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Ian Plant
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#Post#: 13--------------------------------------------------
How to Approach a Shot
DIR By: CB Friedland
Date: August 13, 2015, 10:48 am
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So Ian (and others)... when approaching a scene to evaluate it
for a shot, do you go through a progression of items in
determining where is the best place to setup? What do you look
for first? Then? etc...
#Post#: 14--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to Approach a Shot
DIR By: ianplant
Date: August 13, 2015, 11:31 am
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Great starting question! And, unfortunately, one that is very
open ended and difficult to answer. Luckily, this entire course
is designed to answer this question in great detail!
First, for me, I'm looking for something interesting to catch my
eye. To me, photography is all about looking for "cool stuff" to
photograph. i'm always looking for something that is
interesting, something that stands out in some way, something
that makes me curious, or something that inspires me. As you get
more sophisticated as a photographer, you start looking for
subjects that are visually engaging - you start gravitating
towards subjects with interesting compositional shapes,
patterns, etc. Color and the interaction of light and shadow are
also very important.
Once I find my "cool thing," I move on to the second step, which
is figuring out how best to create an artistically engaging
composition. Just taking a picture of something interest isn't
going to elevate your photo much beyond a mere snapshot.
Instead, one has to think critically about how to command the
viewer's eye to see the world as you see it. In other words, you
can't just show your subject to your viewers and hope they are
as interested as you are in what you have photographed -
instead, you need to figure out a way to compel the viewer to be
interested, and direct their attention to what is important.
Third, I think about the technical aspects of the photo, such as
focus and exposure. Note that these steps are not separate, as
your choices regarding exposure and focus can impact the overall
look and feel of your photo, and vice versa. These decisions may
cause you to change your composition, or even further refine
what it is that you think is interested about your subject.
Fourth, I finally take the photo!
Fifth, I carefully assess my results on my LCD screen. I believe
it is a good idea to experiment and tweak your results as much
as possible, exploring different angles, exposures, focal
lengths, etc. Work the scene as much as possible! So I'll often
take many different versions of the same scene or subject,
tweaking my results until it all comes together.
As I said, we'll discuss all of these elements in more detail as
we progress through the course. The most important step in the
process is what I like to call "artistic transformation," which
is the process of moving beyond the mere snapshot, and figuring
out a way to create an artistic presentation of your subject
instead. Choice of light, composition, and other intangibles a
very important to this process.
I've attached an example, a shot of Cape buffaloes recently
taken in Zambia. What was interesting to me was mainly the
light, which was harsh midday light, and how it interacted with
my subjects. I carefully choose my exposure to reveal only the
sunlit portion of the animals, letting everything else go into
shadow. The result is a graphic, artistic representation which
looks very different from how the eye saw it. My choice of
subject, focal length, composition, etc. all relied on the final
result that I visualized, and were all dependent on the light
and my choice of exposure.
#Post#: 20--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to Approach a Shot
DIR By: Craig Marvil
Date: August 14, 2015, 12:38 pm
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Re the technical side.... do you spot meter this type of shot vs
matrix, and do you bracket or just check the histogram and also
look for blinkies?
#Post#: 22--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to Approach a Shot
DIR By: ianplant
Date: August 14, 2015, 1:30 pm
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Hi Craig, welcome to the forum! I was using matrix metering for
this image, taking a test shot and then evaluating my histogram.
I ended up reducing exposure compensation to -3 in order to
avoid overexposed highlights and to bring most of the scene into
deep silhouette. Spot metering would have worked fine as well,
perhaps with the spot centered on the brightly lit horns. Either
way, the meter will give you a reading that is the starting
point of your exposure analysis - it is always best (if
possible) to take a test shot and evaluate the resulting image
exposure and histogram, making any adjustments as necessary.
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