Look don't see
25th March 2012
I have been banging on about this for ages now. It is not only key to being a good photographer but essential for getting the most out of the world around you. I do not profess to have any exceptional ability in this area, sure I work at it, but I know I still pass countless gems without ever noticing them. Simply walking around with your eyes open is not enough; it is passive and to really see we need it to be an active endeavour.
Endeavour.. what does it mean? Try earnestly, effort directed to a goal. This is the nub of it, there is beauty all around us almost all of the time but it is swamped by ugliness or the mundane, often of mans creation; little has not been affected by man after all.
Another aspect we need to bring into the equation is emotion. How often have you been on holiday and come back with loads of photographs which, when you finally get to go through them are disappointing? You have been to somewhere new, the weather was good, work and the rest of the daily grind was forgotten and you felt good. Everywhere were new vistas and with the warm sun and relaxed feeling of the holidays you took pictures of … how you were feeling? It does not work, yes you enjoyed the holiday but now you have nothing tangible to refresh that memory. I have done it many times myself.
The problem is forgetting the basics of photography. A good photograph grabs the viewers attention, it does so by concentrating, just like orange juice the diluted squash is a poor substitute for the contents of a freshly squeezed fruit. The grand view is rarely that grand as a photograph, a print on a sheet of paper, even if it is of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or one of those dreamed of locations needs to be concentrated if it is to grab the viewer. A mile wide canyon is obviously impressive, a two inch wide gap on a piece of paper much less so. A friend once told me a good landscape picture required the photographer find a really good view and then put something even better in front of it. Simply put a photograph needs something of substance to grab the viewer.
I shall illustrate this with a few examples, the first were taken in Swithland Woods which is quite local to me. It’s a pretty enough spot but in the round not overly photographic however once one starts to look a bit closer it is much more attractive.
Here is a view along a pathway through the woods
pleasant yes but would you print this and enter it in a club competition or hang it on your living room wall? I doubt it, even with professional processing this would be mundane. So where is the picture? The first thing that appealed to me was the rotting stump, bottom left, better eh?
I started my walk just after dawn and the low sunlight was warm both in terms of the Kelvin and the thermometer but with the light pouring through tree branches with no leaves on them any photograph would inevitably suffer from distracting highlights above ground level. A broader woodland scene would be out of the question if shooting into the sun but the woods were aglow and I wanted to make some images of the scene.
The solution was to go in close and focus on the detail of the new leaves on the honeysuckle. Backlit the colours and texture shone through with the fine hairs sparkling. I enjoyed my time in the wood and have some lasting memories I can look back on when it’s drear winter and I need refreshing.
If you find it difficult to learn the skills of looking I would suggest two things, practice regularly and to get you started look through the viewfinder of your camera, use this to screen the surroundings from your gaze and move the camera slowly so that you have time to look at each new frame as it passes before your eyes. If you have a zoom lens than slowly zoom in and out as you do so. Eventually you will be able to look at small areas without using camera and lens like blinkers. Keep at it, you will be rewarded.
Endeavour.. what does it mean? Try earnestly, effort directed to a goal. This is the nub of it, there is beauty all around us almost all of the time but it is swamped by ugliness or the mundane, often of mans creation; little has not been affected by man after all.
Another aspect we need to bring into the equation is emotion. How often have you been on holiday and come back with loads of photographs which, when you finally get to go through them are disappointing? You have been to somewhere new, the weather was good, work and the rest of the daily grind was forgotten and you felt good. Everywhere were new vistas and with the warm sun and relaxed feeling of the holidays you took pictures of … how you were feeling? It does not work, yes you enjoyed the holiday but now you have nothing tangible to refresh that memory. I have done it many times myself.
The problem is forgetting the basics of photography. A good photograph grabs the viewers attention, it does so by concentrating, just like orange juice the diluted squash is a poor substitute for the contents of a freshly squeezed fruit. The grand view is rarely that grand as a photograph, a print on a sheet of paper, even if it is of the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, or one of those dreamed of locations needs to be concentrated if it is to grab the viewer. A mile wide canyon is obviously impressive, a two inch wide gap on a piece of paper much less so. A friend once told me a good landscape picture required the photographer find a really good view and then put something even better in front of it. Simply put a photograph needs something of substance to grab the viewer.
I shall illustrate this with a few examples, the first were taken in Swithland Woods which is quite local to me. It’s a pretty enough spot but in the round not overly photographic however once one starts to look a bit closer it is much more attractive.
Here is a view along a pathway through the woods
pleasant yes but would you print this and enter it in a club competition or hang it on your living room wall? I doubt it, even with professional processing this would be mundane. So where is the picture? The first thing that appealed to me was the rotting stump, bottom left, better eh?
I started my walk just after dawn and the low sunlight was warm both in terms of the Kelvin and the thermometer but with the light pouring through tree branches with no leaves on them any photograph would inevitably suffer from distracting highlights above ground level. A broader woodland scene would be out of the question if shooting into the sun but the woods were aglow and I wanted to make some images of the scene.
The solution was to go in close and focus on the detail of the new leaves on the honeysuckle. Backlit the colours and texture shone through with the fine hairs sparkling. I enjoyed my time in the wood and have some lasting memories I can look back on when it’s drear winter and I need refreshing.
If you find it difficult to learn the skills of looking I would suggest two things, practice regularly and to get you started look through the viewfinder of your camera, use this to screen the surroundings from your gaze and move the camera slowly so that you have time to look at each new frame as it passes before your eyes. If you have a zoom lens than slowly zoom in and out as you do so. Eventually you will be able to look at small areas without using camera and lens like blinkers. Keep at it, you will be rewarded.
