Smartphone walk
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Lines

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Lines

Smartphone walk

You have probably heard it many times. Lines. Leading lines. Lines in a photo lead the attention of the viewer towards something. This is how the eyes work. They want to be guided. Next time you see something interesting, check if anything in the surrounding area leads towards that treasure. And then frame it.

This is somewhere downtown Hoi An in a quiet alley. The lines of the wall immediately suck you deeper into the image. When I first saw them there was nothing else. The lines lead me to the window. Or an empty exit/entrance. That works. It could be considered as the end or a beginning.

On an other day when I was there a woman suddenly appeared and immediately I captured her. Now all attention leads to her.

Lines are everywhere. This one is beautifully curved. Or should I say “was”. It is gone forever thanks to ongoing construction works.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

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sunset with the farmers
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Depth

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Depth

sunset with the farmers

When there are multiple people in a scene it doesn’t mean they all need to be sharp. With a shallow depth of field you can decide who is the subject/most important person. You do this by choosing a low aperture number.

Here I really did not have a choice about who to choose, as there is only one woman who is clearly visible and properly lit. So I focused on her and as a result the other two are blurry. It is all about her. The two others provide depth. They don’t need to be sharp to play a role. Together they form a triangle. And then there are the diagonal lines to provide further depth.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

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Sunsets

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Sunsets

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It is always very tempting to capture the beautiful colours of sunsets. But there are very few sunset photos I actually like. Apart from the nice colours the rest of the image is usually pretty boring or just bad. A natural reaction of any camera with some of the auto functions active is to darken the image. The camera thinks there is a lot of light, so it is programmed to reduce the light. Good for the sky, but bad for the rest of the image. Often you can’t see the rest of photo because it is so dark. And that makes it a bad photo.

Here I lined the street light up with the sun. It gives the illusion that the light illuminates the water, but of course that isn’t the case. An added bonus is how the lines of the mountains connect.

A very simple technique to add more interest to the darker part is to shoot from a very low angle. If I had taken a shot when I first saw the man, he and the background would merge and maybe only his hat would stick out. Thanks to the very low vantage point the dark background disappeared and he stands out.

This one was taken with a mobile phone.

Smartphone walk

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

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Juxtaposition

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Juxtaposition

Closely related to looking and including something else in the composition is juxtaposition. Juxtaposition happens when there are two or more elements in a scene that contrast with each other, or there could be one element that contributes towards the other. Combined they can create a new theme. Those elements could be anything and to see them you have to keep looking, keep thinking. Is there something that you can connect? Avoid the obvious, dig deeper.

Juxtaposition usually happens when you recognize it. It takes you by surprise. It is all about observation.

The woman on the bench is on its own not terribly interesting, but because of the background this changes completely. I noticed the advertisement behind her and in my mind I made connection of a badly odored drifter and deodorant. And a juxtaposition was born. I already had a shot and then the cleaner entered the scene, amplifying the need for cleansing. The contrasts that I chose to capture were not realistic at all. But we can easily relate to them. The woman was just having a rest.

Another example. I went close to shoot this very tight. I did not want any other elements in the image. That would give distractions.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

sunset with the farmers
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Panning

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Panning

sunset with the farmers

One of the easier techniques to create a different image is panning. The idea is simple. Use a slower shutter speed (say 1/15th or 1/20th depending on the speed of the moving subject), move your camera at the same speed of a passing subject and press your shutter button. If you do it right the subject will be sharp and the background blurry. It works best with a colourful background, so choose your background first.

However, the success rate can be low. So take plenty of images and hopefully one of them stands out.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

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Details

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Details

Often it is better not to shoot the entire subject. Whether it is architecture, landscapes or people etc., spend a little bit of time on searching for something that stands out.

This is part of a house in Hoi An. You can see it on my alleys tour. The house itself looks just ordinary, apart from the top section. So that is what I went for. There are countless of sky options, but I like the blue of the sky, which corresponds with the blue of the house. The photo shows a more modern Vietnamese house, yet the ties to the culture and the past are still there thanks to the shrine. Vietnam is moving forward, yet the ties to the past are strong and this image reflects that.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

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Revisiting locations

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Revisiting locations

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It can be frustrating to visit a place and see the circumstances are not as expected. That gorgeous photo from the guide book or website looks so much better than yours. You can fix that, if you have time.

This is a photo of the old road going west from Hanoi. It did not look like this when I stumbled upon many concrete cylinders. No tripod, ugly weather. So I returned. And returned again. Only then I managed to combine the green and blue in the light I wanted. Of all the subjects that passed I chose this one.

I liked the binoculars look and in the end I spent three afternoons on getting it right.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

Morning in the alleys
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Movement

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Movement

Morning in the alleys

If you want to create movement you need to let go of the safe settings. The main setting to control here is shutter speed. With a slow shutter speed everything that moves becomes blurry. To stabilise your camera a tripod is handy.

For this image I had no tripod and I had only one chance. With a large dose of luck I got this result. The whole photo moves, except for the face.

And no, this is not a product of post processing. It was all done in-camera.

For more motion photography, I have an other website called Blur Of The Moment.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts

private
CategoriesBits By admin

Creating images

Creating images

Images explained - Short stories about making decisions

Creating images is what it is all about. You have a vision, an idea, and you execute it. Sometimes you set out to create a specific image, sometimes you stumble upon something and apply your own vision to it.

This page contains a collection of posts about the road to the image. To make a photograph the way you want it there are several decisions to be made. This is an insight into several scenarios and what I do to make the image work for me. These are some of the topics I talk about when being on tour.

If you need help to elevate your images I will help you. If you are more experienced I can still help you with breaking the imaginary cultural boundaries and get close to the locals. After that you can also include people in your compositions, without the fear of being too close. You may have to leave your comfort zone. And you may thank me for that 🙂

When you look at the gallery, for each image I made choices. The compositions are the way I wanted them to be.

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Create order in the chaos

Images explained - Little stories about making decisions

Create order in the chaos

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In Vietnam you can see cock fights here and there. This scene is from Hanoi, 2007. The streets were very busy with men watching the fights. They were scattered around small arenas. At one of them I noticed some kind of canvas with cheering people. Then I knew what I wanted.

I waited until they were in the right position and then I found the treasure I was looking for. All the chaos was reduced to a simple composition.

The photo shows the cocks with the audience, but the spectators are not real.

There is an interesting contrast with the actual crowds where no smile could be seen, whereas the people in the photo were cheering and laughing. The fact that the photo is upside down relates to that. 180 degrees different, same as the emotions: seriousness versus happiness.

I found this far more interesting than shooting the fight with the actual people around them. That would have been too easy.

There was an overwhelming amount of distractions and here all the elements are reduced to just two.

Photography is not just a matter of aiming your camera and pressing the button. For collecting memories this is perfectly alright. But if you want to decide what exactly ends up in your photo and how, you have to spend some more time and make decisions.

What is it what you want? Are there any distractions or irrelevant parts you definitely don’t want in your image? Do you want to be creative by changing your aperture or shutter speed? Or even move the camera (or just the lens) while pressing the shutter, to add a certain effect? What is the best moment to press the button?

This is a series of images where I explain what it is what I wanted and how I executed my plans.

These are things I talk about on my photography tours. If this appeal to you, check out the tours.

Other posts