The Rules Of Photography: Knowing When To Break Them
by Andrew Goodall
Creative photography is a mix of many ingredients; art and
technology, skill and patience, cold mechanical know-how and individual
flair.
For a beginner learning the basics, it would be nice if there was a
simple set of rules to follow to make the whole thing easier. Surely
someone could just tell you what aperture to use in a given situation,
or how to structure a composition to get the best results every time?
Photography is a lot like learning to drive. With a car, you need to
know the road rules, and you need to know the basic skills of steering,
accelerating and braking. These can be learned easily with a bit of
practice. But even when you have mastered the essentials, you still need
to get to know your car, because each car is a little different. Then
you need experience with night driving, wet-weather driving, off-road
driving...
What you must understand is that following the rules will only take
you so far. In photography, you will find that rules help you in the
beginning, and some rules will stay with you throughout your career. The
trick is to understand when the rules don't apply, or when you should
choose to ignore them. This is the type of knowledge that can't easily
be taught. It comes with experience, and is what gives you individuality
as a photographer.
Below are just a few of the rules that, for an experienced photographer, are just made to be broken.
Photography Rule #1. Outdoor Photos Should Be Taken In The Early Morning Or Late Afternoon. This
is one of the first principles of landscape photography, and can be
applied to almost any outdoor photography. The softness and warm colour
of the sunlight at these times adds beauty and character to almost any
scene. It also creates much lower contrast, allowing you to avoid harsh
shadows and over-exposure of the highlights in your photos.
When can you break this rule? I can think of two situations immediately.
Black and white photography is defined by contrast rather than by
subtle colour, so you often want stronger shadows to create the best
image. For this reason, black and white photos are often best taken
closer to the middle of the day when the light is stronger.
Rainforest photography is also best in the middle of the day, but
this time you don't want bright sunlight; you want cloudy weather to
create an nice even light throughout the forest. Otherwise the patches
of light coming through the canopy will create 'hot spots' all over your
image.
Photography Rule #2. The Rule Of Thirds. The rule
of thirds is an excellent guide for a beginner learning about
composition. In simple terms, it divides your photo into three parts,
vertically and horizontally. The dividing lines are the best places to
position long objects in a photo (like trees and horizon lines). The
points where the lines intersect are the most effective places to
position smaller objects for most impact.
Photos that are taken according to the Rule Of Thirds appear
balanced. They satisfy our natural sense of visual order and simply look
'right.' Unfortunately, the world is not so easily organised as the
rule, so it is impossible in nature to take every photo this way.
Moreover, sometimes you may decide to ignore the rule, giving more
impact to the photo by shaking up the normal balance of the composition.
When can you break this rule? Here is one obvious example, but I am sure you can think of many more.
Sunset photos feature colourful skies, and silhouettes in the
foreground. If you have a truly spectacular sky, it doesn't make sense
to fill a third of the picture with empty blackness. You may choose to
tilt the camera up to make a feature of the sky, and reduce the area
filled by the foreground.
Rule #3. Your Lightmeter Is Always Right. Most of
the time you can trust your lightmeter. If it indicates your photo is
well exposed, it probably will be...but not always.
When can you break this rule? When there is a big difference in the level of light between the subject and the surroundings.
You may be photographing a person, an animal, a flower etc. in full
sunlight, but the background is shady. This is a very effective way of
making your subject stand out from the surroundings. In this situation,
the different levels of light are bound to trick the lightmeter. In
fact, if you take your photo on auto, your subject will most likely be
overexposed. The best approach is to switch your camera to manual, and
adjust your aperture or shutter speed until the photo is underexposed by
one or two stops. This will darken your background and bring the
subject into perfect exposure.
Can you see a pattern developing here? Rules are there for a reason,
and your skills will improve in leaps and bounds if you learn them and
practice them. But having done that, you are ready to take the next
step. Start experimenting outside the rules and see where it takes you.
Knowing and following the rules will make you a good photographer.
Choosing how and when to break them will make you even better.
About the Author
If you found these tips helpful, Andrew Goodall has released two
top-selling ebooks that have already helped thousands of new
photographers learn the art and skills of nature photography. See
Andrew's images and ebooks at www.naturesimage.com.au While you are
there, enjoy even more great photography tips by subscribing to our
online newsletter...it's free!
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