Having good gear and finding great locations are critical elements in creating great photos. But without good composition, crossing the line from snapshot to art is impossible. Composition is the first place in the photography process where creativity comes in to play. There are guidelines to composing photos, it’s a good idea to read about the rule of thirds.

Ok, once you understand the rule of thirds, try to forget it. The idea is not to have a strict structure for your compositions, but an understanding that placement interesting elements in certain areas makes better photos.

In the example photo above, I have composed the image to be centered on the width of the room. The four corners happen to converge where the rule of thirds suggests, but there are also interesting elements within each of the sections.  The photo at the head of the post does not follow the conventions described in the rule of thirds. The scene is interesting on its own, the key is capturing a natural HDR.

There are many different, interesting ways to compose this image. But composition needs to be at the front of your mind while you are shooting or you may not get the results you want. Some people find it difficult to separate their minds from their surroundings while on location. A trick I use is to imagine (when I look thru the eye piece) that I am looking straight down at a table with a photo on it, a photo that someone else took. Then I adjust the photo until it looks like something I would see framed in a museum. This is how I separate myself from the scene, to step outside myself to see it for what it is.

If you can find a way to separate yourself from the scene, you will be much more creative in your composition. Thereby, more likely to “move” people with your photos.

The Photo

The photos that make the most effective tilt shift photos are ones that have a wide depth of field (everything in the frame is in focus) with a downward perspective.  Photos with a lateral perspective or that have a narrow depth of field are not good candidates for the tilt shift process.

The Process

The process to convert a standard photo into a convincing tilt shift is very simple.  It takes a bit of practice to apply the mask in a way that is effective, but it is certainly within the grasp of anyone with a little bit of patience.  Follow the short screencast below to see the step by step process.

Tutorial: Tilt Shift via Photoshop from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

This is the final part of the HDR tutorial, covering the processing and data management aspects of creating an HDR image.  The process is better understood when presented in a way that follows a standard workflow, so I have created a few screencasts that will follow my regular process.

Screencast 1: Generating an HDR image

HDR tutorial 1 of 3: Generating an HDR from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

Screencast 2: Processing and Data Management

HDR Tutorial 2 of 3: Processing and Data Management from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

Screencast 3: Editing and Export

HDR Tutorial 3 of 3: Editing and Exporting from rudy lopez on Vimeo.

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It is important to remember that the key to success is practice, practice, practice.  The more you shoot, the better you will like your results.  If you have any questions, please comment and I will respond quickly.

I was equipped with my standard rig: Nikon D300, 3 lenses, Garmin eTrex GPS.  I arrived at roughly 5pm, allowing approximately 2 hours of walking and shooting.  The weather was clear with scattered clouds, no wind and  mild temps.  It was Sunday afternoon in early March, the throngs of tourists that usually crowd the streets are still three months away.  I parked at the PERA building and walked to the plaza.  From the plaza, I headed east into the neighborhood adjacent to the downtown area.  My goal was to photograph as many interesting textures as possible, I was thinking mostly about windows and doors.   After a nice walk and plenty of strong images on my CF cards, I left Santa Fe.  It was a fantastic afternoon.

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1. Must you stand so close? It doesn’t matter if you are taking a photo of a person or a landscape, it is important that you get as close to the subject as you can. Our brain interprets distance and size differently than the camera does. In other words, be aware of how much of the frame is occupied by what you think is interesting. If the interesting part of your photo is a mountain in the distance, and it only takes up 5% of the frame, no one will ‘get it’ because they don’t know what to look at. The same thing goes when photographing people. Viewers will be distracted by all of the other things in the scene and wont see what you are trying to get across. The subject should take up most of the frame.
2. Hey pal, you got the time? A common mistake is trying to capture dramatic nature shots when the light is not right for the scene. Pay close attention to the time of day. Generally, the light 2 hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset has more color and warmer tones than mid day sunlight. If you are forced to shoot during the day, do your best to keep the sun behind you.
3. Nature wins. Deal with it. It is extremely frustrating to drive for hours to a location only to find conditions completely unsuitable. That isn’t to say that you cannot get good shots during bad weather, but the shot you came for simply isn’t going to happen. How does this tip help you take better photos? I will ask the questions around here, if you don’t mind. Since you asked, it’s not so much about taking better photos, it’s about not letting bad photos get out. If you present a shot that isn’t exactly like you want it, people will ONLY see that version in their minds from now on, regardless of how awesome subsequent shots are. Ask yourself, would your favorite musical artist release a song before it’s ready?
4. The low down. Everyone pretty much sees the same view of the world, between 5′ and 6′ above the ground. In order to take people out of the regular world mindset, it sometimes helps to lower your perspective. Literally. Don’t be afraid to bend, sit, lay, kneel, squat, jump, twist to get a different view. A different perspective on a common item is a very popular subject.
5. Courage. When I was first starting out, I would see great photos and be too intimidated by the conspicuousness of photography. People are curious about what you find so interesting and they will look at you. Don’t be like me, take the shots. One more note, be aware of photographing areas that might be sensitive, like bridges, important buildings, airports, you might attract more attention than you really want. Also, it is perfectly fine to ask someone if you can take their photo. Most people will agree (some will say no, just thank them and walk away), but have no idea what you see in them. Do not photograph people without permission, it is very rude.

It is really simple. Imagine the scene with lines drawn horizontally and vertically at each third of the image. You end up with what looks like a tic tac toe board. The intersections of these lines is where you want to put the interesting part of your photograph. Many of today’s DSLR’s have a ‘grid’ setting for their viewfinder, this will place the lines automatically in the viewfinder. Very handy.

The Rule of Thirds

Excerpt from the video:

This tutorial will lead you through the selection, editing, cropping and rename-export process.

1. Open Aperture 2 and select the project you want to work on.
2. Click the Quick Preview icon to keep RAW images from loading while making selections.
3. Make your selections by clicking the green checkmark. This will assign 5 stars to the image.
   You can isolate your favorite images by filtering the five star rated images.
4. You will need to disable Quick Preview in order to edit the images.
5. Click on the image you would like to edit. Information about the image is displayed in the adjustments tab.
6. Watch the following video for the rest of the tutorial.

Watch Aperture 2 Tutorials #1 – Importing and Organizing Photos.

Learn more about Data Management and Workflow with Aperture 2.