Photographer’s Guidelines  - Critique & Photo Shoot to Develop Your “Photographer’s Eye”

The objective here is to encourage you to develop a useful personal list of guidelines that will help you shoot better photos.

In a nutshell:

1.    Collect 8 photos that you think are among the best you’ve ever seen (i.e. amazingly powerful, beautiful, compelling etc.!). 

2.    Analyze what makes you like them; come up with a set of general guidelines that will guide you in future photo shoots.

3.    Put the photos, critiques and a list of guidelines into PowerPoint.    Please have it ready for Sept. 22.

4.    Following your guidelines, do a photo shoot, and analyze your photos according to the guidelines, again putting the photos and critiques into Powerpoint.  

5.    One of your shots will be an emulation of your one of your favourite 8.

Mitsuaki Iwago - Wildebeests in the Serengeti (NGeo) 1986 small Mitsuaki Iwago - Wildebeests in the Serengeti

We’ve all seen great photos – ones that stand out in the crowd, ones that you can’t stop looking at, ones that move you somehow.  What makes these images so powerful? Is there some recipe that you could follow to get similar results?

The short answer is “no” – there’s no formula for the perfect picture, and to shoot consistently good ones is an art that takes time to develop.  But there are things you can learn from analyzing great photos, and apply to your own photography.

Although there are no hard and fast rules for taking the perfect photo,  developing and then applying some tested principles, rather than just snapping the first thing you see, will lead to better results.  That’s why we’re going to create our own lists of “photographer’s guidelines”.

 

We’ll always need to keep refining our lists of guidelines, but it’s useful to have a checklist of simple keys to good photography.  Use yours to critique and understand the photographs we’ll be looking at.  Also use it this semester as you try to create a final course portfolio of stunning photographs, and throughout your life!

 

Starter Photos:  Have a look at these exemplary photos, and try to see some commonalities among them – what makes them “work”?

 

Starter Guidelines:  Way below are some example guidelines collected from a few sources:  the net, photography and art books, and my own experience.

They aren’t always “right”, and some even contradict each other!  But they’re useful as a starting point for you to develop your personal guidelines.

 

 

Critique Exercise – “My Photo Guidelines.ppt”

  1. Read and absorb the guidelines and tips quoted below as a starting point for your list.  (way below – scroll down, or click here.  Then return to these instructions.)
  2. Have a quick look at the photos linked below, thinking about what makes them “work” (or not).
  3. Acquire 8 photos:  Search the web, photo books and magazines for 8 photos that you think are truly exemplary, ones that you find incredibly powerful, beautiful and/or meaningful. You might choose photos that are visually stunning, or capture an amazing moment; ones that are staged, shot in a studio or completely candid; professional or a really good (or lucky) amateur – whatever you think makes an awesome photo that you’d like to emulate. Try Kodak.com, or Google to find great photographers or photography sites.  If you can, include one great shot of your own, current or past.  Diversity is best - no more than 2 photos can be from any one source website or book. 
  4. Note that you will have to emulate one of the photos (not your own!) in a photo shoot, so choose accordingly…   Examples of Emulations

Do NOT collect small photos!  E.g. when searching using Google Images set the size to Large.  Facebook photos are generally too low resolution.  Ask for help if you need it.

  1. Save the files or scan the pics to your folder named H:/AWT4/My Photo Guidelines.  Keep track of the name of the photographer and the URL, or the name and date of the publication on a Powerpoint slide.  Analyze any 5 of your chosen photos in point form.  What guidelines from the list below do they follow, in what way?  Do they go against any of the guidelines but still “work”?  What else makes them great photos? You should have 5 to 8 points per photo.  Many may be repeats of things you thought were good in your other photos.  For the other 3, just put one or 2 points about why you think they’re amazing.
  2. Make your own list of guidelines (8 to 10 is usually about right).  Write it in order of importance ( lots will be equally important, but try to categorize as “essential”, “secondary” or some such scheme – somehow indicate what to you matters most or is indispensable). Use some of the guidelines I’ve mentioned below you think are useful, and also add your own guidelines.   Due Sept. 24 (you can refine your list after seeing others presented) – a printed list of guidelines.  I will check these, and you will use them as you do the “Guidelines PhotoShoot”.  Save it as a simple Word document in this folder: H:/AWT4/My Photo Guidelines.  Call it Photo Guidelines your name.doc.  Print a copy and hand it in.

 

Critique Presentation  Ready for collection and presentation first thing Sept. 22

Each student will have 3-5 minutes (only) to show the photos they liked best from outside sources, and briefly explain why.  The purpose here is to enjoy a really good photography show as well as be enlightened by the analysis, so we all end up able to shoot and critique photos better.

Please have the photos well organized so you can quickly show them and talk about them.  Do this by creating a short Powerpoint presentation with this general format for each of the 5 pics:

·         Start with a slide with a photo occupying the whole screen

·         Following slide has the same photo, smaller, and a point form analysis of what you liked beside or on top of it.  Include the source URL here. Use a small font.

·         Start the show with a slide showing your current list of guidelines

 

Definitely! : use the Compress Pictures function on the Picture Toolbar to reduce the size of your Powerpoint file.

Save it as a Powerpoint 2007 document  (or 2003 if you need to work on it at home and you have the 2003 version) (.pptx or .ppt).  Use this folder: H:/AWT4/My Photo Guidelines.  Call it Photo Guidelines your name.pptx

 

Example Presentation – This is my version, different than you would do (for one thing it doesn’t use the “2 slides per photo” format), but it shows a series of my own photos that I like.  I tried to do the same task that you’re assigned to do : analyze what I like about the photos, and try to come up with a set of general guidelines that would help guide me in future photo shoots.  The Powerpoint is a bit weird translated as a web page, but although the images are smaller, it works. Hint: Drag the frame bar to the left so the pics get bigger…

 

 


Guidelines Photo Shoot and Powerpoint – Due Sept. 29 (you may also be working on other projects, so manage your time well!)  

** Save ONLY the final 4 high resolution (>= 1500 pixels wide) jpegs plus your critique Powerpoint in the folder AWT4/ My Photo Guidelines/Photo Shoot

Now that you’re armed with some guiding principles, try to put them into action.  Individually, shoot and process 4 exemplary photos.

·         each shot must be very different from the others.  This means different subjects, locations, lighting, time, technique, etc.  Don’t try to do all your photos in one shoot, and don’t take them all in the school, your home or any other single environment – branch out!

·         One must be an “emulation” of one of the photos you selected in the critique, meaning you should try to recreate as many elements of the photo as you can – lighting, subject, angle, whatever you felt made it a strong image.  Examples of Emulations

·         The rest can be of any subject you find appealing, as long as you can apply your guidelines and get some great results.

Record shooting details (location, subject, settings) in your notebook.  Critique these photos as above, again in a PowerPoint presentation.  Start with the same list of guidelines you started your Critique with. The photos should be exemplary, following many of the guidelines you’ve outlined.  Your critique should note what “works” and what doesn’t, in accordance with your guidelines.  If not, maybe you need to adjust your list of guidelines (and that’s exactly what you should do – modify your list so it’s realistic and useful to you)!

Save it as a Powerpoint  document .  Use this folder: H:/AWT4/Guidelines Photo Shoot.  Name the Powerpoint file Guidelines PhotoShoot your name.ppt

 

These and future Portfolio photos are your chance to showcase everything you’ve absorbed about:

 

Example Guidelines

Some are mine, others are quotes from other photographers.  As a budding photographer, you must develop your own, but look at these to get you thinking…

General

Find an Interesting, Compelling Subject.   Duh!  Don’t just wander around shooting pictures – think about what would make a great shot, and go find it.

Be Selective – Using your Artistic Eye, think about what you want to include and emphasize, and what should be omitted or blurred out with shallow Depth-of-Field

Be Ready for the Right Moment – whenever you can, always carry a camera.  Some of the best pics happen when all the right elements just happen to come together, and you don’t want to miss it.  Take several different pictures (changing angle, what the subject is doing etc.) when you find something good.

 

Composition

Use the Elements & Principles of Design

Keep It Simple – emphasize your subject by removing distractions, although you often do want to provide a context (e.g. a meaningful background).  Remove clutter by zooming in or physically moving in, changing angle (e.g. a high shot may remove a lot of background) or by decreasing your depth of field (wide aperture; long lens)

Use the Rule of Thirds as a guide to placing the focal point of the shot, and for placement of lines such as the horizon

“never put a horizon line in the center of your frame”

Use leading lines and movement (from repetition) to lead the eye into your picture

Balance : low & high value; shapes; complementary colours

Frame It – use doorways, fences, lines of trees etc. to keep the viewer’s eye in the picture and set off your subject

Try Low & High Angles – as well as being more interesting, these shots can add meaning  e.g. making something look grand or imposing by shooting up at it

Get close – compose tightly – concentrate on your subject – zoom in on a detail

Space – sometimes instead of composing tightly, you can tell a story by placing the subject in a large space (but keep it simple to avoid distracting or competing subjects – e.g. shoot from a high angle to remove the horizon background) – (contrary to this tip: “Make sure that you don't have acres of space full of nothing interesting”)

 

“A good photo is always a beautiful arrangement of form.” (a quote – do you agree?)

 

Lighting

“photography is the capturing of light and shadow”

“put your camera away until an hour before sunset”

“take shots with equal amounts of black, white, and shades of gray”

 “familiarize yourself with the color wheel” – adjacent colours tend to “get along”;  opposite (complementary) colours create contrast

Gradations in tone establish 3D form, so pay special attention to subtle tone differences when form is important, such as still-lifes, portraits and landscapes.  Shadow also gives us 3D cues.

Use low and/or high value to create mood in your picture

Use warm or cool tones create mood in your picture

The eye is first attracted to areas of light tone

Oblique (low angle) light tends to emphasize texture.

Diffuse light (indirect light, cloudy days) makes softer images – direct light is harsher and emphasizes contrast

Consider using natural or room lighting instead of a flash indoors

Use “fill-in flash” when shooting a subject against a bright background (e.g. a person against a sunset in the background)

Shooting into the light produces silhouettes, and also a “halo” effect

 

Again, have a look at these exemplary photos, and see what guidelines from the list above might apply.  What other guidelines seem important to you?