However, once I started venturing outside with the specific purpose of taking pictures, I was frustrated that my photographs did not all contain that magical quality. "Beginner's luck" I thought to myself, until I learned a new way of thinking about taking pictures....cropping.
A good friend, (I'll call her Grace), introduced me to the power of cropping. An avid photographer with a flare for nature photography, she frequently posts series of her pictures on Facebook. Then a few hours or sometimes a day or two later, she adds several more pictures to her album. These pictures are versions of original photos that Grace has manipulated in some way-- either by changing a color picture to black and white, adjusting the lighting, rotating the orientation, or cropping a section of a picture. I always appreciate how the manipulated version highlights a specific aspect of the original picture that particularly catches her interest such as texture, composition, lighting, subject matter, contrast, etc.
Impressed by Grace's photography skills and eye for visual detail, I asked her to help me, to become my photography mentor. "Look at my pictures-- let me know what works and what I can do to make them better." Over the past year, Grace's comments, critiques, and suggestions have helped form my inner photography critic. They have helped me to start determining when a picture works, when and what part of a picture needs to be cropped, and why. In studying Grace's photographs to figure out what makes them so striking, I have been inspired to take pictures, try her techniques, and develop criteria of what makes a good nature photograph.
Below is one of my pictures that Grace helped me to crop. She commented on the picture: "Interesting colors on the left and at the shore -- would be interesting if you cropped the background and just kept the foreground."
The cropped version of this picture, below, draws more attention to the colors on the left and on the shore, as well as to the textures of the bush and the mud. Cropping the picture allows the eye to focus on these interesting details, whereas in the original picture, the eye keeps jumping around because there are too many details to look at.
After trying out Grace's suggestions on several of my photographs, I began experimenting with cropping. I particularly like the Monet-esque quality of the picture below, which was obtained by zooming in on a particular section of a photograph.
Believe it or not, I created this image from the photograph below.
By cropping the reflection of the house in the water and rotating it 180 degrees, I was able to achieve the desired effect. Once again, Grace's influence inspired me to take a series of pictures of the reflection of this house in the water, as her pictures often capture particularly interesting colors, textures, and patterns in water reflections.
I attribute a large part of my developing photography skills to Grace. By sharing her natural talent of photography, giving constructive criticism, and suggesting specific things to try, she has inspired me to experiment and take risks with my photographs. Grace has also taught me that there is no need to feel frustrated with the way a shot originally comes out. Now I know how to look closer, find an aspect of the picture that I like, and highlight it using powerful techniques such as cropping.
Questions to Ponder: What natural talents and passions do you have to share with the world? How can you share them in a way that would inspire others to try their hand at them and take risks? Are there Graces in your life who have inspired you to pursue an area of interest? How can you thank the mentors in your life?
With photography, it can be analogous to writing -- what are the important parts of your story. The same for photographs, what is the important feature of your photo?
ReplyDeleteGrace
I really like this idea of comparing writing to photography. Interesting to think about revising in a different way. Instead of taking away the "bad parts" or what does not work, revision can be thought of as taking away words to enhance or highlight the most important parts. This way, the reader can focus on the most interesting parts of the writing. In reading your comment, I immediately thought of what Michaelangelo said when asked how he made his statue of David. "I just chipped away the stone that didn't look like David."
ReplyDeleteThis is a very powerful way to share and discuss ideas about photography and so much more. Again, would love to explore how to utilize some of these ideas and creative outlets to do this with our staff - very cool!
ReplyDeleteKelly