Photography Film — MTC DIGITAL CREATIVE

1. Rule of Thirds

Composition is how you order the visual elements of your image.

What is Rule of Thirds?

This is often the first ‘rule’ that those new to photography will be taught. As with all rules in photography, they are to be broken but this rule is a great tool to help you create well balanced and intriguing images that will draw your viewer’s eye in.

Many apps, which I will introduce soon, will show you the grid that is the rule of thirds. Imagine a grid, that is broken into thirds, horizontally and vertically so that there are 9 equal parts. For example:

This is a screenshot from the app Manual on the iPhone of Shiloh, and a good example of avoiding the centre of the image which is often seen as static. By positioning Shiloh to the left of the grid, with his eyes look out into the frame, he guides the viewer across the image. ‘Rule of Thirds’, is also used within film, interviews are a key example of this, where the person being interviewed is placed to the left or right of the frame, looking across to the other side of the frame.

The ‘Rule of Thirds’ guides the photographer to compose important elements along the lines and the intersections. By composing just off the grid lines, can help to catch the viewer’s eye, breaking the harmony of composition to build tension.

Break the rules

We have looked at the elements that form great compositions but sometimes it is about breaking the rules and throwing the rule book completely out of the window. Bill Brandt’s portrait of Francis Bacon is a prime example of this. An image full of anxiety, disorder and disharmony, which mirrors the paintings of the artist. Francis Bacon doesn’t confirm to rule of thirds, he doesn’t look across the frame, he lurks in the corner and his gaze caught short. The path also pulls our eyes straight out of the image. The wonky lamppost awkwardly touches the top of the image.

Leading lines, rule of thirds and framing are important but sometimes can make photographs look too staged. Feel into the subject, would a tense composition match the person you are trying to capture? This composition below seems very apt for Francis Bacon.

2. Using Line to create a composition

Using line to direct the viewer’s eye can be a great tool. Great compositions lead your viewer on a journey. Think of your image as a map to gently move your viewer’s eye around the image as you want it to move. Leading lines are a great way to do this. One main leading line is usually all you need. The most powerful being those that sweep in from the edge of the frame. If you look around you at any moment of the day, you will see leading lines everywhere.

Use the angles and lines of buildings to lead your viewer through/around your image

Capturing buildings in relation to each other, to create movement lines

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3. Frame Within a Frame

How do we can depth in a tighter frame?

This is where the ‘dirty foreground’ comes into play and can be experimented with to create dimension. By adding something in the foreground, it makes your two-dimensional image appear from three-dimensional. If you shoot through greenery for example, it can also give the effect that the viewer is there looking in on the scene, adding a sense of realism. I teach film practice and theory from primary to senior and beyond, and recently we have been looking to one of my favourite directors, Wong Kar Wai and also to the cinematography of Christopher Doyle.

I think In the Mood for Love, dir. Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong 2000, is a great example of the frame within a frame and the dirty frame, which can also be applied to photography.

4. Depth of Field

What is Aperture?

APERTURE - controls how much light enters your camera and how much is in focus. The aperture is a hole in your lens that can be made bigger or smaller to control the amount of light you allow into your camera. The higher the f-stop number the narrower the hole, and the lower the number, the wider the hole.

The first thing to understand with aperture is depth of field and what this means. The area of sharpness in your images is called the depth of field. An area in front of and beyond the detail you have decided to focus on that appears sharp. Aperture and distance from your subject determines how far the sharpness stretches out from the point of focus.

Distance – depth of field becomes shallower as you move closer. We will explore this further in still life/macro photography.

Narrow apertures extend the depth of field

Wide apertures reduce the depth of field

To understand aperture, it helps to know what is happening in the camera.

Narrow aperture – (f/16 and f/22) there is a narrow opening to let the light through. The camera will need to make up for the loss of light by slowing the shutter speed/increasing ISO. Which we will explore.

Wide aperture – (f/2.8 and f/4) there is a wider opening to let the light through. The camera will be able to have a faster shutter speed and lower ISO.

Using a wide aperture is great for portrait and macro photography, as it is useful for separating a subject from the background and foreground.

Why can narrow apertures produce hazy-looking details in close-up?

If you are using a narrow aperture such as f/32 which will increase the depth of field (increasing what is in focus), it will also increase diffraction. Diffraction happens at all aperture settings but increases as you increase the number/narrow aperture (This happens where the straight light rays coming through the lens are bent out of alignment by the edges of the aperture blades). So, keep in mind that when you zoom in, your image will appear softer.

If you want to take photography further you can use a focus-stacking technique; taking a sequence of images to be taken at moderate aperture, with the focus moved each shot then combining in software to give an extensive depth of field.

However, unlike DSLRs the vast majority of smartphone cameras have a fixed aperture - f/2.2m this is because there is no movable iris. Newer smartphones have wider apertures.

You can play around with aperture on the Focos app.

5. Using ISO

ISO controls how sensitive your camera is to light. When it is bright, your camera doesn’t need to be as sensitive, you can decrease the sensitivity of your camera by decreasing the ISO. When it is dark, it is the other way around, you increase your camera’s sensitivity , by increasing the ISO.

ISO is a tool to brighten or darken your image. The higher the ISO number the grainer your images will become. ISO will allow you to be more flexible with your aperture and shutter speed.

100

Less sensitive to light

Use in brighter conditions

Less image noise (less grainy)

400

Suitable for an overcast day

3200

More sensitive to light

Use in darker conditions

More image noise (grainy)

6. Working with Shutter Speed

What is Shutter speed?

Shutter speed is the length of time the camera shutter is open, exposing light onto the camera sensor. A faster shutter speed (sport) will let less light in than a slow shutter speed. Shutter speed is used to freeze action sharply or create blur. As technology has advanced, the shutter speeds and frame rates that most cameras offer is impressive. However, it is still about the art of anticipation and knowing when to press the shutter. Henri Cartier-Bresson called this the ‘decisive moment’. Shutter speeds are measured in seconds, or fractions of a second. 1/100 = 1/100th of a second, this is also know as the ‘exposure time’ due to the amount of time the sensor is exposed to light.

7. Playing with White balance

White balance takes into account the colour temperature of a light source, which refers to the warmth or coolness of white light.

8. Utilising the Histogram

The histogram is a graph showing the distribution of light in an image, it goes from 0% brightness (black) to 100% brightness (white). This helps to make sure parts of your image do not become blown/over exposed.

What Is A Histogram?

In photography, a histogram is a graph that shows the distribution of light in an image. Manual app offers an option to switch on the histogram whilst taking photos, so that you can keep any eye of the light distribution, from shadows, mid-tones and highlights. Snapseed, offers a histogram whilst making edits, so that you can make perfect your exposure in post-production.

The image below gives a clear guide on how to read your histogram whilst taking images or in post-production by using apps like Snapseed or Photoshop example.

Images are made of pixels, and every pixel has a value representing its colour. The pixel’s brightness is derived from this value. A histogram shows you the number of pixels of each brightness in your image.

9. Change Your Viewpoint

Often the natural response to taking photos, is to capture images from our own viewpoint, the view we see the world from (the level of our eyes).

Get down to the level of the object/subject you are photographing, this is important with animals for example.

I love looking up, angling down, or kneeing down to take an image. It can be exciting to see the results if you try new angles.

Foreground:

Think about adding a splash of colour by getting down low and shooting through greenery for example.

Change your angle

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Look up

Using a low angle, and looking up at a subject/building can show power of the subject.

Look down

If you use a high angle (looking down) on a subject/person in a photo, like in film, it can portray control and power of the photographer/lens, producing the feeling of being ‘looked down upon’ and in turn the powerlessness of the subject.