ABOUT TAKING BETTER PHOTOS?

WHAT MAKES A GOOD OR BAD PHOTOGRAPH?

Connie and Gilbert with camera strap 1929

Connie and Grandaughter with camera strap 2005

WHAT MAKES A

GOOD OR

BAD PHOTOGRAPH?

• VISUAL visual elements and composition

• TECHNICAL processes of recording / printing / presenting

• CONTEXTUAL concept, intentions, interpretations, purposes and wider contexts

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO A ‘GOOD’ PHOTOGRAPH?

IMAGE MAKING PROCESS

PRE-PRODUCTION – choice of camera, knowledge of how to use it, concept, preparations, staging, intentions…

PRODUCTION – Framing (Selection / Composition)- Focus (Sharpness / Depth of field)- Lighting (Exposure time: Aperture / Shutter Speed) - intentions…

POST-PRODUCTION – Editing e.g. Cropping, Digital Manipulation, Colour /Contrast adjustments, Display -Quality of printer, screen display, understanding of resolution, intentions…

PURPOSES & INTENTIONS..to be creative / originalto respond to beautyto documentto shareto celebrateto promoteto commemorateto expressto observeto provoketo exploreto learnto question to create a legacy…?

What are your intentions? What is the ‘concept’ of the

photo?

What is the purpose of the photo?

What is the ‘nature’ of the photo?

What is the ‘context’ of the photo?

The artist’s viewpoint: aspects of successful images…?

Through good timing / being in the right place at the right time

Through creating work with an ‘aesthetic’ appeal

Through the concept / context of the work / e.g. the message portrayed, the response provoked…

Through producing a ‘project’ – a set of images– that offer deeper insights, the potential for comparisons, admirable persistence…

Through providing a narrative or a visual challenge

Through the process of discovery / investigation

Through relying on the viewers knowledge / previous experiences / preconceptions

CONTEXTUAL CONSIDERATIONS: A viewer’s perspective

How do you as a viewer connect with the photo? What is its personal relevance? What is your understanding of the role / purpose / emotional impact of the image? (Does it amaze, educate, amuse, shock…? How does your response equate with the photographers intentions? Are you aware of the photographer’s intentions?)

Where are you viewing the image? Where / how are you meant to see it? (Consider scale, surrounding environment, quality, period in time etc…)

What knowledge / experience / connections / ‘baggage’ do you bring to the work? Are you intellectually or creatively ‘rewarded’ by looking at it?

Is the success of the image dependent on an awareness of other images / information?

VISUAL ELEMENTS

The information that we see: Colour, Pattern, Line, Shape, Form, Space, Tone, Texture

COMPOSITION

How the Visual Elements are arranged Contrast, Harmony, Balance, leading the eye, Viewpoints…

The rule of thirdsThe Golden SectionThe surface and the frame

A VIEWERS INTERPRETATION

• Ability to ‘look’? basic observation

• Ability to ‘notice’? level of engagement

• Ability to ‘see’? level of understanding

Learning to ‘See’? to decode, translate, connect, interpret, understand

• Ability to articulate, share, justify, communicate