Doug Hudson: Capture the moment

Photography >> Capture The Moment

Ah, capture the moment. That's what photography is all about, isn't it? Well yes, I suppose it is, unless you are an arts student, in which case photography is more about abstract shapes made with eggs, or wrinkly hands, or buttocks with tiny wisps of hair. But I digress...

To the average, humble man on the street, like you or me for example, we take photographs to capture a moment. Whether it's your grandad with his head back roaring with laughter, or a particularly endearing sleepy-eyed expression on your dog's face, whether we realise it or not, we want to convey to the viewer what is happening at that moment in time.

So all I have to do is point my camera and shoot, right?

Wrong.

Well, you can if you like, I'm not here to tell you what to do! However, I can give you some advice. My first tip is this:

Consider what you want to convey.

In other words, identify your subject. Be honest - is your subject really the whole beach, or is it actually that man windsurfing, or that pretty island just offshore? If you can't think of a good caption for this photo, then the chances are that it just isn't worth taking.

For example, I think that this image captures a moment. We were riding out in a powerful Zodiac from the harbour in Victoria on Vancouver Island, hoping that in a short while we would see some killer whales. We had been kitted out in bright orange survival suits to protect us from the wind and spray. You can detect the anticipation and nervous excitement in Kerry's expression. To me this image conveys those feelings far more effectively than my amateurish shots of wide expanses of featureless ocean with a tiny splash where a dolphin had just been. I won't bore you with those - and that is entirely my point.

My next tip is this:

Consider how to convey it.

In other words, think about how to isolate and emphasise your subject. This is where photographic technique comes in. The human eye needs to be led, so leave your viewer in no doubt as to what your photo is about. Here are some methods you can try:

Lead your viewer's eye by composing the picture with the subject on one of the "thirds"
Remove any distracting clutter from the edges and background
Control the depth of field such that only the subject is in focus, making it stand out sharply from the (now blurred) background

Contrast can also be an effective way to emphasise your subject. Contrast can be achieved in a variety of ways. Firstly, there is the contrast between dark and light. For example, a pale subject will stand out on a dark background. Contrast can also be achieved using colour. A red subject will stand out against a green background, for example. Notional contrast is more difficult to achieve, and involves the juxtaposition of ideas. A bird sitting on the head of a stone statue contrasts the ideas of flightiness versus permanence and nature versus man.

In this image, I think the pink around the subject's eye makes an attractive contrast with the blue sky. The white markings of the penguin make him stand out nicely from the shadowed boulder behind him. The depth of field sufficiently blurs the background to emphasise the main subject, without hiding the house on the hill. This house and the presence (or intrusion) of man that it represents, contrasts nicely with the idea of the natural world represented by the penguins. There is one further contrast so obvious that I nearly forgot it: that wild penguins may actually be found in such a warm place at all!

So, next time you want to capture that moment with a photograph, identify your subject and emphasise it. If you follow this advice, you will find that your photos will capture that moment so much more effectively. With the cunning use of contrast, they will become more than mere snaps: they will become artful!

Photography >> Capture The Moment

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006