Acknowledgments
Tike o thank the thousids of photogphers
who purchased the previous edition of this book,
4s pel ny frie eit Robin Sine scsi edo, Vicota Crven, extent edo, ese, Bob Fl
First published in 2003 by Amphoto Hooks an imprin of Watson-GupallPubliations a division of VNU Business Medi, Inc 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003 sss watson com Senior Bator: Vitoria Craven Project Edloe Ai Pabzzo Designer: Bob Fille, Graphitt Design, Production Manager: Hector Campbell
Copyright © 2003 Bryan Peterson
of Congress Cataloging in-Publication Data Peterson, Bryan F Learning Ban Peterson to se creatively «design, color — rev & composition in photography pcm, Includes index ISBN 05174-41816 (pbk) Composition (Photography) 2 TRI79PP 2/03 Tr dơi Photography, Anise 3 Picture perception 1 Tile 2003010501 AI nghệ reserved No pas of this publication may be reproduced oF used in any fom ‘or by any means—gaphe, eleetonic, oF mechanical, including photocopying reconing ‘or information storage-and retrieval sstens—without the writen pemnission of the publisher
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To my beautiful wife, Kathy,
Trang 7INTRODUCTION wpanding Your Vi HOW DO WE SEE” WIDE-ANGLE LENSES ‘THE FULL-FRAME FISH-EYE L STREET ZOOMS THE TELEPHOTO LENS MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY ements of Design WHAT MAKES A STRIKING IMAGE? LINE SHAPE FORM ‘TEXTURE PATTERN COLOR Composition
FILLING THE FRAME ‘THE GOLDEN SECTION AND
THE RULE OF THIRDS NO HORIZON ‘THE RIGHT THIRD DIAGONALS FRAME WITHIN A FRAME HORIZONTAL VS, VERTICAL PICTURE WITHIN A PICTURE WORKING YOUR SUBJECT BREAKING THE RULI
The Magic of Light
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» you see what I see? Do you hear what Thea?” It's the Christmas season, and in he background my ridio is waned to a station playing that Christmas song The timing couldn't be better as | sit down to write the introduction to this completely revised edition, of my hook Learning to See Creatively (Amphoto, 1988),
Do you see what I see? Maybe, maybe not Even if
you're standing right next to me and I see somethin, that L want 0 share with you, you stil may until all that remains is a glimpse My da
spotted a hot-air balloon up in the sky the other day It wasn't until it was almost out of sight that | finally spor ted it, but by then it was merely a dot in the vast sky It \was frustrating for all of us, to be sure
What does this story have to do with picture taking? i All re blessed with sight can see, but why is it It is analogous to picture taking and creative visi
of us whe
that someone right next to us can see something of inter est, yet we Somehow miss it? If you 1¢ ever participated
phy workshop in the field or gone out shooting with a friend from the local camera club, you,
are bewildered, lost, and confused, while within min: tutes someone else is setting up a camera and tripod phic composition of autumn-colored leaves You watch in amazement and ask the most often heard question at workshops and, field trip outings: "Why didn't 1 see tha you were preoccupied with thoughts about your job, or sssed appropriately for the location and were
shivering like enizy Not being able to see is probably the greatest hurdle every p hotographer has to over come However, even once you begin 10 see—really
see—you are faced with the next hurdle: composing all that great stuff in a balanced and harmonious fashion
I know of no real rules that one must follow to learn how t wee, but do know of many, many principles and techniques that are designed to help you see The
Trang 11two other compelling compositions that lie in wait next to the one you're currently shooting There still isn't a camera that instinctively recognizes the “decisive moment." And, there stil isn't a camer that will sys tematically arrange your composition in a balanced and us fashion before you expose it digitally or on lenges that continue to be part ofthe
hharmoni
film, These are
‘wonderful world of image making, challenges for which the sole responsibilty of success or failure rests square- ly on your shoulders,
When | wrote the previous edition of Learning fo See Greatively, 1 had one goal in mind: to dlspel the myth that the art of image making was for the chosen few Based on the overwhelming and positive responses I've heard at my many workshops and on-line course well as contained in the many letters and e-mails I've received, I feel | reached that goal This all-new, com- pletely rewritten and reillustrated edition promises to continue to dispel the myth In addition, ve added a nents of Design” chapter, ie asa design section on color in the
and I discuss in depth not only color's va
‘element, but also its impact on our mind and emotions And again through the use of comparison images, you'll see the value of focusing your vision on line, shape, form, texture, and pattern, and how these elements are ng truly compelling photograph- strong force in © ic compositions
arning to see creatively is also evr’ dependent on what your camera and lens can and cannot see Captains of ships need to become very familiar with their maps as they navigate the world, making certain to keep the ship pointed in the right direction In much the same way, your lenses are maps that can lead you t0 new and enchanting lands With constant practice, which comes by placing the camert and lens to your eye, you'll begin to visually memorize the unique vision of each and every lens—both the pluses and the minus- ¢s The more you do this, the less ikely you'll be to ever see the world in the same way again, You'll learn just an area a wide-angle lens can cover, oF how a ingle subject out of an oth- how v:
telephoto lens can select
enwise busy and hectic scene, It won't be to much Jonger until youl find yourself knowing, without hest- tation, what lens to use as you see one picture-taking ‘opportunity after another
‘Then, you can begin to take this newfound vision to ‘even greater heights, challenging yourself to vi forest from a toad'’s point of view, or the
sidewalk point of view, or your backyard from a robin's-nest point of view, (adders are not just for house painting) Lie on your back at the base of «lange fir tee and show me the point of view of the squirrel that raced up it only moments ago Set your camera on the shoulder of the road, and fire away just a the big semi truck comes into view A composition lke this wil, for example, make it dramatically obvious why Ít is so important that the city council build a small undespass for the ducks that cross that busy road every spring, Whether or not your compositions are compelling depends not on some magic recipe, but rather on a thorough understanding of lens choice, point of view, clements of design, and final arrangement, or composi tion, All of these are, as I said, ‘maps’ that require studying, some more then others Both your fears and preconceived notions will be challenged How will you € with others the robin's:nest viewpoint if you're afraid of heights” How will you share the busy sidewalk view if the idea of lying down on the sidewalk wg? You'll certainly hit a “fee?” now and feel compelled to abandon ship fs (00 intimida nu may eve then, and at times
‘This is perfectly normal and to be expected And, for, that reason, the exercises in this new edition are designed to help you get free of the reef and back on There are certainly times of bad weather, of lousy light, or a limited choice in subject matter, but these exercises will certainly dispel the myth that "there is nol course, ng to shoot
There's a great deal of material in this book that \ddresses the what, where, and why of successful image making This is a book about ideas—ideas from the river that flows through all of us It is my intention to help you find the knowledge of where to fish, the courage to cast your net, and the strength to pull in your catch and harvest those idleas This is not a book about metering for the right exposure, or setting the right /£wops and shutter speeds, That information can be found in my other book, Understanding Exposure (Amphoto, 1990)
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round the backyard, After elimb= fo « tory parking garage, I discovered opening, Lit ` shooting clown to the street these lessons were
ọ after that one experience that 1 In my on-location w nd e gan climbing trees and shooting down on numerous photography courses, it continues to be apparent tha ature-filled lands idents are not familiar with the inherent visions
J also have a vivid mem he first time [looked that lie within their complement of lens aras Tn ith my SOmm lens, After sp: most of one concerned, the ony —and the quickest—way to expand
hooting autumn leaves on the ground one's vision is by ye exercises large as back, [reached for my camera just to take a look the nex I decided to take a break: While lying After looking at q
the res and blue sky overhead Wow! My one subjec
need for a break ende diately! Then, at some which always most revealing t0 my stu point, I even lean Leould render a background dents xe of voting film, this exercise uses
s and out-of simply by than thiny-six exposure
Trang 16Exercise: Knowing What Your Lenses See
X FT pisscsnhy atoms you to ngục +
V vision.” How do you achieve the vision?
tree) of take your spouse, friend, or child
yard oF over to the local park From whatever distance is necessary to do so, place your subject so that it falls in the middle of the frame, allowing for a lot of "empty space” above, below, and to both sides With the cam=
cera still at your eye, make your first exposure and then begin walking toward your subject: Every five paces, take another exposure, mindful of course to keep the subject in focus Keep walking closer until your lens ‘can no longer capture the subject in sharp focus, One thing is sure to result from this exercise Your first composition will record not only your main subject, I of that otbur stuff that probably detracts from it, and your final composition should record 3 close-up of ‘your subject, which not only cuts out that other stuff but
Trang 17as close 10 your subject as you can, incl making that last shot while on your belly, turn over onto your back: and take just one more shot while shooting straight up While walking on your knees, you no doubt dis- covered far more intimate portrait of the small child ps recorded a far more intimate “portrait” of the barn that had the added drama of depth and per- or pet spective since the golden wheat that surrounds it now fills up the foreground of the image Perhaps also, awhile on your belly, you discovered a wonderful and fresh composition of the surrounding park framed through the feet and lower legs of your friend or spouse And, most of all, you le
mned the inherent vision, when combined with differing points of view, of your 28mm or 35mm focal ten;
lens,
But, you've only just begun! Make a point to do the same exercises at 50mm, 6omm, 70mm, 80mm, 90mm,
and 105mm If you maintain this regimen of “eye exer=
once a week for three months, you'll have a vision that is shared by fewer than 10 percent of all photogra- phers, and it will be a vision that gets noticed At that newt on-lo cation photography workshop, you won't be ‘group of students wandering around uncertain about what lens to use Once you've integrated the vision of your lenses into your mind's eye, you can stand at the edge of a meadow or lake and sean the entire scene, picking out a host of compositions even before you place the camera and lens 10 your eye
It is my belief and strong conviction that any cre ative endeavor—including learning to see creatively — cannot begin as long as you are feeling anxious and Jost Understanding the unique vision of your lenses: and differing points of view will set you on a journey of unlimited possibilities!
4 the sun neared the horizon to the west behind me, | moved off the jetty and over tothe let, staying on the nearby shore line Since the lelmeer wos unusually calm this day, | knew @ mircored reflection would be present What | didn’t know was thot the sun was also reflecting in the lighthouse windows, | quick ly set up my tripod ond mounted the camera ond ø 80-200mm lens, My first compositional choice wos to set the focal length to 80mm ‘end compose this pleasing horizontal (opposite) To odd some odditional color to the scene, | ploced an FIW filer (nat 1 be confused withthe FLD) on the lens, (The FW, like the FID, imparts @ mogenta color, but the FW
is @ deeper shade of mogen- to.) With my operture se lo #11, liken adjusted the shutter speed for 0 1/15 sec exposure and fired off several frames ‘Another opportunity to shoot a vertical composition loy right before me After loosening the tripod collar, | spun the camera and lens to the vetical position, ond then zoomed out fo 180mm and framed a much tighter composition of jst the ight house and its reflection lef With the aperture set to 1/22, \ adjusted the shutter speed unil 1/4 sec, indicot ed a correct exposure
Trang 19rocks, and eighteen inches closer to te tree bark These wide-angle lenses, more than any others, are capable of crea ne very up-close-and- personal moments, gle lenses continue to get nately, very-wide bad map from some amateurs because these lenses small and distant, and it gets wety too much stuff in the
love the scope of material that wide-angle focal lengths bring inside the frame All that “stuf” provides fertile ground for selecting subjects to manipulate and empha
ile living in France, | have been fortunate to moke three annual summer journeys to the Velensele Plain in southern Provence, and | still hove yet to even come close to coptur ing all of is boundless beou: ty The Plain attracts mony 1 from all ports of the world, many of whom, not surprisingly, come equipped with their cameras, What is equally no! surprising is thot most of them stand ot the edge of the mony rows of lavender and frame composi tions that ore seldom inviting A clossic exomple of this is In adit from foreground to backgr und This wonderful illusion of depth and perspective can serve as the “hook” that
subject is utilized Noted ph
such as Ansel Adams, David Muench, Carr Clifton, Pat Obara, and John Shaw, to name just a few, have used, their wide-angle lenses to make some truly’ emotion filled storytelling imagery Almost always without fai
ful emotional responses from viewers, whose se
the image above, whieh | shot holding my 17-35mm lens set 0 20mm As $0 many have done before me, | stood at eye level, ond framed some rows of laven: der and 6 tree with the sur rounding hls for off in the I's onice pholo- greph, butit does litle te dien
invoke the viewer's sense of patticipation By simply g Ying down low and shooting from the heneybee's poin! view (lef), | woken the viewer's sense of smell ond touch Additionally, this imoge hos o cleaner and more grophic composition
atk of a tree framing a
nes at the edge of a lake, of lower meadow at the base of
Note the deliberate inclusion of the lone cloud on the hoi zon ond how it helps to import on even greater sense of distance from front fo back To get this, | hod my camera and 17-35mm lens sen a tripod, the focal length sgoin at 20mm, and my operture set to 4/16 | then preset the focus vio the di fonce seting end simply adjusted the shutter speed unil 1/125 sec indicated
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smell, touch, and sometimes even taste are awakened Oftentimes, all that’s required of you is to place yoursell change
in that wiklflower meadow and be will
Your point of view In addition to your willingness 10 get down low in a meadow to create emotion-filled, storytelling composi: the literally thousands of other lang
tions don't
scapes All it takes is a litle imagination and one very simple question: What does the world look like when Viewed through the “eyes” of Iresh strawberries on the Vine, or a child's crushed glasses at the local play ground, or a lost pacifier at the local shopping, mall, or the dead! owl along the interstate, or a Mat tire in the Nevada dese, or a rake gathering autumn-colored leaves, or a starfish clinging to the rocks at low tide? I's, time to yea those worn-out dungarees—you're going to, begin spending a lot of time on your knees and/or belly
hat does the world chose an aperture of 1/16, look lke through the preset my depth of field via eyes of one of the the distance selling, adjusted local tomeats on the small my shutier speed until 1/60 Nlian island of Burone near sec indicoted o correct Venice? In order to cnswer exposure, and proceeded to this question, I chose to meet shoot several frames the cat at its eye level, and Although | speck no Halian, thot could only mean one I'm quile sure that « conver: thing: lying on my belly Do! sation was toking place ‘ever feel intimidated ol the behind me about the man prospect of dropping to my with the camera lying down Knees or stomach to get the in fon! of cot shol? Absolutely Ido, but Focing your fears headon conly when |hove an “audi will definitely improve your fenco”—lke the two elderly rato of success tenfold if not couples on their fron! porch: more On those few oco-
es fifeen feel behind me sions when | didn't foce my ‘while moking this shot They fears ond take the shot, my hhad certainly noticed the _obilty fo “see” was, for the stranger with the comera _remainder of the day, cloud gear, and |, in turn, felt some ed by a sense of oss about overwhelming shyness, not faking that really great
‘As | often do al times like shot of So, are you this, simply ask mysel, “Am ready forthe ultimate chal | going to put « potently lenge of facing your fears compelling image on [lm, or _ heodon# Gel on your belly, ‘am I going to just walk away and show the world how because a few people ‘Manhattan looks from the ‘oppear to be watching my _sidewalk’s point of view— every move?” Obviously,| preferably at noon! Fear of made the decision to face ‘looking “foolish” to those: iy fears os | most often do, around you should never be cond with ø pair of steady a reason for not creating ø elbows, Lhondheld my cam- compcling imoge 10 and Nikkor ]7-35mm Se ae wideongle lens, ung ø [17-35mmlensol1Zmm, focal length of 17mm |then 1/60 sec.øl/16]
Trang 22peling
created withthe lens “tho ing small end distont"—when present vith those dromotic storm
ther thon fling the ff \ Jeangle lens did make the landscape small ‘ond distort, but thonks tc
eping visio fill up the fram gh ond po of e fost approaching hail include o bit
Trang 24he “full-frame” fish-eye lens, one of the Al lens for photographers who can never seem to keep their horizon lines
tight! Most fish-eye lenses will naturally pend!” the horizon line with the slightest tlt of the cam: The full-frame fish-eye lens incorporates tn extremely wide angle of view—upward of 180 legrees—and it can also focus extremely close
2) EXPANDING YOUR VISION
f the coos of Mel bourne, Avs, Found ysl harnessed tothe open door of hel oper wih my legs an et toning on he skids, hovering Shout 100 feet above his ol Toner | wos on assignment fr one he walls ages sroloum producers, on fh theme thà poricvlor campaign wos fo convey the company's worldwide pres nce A vide open oceon iow ek ond my i eye lens al combined fot ompostion ha succeshly
convayed this ideo—"cover ing the globe.” With my camera and Nikkor fllrome ‘4mm Fh-eye, el the sapeưe lo 1/8 and adjusted the shuter speed to 1/500, sec, To avoid recording the hrelicoptr’s blades overhead, | osked the pilot to “pitch” the helicoper so that i was conglng way from the ‘ocean, ond | then stood oul con the skid and leaned over in the opposite diecton while shooting doven,
Trang 27n 1993, | was invited by the Chinese government to come to Beijing and spend ton days photogrephing the city end its people in on effort 10 help them win their bid for hosting the 2000 Summer Olympics Although their bid was not suecessfl
Trang 28hooting environmental
Su is but done withthe steel zooms
My definition of an environ ‘mental portraits on imoge in which both the subject and © portion ofthe sur rounding environment ore included ond defined In particule, | favor the 35mm and 50mm focal lengths They ore the ideal choices for geting in close without causing facial distortion, and they both do 0 good job of rendering just enough of the surrounding environment
(On an assignment for Kodak, | had the opportunity to shoot a number of city kids playing soccer in on alleyway While composing the portait of one boy, conother young boy was busy
28 EXPANDING YOUR VISION
leoping repeoledly os sever al other boys kept kicking soccer balls his way With my camera ond Nikkor 35-70mm lens on a tipod, | was assured of recording @ composition in which the bulk ofthe frame wos filed with @ portait while the boy leaping in the background made @ whimsical addition, Ifyou take your hand and cover up the leaping boy, this image immediately ‘oppears fat ond ho-hum i's fair to soy that without the ‘edded environment, this pic ture would not succeed [25-70mm lens ot 35mm, 1/250 sec, of f/11, Kedok: Mex 800 (which oceouns for
the higher shut speed with this opertr]]
uring @ lunch breok D->z- ‘0 steel mill in southern Ukroine, | asked one of the cleaning ladies if she would pose forthe camera She Unlike most ofthe other mill ‘employees, hod no trouble at all smiling, and pethops thot ‘was part of my motivation in ‘osking fo toke her picture While holding my cam 10, i! seemed natural to place her in the middle of on otherwise desolate factory landscape Alone among her
depressing surrou ail manages ơ snile-—1BWE the human spiril Before thanking her ond geting @ signed leo eee « point fo walk closer to her changing the focol length ever so slightly and ploci Tre dfeeie Lân composition And without foil, she continued to smile
0s | fired off severol more
frames (opposite)
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loon cad graph lc and filled with color i the summor of 1997, follow ing the constuction of our ing Iwas hired by Kodo to backyard swim Communication A ‘Annual 200 ‘As 0 result of 30 mony Photograpl
prior experlances elimbi oir, treos, and loddon ‘and thon shooting looking dow nast graphic ‘composition ofthe ball and ut fron shoot ing rơm a high viewpoi
‘Atop 0 twelvofoo! sop ‘dar (he ødge of the poo tasked my subject to tako
ot h
assistant to float the ball ino position A few seconds lator, with minimal dist
water, | gor th
composition while handhold'
ing my camera and Nikkor 45-7Omm lens so the 70min focal length With my ‘operture sot to 1/11, i
ply adjusted the shutter speed unl 1/125 sc ind cated 0 correct exposure,
Trang 32pon, called Bird Creek and still maintain he moder paso my belly and ying on my uld have composed cy m indian paint
brush shores the ground with sther flowers ond trees ‘Alhough | would have > enjoyed render distant mountain, there 35mm camera/le combination that would
allow i, The solution for recording exacting shorp-
ness from such a close fore ground through to infinity is a 4x5 view camero,
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0° th sty 908, an es ro Germany, | was heading out the door to do my woekly gro ery shopping when I remind ‘ed myself to bring my camera ‘ond Nikkor 35-70mm lens | don't know about your ovwn experiences, but I’m in the habit of always toking at least ‘my comera ond 35-70mm lons with me wherever | go— ‘even on those days when I'm tally not looking to take pic tures, This has enabled me to snog 0 fow prizewinners now ‘and then, and this picture is, ‘one of them I was later feo tured in @ national advertising campaign promoting a new video game by Nintendo and ‘in Communication Ars Photography Annual 1993 Throughout the doy that | made this image, southern Bavaria hod been experienc ing thunderstorms As | wos Feturning home from the gro-
cory store, ö rather large win dow of light opened up tothe west At about the same time, | was passing a rural land scape with lots of greon pos tures and one lone cow | Quickly pulled over, knowing that the cows of Bavaria are naturally curious and this one would, in all likelihood, ‘approach me os | stood in front ofthe fence that sur rounded the field My hunch was correct, and as the cow 0 closer, the light just kept gotting better and better With «a focal length of 35mm, | patiently waited for he cow to fill he frome and wasted no time in fring off just two frames! | wos out of film! | hod foiled to check the film ‘counter on my camera before leaving the house Hod | done so ol that timo, | would have pt in @ fresh cll [85-70me fons, 1/125 soe Evan) What If 2
nce you begin making discoveries pout how your lenses see, don't be urprised if you find yourself at times
consumed by the question “What if 7 What if you focus close on your toaster and, as the blue smoke rị
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innate, Pre wished h
hed tige was t00 Ia and sailors were able pirate ships, And it wouldn
wention of binoculars, bef football or soccer game and
“ ip close is field with the action L historic man Joubt telephoto lenses offer
eh n the saber world around w up on the knoll before it Stand ng thự
Along came the telescope you can observe migratin eer clear of approac and presence without ‘ibe much longer, with the to them You can get int ore hher babies with shoreline with a telephoto lens iry a worry of disturbing the brood toa) subjects one vie Nesehvorg, Germany) t
don't guarantee the best pos sible photographic composi tions Make sure you use the fight lens for the subject The
Jimage made with the wide- With my Nikkor 300mm lens cand camera mounted on tripod, | was able to “cul to the chase" and frame the mighty ond proud steeple ‘agains! the backdrop of the German Alps, | chose an ‘angle lens (lef is not as sve
cessful as the one made with the telephoto (righ) That fone focuses your atletion immediately on the steeple ‘and the mountain range
operture of 1/32 to assure that | got © maximum depth of field in the image (tot: 35-70mm len øl 39m, 1/125 sec 01 /16, Right
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safety places we may never otherwise visi—for example, the such as the 105mm and 300mm, were once the choice Althou xal-length telephoto, + on the moon Its, for many: photographers the discriminating shooter, the telephoto zoom, lens of great advent in action to the telephoto lens’ ability to make big Ten years ago, the telephoto 200m was looked upon tele-zoom, has gained tremendous popularity
jstant and sometimes inaccessible objects, i's by many with a suspicious eye—great idea but couldn’ just as important to note its narrow angle of view This possibly deliver the sharpness or contrast required by contributes to its ability to cut through visual clutter and demanding photographers Today, due to numerous
make a subject “shout” at the viewer: If the wide-angle advances in technology and design, the telephoto zoom is the storytelling lens, then the telephoto is the excla- has become the standard for demanding professionals, mation point at the end of the sentence, rendering details as well as the norm for most every amateur Ƒ 1 ith eye-stopping clarity, Telephoto lenses are available phe Aside from the SLR (single-lens-reflex) d mạ > es 80-400mm lens on 6 tipod, I chose @ distont viewpoint ond set the len to 80mm Although is sen ckoy sho o[ copluing the top), i falls
grandeur o the landscape behind the subject, my fiend Bruce It does show the ‘weather overhead, but if my aim had been only 0 show cose Bruce ogoins! o wide ‘open sky | wouldn't hove <b mountain todo it |
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0 io muted tones of color and/or shopes When | saw this elderly mon in smell v Alsace region of Fronct was on immediate no broin er On flowers surrounded him on llage in the wing boxes of both sides "What « great background!" | exclaimed to
myself and to the two stu dents who were with me ot the time, His warm and
local woodcarver and hod lived in this small villog his whole lif Being asked was, in his words
in taking his pi Although the fist photo greph is © good example of
{© simple ond pleasing envi come close to capturing the warmth of his smile of the texture of his face So, | ‘asked him to stand no less than ten feet in front of the
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‘three-month wait
5 Flowers w 's colo! agains! nd tones of reds, tube simply allows nd purples (also due
background fl to focus even reduces the ness (the depth of field) even further This is vital since in ‘most gardens, meadows, cond field grow quite close tc ‘agains! « small area of sion tubes with-a doubler, or ‘green, which inthis case what is also called a
a1, when placed zen the lens and t
Trang 39his lone pigeon caught pod, I was quick to set up, tion fo the long focal length
‘my attention os | ‘ond from a distance of about my subsequent! aperture ‘opproached « fountain twenty feet and focal length choice of f/8 also helped in in the early morning while to 400mm, | was able fo rendering the background os wolking the streets of the bird out of a back- muted tones and shapes Rothenburg, Germany As | ground that wos comprised
already hod my camera ond._ ofo large holelwollwilh 80-400mm lens ona mono- numerous windows, In addi 1/60 see ø1//8] [80-400mm lens ot 4
BL cove isthe thve-year
M ‘old son of my friend
FVD Arnold He hos one of those Faces the! makes you ‘un forthe camera With ony children, you absolutly must compose the shot ol their eye level if you won! to convey cr sense of innocence, | esked Manvel 10 get on his belly abou! twenty fee in fron of o large evergreen hedge, followed suit, meet ing him ot his eye level, ond ‘was able to record the back aground hedge as a washed: ‘ut fone of green, which served os 0 nice backdrop
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I so “French” 10.90 tothe buy your baguette is not uncommon to see the café,
biiro, and restaurant owners carrying armloads of boguetes out ofthe boketig ‘ond onto the streets os ha
head back to their own —
places of business On one such motning, my wife wos song of by eme Boguettes for an upcoming gether with fends
hot de
meet near the bakery cher she made her purchase and ent lo gather up my gear With my Nikkor 80-400mm lens and comera mounted on «@ tripod, | was able to com press the space in the back
{ground and narrow the depth of field considerably with the focal length set to 400mm,
hosing @ viewpoint fom above and then shooting down can offen reveal some new exciting compos tions of tired and worn-out subjects Most of, @ high viewpoint is combined wih a wide-angle or “normal” les Rorely is it used with o ole: photo, unless you'e realy high up, such os on the rooftop of ø skyscraper orn « helicopter But since | was moods, | sho his picture of iny fiend Fabrice while look ing down fom my second floor window opposil) ‘Again, solely due tothe tele photo's inherent compression of space, the normally 6 2° Fabrice wos reduced in ize Holding my camera, | chose to focus on the sungiosses on top of his heod