Zen Photography 2 - Being At One With Your Image
When I was young, my mother was very much into hand built pottery.
She became pretty good at it and started attending more and more Arts and Crafts shows.
To get into the bigger, well known shows you had to send pictures of your work in advance for the promoters to decide if your work was good enough to be in their show.
Quite often there were several people (a jury of judges) that would determine the quality of your work based on the quality of your photos.
My mother was good at pottery.
She was not good at photography.
She kept getting rejected to the really big shows she wanted to go to.
She was getting rather discouraged.
Enter the young ambitious son, wanting to help his mother.
I asked her to let me try.
She agreed.
I looked at the pictures she had taken, outside on the front porch.
We lived in Arizona at the time, and she often came home on her lunch hour to take these shots.
As you may have guessed there was far too much contrast in the light she was using.
There was no detail in her pictures, and since detail was what the judges were looking for, she was having problems.
The other thing I noticed was the background.
We lived in a small apartment complex.
Sometimes it was just a wall; sometimes it included the neighbor's front door.
One shot had a really cool spider web, glistening in the background.
But it was too cool; your eye kept going to the web, not the pot you were supposed to be looking at.
I say these things not to embarrass my mother, because she did have a fine eye for detail.
Her pots really were very unique and beautiful; but she was only focused on the subject.
To young women who tell me, "Oh, I don't take very good pictures," my response is always the same.
"That's why I'm taking the picture.
A photographer can make an average girl look like Miss America or make Miss America look like an average girl.
It's not the subject that takes a great photo, it's the photographer.
Give me a chance.
" It is said that the tip of an iceberg represents only about 10% of what's really there.
That means that 90% of it lies just below the surface.
I'm willing to state that a great photo is much the same.
If you don't consider things like: background, line, texture, lighting, contrast, size, shape, balance, and depth of field...
you are only focused on 10% of the shot.
In the example I already gave above let's consider the other 90% of the shot.
Background - as mentioned it can be supportive or distracting.
In this case, it needed to be extremely neutral.
I used a plan earth tone sheet against the wall.
Line - In either the foreground or background can be very distracting (remember the spider web?) Don't include elements, like say a rustic old wagon wheel that may actually draw more attention than the subject itself.
Texture - Wanting to show great detail means having more depth of field.
I always shot her work with an f-22 and then adjusted the speed as it was needed.
Lighting - lighting has to compliment the subject, not overwhelm it.
Although I still shot outside, I often used a flash.
But also be aware of unwanted shadows.
Contrast - Obviously this is related to lighting.
Anything that can control the lighting can control the type of contrast in the shot as well.
Example: Bounce your Flash, Diffuse your flash, shoot in the shadows, but use reflectors, etc.
Size - If you are trying to show a pot that is 18 inches tall, don't shoot a scene that shows 3 feet of space.
Get in close.
Leave inches as borders, NOT feet! Shape - If a pot is tall and skinny shoot vertical.
If a pot is wide and long shoot horizontal.
The viewfinder must match the general shape as the subject.
This works for people too!! Balance - Usually with a single object, dead center is not necessarily bad.
But you can also shoot looking down on the subject or looking up at the subject.
You can shoot standing to the left of center, to the right of center, or even right at center.
Your position relative to the subject is going to determine if the image feels balanced.
Depth of Field - As mentioned in texture, it depends how much you really want to show.
If you choose a small depth of field (to try to blur the background for example), make sure the main subject is actually the part in focus.
These are only a few of the things to consider, besides your subject.
This is what makes the difference between being a great photographer and someone who just owns a great camera.
Regardless of how expensive or complex your camera may be, it is the interaction between the photographer, the subject and the universe that makes a great shot.
Being "at one" with your subject not only means recognizing details on the subject itself; (hair, skin tone, clothing, etc.
) but all the other things going on around and related to the subject.
She became pretty good at it and started attending more and more Arts and Crafts shows.
To get into the bigger, well known shows you had to send pictures of your work in advance for the promoters to decide if your work was good enough to be in their show.
Quite often there were several people (a jury of judges) that would determine the quality of your work based on the quality of your photos.
My mother was good at pottery.
She was not good at photography.
She kept getting rejected to the really big shows she wanted to go to.
She was getting rather discouraged.
Enter the young ambitious son, wanting to help his mother.
I asked her to let me try.
She agreed.
I looked at the pictures she had taken, outside on the front porch.
We lived in Arizona at the time, and she often came home on her lunch hour to take these shots.
As you may have guessed there was far too much contrast in the light she was using.
There was no detail in her pictures, and since detail was what the judges were looking for, she was having problems.
The other thing I noticed was the background.
We lived in a small apartment complex.
Sometimes it was just a wall; sometimes it included the neighbor's front door.
One shot had a really cool spider web, glistening in the background.
But it was too cool; your eye kept going to the web, not the pot you were supposed to be looking at.
I say these things not to embarrass my mother, because she did have a fine eye for detail.
Her pots really were very unique and beautiful; but she was only focused on the subject.
To young women who tell me, "Oh, I don't take very good pictures," my response is always the same.
"That's why I'm taking the picture.
A photographer can make an average girl look like Miss America or make Miss America look like an average girl.
It's not the subject that takes a great photo, it's the photographer.
Give me a chance.
" It is said that the tip of an iceberg represents only about 10% of what's really there.
That means that 90% of it lies just below the surface.
I'm willing to state that a great photo is much the same.
If you don't consider things like: background, line, texture, lighting, contrast, size, shape, balance, and depth of field...
you are only focused on 10% of the shot.
In the example I already gave above let's consider the other 90% of the shot.
Background - as mentioned it can be supportive or distracting.
In this case, it needed to be extremely neutral.
I used a plan earth tone sheet against the wall.
Line - In either the foreground or background can be very distracting (remember the spider web?) Don't include elements, like say a rustic old wagon wheel that may actually draw more attention than the subject itself.
Texture - Wanting to show great detail means having more depth of field.
I always shot her work with an f-22 and then adjusted the speed as it was needed.
Lighting - lighting has to compliment the subject, not overwhelm it.
Although I still shot outside, I often used a flash.
But also be aware of unwanted shadows.
Contrast - Obviously this is related to lighting.
Anything that can control the lighting can control the type of contrast in the shot as well.
Example: Bounce your Flash, Diffuse your flash, shoot in the shadows, but use reflectors, etc.
Size - If you are trying to show a pot that is 18 inches tall, don't shoot a scene that shows 3 feet of space.
Get in close.
Leave inches as borders, NOT feet! Shape - If a pot is tall and skinny shoot vertical.
If a pot is wide and long shoot horizontal.
The viewfinder must match the general shape as the subject.
This works for people too!! Balance - Usually with a single object, dead center is not necessarily bad.
But you can also shoot looking down on the subject or looking up at the subject.
You can shoot standing to the left of center, to the right of center, or even right at center.
Your position relative to the subject is going to determine if the image feels balanced.
Depth of Field - As mentioned in texture, it depends how much you really want to show.
If you choose a small depth of field (to try to blur the background for example), make sure the main subject is actually the part in focus.
These are only a few of the things to consider, besides your subject.
This is what makes the difference between being a great photographer and someone who just owns a great camera.
Regardless of how expensive or complex your camera may be, it is the interaction between the photographer, the subject and the universe that makes a great shot.
Being "at one" with your subject not only means recognizing details on the subject itself; (hair, skin tone, clothing, etc.
) but all the other things going on around and related to the subject.
