If you are going to use your camera for more than just recording snapshots you will have to start looking at the creative possibilities of your images. There are loads of creative and visionary ideas that you will pick up on your photographic road. Most of these are beyond this article.
Having said that, here are a few things to look out for.
This idea is called the rule of thirds and has been used by artists and photographers for almost ever. Most people look at their subject and then place the most important aspect slap bang in the middle. BOOOOOOOOORING.
Next time that you take a photograph try to imagine your frame broken up into nine rectangles. Think of two lines horizontally, and two lines vertically breaking up the frame into nine. Think tic-tac-toe. Some cameras have a programme that you can turn on which shows the tic-tac-toe lines on the view finder. Instead of placing your subject dead centre try placing it along the lines or even better where the lines meet.This should give you a much more pleasing and aesthetic picture.
Another tip which speaks for itself so I won’t go into any more detail than to say,“Get in as close as you can to the subject”
All rules are made to be broken. Often breaking the rules turns a half decent picture into a work of art. Use the rules as a guide line. You can get marvellous pictures without using these rules at all. Be creative in your thinking and you will take pictures that people will know were taken by you.
After I have composed my shot, I made sure that I don’t have lamp posts or trees coming out of peoples heads, that my subject isn’t the same colour, or if using monochrome the same tone as the background, before I press the button I quickly skirt around the edges of the view finder looking for litter or any other body that I do not want in my picture. To do this takes only a second – a lot less time than it does to edit it out.
The photograph that accompanies this article I took with a zoom lens from about a mile and a half away. The mountain is Scafell, England’s second highest.I was balanced on a small ridge and took the picture hand held.
