In my previous post, 7 Tips For Great Low Angle Shots, I listed out a few ways to help shoot life from a lower angle. (And thanks to those of you who mentioned using Live View, especially if your rear LCD flips out!) Not all low angle shots need to be right on the ground looking up. Some great shots are taken slightly higher and can still show a large degree of perspective. To add some inspiration, I filed through the Creative Commons images on Flickr to find some examples that I find fun, exciting, different or just cool. I hope they spark a few ideas to get you out and shooting!
One Brief Moment
"A photograph is a stop in time for just one brief moment." – Charles Dobbs PhotographyArchive
Archive for January, 2011
One thing that makes a great photo is its ability to convey emotion. Emotion in a photograph, or any work of art, is what helps a viewer connect with a piece if that emotion is prevalent in the viewer. Happiness and joy, sorrow and despair, these are some of the easier emotions as they are universally felt, at one time or another, by all on this planet.
Emotion, or a feeling, is what can bring a snapshot out of obscurity and make it shine. Think of a normal sunset picture from the shores of Hawaii with just the horizon and a bright orange sun dipping low. It’s beautiful for sure and even better when viewed in person. Now pull the zoom back to a wider angle and show a couple in silhouette, sitting on lounge chairs facing the waves and reaching to each other to hold hands. Different people will connect with each photo in different ways, or maybe not at all. Those in a romantic mood will enjoy the photo of the couple and those looking for calm without distraction may enjoy the singular sunset.
My point here is you can’t guess which mood people will be in when they view your work. Which is actually a good thing, because the photo should be your expression of what you see and feel through the viewfinder (unless you are attempting a neutrally biased photojournalistic stance). Here then are some tips to help convey emotion and feeling in photographs to help make a stronger connection with viewers.
Let me start off by saying that I don’t use textures all that often, but there are certainly times where I feel that an image could use just a little something extra. Textures are just another one of those things in digital photography that can be overused and overdone if you’re not careful, and there are certainly right and wrong ways of going about it.
So, for those that have never heard of this before or have yet to try it, you may be wondering what it means to add a texture to a photograph? Simply put, it means taking one image usually of some sort of texture like peeling paint, a scratched surface, a textured wall or fabric and applying it as an overlay to your actual image. The effect is achieved by changing the blend mode of the texture in photoshop so that the texture actually becomes translucent and part of the actual image. For this tutorial, I’ll take a simple image I took in California during a surf competition, and add a texture to bring it to life. Here’s the image straight out of the camera and the texture we will be using from my library…
CHARLES DOBBS PHOTOGRAPHY
It has been awhile since my last post, but with a death in the family, life just gets crazy. I was in El Paso Texas last week for a funeral and although I did not really have any time to shoot, I was able to get one last capture of the rugged Franklin mountains. I say one last capture because I am not sure I will ever get back to the El Paso area again. At least not any time soon. I have no more relatives living there now. I won’t miss the area, but I will miss some of the best Mexican food you can find. Viva El Chicos Tacos! Or something like that. 
Here is a sneak peak of Biker Babe – Diane! We had a blast shooting this and she is a great lady!
CHARLES DOBBS PHOTOGRAPHY
Did you get a new DSLR for Christmas but don’t know exactly where to start on learning how to use it? Here are 10 Tips to Help You get the Most out of Your New DSLR.
What a bad blogger I am! Here it is January 5th and I just realized I didn’t wish everyone a Merry Christmas or even a Happy New Year. I truly hope you all had great holidays filled with family, friends, and love.
Now that 2011 is in full swing, I can tell you about my new project, Project 52. Basically, it will be a project based on a weekly photography subject that will occur over 52 weeks. I felt this was an easier project to do than a 365 because there is just no way for me to photograph a different subject every day. However, if anyone would like to volunteer a year’s salary for myself, I am confident I could get it done. So get ready for Project 52!
