All seven steps.
I teach online with the BPSOP, and I also conduct my “Stretching Your Frame of Mind” workshops around the planet. I teach my fellow photographers how to incorporate the elements of visual design into their photography. I also show them how to use their eye, and to see past first impressions. to not look at things but to see them.
There is a skill in photography called ‘seeing’, a few have it naturally, most people don’t, but can be shown the way.
The first step is the ability to frame just the part of the scene in front of you that makes a good, interesting photograph; this will take time to develop.
The second step is to fill the frame with your subject and to photograph ‘bits of things; pieces of the puzzle. Instead of the building just the window, instead of the window, the texture of the faded, peeling paint.
When out on the street and you look at the scene in front of you there are probably 30 or 40 good images you could take. Seeing is the ability to pick them out one at a time. Each potentially being the individual pieces that makes up the finished puzzle.
After a while you’ll realize that you have been walking around blind. It’s an epiphany, a sudden exciting realization that brings you into your own personal reality…perhaps for the first time.
The third step is ‘seeing’ the lighting and only taking images when the lighting is good, this takes a lot longer; a lot more discipline.
The fourth step is deciding on the best composition for your images, keeping in mind that balance is a basic element of visual design. Cropping only in the camera, and using the edges of your frame as a compositional tool.
The fifth step to consider is applying color contrasts, keeping in mind those colors that are in harmony, and juxtaposition of the light to your images; one of the best ways to generate Visual Tension.
The sixth step is simplifying the images, paring down the subject to its bare essentials. Remembering that it’s not what you put into a picture that counts, it’s what you don’t put in that matters.
The seventh and last step is grabbing the ‘moment’. The moment it all comes together, recording it to secure it’s place in our history…by clicking the shutter.
It’s a long, long learning curve.
I didn’t mention the word camera because it’s the least important part of the whole process. Clicking the shutter is the easiest part of photography.
Visit my website at: www.joebaraban.com, and check out my 2016 website schedule at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me sometime.
I have added a new workshop to my 2016 schedule. On September 21st, ten photographers will get together with me at my evening “meet and greet” to begin a fantastic five-day workshop in New York, New York. Check out my description at the top of this blog. Come shoot with me.
Don’t forget to send me a photo and question to: AskJoeB@gmail.com, and I’ll create a video critique for you.
JoeB
