Lead in lines- tips for good Photography - Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

When composing a picture look for the edge or line of an object to make a strong link to the main subject of your picture whether that is a person, another object or a landmark. For example in this picture the chain and rope are obvious foreground features leading to the main object in the middleground.

This is particularly important in landscapes where the eye can be drawn from one part of the picture deeper into the image if it is well composed. Here the sinuous stone walls lead the eye into the bridge.

This can also be true of pictures of people where the surrounding objects can be used to focus the attention of the viewer. It may also make your portrait shots more interesting and unusual. This picture of Oona playing uses the line of the flute to lead the eye in, and because of the angle it becomes a profile portrait.

Any comments on these 'helpful tips' greatly appreciated.

I hope you have a happy New Year!

Richard

Explore those settings - tips for good Photography - Have a very Happy Christmas!

Want to take more interesting pictures?

Want your images to stand out?

If you get a camera for Christmas or already have one, then spend some time exploring the automatic settings; or even try to get to grips with the manual controls if you want to be more creative and have pictures that make people go 'Wow' when they see them.

One camera I have, a Nikon D90, has 9 different possible settings other than fully automatic. My wife's Panasonic DMC-FZ38 has 11, and sub-settings include a setting especially for taking pictures of food!

 
Where to start? One setting which I use a lot is called 'aperture priority', usually indicated by an 'A' on your cameras controls. The aperture is a hole in the lens the size of which can be altered which allows a controlled amount of light into the camera.  If I want the background or foreground really blurred, like in these two pictures, I use a large aperture. Aperture is prefixed with the letter 'f' - so f2.8 is a large aperture with a strong blur, whereas f22 is a small aperture which will leave almost everything in focus. Professional photographers use low 'f' numbers all the time to make portraits 'pop', or for special effects.

Why not have a go? Christmas decorations and lights look really cool at f2.8. Read the manual for the camera and take control.

Have a very Merry Christmas, and happy photo taking.

Richard

Using a frame - tips for good Photography - Merry Christmas!

Images can be made more interesting if we use other objects to frame the main interest in the picture. The following snowy garden and bright red door are an obvious example. In this case the gate and the holly actually compete for the attention of the eye but it works for me, making me feel Christmas is close.

The next picture uses the the dark trees on the left to frame the bridge and the canal. I could have cropped the tree out but this would also have affected the balance of the composition. The arch of the bridge frames the narrow boat and bridge in the distance. The tow path also acts as a 'lead-in' line, helping the eye to focus on the main point of interest. More on lead-in lines in a future post.



Such pictures could make great Christmas cards adding a personal touch. Lots of photograph based websites such as Flickr via Snapfish give the opportunity to turn your pictures into such cards. You could give the money you would normally spend on cards to charity.
Merry Christmas!

Christmas parties - how best to photograph family and friends? - tips for good Photography

Candid party shots can look brilliant with the participants not aware of the camera. It was a privilege to photograph a Company's employee children's party last Saturday.

The children are mesmerised by the entartainer and throw themselves into games- I caught them off guard and it made for some excellent portrait shots. Remember the previous posts about getting the eyes sharp and getting up close. Thanks to the parents that gave me permission to use the following pictures.

Take plenty of photos and choose the best to make into special Christmas cards, etc.

Add a bit of text to give your picture context and to ensure a a photograph to remember, especially if Father Christmas is about!