I think all photographers, regardless of skill and experience level, have a desire to improve their work. People ask me regularly for tips that will help them take better photos, but there are already countless books and web articles offering quick photography tips and recipes to bring home the perfect shot. While it does help to have a trick or two up your sleeve and a few good lenses in your bag, the real necessity is your mind. Wait, don’t go…I didn’t say you need Albert Einstein’s mind. YOUR mind is what you need. Even if you don’t fancy yourself an artist, or a genius, I promise you have something to offer to the world of photography. The number one thing you can do to improve your photography is to keep trying until you find a frame that captures your experience of the subject, and what it meant to you. Don’t be satisfied with your first try, keep pushing! In this article I will show you some insight into my process of creating photographic art, and I hope it will give you the courage to push your snapshots to the next level.
I took this photo while wandering around the woods. I was attracted to the bright colors of the berries, and I thought it would make a nice macro photograph. Many people would stop here, it’s a nice photo. I knew it could be better, so I kept trying until I got the frame I wanted. I noticed some other branches of berries on the same bush, so I went to see what patterns I could make by changing my position. It’s amazing how the image can change when you change your angle.
This image came next. I liked it more than my first image, but it still wasn’t quite what I wanted. The yellow leaf in the top corner bothered me, and I thought the play between the two branches of berries could be more interesting. My macro lens doesn’t zoom, so all I’m doing at this point is watching, moving myself to slightly different positions and angles, checking the image in the viewfinder, watching, moving, etc. If I was using a zoom lens, I would also be moving closer to the berries and zooming to wide angle perspectives, then moving far away from the berries and zooming to telephoto perspectives to give different composition options. Wide angles make your subject look big and your background look small, telephoto angles compress the background.
Getting warm! This image was almost what I wanted. I liked the complementary angles of the two berry branches (note: these are the exact same berries as in the previous photo, the angle is different because I moved myself). I wanted deeper focus, though. And I thought the image was just a tiny bit too bright, maybe if it were a little darker the colors would look deeper. I adjusted my aperture to a higher number (higher number = deeper focus = smaller aperture) and changed my angle very slightly.
THIS was the image I wanted. You might agree with me that this is the best image, or you might prefer one of the others. You might think you could’ve photographed these berries in an even better way. Art is a subjective process, it’s okay to disagree. If you want to turn your snapshots into art, the key ingredient is thoughtfulness. Consider your images and decide if they could be better or different, and don’t be afraid to try new ideas. In fact, be afraid not to try.