Taking Shots with Purpose

It happens to many photographers. You decide to go out and take some shots, and when you get tthem back, they turn out bland, not at all what you had hoped for. While there are potentially many different things that could be wrong, perhaps one of the more common is taking shots without a definitive purpose. The biggest cause of this is taking pictures to just take them. Perhaps you just want to finish off a roll, or perhaps you are just in the mood to take pictures, without really having an idea of what you want to take. Now come the remedies:

• Fiirst, before you go take pictures, have a rough idea of what you want to photograph, and where you want to photograph it.
• Before or after you get to where you want to shoot, try to imagine the scene you want -- this will make it easier to find the shot.
• Spend some time looking for the correct angle to express what you are looking for.
• Be sure of your subject, and that you are portraying it to express your feelings.
• Decide how you want to draw attention to your subject -- there are many ways, see my article on artistic composition.
• Decide how you want to expose the picture to express what you are trying to express, perhaps over or under exposure might be necessary.
• Try to simplify your shot: a too busy foreground or background might draw attention away from your subject, and potentially ruin your shot.
• Finally, take your shot.

If you follow these rules, your shots should come out looking the way you wanted them too, and you won't be dissapointed when you see your prints. Of course, remember, if you need to shoot in a hurry, like for an animal shot etc. you don't have time to remeber these, just take the photos, and then perhaps you can compensate in the darkroom!!

-- Eric Danek