Be More Detailed Oriented

     Obviously, things like exposure and basic composition are very important in photography. But the little details in a photograph that are less obvious can also make or break a picture. Training the eye to spot those little details in camera while taking the photos instead of when looking back at them a few days later is a vital skill that can take a lot of time and effort to achieve. But when it is attained, it can make your photographs more mature (Peterson 220).

     Little details can be things like a distraction in the background, a slightly tilted horizon line, the subject blocking something in the background, and so on. It's important that photographers have an eye that will "pick up places where just a minor shift may lead to a major and positive change in the photograph's overall appeal" (Peterson 219). In the first image on the left, the horizon line wasn't quite straight. In the second image, the horizon line is rotated a tiny bit so that the whole composition looks straighter and more even.

     Another example of small yet important details are in these two photographs of snowflakes. In the first image, the snowflake is composed on the reflection of the cloudy sky, which doesn't provide a lot of contrast for the snowflake's detail to show up. In next image, I shifted the camera over slightly so that the snowflake would be on the reflection of the tree, which made the snowflake's detail sharper. I also used a vertical composition because it cut out the partial tree on the left, which was a distraction.

What other small changes can be made to a photograph that create a big impact? Let me know in the comments below!

Snowflakes up close and personal :)

Looking Through the Eyes of a Painter

     If I had to name one thing that can make the difference between a mediocre photograph and a great one, it would be the background. A subject awkwardly placed in front of the background, clutter, and too much going on can all make the photograph confusing, which makes people not want to look at the image. 

     This can be avoided by learning to see what Bryan Peterson calls the empty canvas. In the same way a painter starts with a blank slate, photographers should look for the blank canvas before taking a picture (Peterson 82). This means that paying attention to the background and placing the subject with consideration of the background should be a priority.

     For my first attempt at photographing a blank canvas, I used a strand of Christmas lights against the sky, because "on sunny days you can always turn your attention to the empty canvas of the... blue sky above, and shoot any number of subjects against it" (Peterson 83). The sky on the right creates a clean background for the lights.

The diagonal line the lights create between the sky 
and the roof adds to the strength of the composition.

     But blank canvases don't have to be so generic. Anything can be an empty canvas if the photo is composed correctly. In this image I used a person's hand as the empty background and a small teacup as the subject. This created a simple yet compelling photograph.

A hand worked as the blank canvas because it didn't
cause any distractions from the subject.

What else can be used as a blank canvas? Do you agree that the background is just as important as the subject? Let me know in the comments!

Bonus picture of using the ground as a blank canvas :)

Peterson, Bryan. Bryan Peterson's Understanding Composition Field Guide. New York: Amphoto, 2012. Print.