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Wildlife and Adventure Photography
Observation and Composition Ep 1: The observation skill that changes every photograph
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Foreign. Hello, and welcome to another podcast. Now, have you ever wondered how two people can stand in the same place at the same time and come away with completely different photographs? Well, if you have, welcome to this episode. In fact, this short series of four episodes where I'm going to be looking at how you can train yourself to get strong observation skills and then combine those with good composition to start producing photographs that are really compelling. So if that appeals to you, please stay with me. And also please remember to like and subscribe. Tell all your friends, and you can even buy me a coffee if you'd really like to, if you feel I've earned it. So where we're going to start is to really look at the first part of this. This is observation skills. This is what happens before you get remotely close to pressing the shutter button. It's how we observe what's around us, how we observe our subject. And if you've listened to the episode on the Visual Storyteller, which was a while ago now, but it's a term that I use quite regularly when I'm training, and simply what I mean by that is the Visual Storyteller is looking at the subject, but in photographing the subject, they are also using the background to provide context and provide support for the subject. So in other words, they're looking at the whole frame, not just looking at the subject and hoping the rest sorts itself out. So one of the frustrations that I know a lot of people have, and you may well have experienced that, is when you look at a photograph, it really doesn't match what it was like to be there. It doesn't match what it felt like. And this frustration, if you've had that experience, it isn't really about the gear you're using or the settings that you've chosen. It's much more about how you're selecting what you shoot. So it's about how you're observing the scene and how you're choosing what to include in the frame. And I think where the problems start for a lot of people is they're not really thinking about the whole frame. They're simply looking. You get fixated on the subject and that's it. You kind of hope everything else will take care of itself. So by the end of this short lesson, so I'm trying to keep these episodes to around 20 minutes, you will have a better understanding about what good photographers notice and why their photographs have far more impact. So the first thing to understand is that a camera will record everything. So wherever you point it, it's going to just record whatever is coming in, hitting the sensor. That's it. So as a photographer, it's up to us to decide what makes up that photograph. We choose by how we look at the relationship between the subject and the background. For example, how we use lighting, how we use space, even timing, to create an image that has a lot more impact and really draws the viewer in. So when people start with photography, they just think about the subject, but they're not looking at what else is around. So the difference really is if you're photographing a person in the street, that would be how a beginner photographer would be looking at that particular subject. It's a person in the street. Once you get a bit more experienced and once you start developing your observational skills and with a photographer's lens on, if you like, it's about that person, that subject being shaped by light, how they're interacting with their background, what does that background contribute to the context of that person, the overall story, can it create impact? Can it provide information? But we're looking at a lot more than simply, there's a person, they're in the street, that's the photo. Equally, when you're looking at wildlife, it could be, you know, photograph of a bird. If I'm photographing an animal in the wild, I'm thinking obviously of the animal, but I'm looking at its context. I'm looking at what's the message? What's the feeling? Is this animal. Excuse me, Is this animal a threat to me? Is it resting? What is it I'm trying to convey? Because there'll be something about that subject that I want to record, that I want to share with other people. And that's the whole point of taking the photograph. So taking a photograph is not just necessarily recording an animal or a person, but it's about conveying something about that animal, that person, that situation to the viewer. So this, you can think of it as photojournalism, if you like. This is where a photograph tells a story. But this is a really good discipline and a really good approach to adopt when you are taking photographs, because it starts to lead you towards shooting much more interesting photographs. So just to dive into this in a little bit more, let's look at. These are the observation cues. So these are not necessarily hard and fast rules. Again, with. When you're doing anything creative, there are definitely guidelines, but that's all they are. Because one of the aspects of creativity is to break the rules. So I tend not to talk about rules so much as I'LL talk about guidelines, and you may or may not choose to use them for a given subject. So rule of thirds, for example. Got the word rule in it? You may choose to use it because it's a really useful composition technique. And it creates interesting photographs than when you just plonk your subject in the center of the frame. But equally, you can do variations on that approach. So you're not limited to all the thirds. There are certainly other rules you can use. So the golden ratio, things like that. It's about choosing what's right or what feels right. Even more importantly, what feels right about a particular composition, about a particular subject. So when it comes to light, we're looking at light direction. How about light on the front of the subject versus a side light or a backlight? Each of those will give a different effect. And if you're not sure about that, or if you want to experiment that, just set something up where you've got a fixed light, you've got a subject, and you just move the light around. So keep the subject and the camera in the same place and just try different shots with the light coming from a different direction. Understand why light from the side and backlights can create a variation of form. They definitely have a different impact. They have a different feel to them. So light is the first thing to think about when you're putting your shot together. You can hear me turning my page, so I have notes here. The next thing is subject separation. So what I mean by that is the difference between the subject and other elements in the image. So the first thing I would say is, again, as a general rule, a general guideline is you want a clear subject. You want to have a clear, strong subject. It must be obvious what the viewer is expecting to be looking at and actually interacting with. Because in my opinion, the best photographs are the ones where we have an emotional connection with it. Maybe an emotional response. It could be happiness, it could be anger. It doesn't really matter what it is. But the fact is that you've elicited an emotional response. Says that you've got a strong image. So how do you start to build up that inner composition? So you're looking at the contrast, contrast between your subject and the background. Your subject might be relatively dark against a bright background, or it might be the reverse. It can be distance. How far away is your subject from your background? And in many ways, the further back the background is or other elements are, then the more the subject will tend to stand out. Particularly if you're using depth of field as A way of really drawing the viewer's eye to the subject. Think about differences in color. If you switch to black and white, you're now looking at tones. You're looking at shapes, you're looking at. You're looking at textures. So black and white will deliver a different feel to the final image. So all of these are good things to start to be aware of. They'll help you create images with much stronger impact. The thing I would definitely suggest that you avoid is to have a cluttered background. So this comes down to observation. It's about observing what's going on around you and also how you're using the frame to tell the story of the subject. So that moves us on to edges in the frame. So what's happening at the edges? What's happening around the edge of the frame? Are you cutting limbs off? Do you have bright corners? Have you got bits of objects that get distracting? Also think if you're shooting in color, you can get strong colors on the edge of an image, and they can draw the viewer's eye away from the subject. So in the same way that you would use leading lines as a way of drawing the viewer's eye from one edge to the. Towards the subject, be also conscious of strong colors around the edges of the frame, because that can draw. They can be a distraction. They can draw the viewer's eye away from the subject. So again, be aware of any distractions that are in the. That you're seeing in the viewfinder, and they're the things to visually crop. So in other words, just change your perspective, maybe zoom differently, maybe change your position so that those elements are no longer in the frame. Also, be aware of gesture and movement. So think about this as timing over framing. So in many ways, this is even more important, I would say, because if you're photographing behavior, the key thing is to actually get the photograph. Because if you concentrating too much on how the frame looks, how the. How the image is, how the subject is framed, and something happens and you're just not ready for it, then you've kind of blown that one. And it's far better to get the shot and then crop it later or go to post if you have to. So that's all good. And again, things that are happening when you do have motion, when you have something happening in the image, it creates a much more engaging image, even if you've frozen the action. And I'm thinking, I had a guest on a few weeks ago now, and one of the photographs was amazing. It was a cheetah chasing down some, an impala, but they just happen to be in the right place at the right time. And often this is what happens. And they were able to get the shot and they froze everything, but clearly everything was happening. There was a lot of movement in this image and to me it was one of the most dramatic images I've seen recently. So be conscious of that. Think about what is going on and how do you convey that, how all of these movement can definitely add impact to an image. Okay, so having said all of that, how you reach that point, how do you get to that stage where you're in a position to create these kind of shots, to frame them? So these are, I'm going to say these are. They're common mistakes that people make, but they're kind of normal because everyone does it. But they're just things to be aware of. So the first one is just photographing everything. That's interesting, having too much in the frame. It's far better to limit your shots so you've got one interesting thing per shot, one subject, one story, if you like, in the frame. Rather than have too many ideas in the, in the one shot that just becomes confusing. What is the viewer supposed to be looking at? Another thing is standing still. It's shooting at eye level. That's what most people do. So one of the best things you can do is either just change your position, step forward, step back, crouch down low, find a higher vantage point, but just get an angle that creates a different viewpoint. One of the things, one of the tips I share, if I'm in a four wheel drive or even in one of these safari vehicles that have the sort of enclosed around the side, but they have the roof that lifts up, you can pretty much guarantee that the moment the driver stops to look at an animal, pretty much everyone is going to be standing up and trying to get that shot looking down onto the animal. The best thing you can do is to let them do their thing. Get down low. I always crouch between the sheets because usually there's a little window, sliding window, and I'll pop my lens out there because I'm as close to eye level with the animals I can get. So it's another good thing to think about. If you generally shoot just in a standing position, experiment with different positions, start looking at how that changes the feel of that image, how it changes the relationship with the subject. And don't be afraid to move around, change your vantage point. Another mistake is falling in love with the subject and not the photograph. So in other words, People get caught up in the subject, but they're not thinking about how they're photographing it. And this is where you can get this situation that I mentioned earlier where you've got an image but it doesn't feel the way you remembered it. In other words, you know, it's where you get that comment where you're thinking, well, it was amazing in real life, but looking at this, it's pretty ordinary. So this is about again, being conscious of what's in the frame, thinking about what you're doing, how you're using light, how you're using other composition aspects in the frame, and how can you convey the emotional connection that you're feeling which is driving you to take the image in the first place. So, and we will get into this later in the art, but this is. These are important mistakes to identify early on. Don't rely on cropping. Look, cropping isn't your rescue. It really is a refinement. As I say, you might need to shoot just to get the image and then crop to it. Kind of tidy things up. But it. Cropping should be the fine tuning aspect of what you're shooting. You shouldn't be just blasting away and relying on cropping to fix it all, because that just won't work. You'll begin to see that you can't actually get the. The kind of composition that really has impact because you've got distracting things or there are things out of frame that would really make a big difference. So do get into the habit of almost cropping through the viewfinder. This was a discipline I had to train myself in in the days of film. And with training I did back in the, the early 2000s was to basically crop through the viewfinder. So when I pressed the shutter button, that was the end of that particular image. However it was, it stayed like that. So that again is a good. Maybe a thing to just try out. Just don't allow yourself to do any cropping once you've taken the shot. Just as an exercise, just do all of your cropping visually in the viewfinder or on the display on the back and that's it. Once you've taken the shot, no more editing. Now there are some practical things you can do. I'm just looking at. So I've given you some ideas anyway just to start developing these skills. Because once you develop them, you're. The more you practice, the better you get. The more you'll be aware of the light, the more you'll be aware of how small change in position on your Part can make a big difference to the overall composition. So here are some exercises for you. I've got a couple for you. So one of them is to just do a walk for 10 minutes without your camera and just mentally frame scenes. Just look at what's around you, but observe. So I work with a group here in Sydney. We're observers and this is really the underlying philosophy. It's that we're observers first and photographers second. But by being observers, we're actually really looking at what's there. So go for a walk, just 10 minutes, have a look around, mentally frame scenes, start really looking what's there and think about what you would remove, what you would include, perhaps why you would include it. Think about, you know, what the, the impact would be. And another one that is really good to have is the one subject rule. So I've mentioned the rule again, but I do recommend this one. So one scene, one photograph, just one idea. And if you can't describe it in one sentence, then don't shoot it. There's too much there. You need to just rethink your composition. So the bottom line here, in this first episode, the big takeaway is just to slow things down and to think about what you're shooting and why and how you can begin to use the basic elements that we, as photographers, we're capturing light, essentially. And that's the thing to, to be aware of. So observation comes before composition. Composition starts before framing. So think about what you're framing. And basically good photographs are chosen. They don't just happen. You, you are deliberate about the photographs you're shooting. So once you start observing more clearly, another problem shows up. So even when you notice something interesting, the photograph can still fail. So in the next episode, I'm going to look at or talk through why certain compositions fail and the fix that you can use that most people miss. So remember, the camera doesn't teach you how to see. It's about practice and it's about practicing observation. So hope you found that useful. Hope you got some useful takeaways there. And I will speak to you again on Friday when the next episode comes out and we'll move the series on. Okay? So have a good week, enjoy the exercises and I will speak to you in the next podcast. Bye for now. Just before I go, please remember to take a look at the website www.ge.photography because there are various things going on, including mini workshops. Also, join the mailing list because then you won't have to look. I'll let you know myself. So thanks again for listening. And I'll speak to you next time. Bye for now.