Fill that frame for better pics
Not since I was eight or nine would I have tried to use a sledge hammer to drive finish nails into detailed trim boards on a carpentry project.
And If I ever to decide to pony up the money for one of those beautiful, thin-walled copper egg-beating bowls, you can bet I won’t be using it to boil water on the hot coals of a camp fire.
Slowly, stubbornly I have come to realize that results in life tend to vary depending on the tools chosen and one’s skillful use of them. I’ve learned to pick my tools carefully and to make the most of them when I do put them to work.
With that “right tool, right job” mantra in mind I can say that I wholeheartedly believe that anyone willing to play just a little can make very effective, tight close-ups with little digital point and shoot cameras, simply by embracing their quirky wide-angles and depth of focus and then by carefully choosing to fill the frame with information that actually adds meaning and aesthetic value to the picture.
Here are a few images from a quick walk through Mary’s awakening garden just the other day, and one shot (the last), made at West Seattle Nursery during a brief field trip prior to that garden tour. No special tricks here. Not even a tripod. Just those very limited capabilities of my little Pentax Optio which I’d stuffed into a jacket pocket before setting out.
The secret was in making sure to fill the entire frame with relevant information, using that background for context.
Monday, March 24, 2008
In Mary’s garden: Exotic tulips whose leaves are their treasure.
Comments Widget
For those not quite sure what all this close-up talk is all about in the first place, take a look on your little digi-camera. There will probably be some button with a very simple, universal flower-shaped image on it. See the little flower icon in both examples above. When you press this button, you will be able to put your camera into close-up/macro mode and focus in very close, in some cases you may be able to focus down to as little as one half-inch distance. It’s a really cool feature that allows you some fun options when picturing flowers, insects and other small details. Instamatics never offered anything even close to this ability. I love it, and use it all the time. Check it out.
Text and photos © 2008, David E. Perry. All rights reserved.
Photos taken with a Pentax Optio point and shoot camera.
Now trust me, I get that these images are not going to win big awards or change the way people garden and/or see gardens. They might however help change the way you see that little camera in your hand, if ever so slightly. That would be enough for me. You see, the secret does not reside nearly so much in what camera you are using or how much it cost, as it does in how carefully you choose what you include in the frame. Take an extra ten or fifteen seconds next time you start to shoot a picture. Ask yourself if there is anything in the frame that will later on distract you from what you really wanted to capture and show. Then, playfully try to get rid of that ‘thing’. Snap a shot and see how you did. Repeat until you’ve got it just the way you want it.
This last shot did not require going into close-up/macro mode, but it does illustrate that notion of finding ways to fill the frame to eliminate distractions that will rob your pictures of their intended aesthetic interest. This image was made while looking straight down into a round, rusted metal fire bowl that the local nursery has available for sale. When I wandered past it, I immediately loved the pattern of the rust rings that had formed when water collected and and then sat in the bowl at various levels over the winter. I loved the seamless backdrop it provided the eye.
Once I’d discovered it, I began wandering around with a deliberate eye, ultimately selecting a 6” pot of ‘Key Lime Pie’ Heuchera as a plant whose leaves could hide the pot it lived in when looking straight down, and of a color that would visually ‘vibrate’ against that sea of gorgeous rust. The lone flower stalk was a bonus, adding a certain visual tension that breaks the lines of the circles and that also hints at the plant’s larger character.
