Monday 27 February 2006

Photography is hard work...



Is photography hard work? Well, I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that I'm going to find out real soon. Photography has certain rules that we need to follow to make the pictures that we take even better. These rules are like rules when you follow whenever you do a website and so on, and some rules are pretty basic, however it is important to follow each and every one of them properly... So here are some thing that I found on Photoinf.com. Make sure you remember for the next time you are going to take pictures (these can be handy when you are taking pictures)


1. The rule of thirds- This is one of the key rules that many professional photographers use (or that's what I've been told). This is also helpful while doing graphic designing (that's why pro graphic designers say that it's always better to set guides before you start).
In this rule all you do is make sure the focus point that you are trying to capture is in the center of any of the thirds If you wan't illustrations of what I mean you can look through this page... I think they did an excellent job in explaining what needs to be done.
This way your eyes always follow the important points that are intended to be looked at (you get the idea right...). Plus it gives differentiates the amateur photographs from the photographs that professionals take.

2. Keep it simple- Keeping it simple is apparently called simplicity by the pro's. But hey, I'm not a pro, so I'll stick to using things that stick to my mind... In this basic rule all you do is keep unnecessary stuff out of the picture... Hence I call it keep it simple.
If you have too many things in one picture, it loses the effect. You can go through this page for more examples.
Here's a simple example: Instead of taking picture of your family in front of some tourist destination, take a picture (or take another picture if you wish) of the monument (I'll use 'monument' as an example here) on it's own, keeping in mind the rule of thirds. This way your picture is going to come out better. Besides you don't need a picture of your family... You see them everyday anyways.

3. Balance and Composition- This rule might be confusing, but all you need to understand is that you are looking of something interesting in the picture, that is going to interest somebody who is looking at your picture (make sure it isn't boring). And you make this interesting there are some thing that you can do, such as set it up in a different way (or abstract way) or set it up in a geometrical shape and so on. Just pay this page a visit and before you know it you'll have a complete understanding of this concept.

4. diagonal Lines and Discussion-Whenever you take a picture try to make sure that you're thing (or person) that you are trying to capture, is diagonal, which basically means that you are trying to make the viewers eyes going the way the picture is angled. Simple eh? Well, if you want to get more in depth understanding of this then make sure you read through this page

5. Framing- No by the way I'm not talking about real frames, or framing someone. I'm talking about this trick in photography, that is used to give more depth (to separate the focal point and the foreground). So that the person who views the photograph gets a sense of what he/she has to look at and a good foreground.

6. There are many other rules that I've not covered in here, but I'm sure you can find more rules here and here, and many other places on the net.

7. The camera and how you use it- This is pretty obvious, the camera that you use has a real big impact on the picture. If your camera is good that you are going to have good quality pictures and if it isn't than you're picture isn't going to be all that good (especially if you're planning to make it bigger for prints and so on). The settings of the camera is also very important, for example the exposure and the flash and so on, so make sure you know how to tweak those settings, so that you can get the best pictures possible. And one more thing try to get your hands on a tripod. I don't know about you but whenever I take my pictures, they seem to be a little blurry, which isn't good (of course!) so I highly recommend a tripod if you can get your hands one... and there' more things that are pretty self explanatory (such as set your camera to the right setting, if possible) the list just goes on and on...

Now I hope you realize (just like I did a while ago) that if you see any picture, there is a lot of hard work going in making it. Hopefully you too can remember all these rules and use them when you're taking a photograph!
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