Hello fellow Dutchblitz readers, OMSH here. I’ve been graced with the job of fillin’ in on Foto Friday. Not wanting to disappoint, I’m going to continue the theme of the day and talk about photos too.

Now, now…give me a chance.

Yes, you in the front - stop rolling your eyes.

No, seriously…stop - you’ll get a headache when I slap you silly.

Though I might not know all the inner workings of my camera (shhhh, don’t tell anyone), I do know a thing or two about how to best point and shoot - which is what I want to talk about today.

Anyone can participate in today’s lesson - whether you’re sporting a disposable camera (though you really should stop that) or you just invested more than my monthly income on a whole camera outfit.

There’s a little secret not all photographers will tell you…are you listening?

Lean in closely.

It isn’t the camera, but the photographer, that delivers a good shot.

Yep, that’s right.

Today we’re gonna talk about how NOT to take photos, and by default, you’ll get a few how to’s out of the gamut.

Let’s get it on on with it already…

1. Stop thinking of yourself as anything less than a PHOTOGRAPHER. YOU are taking a picture, right? By every standard I know, that makes YOU the photographer. Embrace it and BE the photographer. One of the major differences between a “professional” photo and an “amateur” photo is the composition.

I find that with the prevalance of photo-editing software being so widely available and somewhat affordable, a lot of people have forgotten that the photo is not “made” in Photoshop, but instead, it is made at the point of capture. That’s right. Frame your photo in your mind first. Imagine what you want the outcome to be and take THAT photo.

Yes, it IS that easy.

Let me give you an example.

I took this photo of my Grandpa a couple of years ago. I did not have to crop the photo post-shoot. I framed it at the point of capture, knowing that he would be my focal point with the background fading away into nothing.

This photo sings a song of my Grandpa. He has aged, he has grown more and more quiet now that my Grandma has passed away, he is hard of hearing, he has deep thoughts, and he is in the blue coveralls I’ve seen him wear since my childhood. The photo was MADE before it ever hit Photoshop.

What did I do with this photo in Photoshop? I gave a tad bit more light it was an extremely grey day and sharpened it.

The photo, as I said, was composed way before software touched it. The essential figure is my Grandpa. I focused on him, swung right just a bit to gather some depth with the landscape, and clicked.

And though I like this next photo because I can see ALL of my Grandpa, and his walking cane, it doesn’t sing choruses to me like the one before. Thankfully, he’s not right smack dab in the middle and staring at me with a forced grin, but still, it doesn’t rival the photo above. It is a snapshot, not a composition.

Let me give another example of composition versus a snapshot.

This is a snapshot of my daughter on the trampoline. Now, mind you…trampoline shots are not easy to frame, BUT in this photo I used a flash (it was dark) and she’s framed right in the dead center of the photo (boring*yawn*).

Here’s a composition, not a snapshot, taken a bit earlier in that same hour when the light was still decent.

The difference isn’t subtle when you pay attention. Composition makes a photo interesting; makes people linger. A composition tells a story while a snapshot gives a glimpse.

2. Don’t live and die by the flash. As you can see above, natural light goes a long way toward turning out an interesting or beautiful photo. Flash is a killer. Not only does flash turn people into red-eyed zombies, it also casts an unflattering, unnatural flat sheen on your subject.

Photos are supposed to capture what we see in real life, right? When we are “framed” by the day’s light our faces are subject to overhead lighting or the sun’s light if we’re outside; it is mostly indirect, letting the shadows fall where they may.

Flash is intrusive, removing natural depth and shadows and forcing a flat, depth-free light on everything in its wake. It is sort of a radial bombardment of the blahs.

If you want more interesting photos, avoid the flash. Use natural light when possible, or allow for the environmental light to mark the hour. This means, at times, you’ll have to stabilize your camera for a longer shutter time, but it will be well worth it.

Here’s an example of a short range flash photo.

Jenny and Jessica are gonna kill me for posting this one.

Heh heh.

This photo was taken at the Real Simple dinner at Blogher ‘07. I was snapping off shots of these two doing their boob stances as fast as I could, knowing full well they weren’t compositions; they were blackmail. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, no?

The picture above, like the one below, is hysterical - I’m thankful I have both of them, but wouldn’t spend a minute cleaning them up. If it weren’t for these two and their oddly entertaining antics, and the fact that I was there and can remember and laugh at with these fine ladies, this photo wouldn’t mean a hill of beans to me or to anyone else.

However, this photo is different.

It has a story and a depth. It is slightly blurry, yes. Still, it shows what the lighting and ambience was really like in that room. It shows how incredibly camera happy blogHERS are too, and it makes me stop and look.

Same with this one.

And this one.

It was a beautiful dinner, in fabulous light, with beautiful food, and in amazing company. I don’t think that is as easily captured with the flash as it was with no flash and a longer shutter time. Wouldn’t you agree?

And finally…

3. Don’t treat people like landscapes. Some of us have a bit more landscape than others, I’ll admit, but that doesn’t mean we want to be a part of your wide angle. In other words, take focal length into consideration when taking photos of people.

If you are a landscape photographer, fine - get the whole scene in the photo. If, however, you are taking photos of people, capture the PEOPLE. That is not to say you should capture every pore on their face (unless, of course, you are doing before/after acne medicine photos), but does your audience really need to see that these people are standing in front of a movie theater, next to a trash can, and wearing red shoes? I think not.

Personality is in the face. Our faces identify us, communicate with others, share the depths of our emotions and feelings, are often transparent, and bear up most beautifully as the focal point of photos.

Remember your school classroom photos? Lined up on benches, or perhaps on the steps to the stage in the cafeteria? Teacher stood to the left and right and all your other classmates shoved in to the left and right of you?

“Say Cheese!” said the photographer. You all grinned your big fake grins and then were herded back to the classroom.

The photos came and you and your friends found yourself first, and then started looking at the others.

You took the photos home and your mom slid them into a scrapbook, never to be seen again until you were engaged and your fiance had to go through the forced “showing of the childhood photos” ritual.

Why didn’t those photos get framed (gosh, I hope no one framed/s those) and put on the wall in the living room? BECAUSE THEY WERE, and CONTINUE TO BE, BORING!

You don’t need to know that Curtis Washington had a patch on the knee of his pants that day, unless it tells a story - and in this case, it doesn’t. You don’t need to know that 3 out of 5 girls wore YoYo sandals with pink pantyhose.

But again, a picture is worth a thousand words…

I took this photo at Blogher ‘06. Jory Des Jardines, Elisa Camahort and Lisa Stone.

Why, if I really wanted this shot, didn’t I get out of my seat and get closer to the stage? I can’t really see the expression on Lisa’s face. And though I can see that Elisa is responding to what Lisa is saying, I did a poor job of capturing it in this photo. There was a story here, but I didn’t capture it well. I should have framed it differently - perhaps just Lisa and Elisa with a short range shot.

Obviously a flash was used as you can see the zombie glow in Lisa and Elisa’s eyes. Overall, I’m surprised I even put this photo up. I wouldn’t stop, if I was thumbing through thumbnails, to view it, would you?

And I believe the original photo had an even wider expanse and I actually cropped it to this size, because the resolution is not so great (cropping photos is the equivalent of throwing resolution into the garbage).

That was a “meh” photo, to say the least.

However, this photo, still using the dreaded flash, AT LEAST tells a story.

I didn’t need to know the color of their pants or their shoes to capture this moment in their game of Movie Charades.

“ROCKY!”

Same with this photo.

My middle daughter, Meredith, is a dancer. This shot was taken at our city’s Fair on the Square. Meredith could hardly pull herself away from watching the dancers. I think the photo captures that essence, don’t you?

If I had made it a broader shot, pulled Meredith out, put the focus on the dancers, or even took a straight-on shot of the whole area, it would not have been the same.

And finally,

4. Don’t assume you can fix the shot in Photoshop. A poorly taken photo is like a poorly sewn garment. Sure you can “make” it work. Add a hint of color with accessories, hide the poorly sewn seams with a jacket or blazer, but you cannot make it be what it isn’t.

Photoshop, or whatever photo-editing program you use, is a tool, but without a strong photo to start with, even the best tools will put out an “okay” product.

Again, if you take photos - you are a photographer.

Embrace it.
Frame it.
Work it.

And do it all in natural light when you can.
No matter what your husband tells you, your best work is NOT done in the dark and faster is not always better.

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