Читать книгу Digital SLR Handbook - John Freeman - Страница 8
ОглавлениеWhat the eye and camera see
Many people find they’re disappointed with their photographs because they never seem to come out in the way the shot is remembered. The reason for this is that the camera doesn’t see things in the same way as the eye.
Interpreting information
When you notice a subject, the eyes send a signal to the brain, which, in turn, interprets the visual information. The brain is very good at editing scenes and pushes some of the angle of view into the background, removing any distractions. It does this by keeping the part of the scene you are focusing on sharp, while letting the other parts go out of focus. This is a great asset, as it means you can concentrate on the important information and discard the rest. Of course, you are still aware of these indistinct parts but they do not impinge on your main focus. Perhaps the easiest way to understand this is to draw your attention to what you are doing right now: reading this book. You can see the typeface easily but if you think of the surrounding area, you realize that you are only aware of it and can’t see it properly.
Cameras have an advantage over what the eye can see because you can either zoom in or out, or change lens. This shot was taken with a 50mm lens and gives an angle of view roughly the same as the eye.
By changing the lens to 24mm, you have a much wider angle of view from the same viewpoint without having to scan the scene, which would be the case with your eyes.
Now when you look through the camera lens and take a shot, the camera interprets the scene differently. The chances are that not only will the book be in focus but the rest of the room will be sharp as well. This makes it difficult when you look at the finished photograph to concentrate on anything in particular because the scene is a jumble.
This shot of Nelson’s Column in London was taken with a 50mm lens. No matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to make out all the detail at the top of the column.
With a 400mm lens, all the detail of the statue has become clear.
Getting the desired shot
With a DSLR camera there is a plethora of lenses and accessories, together with a range of different features built into the camera, that will help you capture exactly what first caught your attention. Knowing what all these features are capable of is essential if you are to make full use of the DSLR system. You can then start editing in-camera in the same way as your brain edits what your eyes see: you can keep all the scene sharp or just a part of it; you can include a wide-angle or zoom in; you can use the shutter creatively and learn to be selective with your viewpoint.
When you watch television or read a book, your eye automatically concentrates on what is important to you. Although you might be aware of other detail in your peripheral vision, it is, in effect, put out of focus by your brain.
When you look at a similar scene through the camera lens, especially a wide-angle one, nearly everything is in focus. This can make it quite difficult to concentrate on the important details of the scene.
The golden section
If you want your pictures to stand out, there are a few simple rules that will give you the basis for perfectly composed pictures every time you shoot. These rules, which have been followed by artists down the generations, are all based on the principle usually known as the golden section, or the rule of thirds.
What is the golden section?
It was the Ancient Greek mathematician Euclid who first espoused the principle of the golden section. The theory of this visually satisfying ratio dictates that the subject of a picture or photograph be placed at the intersection of imaginary lines drawn vertically and horizontally one-third of the way along the sides of a picture. Sculptors and architects have also followed the principle to produce classically proportioned statues and buildings. The Ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras later proved that the golden section was the basis for the proportions of the human figure, and showed that the body is built with each part in a golden proportion to all other parts. Later, during the Italian Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci adopted and perfected Pythagoras’s theory.
When composing your shots, try to imagine a grid like the one illustrated here. If you place your subject at the intersection of imaginary lines drawn vertically and horizontally one-third of the way in from the sides of the picture, your composition will be well balanced.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 50mm lens, 1/125 sec, f/8.
In this shot, I have used the tree to frame the picture – it occupies the left-hand and top-third of the shot. This gives a strong balance and leads the eye into the centre of the shot.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 28mm lens, 1/125 sec, f/16.
Following the principle
There are important elements to consider every time you compose your pictures, and all of them relate to the principle of the golden section. The first of these is framing the picture. You should ask yourself whether the shot would look better taken with the camera held in landscape mode or turned vertically in its portrait mode. The second is viewpoint, and you should explore whether you should change it from a high viewpoint to a low one or vice versa. At the same time, you need to pay attention to the foreground and background and how you can make them work within the overall composition. Since a DSLR camera with its lenses can zoom in and out, crop and include, blur and keep sharp, you can use it to control and enhance all the elements that go into making up the overall composition.
See also:
Framing the picture
Probably the greatest advantage of a DSLR camera is that when you look through the viewfinder, what you see is exactly what the lens sees. This is the most accurate way of viewing your subject, which should make it easy to frame your shot perfectly.
Taking your time
Even with this advantage, many photographers develop the unfortunate habit of always having their subject in the middle of the frame and always shooting with the camera in its landscape (horizontal) mode. Usually this is the result of trying to work too quickly and not giving enough time and thought to placing the subject in its optimum position.
Placing your subject slap in the middle of the frame often fails to produce the best picture because there can be too much distracting detail surrounding the subject. Using the landscape mode to shoot a portrait also results in unwanted peripheral detail. The human face fits far more comfortably in portrait mode, and you can zoom in and literally fill the frame – all you need do is turn the camera 90°. Many DSLR cameras have duplicated controls, so that the shutter release button is as easy to reach in landscape or portrait mode.
I deliberately placed this Welsh mountain pony to one side of the frame, as I thought it might make a double page spread picture in a magazine. The gutter would fall in a neutral area of the shot and there is enough blue sky for some type to be dropped in. Even so, the picture works well and looks much better than if I had centred the pony.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 28mm lens, 1/60 sec, f/11.
Professional tips
• Don’t be afraid to go in close to your subject and fill the frame.
• Change lens if you can’t get in close enough to your subject. Cropping the picture on the computer at a later date will result in a loss of quality.
• Look at your subject with the camera in both portrait and landscape modes.
• Try a few shots where your subject is to one side of the frame and not in the middle.
• If you are hoping to have your pictures published, consider where the gutter or type might be positioned.
This portrait fills the frame perfectly. Imagine how much background would have been included had I shot it with the camera in landscape mode.
> Canon EOS 1DS MK2, 70mm lens, 1/15 sec, f/2.8.
The telegraph pole and cactus look lost in landscape mode.
A tighter composition has been achieved in portrait mode.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 70mm lens, 1/50 sec, f/11.
Photographs for publication
Many professional photographers compose their pictures with an idea already in mind of how they might be published. For example, they may compose their shots so that they will fit over two pages in a magazine or book. When doing this, it is important that the gutter (where two facing pages join in the middle), which may have to slice through the shot, is in a position that is not going to affect the main subject.
Another consideration is where the type might go. Throughout this book there are double-page pictures that have some text over them. If the shots had been taken without enough of a neutral area, then the type would be illegible.
See also:
Portraits
Viewpoint
Selecting the best viewpoint for a shot is often low down in the list of priorities because, having seen a view of a subject that we find attractive, many of us shoot from that very spot. In some cases this might work, but if we had given ourselves just a little more time, the shot might have been so much better.
Important questions
Having chosen what you are going to shoot, take time to look carefully at the subject and ask yourself the following questions:
• From where I’m standing, is the sun in the best possible position?
• Are there any unattractive shadows dominating the picture?
• Is there any foreground interest?
• Are there any features in the foreground that can be used to enhance the overall composition?
• Is the background interesting? Does it overpower the main subject?
• Am I seeing the most attractive features of the subject?
• Have I chosen the right focal length of lens or adjusted my zoom?
• Would the shot look better if I took it from a lower or higher viewpoint?
• Can I be bothered to walk around the subject to see if there is a better angle from which to take the shot?
I was attracted to this terrace of houses, particularly the one with wisteria growing over its walls. I took my shot but realized that I’d done so from the worst possible viewpoint: there is too much uninteresting foreground, half of which is in deep shadow, the wisteria is hardly visible and the 24mm lens has made the shot too wide-angled.
I then moved around the building and chose another viewpoint. Although this focused more on the house with the wisteria, the background was still in deep shadow, as were the steps. In addition, the wall on the left was uninteresting and, even though I had reduced the focal length to 35mm, there was still too much unwanted material in the shot.
Professional tips
• Explore all the conceivable angles. Moving just a few paces away from your chosen viewpoint can often make all the difference to the final composition.
• If you are using a zoom lens, altering the focal length could improve your shot enormously, even from the same viewpoint.
• Think about the light. You may have established the best viewpoint but the shot could be enhanced taken at a different time of day.
• Instead of taking your shot from a standing position, try crouching down and using a low viewpoint. It could improve the perspective considerably.
• Always be on the lookout for foreground interest. Including it might be a simple case of pointing the camera downwards slightly from your chosen viewpoint.
For many people this would seem an intimidating list of questions and one not really worth bothering with. However, the fact that you have chosen to use a DSLR camera indicates that you are a cut above the average photographer and that you want your shots to look special. After all, if you bought a Ferrari, would you use it only for the weekly shop? No, you would want to explore its full potential.
Once you get into the habit of asking yourself these questions, you will be amazed at how differently you view your subjects – this is possibly the most important part of developing a ‘photographic eye’.
For this shot, I moved round to the right so that I was facing the house more ‘full on’. This cropped the oppressive background out of the frame, as well as the uninteresting wall on the left. However, the small wall in the foreground didn’t add anything to the composition and the power lines in the sky irritated me.
For the final shot, I moved a little more to the right. The house was now at the correct angle and the wisteria shown to best effect and in a good light. A higher viewpoint meant that I could disguise the power lines with the branches of the trees, and by stepping back slightly, I could include the bluebells in the foreground.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 24mm lens, 1/100 sec, f/11.
Foregrounds
Invariably, it is the foreground 0f a shot that first attracts attention. It’s therefore important that you give whatever occupies this part of the frame due consideration.
Creating interest
Placing an item of interest in the foreground of your overall composition will help to give it balance, as well as being a tool to lead the eye into the picture. However, it’s important not to place an item in the same part of the frame, such as the bottom right-hand corner, in all your shots, otherwise they will take on a familiarity that will become monotonous to the viewer, especially if your shots are presented in a folio or album.
Not all shots need to be taken with a wide-angle lens to emphasize foreground interest. I used a telephoto lens and a small aperture to get maximum depth of field for this picture. The monk in the foreground is the focus of interest, while the one in the middle distance helps lead the eye into the rest of the shot.
> Canon EOS 1DS, 100mm lens, 1/15 sec, f/22.
Professional tips
• Wide-angle lenses give more depth of field, so you can keep both the foreground and background sharp.
• Telephoto lenses appear to alter the perspective between foreground and background.
• If it’s difficult matching the exposure of the foreground with the background, ask yourself if it would be better to take the shot at a different time of day.
