​There are 4 elements to making a great photo

At any given moment in the process of taking a photograph, canvas prints four elements come to mind first: light direction, subtraction, grace and perspective. As long as I keep these four elements in mind, no matter what equipment I use, any place, any time, any subject I photograph, I can make sure that I make a good work.

Direction of the light

Light is one of the most important aspects of photography. For a professional photographer, you need to know the light like the back of your hand. For example, canvas prints australia how light behaves indoors and outdoors, how to distinguish its brightness and color, and how to strengthen, weaken and shape the light. Anyone can take a good picture - as long as they understand and control the light as well as a real professional photographer.

When taking pictures, I always try to improve the light on the subject. I always carry four tools with me every time I shoot: a rectangular soft light box of about 1.8 meters, panoramic canvas prints a 5-in-1 reflector, a flash and a camera lamp. These tools are generally used to improve the light and direction of the subject. I rarely let the light go, because there is always a way to improve it anyway.

The picture of the groom on the right USES a window as a light source, another common lighting technique. In this case, there is nothing wrong with this method of lighting itself, but it can be further improved. The groom's face is now mostly dark, with only the side facing the window bright enough.

It is important to find a good Angle to make the groom stand out from the background. Add a reflector to the side of the groom's back to the window to reflect light from the window into the dark part of his face (left). This also eliminates the need to modify photos in Photoshop to improve the quality of light. By changing the direction of the light, you can get a picture with perfect light.

The principle of subtraction

"Better simple than complex" is the perfect motto for photography. Photography is a subtractive art, which requires the photographer to observe the scene and make choices.

Imagine being photographed on a busy high street, with hundreds of shops, passers-by, crying children, etc. With so many sensory stimuli, you might notice the light reflected from one building to another as you start looking for your target. If you can't find a great light, can you use a soft panel, flash or reflector to create the right light? It is possible to find a good solid color scene somewhere in a busy street, maybe two or three colors of the same color series or all of the same color series. And what about looking for a satisfying geometry in the window frame?

Look around carefully and you'll find at least a few registration points to try. If the geometry of the scene is interesting, you can cut out the rest of the scene and focus on the geometry, or other elements of the shooting plan. The goal is to filter out the rest of the scene and focus on a small part of the scene that is interesting or valuable. Don't wait to get paid to try this method. You can practice the art of picking and choosing what you see every day.

Beautiful Angle

People's faces are different, so a photographer can't take pictures of everyone in one way or another. Because different people have different facial bone structures, light strikes each person's face in a different way. In fact, anyone can take a beautiful picture of themselves by taking a moment to study their face and choose the best Angle and light.

A closer look at the two portraits below, taken just a few minutes apart, shows how to find the right combination of light and Angle for a specific facial profile. Although both women look beautiful, it is clear that the Angle of the second portrait suits her better. Here are the steps I took to take these two portraits.

1. In my opinion, the first obvious facial feature of this lady is her charming eyes. This was the basis for all the filming that followed. Once I see something that catches the eye, I just hang on to it. The photographer should make every decision based on the best features of the face.

2. I noticed that her face shape is slightly round, so use the hair to cover the part of the face, which can weaken the round outline of the face and make her face look more oval.

The final step is for her to turn her body away from the light and her face towards it. Here I have to make sure her jaw is down, but let her eyes gaze at something a little higher than her face.

If you think about all the photos you've ever seen, from family photos to vacation photos, about 95 percent of them were taken from the point of view of the average person, which is about 1.5 to 1.8 meters high. People's eyes are used to seeing the world from this point of view, but this kind of photo feels bland. That's why there's a lot of interest in the aerial photography books in bookstores. Even a building you pass every day suddenly feels exciting to look at from a new perspective. Remember, the next time you shoot, look around and look for ways to present a different perspective. Keep this in mind throughout the shoot, and keep asking yourself, "What would this look like from a bird's or a dog's point of view?"

We applied this technique to a small, typically outdoor wedding in Beverly hills. At first glance there is absolutely nothing magical about the wedding scene, nothing eye-catching to be photographed.

The camera perspective

In the process of portrait shooting, each lens will show a different perspective of the subject. Shot from a distance with a 200mm lens, the features of the characters look very different from those of a 100mm lens at a closer location. The tailoring may be the same, but the faces look very different. According to the required perspective effect to correctly match the lens depends on the daily accumulation of a lot of shooting experience.

I once worked with a friend on her wedding shoot and was shocked that she never changed the lens during the shoot. Throughout each of his photographs, he used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. If you're going home right now just to get the job done, it's a good strategy to shoot with just one lens. If you want to improve the quality of your work, you need to bring a lot of footage and match it to the scene.

The environment needs to be a perfect match for the shots chosen for these elements. If you don't want to change and use the wrong lens, best aluminum photo prints as the aforementioned friend did during her wedding shoot, you risk missing out on the best shots of your career.