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Learn Simple Tricks of the Trade From the DTH Photo Desk
Photos Keep
Memories,
Moments
Most pictures fail because
of bad composition or poor
flash use, but a few tricks
can fix those problems.
By Rich Beckman
Guest Columnist
What is a good picture? That is a
question with many different answers
depending on the context of the discus
sion. To a newspaper photo editor, a
good picture is a moment, a slice of life
that tells a story. To a parent, a good pic
ture is often any good exposure of one
of their children. To a midterm-weary
college student, it might be a picture
that reminds him of last summer when
he was riding the waves off the
California coast.
In general, a
good picture is one
that evokes a mem
ory or an emotion
al response. It
reminds you of
good times, good
friends and fond
memories.
Regardless of
how good a pho
tographer you are,
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Rich Beckman
there is always a sense of anticipation
and optimism when your photos come
back from the processing lab.
Unfortunately, this is often followed by
an equal sense of disappointment when
the pictures you remembered taking
don’t match the results. Fortunately,
there are some simple guidelines to help
you improve your photography skills.
Most photos fail because of poor com
position, distracting backgrounds or poor
use of flash. With a little help, you can eas
ily overcome many of these problems and
become a better photographer.
When composing pictures, always try
to have your subject in the foreground.
Empty space is boring. Even if you can’t
place your subject in the foreground, find
something that is visually interesting to
fill the empty space. Use other elements
to frame your subject. It is helpful to inte
grate your subject with the relevant fore
ground and background. We call this
context and it helps define the subject by
providing a sense of place and time.
Just as relevant backgrounds are
important, distracting backgrounds are
annoying. There is nothing worse than
having your favorite people look like
they have trees growing out of their
heads and electrical lines coming out of
their ears. It is difficult to see in two
dimensions, but that is essentially what
your camera does. Even if a telephone
pole is a block away, if it is lined up
directly behind your subject, it will look
like it is growing out of his head.
Before you take a picture, look closely
through the viewfinder around the entire
frame and in front of and behind your
subject. Often a step or two to the side or
a slight tilt of your camera makes the dif
ference between a good or bad picture.
One of the easiest ways to ruin pho
tos is by using flash. Most inexpensive
cameras have a built-in flash that is
direcdy above the lens. This type of
light, called direct flash, creates dark
shadows behind the subject, often caus
es red eye (regardless of what promises
the manufacturer makes) and provides
a very flat and bright light that illumi
nates your subject but not the back
ground. Flash usually mins the mood of
the scene and makes pictures look very
artificial. It is also important to realize
that these small flashes are useless
beyond about 20-30 feet. If you go to
concerts or night sports events, you
always see thousands of flashes going
off in the crowd. These actually have lit
tle effect since the light is not strong
enough to ever reach the subjects.
These few hints will make you a bet
ter photographer, but always remem
ber, no matter how good your tech
nique, it is the moment and expression
that really makes a picture memorable.
Rich Beckman is a photojournalism
professor in the School of Journalism
and Mass Communication. Reach him
at rbeckman@email.unc.edu.
Photography for Dummies
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Monuments: Whenever people travel, they love to take pictures in
front of monuments and landmarks. It makes for great memories, but
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Sunsets: Who can resist taking pictures of sunsets? When shot by itself, the colors come out
beautifully. But if you are placing a subject in the foreground, there can be a problem. The camera reads
that there is enough light in the frame to take the picture without a flash, while in reality your subject
needs additional light to illuminate the face. To correct this problem, simply make sure that the flash is on.
This way you won't end up with a silhouetted friend against a setting sun.
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Concerts: The best
thing to do when faking
pictures at a concert is to
get to the venue early to
get close. If your camera
does not have a bulb function, there is another technique to use to get better results. The nice thing
about concerts is that there are colored lights that make for good pictures (when printed in color, the
guitarist in the photo to the right is lit in red). Those lights are not bright enough to fully light the
subject, however, so you need to use your fiash. To keep the color from the lights in the picture, you
need to make the flash softer by making a diffuser. Basically all that means is tape some tissue paper
over the flash and shoot normally. This soft light from the flash adds just enough light.
Focus on Better Pictures
creates photo problems. Don't back away from the
subject (the person) and make them too small, while creating too much space around
the monument (below left). Instead, get closer. Don't be afraid to cut out a little or a lot
of the monument, just frame enough to be able to tell what the monument is.
Also, remember that cameras do work in the vertical position.
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Wednesday, October 18, 2000
DTH/MIKE MESSIER
DTH/EMILY SCHNURE
DTH/SEFTONIPOCK
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