How to Take Better Photos
A Mini-Course
Taking better photographs is always a fine goal for the aspiring photographer. Henri Cartier Bresson was arguably the greatest photographer of the 20th Century. He did not consider himself a photographer but merely a man who took pictures. He used to say “I don’t take the photograph. The photograph takes me.” For him it was a matter of geometry, sensitivity, spontaneity and intuition. Here is one of his most famous photographs, which illustrates what he called “The decisive moment.”
Take Better Photos by Achieving Balance
So how do you achieve that kind of balance in your photographs of people, how do you capture that decisive moment?
I’m going to show you now how I tried to capture decisive moments in my wanderings around different places in the world.
I’m sure everyone knows who this is. Although I took lots of photos, this turned out to be my favorite one that day at Sea World San Diego, because of all the colors, and all the people look happy and engaged, and Shamu is laughing.
With animals, you want to focus on the eye. By adjusting your aperture, you can make the background blurry.
If you can snap the photo when the animal is looking at you, it makes a great photo.
Sometimes you are just in the right place at the right time. When you are, snap away!
And now for people….
With photography, you have to imagine the world in 2D. You just start thinking of what you see as a flat image. At times you can anticipate what is about to happen. Then you snap the shot.
When you are taking outdoors shots, remember to have the sun behind you. The best time to shoot photos is just after sunrise, and just before sunset, what we call “golden light.”
A lot of my photos are candids, but some are posed. I just ask people, “Can I take your picture?” Most of them will say yes. With interior shots, it’s good to use a flash bulb.
When photographing two or more people, more can go wrong; maybe someone is blinking or looking in the wrong direction. When everyone in a shot looks good, then it makes your day.
______________
