Landscape vs. People Vs. Indoor/Outdoor

[Hallow's Maiden]

Can anyone suggest maybe top 5 most important things to keep in mind when shooting people indoors, people outdoors, landscapes, with speedlight, without speedlight? Thanks!!

[Travis]

sure...

1. select the correct exposure
2. select the correct composition
3. select the correct focal point
4. select an interesting subject
5. select the appropriate amount of post processing

these five important things when done properly will guarantee a proper result

[Hallow's Maiden]

sure...

1. select the correct exposure
2. select the correct composition
3. select the correct focal point
4. select an interesting subject
5. select the appropriate amount of post processing

these five important things when done properly will guarantee a proper result

Thank you very much... except i am not sure how to do that :s NEWB

Trust me i am researching my little buns off

[Marko]

I like Travis's list but I'd like to add a 6th

A. Think about the light you want to use in the shot (hard/soft etc.)
1. select the correct exposure
2. select the correct composition
3. select the correct focal point
4. select an interesting subject
5. select the appropriate amount of post processing

[tomorrowstreasures]

great question and feedback, too!

[svantland]

One piece of advice which I have heard from several places is to take more pictures, and look at lots of pictures. It has been said the writers improve be reading other peoples work. I have found with my own photography that the more I shoot, the better I get.

Forums like this provide an excellent opportunity to guide your development, but that feedback must be coupled with action. If you keep shooting on a consistent basis, experiment with different settings in different situations, you will learn a great deal and develop a feel for what works in different situations.

As you look at pictures from other photographers, pay attention to what you like and what you don't like about the pictures. Once you see these things, you should start to see some of those things through your viewfinder and take advantage of them.

I am just an amateur, so take the advice for what it is worth. As I have followed this path, I can tell that my techique is improving, although I still have miles to go.

[tegan]

For people including formal portraits:

1. Get the pose right. There are rules for posing that are different for posing
men and women. The most important general rule is: Don't through
framing cut the body at joints such as elbow, wrist, knees, ankles, etc.

2. Make sure that the clothing, jewellry, and perhaps make-up contribute to
the look and the shot, rather than distracting from the face and the eyes.

3. Get the lighting correct by anticipating and dealing with lighting problems.
Flash, auxiliary lighting, and reflectors are some of your tools. Shadows
can be a strength or weakness depending on their control by the
photographer.

4. Get the skin colour accurate. Minor variations in colour temperature and
lighting can change skin colour.

5. Get the red out of the eyes: red rims, rey inner corner, red veins, etc.
through the use of Visine or postprocessing.

6. Get the blue out of the eyes. The white of the eyes should be white, not
blue.

7. Make sure the hair is combed, out of the eyes and flattering.

8. Use pose, lighting, and in some cases even make-up to flatter the positive
and de-emphasize distracting features such as pointed or double chin,
teeth or skin problems etc.

9. Use postprocessing to solve any visual problems that you did not notice
when shooting.

That will start you off in one area.

Tegan

[tegan]

For landscapes:

1. There needs to be a centre of interest. The eye must be attracted to
something or some part of the photo.

2. Paths, roads, rivers, etc. should lead the eye into the image and definitely
not OUT of the image, toward the centre of interest.

3. The best landscapes have detail in the foreground, middle ground and
background.

4. The rule of thirds which involves mentally dividing your image frame into
thirds and placing your centre of interest into one of those areas: as in
one third from the bottom, top, right, left, two thirds from the left, right
etc.

5. Avoid whenever possible having the sun at your back because the result
is a flat image. Side lighting makes the difference between the 2
dimensional look and the 3 dimensional look.

6. Think in terms of lines in your image. Diagonals are more visually effective
than straight lines, and curves have more impact than diagonals.

7. Colour is always better than black and white in a landscape unless you are
a true master in working with tones and the greyscale in postprocessing.

There is considerably MORE to landscaping than even people shooting, so this is barely covering some of the surface concepts. There are a lot more.

Tegan