Isolating Your Subject

Isolating the Subject

There’s a serious problem that plagues many photos — clutter. Think of a messy home with toys, newspapers, socks, pizza boxes, and whatever else that makes it a mess in your photo. It’s not a pretty picture, is it? How can you take a strong photo without having the viewer focus on every little nuance? Isolate your subject.

Well, how does one go about isolating a subject? It’s really quite simple though there are many ways to go about doing this. First and quite possibly the easiest way is to reposition the camera so that the clutter is out of the background. It’s amazing how many people will remain stationary and keep the camera at the same altitude as their eye level (or in many cases with digital cameras, at about chin level and a foot or two away from the face). By simply moving a foot or two or even a matter of an inch, a whole new composition can open up.

However, there are times when this is not feasible. For such photographers specializing in wedding, sports or events, they don’t often have the luxury of moving since they are at the “here and now” mode and must rely on their lens to make the difference.

This is where you’d need to know a little more than basic point-and-shoot allows. You need to open the f/stop wide open to have a shallow depth of field. If your fastest lens is an f/2.8, then shoot at that fastest stop. My fastest lens is an f/1.8 and it does a great job of blurring the background so the focus is on the subject I am isolating. Anything that is in the background then becomes severely blurred and often times, you can have beautiful bokeh rings.

But, not everyone has the luxury of a digital SLR system with interchangable lens. For those of you that fit in this category, you may have a setting on your camera that resembles a tulip flower. This setting is called “macro” or “micro” because it allows the camera’s lens to get closer to the subject and remain in focus. Use this setting and get closer to your subject to isolate it properly. Move the subject as far away as you can from the background to get that beautiful background blur.

I hope you get great results! Have fun making and creating new memories in the New Year.

To see this and more of my portraiture photos, please visit Memories by Duskin.

Leading Lines

Leading Lines

Lines are everywhere. You see them on power lines, streets from above, train tracks, fences, and so on so forth. Finding lines and using them to your advantage is actually quite easy and can make very visually appealing photos. Lines can lead to the subject or show how cluttered a space is.

Leading lines are basically lines that lead to something. Quite simple, eh? Where these lines lead and/or intersect is where the viewer will focus the most attention to. So make sure that what the lines are leading to is what you want your photo to be most about.

The example I use is of a high school senior photo shoot. As we drove around the neighborhood, I encountered and intersection of two leading lines from this white fence. I placed her head at the intersection with a main leading line coming from the left and then trailing off into the distance. She intersects at the most important area, thus leading her to be the main focus of the photo. No matter how many times you look, your eyes will almost always lead back to her head.

Additionally, I had her place her left hand in such a position that it would eventually lead upwards with the post pointing up that also intersects. So, if you follow her art from her shoulder, it creates a “C” curve going back up to the main subject — her head.

This is one of those rather “simple” rules of photography that can help you to make your images all the more powerful. Give it a try!

And, I hope each of your roads are leading you to a wonderful holiday season.

To see this and more of my portraiture photos, please visit Memories by Duskin.

The Contrasting Nature of Isolation

Lone Tamarack

One of the hallmarks of my nature landscapes is an isolated subject. In this case, I stumbled across this lone Tamarack Larch in full autumn slendor among the fast carpet of evergreens in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, Canada.

I was with my parents vacationing in Canmore, Alberta when we took this drive. Once I saw it, I knew it needed to be preserved for future posterity. Well, at least preserved as it was emblazoned in my memory.

So, what makes such a plain and simplistic subject so powerful? This image has garnered a few first place awards. How? It’s just a tree. Well, this may be true, but it’s the context.

What happens here is that the contrast from bright yellow to dark greens is quite dynamic. The human eyes usually will focus on the brightest part of an image and that brightest part should be the main subject in most cases. Also, by placing this tree in the lower third section, it’s a natural flow because those of us who read English are accustomed to reading left to right.  I placed it low on the horizon to show the immense size of it that is seemingly diminished and lost among the firs if it were not for the autumn colour change.

I used the “rule of thirds” which derived from the ancient Greeks who discovered the pleasing effect of objects with a rectangular shape. When a picture is divided into thirds, it is often most powerful if the focus of attention is in the intersection of two of the perpendicular lines.

To further explain it, try to divide the photo into 9 even squares, two lines vertically and two lines horizontally.  Where the lines cross (there will be 4 of them) are supposed to be “power” areas of the picture where you should place the main subject. This is one of the “biggie” rules in good, strong photographic composition.

Moreso than just the composition, it’s the whole nature of the contrasting color that is overwhelmed by green but stands strong against it and demonstrates its seemingly superior beauty compared to it. It stands out. It dares the other trees to challenge it.

I hope you enjoyed my explanation of this photo.

To see this and more of my photos, please visit Images by Duskin.

Patience with Nature

Green Heron

One of the worst traits I exhibit is patience. I’m not a patient person at all. But, nature photography has a way of changing that habit — especially when it comes to photographing wildlife.

In so many ways, photography is my therapy — especially nature photography. Not only does it teach me patience, it helps me to appreciate the little things I normally don’t pay attention to; it helps my blood pressure through the calming influence and laid back atmosphere; and it puts me in a good space away from the rigamarole of everyday big city living.

To capture this Green Heron in the camera, I saw it on the other side of a pond. I stood still and it resumed its hunt for food. As I stood still, I saw it was methodically moving towards my way. So, as quietly as I could, I ever-so-slowly walked (and I mean slowly) over to a felled tree near the pond and sat. I placed my tripod and camera into a position and sat still while it took approximately 10 minutes for the bird to make its way towards me.

I only had a 150mm lens on me at the time as I left the 300mm back home. Thus, I knew it needed to be closer. Finally, the bird made its way into a position where I could catch it hunting and have good reflection on it. The results were that the feathers and eyes (most important is the eyes) were in perfect focus and razor sharp.

Had I just snapped away when I first saw the beautiful specimen, the image would be smaller and probably not quite as intense. That moment was a special one because my patience and slow approach entrusted the bird’s confidence that I was not a predator.

I hope that photography can serve as a therapeutic activity for you too!

To see this and more of my photos, please visit Images by Duskin.

The Essentials

Santa, Baby!

What a fun way to start off a blog than to add photos of wee ones with Santa. But this is no ordinary Santa shoot. Where’s Santa’s face? Is it necessary? Or does the suit alone connotate this is Santa?

I began my first Christmas shoots this year and it is themed, “Santa, Baby!” How it works is like this:

• Have a backdrop
• Set one strong light out front
• Have one hairlight on top
• Have a Santa Suit (XL)
• Cue the Christmas music
• Kids pose with Santa, who is a loved one like mom or dad, and I snap the candid or posed shots.

It’s really quite simple! The kids don’t freak out about Santa Claus being a stranger and anyone big enough can be the one they play with. Those were the essential needs to pull of a shot like this. I saw no reason to show Santa’s face. It’s irrelevent unless it’s very authentic as to what you might envision Santa.

The same can go for virtually any type of character or persona whether a superhero, fabled character or whatever.

This image, however, was quite a twist on me. You never know how individual kids will react. The little girl here decided she wanted to have nothing to do with her dad or mom in a Santa Suit. While my wife talked with her, my wife asked how she would feel if my wife played Santa. The little girl liked the idea. So, she took to the stranger instead of her own parents! Talk about twists.

I hope you’ll think about what is essential in your photography to pull it off right.

Happy Holidays!

To see this and more of my portraiture photos, please visit Memories by Duskin.