Digital Photographers' Newsletter

June 2011 Edition

Your newsletter will be focussing on the practical issues of photography for community photographers.

Summary this Month:

• New Tips for Digital Photographers - Colour Management
• Composition -Rule of Thirds
• Workshops will recommence in near future - please email me your interest and what you would like workshopped
• FREE Basic Photography notes - snippets of my experience for your experience

Last Month's Seminar:

Last month at our Seminar we began our discussion on how you apply colour management to your photography. We looked at how to set up your monitor so that what you take on your camera will be displayed in similar colour and contrast on your monitor. We also covered the techniques for ensuring that colours of prints returned from your laboratory matched the colours froim your camera image and display. The proess is outlined in Tips for Digital Photographers. If you are unable to open the black file from the Tips pdf file please use this link to obtain a copy of the gif file.

At this month's Seminar we will discuss how you can colour manage prints from your printer and images from your scanner. When you have this managed it will save you so much frustration and time in getting satisfactory results. This has to one of the most vexing issues for photographers. We will discuss these issues in the new Tips for Digital Photographers - Colour Management in detail next Thursday.

This Month's topic:
Composition - Rule of Thirds.

Rather than placing your main subject in the middle of the screen, place it to one side and ensure something interesting is in the background that fills the remainder of the image. This can be especially effective if the background has the same theme.

There are a few guidelines that can help you place your subject in the frame

Rule of Thirds is a simple rule that can make your photos more visually interesting. Simply divide the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. When framing your shot, place important elements either along these lines, or where the lines intersect – NOT at the centre of the frame.

For example, place a subject’s eyes where the upper third and the left third intersect This does a few things. It opens up space to the right of the subject, making it appear as though the subject is looking at something interesting. It also helps the eye to travel trough the photo. Starting from the right, the eye moves to the subjects ’s face and then exits back out from the right.

There are times when, driven by creativity, you’ll want to break the rule of thirds.

Does your image have a real sense of symmetry? If it does, it’s okay to break the rule of thirds and place your subject in the center. That’s because the symmetry takes over, and your eye is forced to pay attention to the symettry instead of the subject you are photographing.

Can you get up really close to your subject? This is another good time to break the rule of thirds. If you can immerse your viewer in your subject, the fact that it’s centered won’t matter that much.

When you’re that close, the image is simply too powerful for the rule of thirds to apply.

Placing your subject off of center really helps when you’re taking action shots as well. Figure out where your subject is moving and keep that space totally clear in your photograph. For example, if your subject is riding to the right of the frame on a motorbike, keep the right open and place your subject somewhere in the left third. This creates a feeling of motion in your photo, giving the motorbike rider a more clear sense of direction and purpose.

Empty space plays with our imagination. When somebody is looking into empty space, we automatically assume that they are engaged with something in that direction. The same goes with action. If there is empty space to one side, we assume that the person has an important goal to fulfill within that space. It’s a psychological “trick” that works extremely well.

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Lifetime Sunday Workshops

Our workshops are offered to assist you to learn the basics of digital photography and by better understanding become more competent and creative. You will marvel at the improvement of your images and be encouraged by your newfound skills.

Will be resumed soon - If you are interested please email me your interest and what you would like workshoped

email

workshop page