Photography isn’t (unfortunately) all about pulling out your camera, turning it on, and taking the perfect picture. Unfortunately, and despite how automatic today’s cameras are, it is a little bit more than that.
What’s that? You just point and shoot? Well, OK. Sometimes, I do that too. Eh? You get fantastic pictures that way? Well, yes. I do, too. Really? That’s all there is to it? And yes, again I agree with you. Sometimes, that’s all there is to it.
But sometimes, not.
You see, if you are in a hurry, the shot is what matters. Get it. Whatever it takes, get it. If there is some momentous event happening right now, just. get. the shot. Hopefully your camera is at the ready and you can get good old Uncle Harry falling into the lake. The camera you have likely will get that shot perfectly. (Golden Takoff was just such a shot: it was happening just out of my line of sight. I heard the action happening because I was paying attention, and was able to adjust my camera quickly, turn and capture this shot. I knew my equipment, in other words.)
But when you are looking for an artistic shot–one that makes people sit back and take notice, you need to think artistically. Look around you and the scene–notice the details that make awesome pictures. Where is the light coming from? Where are the shadows? What do you want to emphasize, and what would you rather leave out? It is by paying attention to these small details that help you create that most perfect shot.
The simplest, easiest way to do this is to simply look through your viewfinder. If you have a camera that doesn’t have a viewfinder, the idea is the same: just look at how the image looks on the screen on the back of the camera. Now, here’s the point of this entry: move the camera a bit and look at the image. Be critical: if you move the camera left, does the image become stronger? Or maybe does it look a little weaker? What about left? Up? Down? These simple checks will help you compose the image to be as strong as it can be.
This doesn’t mean this should take forever. In fact, a quick sweep is usually all it takes and after a while you’ll notice that you don’t even look through the viewfinder anymore. You’ll simply see the scene before you in terms of composition and almost automatically select the best vantage point.
Of course, there is more to composition than this. We’ll leave that topic for another day.
Happy Shooting
