Photo Notes for Me, Myself and I

Here we are again and I realize that I have been neglecting my blog. Back in the days when AOL had Journals, I wrote every single day. Anything interesting was fair game for an article. Today I feel like getting back on track. Would I be able to keep up an entry a day again? Well, there is only one way to find out.

Surprisingly, with all the cameras out there many don't know how to take good pictures. Let me tell you, I am so sick of bad, uninteresting landscapes, etc., I could scream. So, what to do? First off, let me suggest looking at good photographs. Get thee to a library...remember those? They are buildings filled with words (and pictures). Check out books containing images by Steiglitz, Walker Evans, Dorthea Lange and my favorite Irving Penn. Ask yourself, "How did they do that?" Pay attention to lighting and composition. Without light you have nothing and without an interesting subject and composition...well...all I can say is, "yuk."

When you are ready to snap that shot...zero in on something interesting in the viewfinder. A good photograph starts with seeing. Look for the unusual, the interesting, the exciting. Without a subject, you don't have a story and without a story, well...you get the idea. A photograph is a story in an instant. You need a subject and a predicate (writing terms)...an action...something going on, or something imagined as happening nearby.

One friend says, "It's easy" and easy it is once you get the hang of it. Pointing and shooting randomly doesn't cut it. You have to get involved. You have to show an interest in what you are doing or....you produce B-O-R-I-N-G pictures. Chances are if you find something interesting to shoot, it will be interesting to someone else. So....go for it.

And...above all else, get involved--put a part of you (your spirit) in your images.

To get good images you have to work at it...then, it becomes easy. One of the main ingredients in good photography is thought. THINK!
Today: Do a shoot using camera settings and another using manual settings...compare subtleties.
[Insert Photos Here]
©elisabeth bacon 2011
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