Photography - The Six Old Fashioned Photographic Horse Sense

While reading though the December 2006 edition of Popular Photography, a picture by Bill Falk caught my eyes. It was a part of the Wind-Hover Hall of the Quadracci Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum designed Santiago Calatrava. Bill said that he did not receive any professional photo training and he did that fantastic with just a simple digital point-and-shoot Olympus D-550 Zoom. How he did it? He said that he used the old-fashioned photographic horse sense.

His so called horsed-sense are; Study the subject, Seek contrasting elements, Create a sense of depth, Wait for the light, Know your gear's limitations, Study your pictures and finally, Shoot what you love.

1. Study the subject. When you have decided on a subject, do what Bill has recommended, take you time to study and compose it. Move around the subject, take the subject at various angles, different exposures and composition. Composition refers to what you want to include in the pictures. Is it just pure building, or you want to add an element of human etc..

2. Seek contrasting elements. Look out for both light and dark areas or straight and curve patterns.

3. Create a sense of depth. Depth of field refers to that zone in front and/or behind the focused subject that is rendered in sharp detail. This will ensure that the pictures will appear in three dimensions. Depth of field is another technique you need to acquire.

4. Wait for the light. Light is always an important element in photography. Depending on the theme you wish to give to the picture, it can be daylight, sunrise or sunset lights

5. Know you gears' limitations. Having said all the above, your camera must be able to do the job. You got to read though your manual first and see its limitation. After which, test out the limitations and you will be in a better position when you point and shot the next time.

6. Study your picture. With the advance of software, you can easily edit the pictures you have taken. You can adjust the contrast, crop it etc until you are satisfy.

7. Shoot what you love. This is something personal. It is likely that you will give more attending to what you love.

Above are the seven horse senses I picked up from Bill Falk in the December 06 Popular Photography and I have found that the senses are indeed very helpful. Hope that you will find it as helpful as me. These senses are not difficult to practice and it does not cost money since you already have the camera. It just takes patient and an enthusiastic attitude to practice it. For more information, please visit Freelance Photography.

John Peace enjoys photography and maintained a website providing information on photography. He invites you to visit his website, Freelance Photography to learn more about this exciting hobby. You can even make a living out of it at home! Believe it or not.

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