Slow Photography #46 Light Your Idea: 4 Critical Photography Basics

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 There are 4 basics in photography. The first one is light. 

1. LIGHT
"Night Moves": 2014 Jim Austin Jimages, Slow Photography Rebellion.

Light is everything. 

Without it, no lasting photograph enters the eye, mind, and brain. When you see stunning light that compels and grabs you, Stop ! Work your way into the light to find your subject until you become infatuated with an Idea. 

There are many kinds of light, yet practically it has only two directions. There is light falling on your subject. The subject also reflects or emits light. Think of a car reflecting city lights while shining its headlights.

When you are gobstruck by beautiful light that move in both these directions, pause to ponder your subject light. The secret is to keep photographing a compelling subject in different ways over a long enough time period to play. Experiment.



"Hand on the Sun" : Jim Austin Jimages from FAITH IN RUINS, 2014.



2. SUBJECT

"Sunday" 2014 Jim Austin Jimages, Slow Photography Rebellion

We may be thrilled with a picture we've taken, but unless the audience sees what the main subject is, we probably do not have a good photograph (with a few exceptions, such as abstractions that are explained by caption or text). 

First, a picture's subject and composition must command the viewer to look. Presumably, having looked and seen, the viewer should enjoy the picture.

Define your subject; use sharpness, depth of field, texture, and contrast. Sailing around your image, a viewer's brain is looking for a safe landing area. Give the viewer a visual anchor point with a center of interest.

Find a unique subject. There are over 700,000 photos of the Twelve Apostles in Oregon, but right now, you can be one person who takes a photo of a unique subject.

Ultimately, what counts is the depth of your relationship to your subject. When you take time to get to know your subject deeply, the viewer gets this right away if your photo commands her to look.

EXERCISE: Your subject has a personality: chase it and search it out. Find a friend, go outside, and photograph this person in daylight from every angle. Ask your friend to look directly at your camera. Make a series of portraits with and without fill flash. This exercise will help you light up their personality as you get to know them better. Photography is about relationship.



3. COMPOSITION

 "RAINBOW SWASH": Two men change a light bulb on the stairs of the National Grid gas tank on Savin Hill in Boston.




In composition, there are 4 basic shapes that command us to look. The diagonal, the S curve, the dominant mass, and triangles. These are hardwired and biological. A snake slithers, and immediately gets our attention. Thus, the impact of the S curve.

 More composition...

Simplify, bend the rules, let the subject define the composition. Take any approach you want, but realize one single fact. Composition is about what is left out. When you make beer, you do not want wood chips or engine oil. You do not put soap in your soda. Think of what you can leave outside the frame and simplify your composition by including just 2 or 3 visual elements.



4. IDEA

"Snake Bite" 2014 Jim Austin Jimages, Slow Photography Rebellion


Clarity is the essential quality of a photographic idea. A photograph is not reality, so its clarity can be emotional, a memory, a dream or any subjective experience.

If we are asked "what is the idea of this photograph" and we have no answer,  there is more work to do. Ideas are the stuff the viewer chews on. They are the meat of a photograph. They may even have great light and an interesting subject, but without an idea, it is bland.

YOU:  the extra special essential...

 You and I may take thousands of photographs. The secret? When your subject is worth taking one photo of, it's worth taking a whole roll. When you find a subject that only you can see, pursue it with all your energy and passion by photographing it over and over again.


Thanks for your visit. 
Jim




 

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