JD Photography

The control of what we see

I have an iPhone, and it seems the whole world has a smart-device of some sort. The cameras are amazing, and I don’t want to take away from the quality these cameras produce. However,

There are fundamentals that are missed by non-photographers that are like fingernails on a chalkboard to photographers.

One of the blunders is in photo composition. Spencer Cox writes on his website, photgraphylife.com, “Composition is critical. If you want to take powerful photos, it’s one of the most important parts of photography. Still, a lot of photographers start out only hearing about the so-called “rule of thirds,” and they never go into more detail on how to compose better photos.”

The rule of thirds should be at a minimum, but I far too often see that rule broken and not for any artistic reason. Placing key elements within these thirds can help image composition a great deal.

Another point I want to make here is your angle. I’m a taller guy and I’m often shooting people much shorter and smaller than I am. If I snap a picture from my point of view I’m positive they will hate the outcome, because they will look so tiny. What I will do is shoot at or just below their eye-line for a more accurate look. If the image calls for them to look big and powerful I will go to an even lower angle. 

I’ll show people this with my cell phone because I can swipe quickly through how each image looks and feels different. 

I bring this up because I’ve been told that now, because of smartphones, everyone is a photographer. I whole-heartedly disagree. Just because someone owns a camera doesn’t make them a photographer. Being a photographer is about knowledge of light, angles, reflections, shapes, composition, and so much more.

The smartphone doesn’t make a photographer just like the camcorder didn’t make someone a filmmaker.