amolitor
TPF Noob!
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- May 18, 2012
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- #1
It is said that photography is really about "seeing", whatever that means. People even say foolish things about photographs like "well seen!" sometimes. There is a point here, to be sure. We know how to learn about exposure and lighting and so on, more or less. Does anyone teach how to see? This is my program. It does not involve taking pictures, it involves looking, and seeing.
1. Look at Photographs
Get a book of great photographs from the library. Open a copy of Vogue magazine on the newsstand. Look at advertising photographs on the web. Look at your own or someone else's wedding album. Find photographs that seem to you to be "good" whatever that means to you. You're going to look at them, with intent, seriously, and for a long time. You're not trying to "decode" anything, or "figure out the formula" you're just looking and seeing.
You're not looking to figure out how the photograph was made, just take time to look at the photograph as it was made. Seeing is not about technical details, it is about seeing. Soak up the visual impressions.
1.1 Look for details
This isn't an exhaustive list, the list is infinite, but here are some things to look for. Think up your own additions! Where is the light, is it from above, the side? Are the shadows sharp-edged or soft-edged, and are they deep black, or fairly pale? What objects are in the frame? Do some appear bigger than others, and are those objects actually bigger or smaller? What textures do you see, and are the similar to one another or contrasting? Are there definite different regions in the picture, or is it all pretty much one thing? Are there repeated shapes or lines, or mirrored shapes or lines? Are there any people in the frame? What are they looking at, how are the holding their body, their hands?
1.2 Think about how the photograph hits you
Where does your eye go in the frame, are there things you ignored or didn't see in the first couple of minutes? What did you notice first? How does the photograph make you feel? Worried? Happy? Does it make you want to buy the car, or the clothes? Do you think the people in the frame are happy or sad? Are they nice people or mean people? Make up some new additions to the list of questions, and ask them! Think a little about why it makes you feel and think those things. Again: you're not trying to "decode" anything, or figure out some "formula for sad photographs" there is no such thing. You're just thinking about one photograph.
2. Look at the world
Don't take the camera. Just go out there and look. Look at the light, look at texture, look at shapes. Look at people, and their interactions, and they way they hold their hands. If you like, hold your hands up and make a little rectangle of your fingers and look through that and pretend that it's a picture. Imagine how it would look with less color, or more color, or what it'll look like in a couple of hours when the sun moves.
Look for all the things you looked at in the photographs. Repeated shapes and lines, textures, human interactions, colors and forms. If you stand in one place, which objects are in front of one another, and what if you move left, or lift your imaginary camera up higher, or lower. What if you went around to the other side, what would change and what would be different?
3. Go back to step one
Repeat these things, look at photos, look at the world. Do you see anything in the world that looks like a photograph? You won't find a studio-shot fashion photograph out in the world, but you might see a dress that drapes the same way, or a fabric with a similar texture, or a chair that looks like the one in that photo. You won't see brides out in the world getting married all that often, but you might see a couple kissing, or an elaborate ring on a hand resting on a cafe table.
Look, but more importantly, see. You learn to see by practicing it.
Take some photographs in there as well, so you don't forget how your camera works.
1. Look at Photographs
Get a book of great photographs from the library. Open a copy of Vogue magazine on the newsstand. Look at advertising photographs on the web. Look at your own or someone else's wedding album. Find photographs that seem to you to be "good" whatever that means to you. You're going to look at them, with intent, seriously, and for a long time. You're not trying to "decode" anything, or "figure out the formula" you're just looking and seeing.
You're not looking to figure out how the photograph was made, just take time to look at the photograph as it was made. Seeing is not about technical details, it is about seeing. Soak up the visual impressions.
1.1 Look for details
This isn't an exhaustive list, the list is infinite, but here are some things to look for. Think up your own additions! Where is the light, is it from above, the side? Are the shadows sharp-edged or soft-edged, and are they deep black, or fairly pale? What objects are in the frame? Do some appear bigger than others, and are those objects actually bigger or smaller? What textures do you see, and are the similar to one another or contrasting? Are there definite different regions in the picture, or is it all pretty much one thing? Are there repeated shapes or lines, or mirrored shapes or lines? Are there any people in the frame? What are they looking at, how are the holding their body, their hands?
1.2 Think about how the photograph hits you
Where does your eye go in the frame, are there things you ignored or didn't see in the first couple of minutes? What did you notice first? How does the photograph make you feel? Worried? Happy? Does it make you want to buy the car, or the clothes? Do you think the people in the frame are happy or sad? Are they nice people or mean people? Make up some new additions to the list of questions, and ask them! Think a little about why it makes you feel and think those things. Again: you're not trying to "decode" anything, or figure out some "formula for sad photographs" there is no such thing. You're just thinking about one photograph.
2. Look at the world
Don't take the camera. Just go out there and look. Look at the light, look at texture, look at shapes. Look at people, and their interactions, and they way they hold their hands. If you like, hold your hands up and make a little rectangle of your fingers and look through that and pretend that it's a picture. Imagine how it would look with less color, or more color, or what it'll look like in a couple of hours when the sun moves.
Look for all the things you looked at in the photographs. Repeated shapes and lines, textures, human interactions, colors and forms. If you stand in one place, which objects are in front of one another, and what if you move left, or lift your imaginary camera up higher, or lower. What if you went around to the other side, what would change and what would be different?
3. Go back to step one
Repeat these things, look at photos, look at the world. Do you see anything in the world that looks like a photograph? You won't find a studio-shot fashion photograph out in the world, but you might see a dress that drapes the same way, or a fabric with a similar texture, or a chair that looks like the one in that photo. You won't see brides out in the world getting married all that often, but you might see a couple kissing, or an elaborate ring on a hand resting on a cafe table.
Look, but more importantly, see. You learn to see by practicing it.
Take some photographs in there as well, so you don't forget how your camera works.
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