PHOTO HINTS: Simplify Your Photos

We want you to take beautiful photos when we can’t do it for you! So on occasion the blog will feature PHOTO HINTS that will help you take prettier photos of your family and friends at home and on vacation. Simplicity is our topic for the day. When you decide you want to take a photo think for just one second what is it you want to photograph. If it is a NOUN, a person place or thing, make sure it is the dominant part of the composition. Look through your viewfinder and move to make sure you get rid of all of the ‘extra’ things in the foreground or background that are distracting. Keep the ‘things’ that make your photograph more interesting and beautiful in the photo and get rid of everything else. (Think of it as clutter in your home.) Move in closer, stand on something and look down at your subject or lay down on the ground and look up at it. Typically if you just move a foot or two in any direction you can isolate your NOUN and take a better photo. Take a lot of photos of the same thing and see what you like best afterwards when you look at the images on your computer. Here are a few photos that I just took of my daughter in the first one you can see a car in the background. I moved just a couple of feet and wan able to take the photo without any distractions.

If you have any photos that you would like to post please send them to me. I am thinking of hosting a free class on “PHOTO HINTS” one evening, if you might be interested please send me a note. The next topic will be about rules of composition. Know them and break them.