Toast Masters | A Mini Photography Lesson | Perth Photographer

My Toast Masters journey continues! I thought this would be a great way to share my speech with you while also giving a few tips for your photography 🙂 The speech was in conjunction with a slide show to visualise what I was talking about so I have included the images here also. I was a bit nervous for some reason this time round so I did end up reading from my notes unfortunately which wasn’t the plan. Oh well! Toast Masters is the place to learn from your mistakes and pick yourself up, learn a valuable lesson and try again 🙂 What I learnt was that my speech was far too long for my alloted 7 minutes and that when dealing with technology there is a possibility that things can go pear shaped like the remote control forwarding the slides on too fast that I had to stop mid speech to fix it. Oopps!

Enjoy the read! Let me know if you learnt anything form my speech  🙂

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No doubt you have heard the saying ‘A picture speaks a 1000 words’. What stories are your pictures telling??

Have you taken a photo that didn’t turn out as you had hoped or have taken a spectacular photo but don’t understand why it is a good photo and so you find it hard to replicate again.

What makes a compelling photograph?

Ever tried to read or listen to a story that was poorly composed?  Did you lose interest? The same applies to a poorly composed picture. Learn to visualize and understand some key principles and with a bit of practice you will develop your photographic eye that will captivate your viewer.

Every picture should have a reason for being taken!

Three elements I will talk about are seeing and understanding light, good composition and perspective.

They are guides everyone can apply no matter the type of camera you have or the style of photograph you want to take. They are not hard and fast rules just guidelines.

The first element light, in this instance I am referring to the natural light of the sun and not the artificial light of a flash. The quality of light varies throughout the day from dawn until dusk and whether there is a cloudy sky or a cloudless sky. Early morning and late afternoon is the most attractive light that has a beautiful soft quality when the sun is low in the sky no matter what you are photographing. I challenge you to get out of bed early one day before the sun rises, which is not so hard if you have young children and you will find the light just before and just after the sunrises is magic!

 

Photographing in the middle of the day in open sun is challenging especially of people. Direct overhead lighting creates strong facial shadows otherwise know as the raccoon eyes! The dark shadows that fill in the eye sockets so that you can’t see the eyes. Find some shade and have your subject stand inside the edge of the shade aiming to have a clear sky behind you. The skylight will illuminate your subjects’ eyes.

On a cloudy day the sun is filtered diffusing the light, minimizing contrast and shadow, which is ideal for portraits but not necessarily ideal for landscapes. The sun in this image was about 45 mins from setting. Wispy clouds covering the sun diffused the light superbly.

Take note of the direction from which the light hits your subject. Sunlight coming from the left or right reveals texture ……

and emphasizes shadows creating depth and dimension between the light and dark within your image.

Illuminating a subject from behind is called Back lighting. When the sun is low or has just set, silhouette shapes appear surround by spectacular colour ……

or it can give an ethereal glow around subjects. Sometimes sun flare can really enhance the picture 🙂 Don’t be afraid to backlight although you may want to use fill flash sometimes with people.

Be careful of direct front light as it is not very flattering when people are squinting. Again use the method of standing in the shade or alternatively head inside and utilize the indirect light from a window or door way as it is a very soft beautiful light that softens the face.

Next we move to composition, which refers to the arrangement of elements within the picture to create balance and harmony that leads the viewer in and around the image to the important parts of the scene.

A basic concept of composition is called the Rules of thirds. Mentally divide your scene in the viewfinder into thirds, both horizontally and vertically. Place your main subject along one of the four imaginary lines or where two of the lines intersect. As a general rule the center of interest should not be in the center of your picture. Pretend the white lines on the image below are imaginary  🙂

Place horizon lines along one of these lines rather than in the middle, which will divide your image in half.

Compose your picture using Scale and proportion to allow viewers to comprehend a known objects size to its surroundings.

Implied lines to lead the viewer around the image or to the main subject. These lines can be vertical, horizontal, curving, or diagonal. Again picture the white lines as imaginary  🙂

Utilize foreground objects to frame the main subject to fill in a bland sky or empty space in the image.  You can use trees or other parts of buildings for example to frame your main subject.

All the time keep an eye on what’s happening in the image. Watch out for that tree branch or light pole that likes to appear growing out of your subject’s head or ears or if the horizon line is cutting your subject off at the neck. Change your position to correct for this. Make sure your horizon is straight if it is intended to be straight and minimise clutter in your background so it does no detract from your main subject.

 

And finally the third element is Perspective and for the purpose of this illustration I am referring to your viewpoint rather lens choice.

A change in point of view can create a unique perspective rather than a viewpoint at your own eye level. Be imaginative and get on the ground to photograph your child from their viewpoint and while you are on the ground look up!

 

Or get in amongst it.

Get up high and look down on your subject.

 

Standing above a child can encourage them to look up allowing that bright sky to illuminate their eyes. All the while not forgetting the basics of composition and direction of light. A couple of extra tips is to maintain focus on the eyes and have your subject a fair distance from the background for separation to force it out of focus for less distraction.

As with anything photography takes practice and patience.

Technology has made it easier and less expensive to learn from your mistakes so shoot away!

See if you can be more creative at your next child’s birthday. Turn your travel snap shots into fabulous story telling memories. Train your eye to see creatively and you will find interesting subjects around you no matter how ordinary they appear.

I have only just touched the surface of improving your photographic eye. Apply the lighting, composition and perspective principles and you should see your images telling fabulous stories that will wow and captivate your viewer.

THE END