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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SrisonS]

To my previous point of "small" things making a difference; here's a shot that actually took a couple of minutes of waiting. Of course, my main focus here is the statue. But I didn't want any of the people walking around to stand out too much. Anyone too tall, or too big for that matter, would take too much attention away from the main subject. There was even a CM with a walkie-talkie walking around right in front of The Director, that I had to wait for to move. He would've been WAY distracting if he were in the shot.

But overall, my main goal here was to take a different approach to shooting this statue. Most people shoot this from the front (as I have also done before); but I decided to wander around it and get some different looks. This is one of the two shots that were a little fresh to me. Because I go to Disney a lot, I actually look at a lot of other people's photos to get ideas on how to be different. Not to steal their ideas (unless they're super cool); but to purposely not shoot something in a manner I've seen. You can't always help it though. Some subjects beg for a classic approach.

Obviously, the cinematic stuff goes for this one as well....


At Hollywood Studios, YOU Are The Star by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr

 

[photo_chick]

I tend to shut my brain off at Disney when I shoot. Everything is going so fast and I'm doing good to keep up on our trips. However, I do put a lot of thought into other projects.

This one is from a project I did about smart phones. It goes into how they connect us to the outside world but disconnect us from our immediate surroundings. It's probably my favorite shot from the set.

What I thought about... I'd made a conscious decision to keep the subject on the left side of the frame in the images in this series (there ended up being 8, but I may go back and shoot another 4 scenes) I also decided after the first shot that with the exception of the phone that I only wanted to use the ambient light in the room.

There were also shots in rooms with more light, in the office, brushing teeth, on the toilet... but the low light shots really got the idea of the phone across better to me.

In hindsight, on the one in the car I'd have cleaned the windshield on the inside first. Those finger prints really drive me nuts. And while I turned the main dome light off in the car I wish I'd turned the one in the rear off. On the one in bed I wish I'd had more light on me (the person asleep). I could have used a bright nightlight or something, anything, to put just a little bit more light there.

As far as technical specs... these were both shot with a Canon 50D using my trusty 28-105 f/3.5-5.6 lens. I knew I'd need a long exposure for them, so it's on a tripod and I had my subject hold very still. To grab all that light from a phone using a low ISO it takes time.

I've carried this forward also by getting shots of others using phones in strange places as I'm out and about, but I've not gotten anything really good yet.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice thread Scott! I hope I can only do justice to the intent of this thread with this post.


It was about 5.30 am in the morning when I came across this group of animals. Kangaroos - background, Ducks - middle, Corellas - foreground. I used the pond edge as a guide for splitting the composition balance into 1/3 foreground vs 2/3 middle/background.


I'm playing with point of focus - on the background kangaroos here.

I thought the white of the corellas in the foreground was a distraction to the view of the kangaroos. So I swapped the point of focus round to the birds.

I'm happier with the second shot. It has to do with the details of the birds - the beak, the splash of red - which you can't see in the first shot. Focussing on the kangaroos is fine but they don't have that level of details that the birds provided; they are just too homogenously brown and a bit too far away. If I had the opportunity to live the moment again, I would have composed both pictures as landscape instead of portrait.



I wanted to try taking a picture for both kangaroos and corellas in focus and thought I'd move forward a little. Hindsight is 20/20....I should have changed my point of focus back to the 'roos before I moved....

I know there's nothing sharply in focus in the above shot...but it still does tell a picture in its own right. Sometimes, it might be okay to have everything in blur!

 

[Marlton Mom]

Evan sleeping by Marlton Mom, on Flickr

I'm going to post one of my favorite shots that I took of my son. This was taken about 4 years ago when it was becoming more and more apparent that the little boy was leaving and "older boy' was taking his place. Through out his life I feel I've captured many great pictures of him, pictures that communicate a sense of time and who he was and what he enjoyed at the time. I really felt the need to capture the little boy in him sleeping, especially since the little boy was leaving FAST!

I came up one night and found him in this pose, completely asleep, with his Teddy bears tucked face down into his neck. I got up on the bed, and to get the angle I needed I was just about directly over head of him while I was shooting. It was a great picture but there was something missing. You couldn't see his bears, which are very important to him. I reached down and casually turned the bears and then I started to take pictures again.

When I saw the photo with the bears looking at the camera it really struck me. Those bears look like they are watching me, making sure he is protected. What more could you ask from your teddy bear?

So now this picture had 2 things going for it, a capture of a fleeting time in my son's life and a portrait of his teddy bears, on watch at night while he slept.

To me the teddy bears seem like they are giving the viewer the "look" like 'you better not disturb him'.

He never did wake up while I was taking this picture but he really liked it when he saw it the next day. It is my absolute favorite picture that I have taken of him, and I've taken a lot.

~Marlton Mom

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Some of my favorite pictures are ones that draw me in by telling a story.

Filling the frame and using things like light, colors, angles and textures to support the subject can result in a winning combination. Additionally, getting down to the level of the subject makes the viewer feel like he's right there, too.

This picture of our little friend captures his adorable personality and almost makes you want to reach in to feel his soft, whispy fur and see if he'll come to you so you can feel the tickle of his huge whiskers and tiny feet on your hands and chest, etc. Additionally he looks like he's got a pretty neat little hiding place behind the pillow there and by the safety of the webbing of the chair but still with a view, etc. His fur and the colors and textures of the furniture compliment eachother and make the picture a smorgasbord for the senses.

Getting good pictures of animals requires taking lots of shots under good conditions because it's hard for them to stay still and honestly, most pictures are throw aways. This was one of probably 40 pictures I took of the little guy and although others were good, to me, this was the standout. (Somebody else might see it differently.)

JPEG almost straight from the camera save for minimal post processing. Taken with my Olympus E30 and one of my favorite lenses, the Sigma 25mm f/1.8 prime.

BTW, I think I have Gdad to thank (if anyone remembers the french fries picture and his description of wanting to eat them) for helping me understand the concepts above in my own photography using the fast prime lens.

Great thread, Scott. Looking forward to seeing what others are thinking while they're out there doing their thing!

 

[theduck619]

Great thread . As a beginner I find myself hurrying to the pic without taking the time for set up. Or I shoot the camera like a machine gun and hope on turns out.

Reading your posts reminds me I have a great deal to learn, and that is what I love about photography

 

[Chikabowa]

What a fantastic thread topic.... I had to come out of lurking!
Great great great discussion!

I love shots that tell a story (or multiple stories) all in one image. For me, the first thing I look for is light. I personally love dramatic and creative uses of light - so I try to make sure that there is something compelling about the light in the image. I also like to try and create a sense of time, place/location, and expression through composition. Sometimes it's a tight crop, sometimes it brings in elements of the environment.

As a viewer (of my own work and others) I like clean backgrounds, so I try to hide distracting elements as much as possible. But ultimately, I want the image to say something about the moment in which it was taken.

So what was I thinking when I shot these images?
Hot day. Cranky baby. Cranky parents. The only solution that day was an entire afternoon by the pool and lots of fruity drinks at the bar. Little kids grow up so fast and I wanted to capture her little body (she was 10 months and not walking) set against the backdrop of the hotel and dramatic dark sky (sense of place and time). Nice big wide shot.

When taking this shot I really wanted to get a sense of the place at that exact moment in time. Post card shots are pretty and all, but I have a ton of those, and the challenge of taking one is gone. So I wanted something that told more of a story of that moment. Capturing the couple taking a picture, the people standing along the water line, and all the bodies highlighted by the brightness of the fireworks... you KNOW what is going on in the moment.

Movement is a big portion of telling a story - and I wanted to capture the moment, the color, the feeling of flying around in a teacup.

Dramatic light! I'm not sure there is anything else I can say about that.

Again... use of light that is similar to the fireworks shot. This is at the international balloon festival in Albuquerque and the dawn burn was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever witnessed. I literally cried the first time I watched the balloon lift off so silent and quick! I wanted to capture the moment of the glow, the peaceful sound just highlighted by a quick burn of fuel, and all the people standing around waiting for the moment to happen!

Again... trying to create a sense of movement and trying to capture the vast moment of witnessing hundreds of hot air balloons in the air at the same time.

From a plane window... Capturing the early fall sunset among all the rain and clouds. I just thought it beautiful to see how the light hit one side of the water/hills and left the other side of the hills and water in dark.

(Please forgive the watermarks... it's just what I had sitting in my flickr.)
I love dissecting photos and seeing what everyone was thinking when they thought and composed their shots!

 

[johamna]

The Tower of Terror, inside and out, is one of my favorite places in all of WDW to capture in a photograph. It's incredibly dynamic, brilliantly detailed and is one of the few places that has a distinct and precise theme that is both large and open.

I always dedicate some time to stick around the lobby, letting those behind me pass, while I try and frame a shot from an angle I haven't tackled before. In this particular instance I found myself looking in from just outside the library doors.

One of the things I've learned in photography (and design, in general) is that to walk away with a shot that both you and others enjoy is to know why you feel positively about it. As SrisonS pointed out, it's important to understand what it is you want to achieve before setting out to get it, so that'll you get a result you want and expect, but are not surprised by.

For this shot I knew I wanted to try and capture the essence of both the ride itself and the setting the imagineers wanted to place us in, providing full immersion. This meant I needed to be inside, framing to avoid "ride" elements (such as a queue rope) and considering every object and angle that would help my case.

A big benefit here was shooting ultra wide, as it allowed me frame the shot in such a way that it provided a higher sense of depth (and the additional pockets of space in the back provide an even better sense of it). The tilt is entirely intentional, as well, because it emits the feeling of both motion and imbalance, each of which are elements of the ride and show.

By positioning the arch in the middle, I was able to cut the scene into two distinct areas: inside and out. This was important to the shot's composition because it, again, achieves a sense of motion: you're entering the lobby, with me, and with the tilt you're feeling a bit anxious, just like you would when the ride drops you a couple of stories.

Lastly, the HDR processing provided that extra bit of surrealism. I know there are many purists who are against HDR, but I happen to be very fond of it and feel like in this case, especially, it helped me bring out a new layer to the photo. Without it, it seemed normal. With it, however, you're traveling to another dimension...

 

[krb2g]

I'm posting this shot not because it's amazing, but because it was the result of a process. We were sitting around DHS right before sunset, listening to the Mulch, Sweat, and Shears show and waiting for our Star Tours FP window to come up. I saw a wreath and thought it would make a pretty picture. I took the picture and realized I had cut out the lamp from which the wreath was hanging. I recomposed vertically and metered off the sky--and got a beautiful sunset picture in which the wreath was too dark. So I turned on my flash and got a nice-looking wreath/lamp with an over-exposed sky. It wasn't till the fourth shot, when I moved the flash to rear-sync, that I got a picture I was satisfied with! And here it is:


DSC_0477 by krb2g, on Flickr

 

[wbeem]

Countdown by wbeem, on Flickr

I was at Kennedy Space Center to visit the Vehicle Assembly Building, recently opened for tours. Got some nice shots there. The last stop of the tour is at the Apollo/Saturn V complex, so I decided to go for another shot of the Launch Control.

When you get inside, they give everyone a moment to take some pictures with the lights on, and then they start the show. Well, it looks extraordinarily dull with all of the florescent lights turned on, but very dramatic during the show.

I had my tripod and sat low on the bottom floor close to the rail, so I wouldn't be interfering with the view of other folks behind me a couple of steps up. My camera was set for 9 auto-bracket exposures, since I knew I'd need to capture different levels of light during the show and blend them together. The screens looked better on some exposures, and the countdown clocks were better on different exposures.

There are plenty of little details that I suspect most people miss during the show, but you can pick out in a still photo - the cigarettes, the labels on notebooks, different displays and notes. I struggled a bit with my decision about the top of the photo. The different screens are uneven and I could've cropped them out. However, I liked that rocket on the screen to the right and felt it was an important part of the story. It's imperfect, but it fits.

Growing up with the Apollo launches around here, it's kind of cool to see this preserved and displayed so well.

 

[photo_chick]

wbeem my daughter got a very similar shot on our trip to KSC this past summer!

 

[HPS3]

Chikabowa, you're photos just look amazing. I especially like the ones of your daughters. I have 2 girls myself and love capturing them in "the moment". It's just so much harder than I would've ever expected.

On this shot I wanted to catch my DD Halle with her missing teeth. She had lost her first tooth on Christmas and she does not like posing for many shots.

Halle by Harry Shields, on Flickr

This is my other DD Carly. She is my Xmas light thief. Every time I would look away she would inch closer to the lights.

Carly by Harry Shields, on Flickr

 

[cpbjgc]

Before I get into the shots I want to share, I want to say thank you Scott for starting this thread. I know I will learn a lot from it given the number of creative people around here. A lot of the techniques I use shooting I have picked up from the Dis Photography board. I think this will turn into a great reference thread for all levels of skill.

These were shots taken during our summer vacation. We had a lot of stuff happening just ahead of the trip and we knew more was going to be happening just after, so I was setting out to capture some good memory shots that preserved that sense of an endless summer that you knew deep down would be ending too soon. Sunsets over water seem to capture this feeling for me so I made sure to get down to the docks each night we were there. On a couple nights my daughter came down with me – she likes to help out when I am shooting sometimes and is almost always a willing model. Both of these shots were taken on our first night of the trip.

Most of my shooting is around family and family events, so its mostly candids and spur of the moment. Being on vacation I decided to take some time and think though some shots I wanted to capture. In these shots I wanted the composition to convey the message. This meant some planning ahead on what location I wanted to use and visualizing the shot as well, as there was a very short window of time to make the shots once the sun was low on the horizon – really around 15 minutes of potential shooting time, so being ready to shoot was very important to catching the images I wanted.

The first one, I think, captures the endless summer – the beauty of the sunset, the ripples of the water from her feet, and her taking in the beauty of the sunset. I shot from a low angle and wide as I wanted to emphasize my daughter's presence in the composition. I did not want her to be the sole focal point, so I have her placed at the side and looking out to the sunset while her feet are kicking in the water - I think that this helps move the eye across the image from bottom right to top left to the setting sun. To me it speaks of the possibilities of the endless summer, the serene lake, wondering what to do tomorrow, no pressures or worries.

In this second shot I wanted to have the end of summer – watching the sunset one last time. I used a low angle to help place her higher in the frame to give more of a sense of isolation. I went with a longer exposure to smooth the waters and convey a sense of movement around her without her moving herself. For me the shot is about stretching out that last moment of peace before heading back to the fray – the sense of melancholy I have when the trip is about to end.

Thanks for looking, and thanks again Scott!

 

[SrisonS]

Sometimes, the lack of proper equipment can force you to think out of the box some. This night, I purposely left my tripod in the room; because this was more of a scouting mission of sorts. I wanted to have some plan of attack when dragging out my tripod the next night; plus, I wanted to get some handheld stuff with my Sigma 30mm.

Well, one shot you pretty much HAVE to get when shooting this area is of the lighthouse. Going in, I didn't just want the lighthouse, but the walkway leading to it as well. The leading lines are great, and everything really provides a sense of placement.

I was also aware that I wanted a pretty clean shot (i.e. not much noise or camera shake). So to keep the ISO low, and still be able to get a decent exposure, I decided to set the camera on the ground. On the plus, doing this also gave the shot a nice pov. And I really like the bokeh I just happened to get of the deck. So I set the camera's timer to trigger the shutter (my shutter release was also in the room), and this is what I got.....


Low Angle Lighthouse by Scott Smith (SRisonS), on Flickr


The original shot also had too much ground in it, and more sky than I would've liked. So a little cropping was in order.

 

[NLD]

Okay, we're just back from a trip to Disney, and here's a favorite from the trip.


20120131-DSC_0230 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

To a large degree this was luck, because we got front row seats to the show. (Can't ask for better shooting conditions!)

As for this shot in particular, though...

I actually took two shots just prior to this one, with the focus on the stage (blurring the foreground performer). Those shots weren't as successful, because while the singer with the microphone was in focus, so were the other performers on the stage. It made the eyes wander.

Plus... the focus just didn't belong on the singer. The foreground performer being blurred made you feel removed from the action. There was all this energy right in front of us, and that's where the focus needed to be.

So then I switched the focus to the performer in front of us. I noticed the light coming at an angle, creating leading lines to the subject of the shot, and managed to fit those in the frame.

Now the subject is smack in the middle of the photo, which is ordinarily a no-no. (Rule of thirds.) I could have cropped in post-processing, but decided not to. I felt the energy of the show and the main subject was better represented dead center. Plus I didn't want to lose any portion of those leading lines from the stage lighting.

My one complaint is that her top hand is outside the frame of the picture.It would have been interesting to see the shot with 28mm lens, but there wasn't time to switch. But I'm willing to live with the cropped hand in exchange for the feeling of being so close to the action.

 

[NLD]

Here are a couple for comparison...

My daughter loves the tea cups. These were both shot with a 28mm lens, to be able to capture her expression while being in the cup with her.

With the tea cups, I wanted to convey a sense of motion (spinning) while keeping dd sharp. I chose 1/60 ss, figuring that at the rate we were spinning, this would get some motion blur from the lights behind her... while still giving me a fair shake at managing to keep dd fairly sharp.

I had two options: (1) use the flash to "freeze" dd in the frame, and (2) go flashless and try to "pan" the camera with her face if / as she moved.

I tried both.

First, with flash:


20120129-DSC_9642 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

What worked: the big eyes, and the flash did help freeze dd a bit.

What didn't work: mismatch in colors / white balance. I didn't have any gels for the flash so that wasn't an option. Also, there's a harsh shadow under dd's chin due to the flash. Finally, the white sticker on the inside of the tea cup is distracting.

Without flash:


20120129-DSC_9643 by nicole_lynn_, on Flickr

What worked: dd's expression, better match between foreground and background colors, softer lighting (no harsh flash shadows).

What didn't work: dd is "softer" in this photo. Even though we were in the same tea cup (so my position relative to her wasn't really changing), it was still really hard to keep the motion blur from dd's movement out of the photo.


Dd likes the one with flash better, FWIW. She likes the big eyes.

I feel like it's the second one that is almost what I was trying to achieve..... but it does feel like "the one that got away" because of how soft dd is.

 

[NCtoFL]

I really like the Lion King photo. I honestly would not even have thought about attempting that shot. Do you mind me asking if that was the Sigma or Nikkor 50mm?

 

[NLD]

Hi NCtoFL,

Thanks, and the shot was taken with the Nikon 50mm 1.4D. It's the older version (not the new G version).

It is definitely not the cream of the crop when it comes to 50mm lenses. And it is terrible with flare. But it's the only 50mm I've got so it gets used! And it still produces some nice images!

 

[NCtoFL]

Hi NCtoFL,

Thanks, and the shot was taken with the Nikon 50mm 1.4D. It's the older version (not the new G version).

It is definitely not the cream of the crop when it comes to 50mm lenses. And it is terrible with flare. But it's the only 50mm I've got so it gets used! And it still produces some nice images!

I do have the G version, but I did not own it when we went to Disney last year. Even if I did have it, I would not have thought that I could freeze the action in the light from that show. I want to go back just so I can try to put to use some of the things I learn from here.