DISCOVERING THE ELEMENTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

29th June, 2017

DISCOVERING THE ELEMENTS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Light

Vantage point

Focus

1. Light

Light is the defining element of photography. It is what brings a photograph to life. The type and quality of light have a effect on the image. Photographer is often inspired to create a photograph because the light casting on the subject is apt.

• 1. Type/ source of light:
• a) Artificial source: Lamp, flash etc.
• b) Natural source: sunlight(refer to picture 1(b))
Quality of light: In terms of quality, light can be of two kinds: hard and soft light.

1. Hard light:

A hard light source will cast shadows in such a way that the shadows produced will have ‘harder’ edges with less transition between illumination and shadow. For e.g direct sunlight casts crisp and dark shadows.

2. Soft light

Soft light refers to light that tends to “wrap” around object, casting diffuse shadows i.e. with soft edges. This signifies. That there is more transition between illumination and shadow. For e.g. sunlight on a cloudy day casts faint shadows.(refer to pic 2(b)) The varying qualities of light, such as direction and color. Warmth and coolness of the light, cause subject to appear very differences between mediocre images and great images. Interesting light like rich contrast shadows, the golden hues of end of the sunlight, dramatic side lighting can make the subject look better in photos.

POSITION OF THE SUN

Most of us know the simple photographic rule.” Shoot with your back to the sun.” The reason behind this rule is simple; it keeps your subject’s face out of shadow. Of course, this assumes that you are taking a picture of a person, or a group of people, and since people are the most photographed subject in the world, the rule becomes useful most of the time.

3. Vantage Point.

A vantage point is a position or place that allows one a wide or favorable overall view of a scene of situation Most of the photos are captured roughly from the same vantage point i.e. between five and six feet above the ground . This is the average height of the human body. And since mast people shoot photos while standing upright with the camera held at eye level, there is very variation in how their images appear.
Varying your vantage point is a very easy and effective way to give your images a unique look. We are not used to looking at the world from any other view than from our own eye level, therefore any photo that is taken from a drastically different vantage point will inherently appear more interesting to us.
Changing your vantage point can be as simple as standing on top of something, or crouching down or it can involve using more elaborate methods to get you or your camera to a higher or lower position, such as shooting from the top of ten foot pole and using a self timer. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination and equipment.

3. FOCUS OR CENTER ATTENTION

The word focus means centre of attention i.e. highlighting one specific part of an image. Focus makes the area clearer, sharper, and detailed.