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Power of the Elements- Amateur Photographer
The art of producing a good photograph needs to follow certain guidelines. It is never the case of just turning up at a chosen location, or finding a suitable subject and just shooting away. Thought and consideration have to come into play, otherwise we end up with a mundane picture, instead of one with bags of impact.
This impact can be achieved in many ways. It may be the use of strong colour dominating the picture or the sheer beauty of a breathtaking vista, though it can even be a simple view, if given that impact with good use of composition. Unusual perspective can also give a simple subject greater impact and it is the ability to ‘see’ the potential in the subject in order to exploit it.
Many of the pictures that I have taken which have a good impact, are not the initial shots of the subject and this transpires to both a location that I have discovered myself or perhaps that I have previously seen in a magazine. It’s only on closer inspection that I may find that slightly better viewpoint or composition, which gives a much stronger picture and ultimately a shot with more impact. So it’s important to view your subject from all vantage points, as it’s not always the first one that will work the best.
Using colour is a simple way to create impact. Our brains are automatically programmed to pick up on any dramatic change in harmony of tones and therefore a strong colour will catch our eye, so you need to be aware of how certain colours in a scene will affect the overall picture. That said, colours of equal shades that create a sense of harmony, can also have impact. The simplicity of this kind of use of colour, gives you that added impact.
The clever use of lines in your composition is another guaranteed way of giving your pictures that extra boost. These can be simple straight lines, leading the eye into the picture or a series of lines creating a pattern. They can also be curved, sweeping lines or even square shapes, again creating a pattern, but all these different use of lines can work in your use of composition.
Once you have decided on your composition then let light be the key to adding impact. We all know that the best light generally happens at the beginning and end of the day, when the sun is low in the sky, creating its unique warm quality that transforms a scene. Often this is all that is needed to lift your picture and add some impact, so returning to a location at a different time of the day can reward you with that perfect shot. Understanding how light will transform a subject, is a big step to achieving better pictures.
Don’t forget however, that the more harsh light of midday can often work just as well with the right subject and is a good example of how breaking the rules of general photography can work from time to time. Also, if the light shining on your subject lacks the necessary impact you are looking for then maybe you should try to shoot into the light instead. This is a more difficult way of capturing a scene, but done correctly, back lighting a subject can help emphasise shape and form and strong silhouettes can be very spectacular.
Arriving at a location with cloudy skies is always disheartening and it’s easy to start wishing for clear blue skies instead. However, if the weather is changeable, then this can work to your advantage and it’s important to anticipate how the weather is going to affect your photograph. The brief bursts of sunshine after a sudden downpour is the kind of light that gives you those fantastic stormy clouds in the background of your picture, with your subject spot-lit, for what maybe only a few moments of perfect light. It’s those few minutes though that will give your pictures the kind of impact that a clear sky cannot compete with.
Don’t forget that once the sun has finally set, a new light source is available, which can totally change a scene. I’m talking of course about the artificial light available at night. This is obviously more difficult to foresee and a recce beforehand is usually needed to find a suitable subject or location. You’ll often find the right subject is the one that you will have walked straight passed during the day and it’s only at night that the subject comes alive.
Introducing water into the scene is another good way of adding some impact, especially if you make use of its reflective qualities, to mirror the scene. Adding some movement into the shot can also add some welcome drama. You could combine a long shutter speed with the water feature and give it a soft look, which works well with waterfall shots or you could go for the opposite and use a fast shutter speed and freeze the water in its tracks. This portrayal of movement can extend to other elements as well, including the gentle sway of crops in a field, capturing an animal in full flight or even the movement of the clouds in the sky.
Knowing when to crop your pictures is also a useful way to improve your pictures. Even if the initial scene looked good when you took the picture, you may find that later when you get home, the shot can be further improved with some selective cropping. With the increased popularity of the panoramic format and panoramic cameras themselves, this cropping technique can even be done at the picture taking stage. Not all subjects work with this format however, but find a subject that does and the format helps the eye concentrat e on the key elements of a scene, thus producing a shot with lots of impact.
The use of filters can greatly increase the look and feel of a picture, so look at how these can enhance your subject. An important point to make here, is that subtly is the key and it should never be obvious to the viewer that a filter has been used. The polariser is one of main filters that can add impact to your pictures, as it can boost the colours, increase saturation in the sky and reduce glare. Warming filters are also useful, as a warm feel to a picture is generally much more pleasing than a cool one. Choose these carefully though, as you can still evoke a lot of atmosphere into a scene with muted cold colours, especially if taken at dawn. Lastly, I would recommend neutral density graduates, which can hold back the light and keep the drama in the sky, whilst keeping the necessary detail in the foreground.
Careful choice of lens focal length can make a dramatic change on the look of a picture, either by including vital elements with a wide angle and giving a large angle of view or by fitting a telephoto and cropping in on the subject and excluding any unwanted distractions. The telephoto can also be used to change perspective and compress the scene, which can give a greater sense of depth and can be vital to certain subjects. Telephotos are also useful for creating the more abstract shot, which takes a keen eye to spot, as they can appear in the most unlikely subjects.
Simplicity is often the key to adding impact to your shots and by using some of these examples to make a  shot work, it’s easy to transform an ordinary shot into one that has that WOW factor.
© Craig Roberts
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