and less time consuming. This sentiment was reinforced when I first started dating my wife. She had a SLR film camera and although she took stunning photos it pained me to see her wash money down the drain in terms of film and development.

Then we bought her a digital SLR and my view changed. You could immediately see the results. No time wasted and no after the fact costs. I was interested.

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When I arrived back from teaching in New Zealand I had some pretty decent photographs using a 3.0MP camera but not a ton of exceptional ones. I wanted to learn more but had no idea how.

Then I hit the jackpot.

Our school was under construction and it was time for the third and final phase: The Industrial Arts wing. Being a reluctant IA teacher, I was glad at the news I would not be able to use the Lab for the second semester.  When asked what I would teach as an option for the second semester I immediately responded with Digital Photography.

After $750 worth of professional development in the form of photography classes I am now able to compose a decent photograph the majority of the time and continue to play with my newfound hobby.