Thought Process Behind Shots...

[SuperCNJ]

Thought it would be interesting and useful to see what goes through your minds before you take that shot. How do you compose your shot and what do you look out for in the viewfinder... I'm not so interested in the camera settings here, mainly composition and technique but feel free to discuss this as you wish.

For me, when shooting landscape for example I use the rule of thirds as a rough guide on the horizon/subject, I look for interesting backgrounds, foregrounds and a subject. I look for interesting lines or patterns and I look at where the sun and clouds are and see if a CPF will be useful and think about whether the shot would look better if I stood somewhere else etc... oh and I remind myself to switch off VR when on the tripod!

When shooting motorsport, the cars move and change direction so quickly its very easy to get a blurred shot with the slow glass I have. So I tend to concentrate mainly on getting the shot sharp and in focus before considering anything else.

I'm new to portrait work, at the moment I'm just learning about lighting so things that goes through my mind are things like the harshness and directions of the light, focusing on the eyes, interesting postures and natural expressions.

Feel free to use examples of your work and talk us through how you composed it etc...

 

[Huujuu]

I'm new to whole business as well but the way i'm tending to approach it is

a) What has attracted me to the shot and trying to capture the essence of how i am seeing it. I find that often there will be things outside of the shot that are adding to my perception/ambience of it and by using the camera a lot can be lost and then you dont know why the final image just isnt right.

b)Composition is as above, why do i like it as it is? I am tending to regard the rule of thirds a bit like post processing, it helps to make an imperfect image more appealing but is a handy tool. Obviously some of the time something looks appealing because your brain is already translating your focus in a rule of thirds. Fibonacci ratio's are, imho, much more fun and natural and well worth the extra effort when composing a shot.

c)What i want to do with the image as quite often i like to create a composition with post processing which negates somewhat the original viewfinder view. Again this is more a personal thing, i feel that much of the creativity in a shot comes from what you can add to it and it's very inspiring to try and visualise a connection between an idea and the real world.

d)How the image might be displayed which links into how you see it. I guess one of the attractions of a shot is closely tied into pic's you've already taken, memories etc and by trying to have awareness of those connections you can compose the shot having an idea of where in your slideshow/album/portfolio/brouchure etc it will be finding a home.

ian

 

[captures.in.time]

Im not sure very much goes through my mind apart from do I like what I see when I look through the viewfinder...

I certainly think I see many pictures and once I look through the viewfinder I think no...

One thing I def would say though is always shoot a bit wider! And dont just think the standard proportions... think square crops... long thin crops... portrait!!!

Exposure is the other main thought I have... dont always trust your multi area metering... I do allot but I always remeber spot meetering... id never buy a camera that did not spot meter! Remeber simple facts like if taking pictures like snow scapes your camera will always under expose by 2 stops... bright sandy beaches under expose by 1 stop! Just compensate...

One thing I also look to is to find something new! A new angle ... and in my travel photography I try to write a list of the things I notice about the place... what is different from home... what are the obvious things that the place has.. landmarks, national costume etc... then take at least one photo that captures that!