Photographic techniques
Posts which focus more on the techniques used in photography and editing than on the subjects of the photos
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Gallery: empty spaces
It may seem contradictory to suggest that we photograph empty space. Shouldn’t a photo be OF something? But if we set our subject against a large area of relative emptiness and create ‘breathing room’ around our subject, we can help the viewer to see that subject differently.
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Gallery: look up, look down
When you first start using a camera, the tendency is to look straight ahead at a scene. We get caught up in what we see right in front of us. We may look ahead, to the left and right, down and even behind us, but many times we forget to look up.
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Gallery: seeing Madagascar in black and white
Madagascar is a colourful country! The landscapes are beautiful and for the most part lush and green. The wildlife is often colourful too. And in villages and towns there are lively markets, while hotel grounds are planted with pretty flowers. And yet, I can never resist the temptation to experiment with black and white edits
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Gallery: full frame impact
In photography, when you choose to fill the frame with your subject, leaving out everything that surrounds it, you remove all distractions and by doing so force the viewer to look only at this one thing. This can be very impactful.
Or what about ...?
Gallery: tell us why
Gallery: seeking geometry in architecture
The Angel of the North
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Gallery: seeking asymmetry in Madagascar
While I sometimes enjoy the harmony of a perfectly symmetrical shot, on the whole I find the asymmetrical more interesting. An image that is off-centre is more dynamic and encourages the eye to explore rather than settling in one spot.
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Gallery: seeing Ealing in black and white
It was the advent of the Great Western Railway in the mid nineteenth century that led to the scattered villages of Ealing, Gunnersbury and Pitshanger merging into unbroken residential areas, centred around the new station in what is now Ealing Broadway.
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Gallery: the tension of opposites
Contrast must be one of the most used words in photography. Usually we are talking about the lighting conditions for an image; the contrast between the light and dark areas. Sometimes it can be hard to balance these, if the contrast is great.
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Gallery: seeing Chicago in black and white
As one of my abiding memories of Chicago will be of the architecture, especially the variety in age and style of its skyscrapers, I can’t help but agree with Frank Gehry. He said of the city that, 'Chicago’s one of the rare places where architecture is more visible'.
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Gallery: seeing more of Paris in black and white
On our recent visit to Paris much of the time we simply walked. With no need to tick off the famous sights we instead strolled some of our favourite streets, explored new ones and checked out some less well-known places.
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Gallery: what is monochrome, exactly?
The terms ‘black and white’ and ‘monochrome’ are often used synonymously in photography. But when you consider the meaning of the latter you quickly realise that they need not be the same thing. A black and white photo can be described as monochrome, but a monochrome image isn’t necessarily black and white. Monochrome simply means ‘one colour’, so any photo dominated by shades of a single colour can be said to be monochrome.
