{"id":36,"date":"2014-02-04T04:31:23","date_gmt":"2014-02-04T04:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2014-02-04T04:41:45","modified_gmt":"2014-02-04T04:41:45","slug":"focusing-subject","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"Focusing on the Subject"},"content":{"rendered":"

I realize I posted something already, but here is what was intended to be the first blog post. \u00a0I wrote this on January 17th, when the weather was doing a very good job of ensuring I wasn’t where I needed to be for work<\/em><\/p>\n

So here I sit on a tour bus headed to a different airport from the one I planned on leaving from this morning, and the idea for my first blog post hits me. \u00a0As it will probably take well over an hour, I think it’s time to get work. \u00a0I have been considering the idea of starting a photography blog for a while now, and as they say, there is no time like the present.<\/p>\n

It is my belief that perhaps one of the greatest errors that any photographer can make is to become too focused on his subject. \u00a0As an example I offer up a recent photograph of mine (you can see it directly below this paragraph). \u00a0I have a long-term project, where I photograph Classic Cars on film. \u00a0If I have film in a camera that needs to be used up, I’ll often visit a weekly Cruise ‘In<\/em>. \u00a0It just so happened that on one such visit, one of the gentlemen brought a really interesting custom Hot-Rod that he is building. \u00a0I ended up shooting a size-able portion of a 36-exp roll on that one vehicle. \u00a0In reviewing the photo’s, once I had developed the film, I was distressed to find that I had focused on the subject, and not the photograph. \u00a0As a result, most photographs that I took of the vehicle are largely unusable. \u00a0To make matters worse, all I would have needed to have good images would be to have stepped back a couple feet, so as to have fully included people admiring the vehicle in the photograph.<\/p>\n

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\"2013-07<\/a><\/div>\n

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Realistically, I believe that, at least in my case, this error tends to be brought about by a desire to fill as much of the frame as possible with the subject. \u00a0It is vitally important to stop and think. \u00a0Consider how you might wish to use the image you are creating. \u00a0Most images taken today are digital, and they remain digital for their entire life. \u00a0For these images, cropping them might not be that important. \u00a0If the images will be printed, then it is almost guarenteed that they won’t retain the aspect ratio of the original image, but rather, they will be cropped to fit some standard print size. \u00a0When making prints, it is important to remember that 4×6, 5×7, and 8×10 three totally different aspect ratios. \u00a0At the same time 8×10 and 16×20 are the same aspect ratio.<\/div>\n

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If you are so focused on your subject that you have filled the frame, your final image will suffer. \u00a0In doing so you will have failed to account for how the final image will be presented, and you will be left with one of two bad choices. \u00a0First you can simply cut off part of one or both sides, this will cost you a part of the image that you considered important. \u00a0Secondly, you can matte the photo. \u00a0Now if the final print will be properly matted and framed, then realistically this can be the best option all around, though it will require custom cut matte board. \u00a0If the final result is simply a bare print, then this is the worst possible solution.<\/div>\n

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Now that I have discussed how focusing on the subject can impose limitations on your final output, it is time to consider the impact on your composition. \u00a0Let’s go back to my original example. \u00a0In that photograph, I have what I consider to be a good photograph of the subject that so captivated my attention. Yet it is a bad photograph because I failed to take into account what was happening in the background. \u00a0As a result I\u00a0cut the heads off of the people there.<\/div>\n

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Something that also must be considered is that, by becoming too focused on your subject, there can be the potential to put yourself in physical danger. \u00a0Make sure that you are paying proper attention to your surroundings, and what is happening. \u00a0Many years ago, I was on a US Navy Frigate in the Persian Gulf and we had a British Navy helicopter that was going to be landing on the ship. \u00a0They were doing some flybys, and I, one to never miss a photo op, was trying to get a good photo. \u00a0Standing near a hatch to the one hanger bay, with my camera up to my eye, I failed to realize that they were coming in for a landing. \u00a0In fact I didn’t realize it until someone grabbed me by the collar, and pulled me backwards through the hatch. \u00a0The good news though is that I pressed the shutter button the instant before I was grabbed, and so I got the photograph. \u00a0Realistically in this case I wasn’t in any real danger, but most of you have probably seen examples of wildlife photographers that have been.<\/div>\n

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\"British<\/a><\/div>\n
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And so this first post comes to and end. \u00a0If you’ve made it this far, it is my hope that I’ve given you something to think about, and that you’ve not found the experience to be something akin to torture. \u00a0Of course I might have just put the cart before the horse, as now I have to determine how to go about hosting a blog.<\/div>\n

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Since you’re reading this, its obvious I figured out how to host a blog.<\/em><\/div>\n
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I realize I posted something already, but here is what was intended to be the first blog post. \u00a0I wrote this on January 17th, when the weather was doing a very good job of ensuring I wasn’t where I needed … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.zanesphotography.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}