I like to take photographs of familiy and group leisure activities, and the following shortcomings of my practice bother me. These are issues of motive choice/perspective/framing technique.
I wonder if any of you can share tips.
The most interesting events/motives/views I do not think of photographing until too late because I am so caught up in participating in/admiring them. (That would be such a common failing that photography literature probably has some term for it).
A group of people viewing something, or interacting with some interesting object, animal or person - what I usually get is a shot of peoples’ backs. To get a front shot I’d have to really get into their faces, disrupting what they do (how do press photographers get shots of a politician interacting with someone in a crowd, I wonder? They’d need to behave really rudely, don’t they). In the case of people looking out from a cliff, I don’t really want to get in front of them either.
A typical example (but not so egregiously bad as my photos) is this shot by a tourist in my town - note everyone’s backs being turned. I wouldn’t know either how to make a shot of shoppers at on market day not consisting mostly of peoples’ posterior aspect. But professional travel photographers do get good shots of people shopping in a market - how do they do that?
Cityscape/architecture/street shots where the buildings are not obscured by lots of people - an interesting and lived-in place is bound to be crowded at the times of day when the light is good. Again, how do travel photographers photograph a street in an old part of town, in plain daylight, without a lot of people (at least half of them with their back turned)? Do they wait patiently for hours for their shot, until there is a break in the stream of people for a moment?
I’m going to address these in the format you’ve asked them although there will be repetition.
My solution for this is to make multiple outings to the same location if I really want to photograph it. This is particularly helpful if I want to get a sunrise/sunset photo with the best light. First outing I scout angles and locations and take dozens of throwaway pictures. I do absolutely minimial messing with exposure and focus entirely on framing. Oh and the best advice I’ve ever been given on framing is “Once you’ve framed your picture, look at all 4 sides. Even though you can see the entire frame until you focus on each side you’re going to miss things and be surprised when you’re viewing the final shot.” Also, don’t stop when you see what you want to shoot. Walk up to it, walk around it and look at all the angles. Take most of your pictures at any height other than standing up and pointing straight.
After outing 1 I go home, review the shots and plan my return. If I’m on vacation this can be a couple of hours later after reviewing the shots over lunch. Outing 2 I know where I’m going and what picture I want to take so I go straight to those locations and spend my time working on what exposure, depth of field and framing I want to get the picture that’s in my head. Sometimes I spend 20 mins waiting for a cloud to pass to get the light I want. Photography is patience and that’s why I travel with other photographers
Press photographers are rude. I’m terrible at shots of people simply because I hate interrupting them. I have a friend who takes great pictures of people, most of the time by understanding how most people behave and being in the right spot when they do what she’s waiting for. Sometimes she’ll talk to them and ask them to turn etc, but that’s risky because posed shots always look posed.
Very early in the morning is the best time for empty street shots. Most people aren’t up with the sun so you get empty streets and great light.
I think it’s a question of making a conscious decision whether to participate or photograph. It doesn’t have to be one or the other for the entire duration of the event, of course, but you really cannot do one while attempting the other - that way lies dissatisfaction with both. I sometimes intentionally leave my camera at home to be able to enjoy participating without feeling pressured to take photographs. Of course, you lose a few good photographs this way, but it’s a matter of choice, and I find this more satisfactory.
Take lots of photographs. And yes, sometimes you do need to be a bit assertive and get into peoples’ faces, which is sometimes intimidating to do, but you learn with experience. Also, having a different perspective really, really helps a picture stand out. Try gaining height or going down to ground level, or bringing something interesting into the foreground. Lots of experimentation! http://anuruddha.smugmug.com/London/Hightown-Crows-Brick-Lane/4122343_bfuSR#240472094_zZ7Rk-A-LB
Yup, patience. There’s no other way. I’ve waited 30 minutes or more for a break in traffic before I could get a picture I liked. Again, taking lots of pictures helps, and you need to be ready to leap on an opportunity as soon as it presents itself, because it won’t come round again. Moving around, looking for breaks, trying to time your photographs for less busy times all help. This photograph was taken on a busy street, always keeping an eye out for breaks in the traffic to allow me to exclude pedestrians in the foreground. Anticipation helps. http://anuruddha.smugmug.com/London/Hightown-Crows-Brick-Lane/IMG4860/240480068_89uTs-M.jpg
On question 3: Yes, you need to choose your time to get empty streets. In most cities and towns in the U.S., Sunday morning is a good time. In many parts of the world, late autumn to late winter are often much quieter (though not, of course, in places where people go to ski: try going there in summer!
The weekend before last I went to Greenfield Village, a collection of historic buildings established by Henry Ford at Dearborn, Michigan. The other times that I’ve been there, it’s been very busy, and it would have been hard to take pictures without lots of people in them. This time, I was there for the opening time (9:30 am), and for the first couple of hours it felt like I had the place to myself, even though it was a beautifully sunny day, because it gets chilly there in November. So, for example, this picture was taken about an hour after the place opened, and there were still relatively few people walking around.
