Creating Beautiful Photographs In Any Scenario
Professional photographers seem to have such a glamorous life, shooting in exotic locations, rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous… and for the most part, it’s true. Generally speaking, photographers are following a path of passion and living their dreams. But even in our dreamy day-to-day work we are faced with challenges, and the most tricky of all these challenges is conditions that aren’t perfect. Perhaps lighting is failing, it’s overcast, the chosen location might not have much to offer. But this doesn’t mean that you hang your head, throw in the towel and wait to shoot another day. We live in the moment and we make the most of each second that ticks by, so an imperfect setting or lack of lighting simply needs to be overcome.
This is how we do it.
Use Direction Of Light To Bring Photos To Life
If it’s overcast or you’re you’re running out of daylight, the best thing to do is turn your subject to face the light. The direction of light can transform everything! Use it however you can and let it cast its glow on your subject matter and shoot. Whatever illumination you can garner you must use.
If the sun is directly overhead and you only have midday hours to work with, try and elevate the angle of the shot so that the light is still shining directly onto your subject and creating shadow behind them as you shoot from above.
Light is your favourite friend when you’re working in any form of photography – from portraiture to advertising photography. Use it to its best advantage and you will see the positive effects in the end result.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Props And Lighting Aids
When we say that lighting is your favourite friend, we mean it, which is why we have mentioned it twice! So if there isn’t any natural light to benefit from, don’t be afraid to make lighting aids work for you. Reflectors work wonders to add a new dimension of light to your images that bounce light from any angle back onto your subject. Actual lighting systems or battery operated flashes were also invented for your photographic pleasure, so play around with them and see how they can bring a unique effect to your photographs.
Turning An Ordinary Object Into Art
Working in the field of product photography or advertising photography, you are often tasked with bringing an ordinary product to life. Snapping a simple shot can capture the product, but photographing it can give it a whole new air of purpose. Using clever composition, lighting techniques (again – it is such a huge part of everything we do) and sometimes the right amount of editing, you can give a product or an ordinary object a personality.
Visualise The Photo Before You Take It
Something that comes with experience is the ability to visualise what the photograph will look like, before it is even taken. We’ve spoken about this before in some of our other blog posts. Taking an ordinary scene and making it into an experience for the senses is an art and it’s 100% possible by immersing yourself in the brief, the subject and your surroundings. A closely cropped photograph of a face could be far more emotive than a wide angle of the same face against a background. Conversely, a wide angle of a scene could speak volumes about a moment… more so than a close up that cuts out the detail.
The trick is in knowing which will work in which scenario. It’s always best to shoot from every possible vantage and then work it out for yourself later in post-production.
Of course, you could also just hire us to do it all for you and we’ll make magic happen in any scenario. Contact the eimage team today and let’s start working on your brief.