Anatomy of a Shot - Discussion Thread!!!

[SrisonS]

Aside from the fundamentals of photography (Rule of Thirds, Aperture/Shutter/ISO/etc control), I think that one of the best ways to grow as a photographer is to be a fan of others' photos. Especially for beginners, that is a great starting point to figuring out what makes for a nice shot. (Heck, I wouldn't consider myself a beginner, but I'm always looking at other work for inspiration.)

Sure, the fundamentals come into play; but I believe it's more than that. It's just seeing things in a different light.... or at least different than your "my pictures of that same thing don't look like that ". Even the "smallest" things can make a huge difference in a picture (i.e. that pesky trash can... or insanely tall person in the crowd). Most times, it's usually those Recycle Binners that get us to slow down a little before pressing that shutter release. Hopefully, this thread will decrease that learning curve a bit.

So please, share the anatomy of your shots. From conception to final presentation; let us know your thought process or special techniques. Even if the shot isn't perfect, just say what you would've done differently (remember, Hindsight is 20/20 ).


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I guess it's only right that I start.......

For this shot, there wasn't much time to think this through (but experience kinda kicked in). We were eating breakfast here, and just got up to leave. And as I turn around, Mary is standing right behind me. Knowing I HAD to get this shot, I instantly set up the camera.... made sure I had a wider aperture setting and boosted the ISO (both of those to get a faster shutter speed). I made sure that Mary was off-centered (back to the fundamentals); and zoomed in just a little, to really put the focus on her while keeping some of the background (mainly the horses though).

One thing I REALLY enjoy doing is giving a cinematic look to some of my pictures. Because of the composition here (simple approach to the subject with some nice depth of field), I felt that this was a nice candidate. So I played with the tones some.... knocked contrast down... got super anal with my cropping... and added the black borders.

And here's the finished product.....


"Something's Quite Peculiar Here" by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr


Can't wait to see other people's thought process!!!!!!!!!!!!!