HOW TO TAKE GOOD PICTURES – AWARENESS
Good photographers have a highly developed awareness of how shapes, colours, textures, patterns, perspectives and light interact to draw your eye into the picture.
Visual Awareness is the ability to create an interesting arrangement of shapes, perspectives, etc, to draw the viewers eye into the picture and explore. The sooner you develop this skill the sooner your photography will improve.
Try this Visual Awareness exercise ….
Here’s a simple exercise you can do anytime, anywhere, and with any camera – I took all of the pictures in this article with my smartphone. Practice it when have you a few idle moments and it will dramatically improve the quality of your photography…
Take a moment to look around and spot an interesting combination of shapes, textures, patterns, perspectives, etc. Do not look for an interesting thing or subject to shoot, but try to spot a combination of shapes and patterns you can use to make a strong picture.
Take your time composing. Try tilting your camera at different angles and heights, and move around util you have found a compelling and interesting image that has a sense of movement and depth.
This simple exercise forces you to concentrate solely on Visual Awareness, one of the most essential skills of Good Photography.
Developing your “eye”
By practicing Visual Awareness exercises you will begin to see more possibilities for interesting photographs all around you.
Good photography uses a combination of visual awareness with a subject: Visual awareness draws your eye into the picture and creates interest around the subject which is main focal point.
I’ve seen plenty of pictures that are well composed but utterly boring. Visual Awareness skills will eventually spill over into your photography and help you to create exciting photographs that people will really appreciate.
These simple exercises are the quickest way to develop your “eye”.
Choose your next B.A.S.I.C step to taking good pictures:
Backgrounds, Awareness, Story, Imagination, Critique
