The Miniature Effect

Photography is an art of exclusion. This is something I have said before. But you exclude in order to focus attention on whatever it is you are trying to show.

Normally, having the subjects be this small in the photograph would be a good way to lose them. However, part of what I am showing is how much the subjects shine forth in their surroundings. Although they are small in their surroundings their surroundings offer nothing which competes with them. They are a little like the stars in the night sky.

This is another situation, of course, where you must rule the camera rather than let it push you around. Most cameras will want to overexpose a scene like this because the camera can't know that the scene is supposed to look dark and that the few tiny bright things are actually the subject.

Also, note that although there is an awful lot more in the frame than the subject none of it detracts. Subtly, in fact, the surroundings frame and contextualise the subjects.

White Balance

Once upon a time people shot pictures using a chemical process called film. If you wanted to alter the white balance you either screwed a colour correction filter onto the lens before taking the picture or you used a different film that was balanced for "Tungsten" (for indoors) rather than "Daylight". Because both of these steps are somewhat inconvenient most non-professional photographers simply didn't. They shot everything on daylight film. This is the equivalent of setting your digital camera white balance to "Sunny" instead of "Auto". Guess what, lots of great pictures were taken!

Different flavours of light have different characters to them. Most can be pleasant (apart from flourescents, which often look green and unpleasant). Auto white balance will attempt to turn all of these light sources to "white" and is a leading cause of photos looking sterile and boring.

Here is an example of one of the "warmest" light sources commonly encountered -- candlelight. But this very warmth is what makes things in candlelight so beautiful and warm and comforting to behold. The daylight balanced film used here has fully captured that warmth.

When I do shoot my digital camera I almost always use daylight white balance rather than auto. I can't remember when I last changed that setting. And the digital pictures almost always look great in every light. And gone are the days when two photos taken seconds apart look completely different thanks to auto white balance making a different white balance "guess" each time.

The Scene

An event happens over a span of time.

A picture freezes a moment in time.

How do you choose a point of view and an instant that tells the story of the event?

Find A Detail

Painting is the art of inclusion. You start with a blank canvas and you include the things that will make your picture.

Photography is the art of exclusion. You start with the world and you exclude things until you have a picture that says something. If it is not helping your picture it is hurting it.

This urn was very nice but the striking part about it was the design around the opening. If I had shown the whole urn my picture would not have been as strong.

What Does Your Camera Know About Exposure?

This is typical of the sort of scene that a camera on auto will get wrong. And if it is a digital camera you can bet that the bright parts will go to detail-less white.

Look at this scene. It is mostly dark. It is a dark room. It is supposed to be. But how must the camera know? It can't.

The simplest way to deal with this situation is with a control that all cameras will have which is called "Exposure Compensation". It is usually marked with a "+/-" marking. If you find that you are getting a too-bright picture in a scene like this and losing the bright parts simply hit "-" a few times and take the picture again. Don't forget to set it back to "0" when you are done!

How To Make Big Look BIG

This is a really big truck. But it could easily look small in a picture. I have used two techniques here to make it look big. One is to fill the frame. The other is to use a wide angle. The number one reason why things look smaller in pictures is a mistaken urge to "get everything in". You must decide what a picture is about and ruthlessly exclude the things that don't serve that. Wide angle lenses make things look bigger because you shoot things from a shorter distance. Standing far from things will make things look distant, even if you fill the frame.

Cel - A - Bra - Tion

How to show an event?

It's not the way you would think.

I always bring a wide angle to the fireworks to capture the event. Almost always my best shots come from a telephoto.

This picture works because it tells the story symbolically. There is a miniature version of the fireworks display here. Enough to say "fireworks". There is also the Sheraton hotel which is a major Doha landmark.

Together they tell the story better than any of the "get it all in" shots.

Colour Photography Is About Colour

I think this picture says that better than any words. Yes, this is a cloud. But the picture is all about the colour and the texture.

What Is Your Point Of View?

It gets harder and harder to take an interesting shot at my work. This is a common problem. Most of the most beautiful locations and buildings have been photographed countless times. People are still ready, however, to see them in a new way. The secret to this is not a new camera, a new lens or a piece of software. Find a new perspective.

Always Be Open To Awesome

As I look at this photo again it struck me just how often the amazing is present in the mundane. This was the result of a particular moment in a particular sunset at a particular time of the year. It was probably there to be seen for a few minutes. The picture came from seeing what was happening as it happened and being prepared.

Look For Something Special

Look at the reflection on the water from the building in the middle. Show people something they don't see every day.