We are often drawn to looking at photographs taken by well-known, successful artists for inspiration and to study how to create meaningful images. However my good friend Sue Ables reminded me the other day that it’s just as important to study our own images to see what we can improve. She prints out her images, hangs them on the wall, and reviews them to see what she can do differently the next time around. Sue’s point was also to print my photographs and not to just view them on the computer. I believe it was Ansel Adams who said “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance“. So who am I to argue with Ables or Adams?
I will be printing out my images but in the spirit of including you in the process, I’m going to start a new series of blog posts called “Blooper of the Day“. I’ll include my thoughts on what I could have done differently to create a better image and you can weigh in. This is not meant to be a critique or evaluation of my images but more a sharing of the learning so we might all improve. Oh and by the way, this is another idea that came out of asking myself “what’s next?“.
This image was made at our early morning shoot at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We arrived before 6:30 am and soon we were joined by the tulip pickers. I asked this man if I could photograph him and he kindly obliged. I applied a Lightroom pre-set in post-processing just to get an idea of how this might look had I not messed up the composition. I think the man should be in the middle of the frame so that both bunches of tulips would be included. There are two things I could have done to accomplish this. First I used my 50mm f/1.8 lens which meant that I needed to move to get all the bits into the frame. I’m still getting used to using a prime lens and I have to tell you that I admire people like Josh Bradley who has a whole project using this lens called Life @ 50mm. I should have also slowed down to check my images and see if the composition was correct. This happens to me more often than I’d like to admit! While this lens was able to knock out the background using an aperture of f/2.8, I feel it would have been stronger if the background had more tulips and a higher horizon line.
So there you have it, three things I (re)learned by following the advice of my friend Sue.
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Slow down and check your composition
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Prime lenses require more learning than you might think
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Try a different perspective to create a stronger composition
Just as it is important to slow down sometimes when you are out with the camera it is also sometimes important to slow down during post-processing and really evaluate your photographs. It is good to try and critically evaluate your images. I find I get a lot out of printing some photographs and meeting with an honest, trusted friend who is also into photography and critically going over say 6-7 prints of each others work. It helps break down the emotion or feeling you have attached to a particular photograph.
I also have decided to only use my 50mm for April as a creative kick or “bucket filler” to paraphrase David du Chemin.
I think you’re going to have some lovely images with your 50mm, not just because it’s a prime lens but because you are looking to be creative. Make sure you keep us posted
Thanks Sabrina, there’s already a couple of 50mm images gone up on my blog and flickr.
Ed, I’m including a link here so people can view some of your 50mm work.
I learnt about the importance of printing out your photos and messing around with them physically to give you a more tactile “sense” of them very recently as well.
I’m a self taught amateur (I learnt what I know about photography on the net) and it’s all a revelation to me, what most old school photographers seem do as a matter of course. I went on a workshop recently where all participants ended up printing their photos, sticking them on the wall, and moving, throwing, pushing them around to create narratives. It was pretty enlightening. I have been enjoying your journey so far and will continue to do so.
Hello Charlene!
There’s a lot to be said for self-taught amateurs and if anyone is in doubt they should just swing over to your blog–smashing images! I especially liked the ones you made of everyone checking out their photos. I am inspired!
People, please go have a look:
http://novemberimages.blogspot.com/2010/03/last-day-of-magnum-workshops-trent.html
Thanks for journeying with me!
On Sabrina’s urging I checked them out, great blog, and great work Charlene!
I think this is an excellent idea one that I’m going use myself. Thanks.
I think you are 90% there with this one. His face seems soft but you could have recropped this to equate the left side of the frame with the right one. I’d give us more of him rather than the tulips in the background.
Just my thoughts!
I hadn’t thought of cropping this image but it does work. Thanks for the suggestion Mark.
I think you might be a little hard on yourself with this. To me the image is of him, not what he’s holding.