Into the void!

Worth of nothingness!

Okay, let's try a simple experiment:

• First, pick a jar of something
• Second, remove the something
• Third, stick your hand in
• What do you feel?

Okay, you can answer two things: nothing or glass.

I won't say anything about the "glass" answer, but rather about the "nothing".

It's frustrating to feel nothing, isn't it?

Just like in my previous article, in photography it's conversely!

It can be very nice to look at some "negative space".

This means that in the photo there is some emptiness.

It "calms" down the picture, so it's the opposite of a aperture used for landscapes.

It makes you too calm down, maybe. (^_^)

Now, nothingness in photography, doesn't always mean litrally "nothing" or "empty".
It can also be a big white, or whatever colored space.
Even a great blurred space can be negative space.
Negative space is especcialy usefull if you are going to type something in this space.
It can also make your eye focus on the subject, which I belive is very important.

Look, your eye is drawn to the subject, not he surroundings.
So again, you can't achieve this effect with some fancy software.
Now, actually you can, but a gonna explain that later on.
It's done by just leaving things out of the photo.
This isn't difficult at all, but you can crate some nice photos with it!

So my tip:

"Not doing things is sometimes the best, just like not photographing some things. Just leave it out of the compositition, and your composition will be nicer! So: if you want a great photo, make a photo of one thing, not of many. Let the eye focus on one, let there be one too. It's the easiest to do it this way."

Mobile Tips

Your mobile phone is especially suited for this! 

Because your can reach spots with your phone, you can't with a camera.

Articles made for mobile phones will come, I promise!

Mel

PS

Sorry for the bad photos, my camera has a problem.

This are some older, bad, photos.

The art of focus!

You can't see everything!

Well, techniccaly you can. But that isn't important.

What matters is that if you show everything, it becomes a mess. 

A bit busy, sometimes that's good, but mostly it isn't.

If you wan't to show something to somebody, you point it out, don't you?

But if you wan't to show something to somebody over the internet, what do you do than?

I know the answer, I think!

You would open it in whatever photo-editing software you want and encircle it!

Now, you can't do that if you wan't a nice photo.

Ofcourse it looks creative and very modern, sometimes, but it isn't the classic way to do it.

You noticed I did something elso to focus your eye on the subject?

Did you? I know you did!

You saw that the background wasn't clear at all, heu!

You saw it was blurred!

That's how you focus someones eye, the classical way.

Now, you can accomplish this by focussing on the subject.

Autofocus or manual focus, it doesn't matter as long as the focus is on the subject.

The further you zoom in, the more blurred the background will be.

But that isn't the only way, again, to do it!

You can also change the f-stop.

If you choose a low f-stop number, the background will get very blurred.

If you choose a high f-stop number, everything will be clear. Great for landscapes!

With the change of the f-stop comes a couple of side effects, but I will explain how to fix those later on.

So:

"If you want to make a great photo, don't show the audience everything. Focus on one let there be many, as I said previous week. Only if it is on purpose, show a lot. I will tell you about that later on! Just focus on the subject and blur the rest. I know it is simple, but it wil make your photos (I think) a lot nicer! Please subscribe and let me know you're there."

Mobile Tips

If you're using a mobile phone to make the picture, than it's for most people the same as with a camera. But for those who can't set the f-stop/f-value: "you can focus on the object, and go close to accomplish the same effect. Also, if you can't set where you wanna focus: "go close and make your picture, I think that will work to"".

Mel

PS

Share this please, subscribe and comment please. I would really apriciate that! Sorry that I don't know how to write apriciate!

To repeat or not repeat....

Let's face it!

We all hate to do chores because these are so monotonous.

If something is monotonous, than you have to repeat something over and over again.

It's not very amusing to do that, but in photography it sort of is.

I don't mean it's amusing to take the exact same photo over and over again.

Neither to mount your lens on your camera over and over again.

To repeat something is never amusing.

The way it's used in photography, is by repeating an element in your photo.

For example a ordinary photo of the lamps in my house.

You see the lamp three times, which isn't very much.

Although it isn't very much, it makes the composition a bit nicer.

If there was only one lamp in the photo, then it wouldn't look this nice or creative.

I know this isn't the best photo of the world, but I think it is a good example of repition!

So here's my tip:

"If it's possible, search for repetition in the landscape or whatever you want to take a photo of.   But it can make or break a composition. So you have to focus on one of the objects which are in the picure because otherwise the viewer doesn't know were to look at. After all, there a so     many the same things in the photo. "

 Focus on one, let there be many!

Mel

PS

If it is to short or not enough in depth information, please comment so I know what to work on. Even if that's everything!

The First rule: The rule of thirds!

The First rule: The rule of thirds!

Photography is as much an art as it is a science so there are some rules.

Now, those rules are not made to be followed precise, but more as a guideline.

It's based on the principle of the golden ratio developed in the classical ages and the Renaissance.

It's mean't to express what's appealing to the human eye. Not only the human one by the way.

This is the reason it's embedded into many flowers and plants.

In the twentieth century, many artists and architects used the golden ratio. 

Especcialy in the form of the golden rectangles.

I think you're asking yourself right now: "what has the golden ratio to do with the rule of thirds?"

Well the rule of thirds is inspired and based on the golden ratio.

With help of this principle of the golden ratio, artists designed a grid.

Later on this was changed to the rule of thirds, wich is just a grid made up of nine squares or rectangles.

The use of this "thing" is to make pictures more intresting. 

But also to make sure that the horizon isn't the biggest part of the picture.

The main subject has to be on one of the intersections of the lines, to grab the viewers intrest.

If you're taking a picture, you haven't always got the grid to use.

This isn't much of a problem, because you don't have to place it exactly on the intersection.

Remeber: photography is also an art, not only a science.

It looks also nice when the horizon is on one of the two horizontal lines. 

This will make sure that it is level, or as I like to say: the water doesn't leak out of the picture.

If you're taking a picture of a landscape, I recomend you use the sky as the upper two thirds of the picture.

approxiametly the position of the lines!

Mobile tips!

If you're taking a picture with a phone, it's just the same.
If possible, set a grid on your phones camera interface.


This isn't the hard part yet of photograpy. Or the nicest!
But use it in your advantage!

Mel

Rules are there to be broken, so don't follow them blindly. Think!

Mel

PS

Sorry for the weird lines on the picture, I'm going to install something better than "paint"

Like photoshop or the Gimp.