The road to the image

Around us there may be a lot going on. Simply aiming the camera and pressing the button will give you an image that contains all of that. Nice for later when you look back at your holiday memories. If that is what you want, go ahead.

But what if you want to record a better image, one that stands out, one that excites other people (too)? What if you want to make the image more simple, more clear, yet still tell the same story? What if you want to tell the story in a different, non obvious way?

Then we go back to one of the first principles of photography. For a better composition you need to slow down and observe what is going on around you. If you don’t look, you don’t know what is there. You overlook the good things and the bad things. The longer you look, the more you see, the more ideas you get.

Look at what is there. Background, foreground, people, actions, colours, shapes, shadows, forms, textures, lines, light etc. There is an absolute overkill of information and now it is your turn to create order in the chaos. Reduce the clutter and stick only to something that benefits the photo.

But where to begin? What attracts you? What interests you? Simply look for something you love. Focus on that and then ask yourself what relates to that and what not. Or are there interesting juxtapositions? Keep the good things, ditch the bad things. Bad things include anything that does not resonate with the subject or the idea of the photo. It includes unwanted distractions.

To give you any ideas I will create some posts with photos to that I add my train of thought. The road to the final image. Sometimes it is just one photo, sometimes I will show you the entire scene and then the ultimate shot.

Good luck!