Basic FACT
Let's get the Basic FACT correct.
In my future public workshops, I will be teaching my students to shoot Auto first (we have mostly dived straight into manual modes, so that we could get all technical with them). I now feel that in shooting auto first, the students will quickly notice their photo-taking skills improve immediately.
The reason I am doing that? It's because I want them to learn this simple FACT, Framing, Angles, Color and Tilting, correctly,... the basics of any beginners' photography.
Framing:
To know what to include in the picture and what not to. Many a times, I notice my beginner students include too many 'extras' in their compositions. Parked cars, nose-digging by-standers, sky, swimming pools at the back, life-guards, life-guard's sister-in-law, etc.
Take note of Picture No 2, I did not include ALL the cars on the left nor right of her, otherwise it will make Staphanie look as if she's a parking attendant.
Angle:
You should always take your photos from 'seldom-seen-before' angle.
What is the fun if you always stand straight, put the camera infront of your face and shoot? The shots that you get will be, well,... ho hum, oh-so-common and did we mention done-to-death?
My tip: for shooting portraiture, you will never get it wrong if you shoot the subject up to her waist level. Do remember that you should at a lower angle than the subject. You should almost always never be taller than the subject... this will make her look 'dwarfy'. Beware!
Note: Look at Staphanie's picture on the bottom left, notice how much she was of a higher angle compared to me?
Color:
Remember what we taught in classes about using complimentary color?
It's to know what color to 'put' in the picture so that it gives that visual excitement. Color brightens and adds dynamism to a photo. You do not know the basic of colors, your pictures will lack that attraction. Remember to pair the complimentary colours together and you'll do fine (see chart below).
Note how I put a orange frame on picture no 2 of Staphanie? It immediately brings your attention to this picture, doesn't it?
Also note what the off-green windows-sign did to picture No 1 of Staphanie's portrait above.
Tilting:
Tilted pictures will give the impression that your subject 'runs' into the frame, thus giving it that 'action' perception. You will realize that most of my photos are tilted, some even close to 40 degrees. But be warned, avoid anything more than that, really. I have seen one too many over-zealous beginners tilting their photos to the extend you can't tell if it's shot as a portrait or a landscape. Try printing or cropping those photos and you will understand the frustration.
Note: Look at the picture on the bottom right, you will notice that the venetian blinds play witness to how much I tilted the shot.
I used a Nikon P5000 prosumer to shoot the above photos of Staphanie. You see, with a simple camera like this, you cannot get to mess with ISO, Aperture, White Balance, Shutter settings, thus it compels you to only concentrate on using FACT to make your picture stunning, which is more important for beginners. Many users merely want to see their photos turn out nice, to begin with, without understanding the see-saw of aperture vs. shutter speed, the color temperature, etc. Let's get the FACT correctly done first,... :)
Article by: Andrew Boey, Director Of Nikon Academy, Malaysia
Model: Staphanie Mun of SGX Faces modeling agency
Location: Dentsu's foyer in Bukit Damansara
Camera used: Nikon P5000 on auto mode
|
|
