Photography is all about contrasts of course. Without those variations in lightness and darkness our images would be dull and flat. Whether contrasting black and white in monochrome shots, or harmonising and contrasting the shades in our colour shots, effective contrast is key to a good result. But the term can also relate to our choice of subject matter.
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Shapes and lines are important elements in photographic composition, but how often do we stop to consider them? I think I am more aware of lines than I am of shapes, to be honest. I look for leading lines and for dynamic diagonals in particular, but I’m less likely to look for specific shapes.
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There’s a common mistake most of us make when starting out in photography. We spot an interesting subject, point the camera and take the picture. Great, we think, but what we often fail to do is take notice of what is behind our subject. The problem is that our brain has a habit of filtering out unnecessary information seen by our eyes, but the camera captures everything.
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I think we all recognise now that the genie is out of the bottle. Mankind has created AI and now needs to learn how to harness it for good while avoiding the many pitfalls.
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While I hope I can say of many of my photos that it ‘tells a story’, I have chosen to call this particular gallery 'Every picture tells a story' for a reason. As a song (and album) title, it fits perfectly with my theme, mixing images with music.
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We can photograph our subject simply as it is, a faithful record. We can get creative, perhaps using black and white or playing with tone and structure, to produce an image close to the original but not purely representational of it. Or we can interpret the subject with such freedom that it becomes something other than it once was, an abstraction.
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How do you feel about editing photos? Do you believe that the image you take should be the only one you present to the world? That it’s wrong to mess with the reality of what you saw? Or are you perhaps happy to tweak a shot a little, straightening a horizon or cropping out that person who wandered into it as you pressed the shutter?
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A circle is a symbol of unity, eternity, and harmony. When used in a photograph, circular elements give a sense of unity and evoke feelings of serenity and timelessness. An image with circles is usually a restful one.
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Warm colours, such as reds, oranges, and yellows, are often associated with energy, passion, and warmth, evoking feelings of excitement and vibrancy. In photography they leap off the page or screen. It’s hard to ignore a warm-shaded image! The deeper warm shades suggest cosiness and comfort, while the brighter ones are sunny and cheerful.
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In a photo our eyes instinctively take a walk along a line to see where it leads. When it leads to a focal point in the image we talk about leading lines. But wherever they lead, lines can add so much interest to a photo.
