|
Styles of Photography
Introduction to this section of the book
In this section, we want to look at some of the more common styles of photography (landscape, portrait etc.) and see if we can give you some guidelines as to how you can improve those type of shots.
Before you read any further - take a look at the quote on the right (hopefully you will have noticed the insightful and inspiring quote on every page).
The problem with writing a book which covers specific styles of photography is that photography is not about following sets of rules - some of the greatest pictures have gone against the accepted techniques for a given style. So treat what is written here as a set of guidelines to try out and if you so choose, to ignore. Only you know what looks right to you, and that should be what photography is all about.
We have presented each section in this 'Styles' part of the book as a list of ideas - each with some further explanation. These are generally tried and tested techniques for that style of photography, or some ideas that you might want to experiment with. Don't try applying every one to every picture you take, however play around with them, and see which ones work best for you.
Key to the icons you'll encounter in the styles sections:
|
|
A popular technique for this style of photography and the 'key' to getting some great shots |
|
|
An idea you might want to try out |
|
|
Warnings - things to watch out for / common mistakes |
Basic guidelines for all styles
Before we look at the individual styles, there's one thing that we should cover which applies to every single style of photography and comes before any picture is ever taken ... P&P.
This is something all photographers are familiar with. It stands for Postage and Packing and you see it all the time when shopping for your next lens, external flash, misc. gadget, cleaning accessory, filter ... oh wait - that's the wrong P&P ...
Planning and Preparation - that's the one we meant for this section of the book. There are specific types of P&P for each style, but it is amazing how many people don't do this at all. They decide to go out for the day to take pictures - so they wake up early that morning, grab their camera and go.
Think about what you are going to be shooting, what you'll need, what you might need, where you are going etc. For example, if you are going to take beach pictures, knowing the state of the tide is rather essential. Have maps if you are going to unfamiliar locations - better still a GPS. If you're planning outdoor photography and it starts bucketing down with rain, have a backup plan (which for the authors of this book, is knowing the location of the nearest real-ale pubs.)
|
Photographs
This is a site about photography so I'm sure you are expecting to see plenty of pictures.
For now, why not take a peek at the flickr galleries belonging to the two authors of this site.
Colin's Flickr Page
Phil's Flickr Page
"There are no rules and regulations for perfect composition. If there were we would be able to put all the information into a computer and would come out with a masterpiece. We know that's impossible. You have to compose by the seat of your pants."
- Arnold Newman
|
