No photographer was harmed in the making of this photo! - Holly with her Canon XT photographing architecture detail in St. Petersburg during our 2nd DSLR photography lessonI met Holly again this morning in downtown St. Petersburg for our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons. After going over many of the technical details for setting up a given photograph during our first lesson, this time the lesson focused more on composition and how to make interesting photographs out of places you may visit on vacation.
When photographing a building or a place, it is often an instinct to try to photograph the entire building or the entirety of a place. This often leads to what I refer to as a "mugshot" of a building. Yes, you can see it all, but so can you by standing right in front of it so that usually does not make for an interesting photograph. The cure to this is only photographing a part of the building, or tilting the axis, or shooting while lying on your stomach, or any such similar composition that creates something one cannot see at eye level.
I took Holly around some of my favorite alleys and side streets to show her the things I look for in order to find something that may be interesting. For example, that big semi-truck in the photo above. My idea to make that photo was to create the illusion that the person on the street (Holly) may be in harm's way, so in a sense the viewer of the photograph has to stop and think, "hey, that truck is probably just parked." Getting someone to have one thought about a photograph to me is enough for it to be a success.
For our third lesson we will meet in the evening to see how less light affects one's photography.
--Professional Model DSLR Photography Lessons now available!