3 Principles - TSC Tempest

It been quite some time since the last note on how to improve our photography and I promise, the next instalment in this series that I committed myself to is on its way. In the mean time consider this to be a small interlude.

In a recent blog I mentioned that I explored the possibility of taking a New York Institute of Photography Pro Photographer’s course. In their advertising they promised to share with their students the three principles that “all professional photographers consider” before taking a shot.

Just take a moment and think about that?

What three principles should every photographer (pro or otherwise) consider before taking the shot?

Hmmm, I thought, and though, and thought… This is what I came up with: Have I got enough power? Is there still space on my memory card? Will I get into trouble taking this shot?

(Well actually it was more like, subject, distractions and background/foreground)

Oops, well that wasn’t it, at least not according to NYIP which, Digital Darryl of PlanetNikon reports:

“…three IMPORTANT principles on how to compose and capture images…are to 1. identify your subject, 2. emphasize it, and 3. simplify the image so that it tells a story.”
(source: http://www.cleanimages.com/Article-DDDoesNYIPProCourse.asp)

How did you go? Did you get any of these?

I thought it might be useful to look at how these principles work with a recent portrait I put together, so the rest of this discussion will focus on the application of these principles to working with a photograph from shooting to final presentation.

I recently took a trip into the Altes Land, south west of Hamburg and along the Elbe River which protects the lowland farms and orchids from flooding with large earth mound dykes. It was a family trip and I managed to snap a pic of my step-father walking with my son up the dyke away from the river. Here’s the original:

Now looking at this pic, it’s not bad, but the people in the background tend to detract from what is essentially a private moment between a grandfather and his grandson.

So let’s run through the principles:
[On Location]
Subject – man and boy; Emphasise – well I couldn’t remove the people and had no time for a different angle; Simplify – crop using selective zoom to eliminate most of the people and create a tight focus on the man and boy.

It’s not a bad photo but it’s no winner either, so what to do?

[Development]
In this case I changed the principles order slightly. Now if this was film I would face some significant challenges because what needs to be done also needs to justify the time spent, and the value of the final image. Since we’re digital let jump right in.

1. Identify the subject

This is pretty straight forward and I handled most of what needs to be done, whilst taking the shot. (The line here is just for visual reference. In film, we’d first print a contact sheet then circle the subject of interest as a photo worth working on.)

2. Simplify the image

Now here’s where I changed the order slightly, I guess that’s ok as these are general guiding principles rather than a stepwise formula that needs to be rigorously followed.

To develop this image I used Photoshop as a digital darkroom. I duplicated the base image, so if I made a mistake I could delete the layer and start again.

Next, I selected the clone tool and selectively removed the people from the background – here you can still see some remanets on the right. I had to adjust the clone brush between 0% hardness and 100% hardness in order to take into account lighting effects, particularly between the body and arm of the man.

In order to fully tidy up this part of the image I made a selection of the area, feathered it, and then applied the clone tool. Adjusting the selection by growing and shrinking it, enabled me to better clean up the edges.

Lastly, I tidied up the grass edges so that they looked kind of realistic, not perfect but close enough.

Now in film this would have required touching up the negative with a very deft and fine hand, followed by some dodging and burning during the print making process.

3. Emphasize it

Now, for the last part, remember the grass? Well it was a little too distracting for my taste, so what to do? I decided to add some blur to the image to give a kind of dreamy impact and to minimise the background even more. I decided on a radial motion blur keeping the size very small and shifting the cental focus of the radial motion left of centre.

If we tried to do this in film, we would only have two options: use a soft focus filter or soft-spot filter when taking the shot; or apply a careful and judicious (hard to initiate and replicate) rotation of the print towards the end of its exposure.

So here’s the final result:

I think this is now a far more compelling image, and a lovely little portrait of my step-father and his grandson.

Well, that's all for now. We all strive to improve the shots we take. Sometimes it pays to look at what others are doing, as well as to consider the final image before taking the shot. In the mean time,
here’s looking at you… through the LENZ.
__________
Submitted by Tsc Tempest, DCA
On the web at www.tsctempest.com