M-dash Image Library
Beginning Photography – Avoiding Common Mistakes
New photographers can improve their pictures by eliminating some of the more common mistakes.
Improving the Picture Composition
Eliminating a few basic composition errors will lead to better looking photographs. Once they become second nature the photographer will then have the capacity to be more creative. From discussion with staff at a photo print shop some of the more traditional problems are much less common, probably as cameras with larger screens make mistakes more visible; problems with sloping horizons or tilted verticals, or with heads and feet cut off are much less common.
The new photographer still needs to think about them and be careful about:
- Unwanted elements in the background and foreground. Look for distractions such as rubbish, and bright or colourful objects that will draw the eye from the subject; reduce the clutter. Get closer or rotate the camera to vertical format; filling the frame will eliminate many distractions.
- Shooting everything from eye-level or not moving for the best view. Changing the angle will give variety so do not shoot everything from eye-level, or face on. Bend, kneel, even lie, down or stand on a wall and shoot downwards. Step to one side to hide background distractions behind the subject.
- Being patient and waiting for the sun to come out, a person to walk out, or into, shot. Spend time to get the imagined picture - the aim is to take photographs not snapshots.
Introducing Digital Photography for Beginners
Thoughtful Practice is the Key
To be a better photographer requires knowledge and skills that come from a desire to improve through regular practice. With a little effort, good photographs are possible by anyone with any type of camera. These articles assume the reader has a camera, probably a compact, and has become interested in photography and wants better results; more than just snapshots.
Start with the camera you have
A camera is a tool; in the right hands all will produce good pictures. Modest cameras may not be suitable for all subjects or large prints but are better than most users realise. The vast majority of photographs are only ever viewed on screen so will rarely show up the camera limitations. Consider the two pictures below, one taken with a modest automatic camera and one with professional equipment . Which is which? At small sizes, they are indistinguishable. Throughout the articles pictures we will use beginner’s equipment and techniques featured in the articles.
Spot the difference: which of the pictures is the compact and which the professional camera?
Shaped by War, Pictorial Biography of Don McCullin, Photographer
In candid language Don McCullin tells how war formed him as photographer and man. He describes his personal conflicts as he photographed war and disaster. Don MCCullin is best known for his war and disaster photography although since his retirement he has concentrated on landscape particularly around his home in Somerset. His most recent book of photographs, Southern Frontiers, explores the southern frontier of the Roman Empire. His latest work many would describe as fine art. However in his photographic autobiography, Shaped by War, Don McCullin explains that he is not comfortable being described as an artist preferring to be simply known as a photographer. Movingly Candid Text and PhotographsIn Shaped by War Don McCullin acknowledges his lack of formal education but describes the learning he continues to achieve through his own efforts. That personal development is important to him and although perhaps uneducated he can be described as learned. The text is straightforward and centres on McCullin's career as a photographer, particularly of war, conflict and disaster. Southern Frontiers, Photographs by Don McCullin
Southern Frontiers is Don McCullin's latest, very personal, book and adds to the growing reputation for his fine art black and white landscapes. It covers the southern edge of the Roman Empire in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. It is A Journey Across the Roman Empire taken with the traveller and historian Barnaby Rogerson who provides the supporting text.
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Jane Bown's Exposures, Sixty Years of Portraits
Jane Bown's distinguished photographic career spans more than sixty years. She is principally known for her portraits of people in the news. As result she has photographed most of the influential figures of the second half of the 20th and start of the 21st centuries.
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Don McCullin is known as a sensitive photographer of war and disaster. However since his retirement from such work he has built a reputation as a landscape photographer.
I had the opportunity to take photographs of John Spiers and Jon Boden, the folk duo Spiers and Boden, at the Bonington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham on Saturday 28th May 2011. Apart from performing as a duo they are members of Bellowhead who will be touring this year.
Jane Bown has had a long career as a photographer with The Observer and built a major reputation for her portraits. She has achieved a consistent style over sixty years.
M-dash Miscellany Magazine
See Martin P Wilson's M-dash.co.uk writing site
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