Point and Shoot Artistry. Volume 2 - Framing your Subject -or- Why you might not want to center everything you shoot.

Welcome to volume 2 of my series of posts to help you become a better photographer using your point and shoot camera.

In the last post we covered how to make sure your subject is in focus by half way holding down your shutter release button. Hopefully you have employed this technique and come up with some good results!

Today we're going to take things a little bit further by talking about framing subjects in the viewfinder, rules of composition (and how to break them) and how to generally make your photos look more dynamic.

As with every post in this series, all technical instructions are based on general functions on MOST digital point and shoot cameras. If something I write in these blogs doesn't work for your camera...always consult your cameras owners manual.

And now...on with Volume 2 - Angles and Centering.

Framing your subject in the viewfinder is the first step in creating a photo that can be amazing, or a resounding flop. A vast majority of us are guilty of sticking something in front of the camera, centering it in the middle of the viewfinder (generally underneath that strategically placed box/dot/star/etc.) and snapping a shot. Then later on when we look at the image or print, we generally go back and wish we would have done something to make it look not so boring and stagnant.

To fix this problem the simplest and most effective thing to do is to move your subject around the frame, adjusting how closely you are zoomed in, and adding empty space around them. But...but...EMPTY SPACE?!?! Yes, leave some room around your subject to add some area for the eye to rest, plus if you have some negative/empty space around, your viewer will be much more likely to focus their attention on the true subject of your photo...what ever that may be.

For example....

In this image we have an hourglass stationed beautifully atop a concrete tie along side some rail road rails.

Sure, it's an interesting subject, the background (what you can see of it anyway) seems to be interesting. But since the hourglass is so centered and filling a majority of the frame it's a pretty stagnant, safe shot that doesn't really say much.

So, how do we adjust this photo so that it makes more of an impact? Let's move it around the frame for our next shot...

In this shot, I moved the hourglass further to the left of the frame. This leaves more of the railway tracks to be seen, gives more of an idea of where in space/time/the world this object is located, and it offsets the visual weight of the photo.

The visual weight of a photo, in it's most simplistic terms, is how much stuff is crammed into one side of an image. The balance between left and right, or top and bottom.

Moving your subject to one end of the frame or the other will instantly move the heaviest part of the visual weight of an image and create an entirely different feeling.

So, now that you're armed with a bit of new found or newly refreshed knowledge, go out and photograph something interesting. Give it some empty space and see what sort of effect and feeling you can elicit by moving in around. I would love to see some of your examples, so please feel free to drop me a line and attach an image in the comment section of this post!

Point and Shoot Artistry. Volume 1 - Focus

While a vast majority of my blog entries revolve around photographic history, antique cameras, and general shenanigans...I would also like to add a series of posts that will help everyone become better technical photographers. That being said, I am starting a new series entitled "Point and Shoot Artistry". These posts will give you ideas and technical information that will help you become better photographers.

Please note that the information I provide in these blog entries is sort of "all encompassing." Each camera has it's own particular sets of quirks and may require different techniques. So, if what I write here isn't working for you...go back and check your camera's manual...it generally has all the answers.

Today I bring to you...Volume 1 - Focus.

Many point-and-shooters run into this problem every now and then. Let's say you are trying to photograph your child (Nephew, Niece, Brother, Sister, or who ever happens to be closest to your camera at the time) you are trying to get a picture of the new outfit that a grandma just sent to them. A full body shot of your lil' one...shouldn't be to tough right? But everytime you push the shutter release their face is out of focus but the graphic on the shirt is super clear.

It happens to all of us (even us professional types, even though we tend not to admit it). The best way to avoid this sort of issue is to center up the most important part of your subject in the viewfinder, usually there is a dot/square or something to denote the center. Generally speaking most cameras are set to "center focus"...that means that the center dot/square will be the point that is in focus...the rest of the photo may fall out around it if you aren't shooting a super flat subject.

So, to use this feature for evil instead of good (or vise-versa) center up the child's face in the viewfinder. Make sure the center dot is on their little nose. Then comes the important part, Hold your shutter release button HALF WAY DOWN...NOT all the way. That is going to tell the camera to focus on the plane of the kiddo's face. Then, with the button still held down, recenter your photo to capture the kiddo's full body and the cute outfit that nana sent. 

This may take some practice and some getting used to. So keep working on it on stationary objects first before charging after a rogue two year old.

Some super new cameras may have face detection, smile capture, and other fun and interesting things to help keep faces in focus...so again, check your manual for any camera specific fuctions and features that may also help you.

I hope you find this information valuable and helpful. Keep an eye peeled for future installments including:

Color Balance - Why is my Baby Blue?

Shooting Modes - How to use your Panorama setting for Evil instead of Good. 

Capturing Moving Subjects - Lead your Target!

Macro Photography - How to capture a ladybug with your camera without squishing it.

Acrylic Transfer!

Finally, I have completed the first of what I hope will be a series of acrylic transfers. This process, while fun, turned out to be a bit more time consuming that I originally thought. Nonetheless, I really love the results! Take a look!!

Some detail shots:

  

For those unfamiliar with the whole procedure, it's actually fairly simple. I'll outline it below along with what I learned along the way in my little experiment.


1. Print out your image on some good quality inket paper. 
What I learned: Photo Paper (Like the Epson super premium glossy photo paper) does NOT work for this process at all...it's too water proof. Also, you might consider printing your image out slightly bigger than you want your final piece to be. There will be a little shrinkage. A quarter of an inch should do the trick.


2. Let your prints dry overnight.


3. Apply four coats of Glossy Gel Acrylic Medium to the front of your print. Make sure to do change directions on each coat to ensure coverage and strength. Let this dry AT LEAST overnight. 


4. Once dry, and I mean DRY, submerge your coated prints in a bath of warm water. I used a photo tray to do this so as not to make a HUGE mess. Let it soak for a few minutes. Remove the back of the print by scraping off the paper. Be gentle, but firm. The gel medium is actually fairly strong stuff. But it is prone to tearing so be careful!


5. When you have removed the paper backing, lay your transfer out onto a piece of wax paper and weight down overnight to flatten. You will squeeze water out during this first night, so replace the wax paper the next morning. 
What I learned: Don't let this stuff sit out to terribly long, it will be come STUCK to the wax paper eventually and it becomes SUPER difficult to remove. Also the longer it sits out, the more brittle the  transfer will become. 


6. Finally, figure out what you want to tack your masterpiece onto. Apply a coat of gel medium to the surface you want your transfer to stick to, then simply slap the transfer on, remove bubbles (if you want!)   and let dry. You can pull and stretch the transfer to a certain extent, but again, it's fairly brittle so be careful. 
What I learned: Don't stress out about the bubbles and wrinkles...they actually look pretty bad ass!

7. Apply a couple of coats of Gel Medium to the top of your transfer once you have it on your new surface. This will seal it up and make it stand up better against the elements. I also layed on a couple layers of UV Gloss Varnish just to get a nice shine on my final piece.


So, now that you know how to do it (and if my instructions aren't clear, you might just google Acrylic Transfer Process and there are videos out there) I would love to see what you all come up with! Leave me comments with links to your work!