Planning out your photos

Before you can even take your photos you need to plan, but don’t forget to leave some room for creativity!

Do your research/Develop an idea.

This can look like a lot of things. If you have an idea for an image but don’t know how to make it a reality get inspiration from other creators. You might have to do things like make a list of your location options and scout them to find the best one. Find all the information you need when it comes to taking a picture of your subject.

If you are new to the different types of photography (like food photography, sports photography, and so on) do some googling on how to get the shot you want, or what tools you might need to make your image happen. What research you will need to do depends on what you want to take a picture of and it’s a very flexible thing!

Follow your instincts and be flexible.

While you have a plan remember to remain flexible. Sometimes the best picture we end up taking is the one we took just because we decided in an instant to take an extra shot. So take photos of everything! Overshooting can be helpful for photojournalism. You never know what you’ll need, so the more coverage you have, the better.

Taking your photo

Framing

Framing is more than just whether you are doing a close-up (CU), medium shot (MS), or wide shot (WS). Adobe defines framing as “The process of composing a picture. It involves choosing what you’ll include in the frame and what you’ll leave out. The goal is to create a pleasing composition that directs the viewer’s attention to the subject matter.”

Framing is important in photography because it aids with the composition of the photograph by drawing attention to the desired point. It’s a very powerful tool that can alter the formation of a shot, and there are multiple ways you can use the composition of the photographs to frame instead of using outside props.

For some strong examples of different framing in photography check out the articles below:

Point of View (aka Perspective)

When talking about point of view or perspective in photography, these terms refer to the position the camera is in when viewing a scene. When considering perspective you are thinking about if you are you above your subject, below, straight on, or at an angle. Within this, there are more dynamic aspects of perspective such as one, two or three-point perspective.

It all seems like a lot but for some clarifying information and examples take a look at these articles:

Lighting and mood

(What emotion do you want to evoke?)

Other examples / Informative Research