Matt Hardy said that “Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshots from the photograph”. Indeed, a beautiful photograph can be a delightful art form. A good photograph can tell a story; about your family, your wedding day or your loved ones.
When photography began with the camera obscura at least four hundred years ago, it probably wasn’t imaginable that people would one day be capturing the events of their lives with hand held digital cameras as we do today. At a wedding, a photographer working in candid style might take hundreds of photos he or she shadows the bride while she gets ready, documents the ceremony and mingles with the guests at the reception afterwards.
Today’s photographic technology allows us to take highly detailed, fast snapshots and edit photographs in a way that would have been inconceivable when the camera was first invented. For a showcase of the quality of photography today, just look at the work of Dreamlife photography. The company specialises in wedding and portrait photographs. Looking at the albums on the Dreamlife photography website, you can see the combination of beauty, composition and story-telling with innovation and ate-of-the-art technology.
It’s no wonder that photography has become a means of capturing the most important events in our lives and an art form that many of us admire and hang on the walls of our homes. It’s also become a creative outlet for many of us. Through the last century, as photography has developed, some of the photographic masters have shared their tips on creating artistic photography that comes from the heart. Learn from photographic masters and you will select the best photography and take better photographs yourself.
Garry Winngrand said, “If I saw something in my viewfinder that looked familiar to me, I would do something to shake it up”. The best photos are a little bit out of the ordinary. Look at everyday snapshots and think, what could you do to make it different somehow? Small changes can make a big difference. Don’t be afraid of change – it’s often necessary in a photo.
Ansel Adams, the famous landscape photographer, has said that “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”. Being aware of what the camera sees is so important, as is that next step of extending your photographic image to create a true piece of art. The photographer is the artist, making beautiful art work out of his or her subject matter.
Timothy Allen has said, “It can be a trap of the photographer to think that his or her best pictures were the ones that were hardest to get.” How true this is! In fact, sometimes the easiest photographs to shoot are the most successful. Candid photographs snapped in a n instant can turn out better than a planned, formal photograph. It’s important to look at the image with fresh eyes after an event. After all, everyone else who views the photograph will see the story within the image, not the story behind it.
