3 Digital Photography Tricks That Will Help Place Emphasis On Your Main Subject!
In many cases, a photograph comes to life when it contains one main point of interest. A landscape, for instance, may contain a single tree, beautifully lit, that stands out from its surroundings. When you have selected your main subject, there are a number of digital photography tricks that you can use to make it more prominent. By 'tricks', I don't mean post production alteration in Photoshop, or similar tool. I'm referring to choosing your viewpoint and composition thoughtfully and carefully, which will ultimately enhance the power of your image. Here are 3 ideas that will help.
* Lines - Lines are formed in an image wherever distinct or long lines occur between colours and tones. This needs not be one single element, but can be a combination i.e. roads and trees, clouds or shadows, which together form one strong linear element. When these lines radiate from, or converge to, your main subject, these can create clearly dramatic lead-in effects. If your main subject is a cottage in the distance, and a distinct road lined with trees lead the viewer's eyes straight to it, this can be much more pleasing than the same cottage pictured from another viewpoint that does not contain these elements
* Positioning - Typically, digital photography beginners look for a central position in the frame in which to place their main subject. This may work well in certain circumstances, such as a conventional head and shoulders portrait. However, when used exclusively, this type of composition can become boring. However, photography works well when we borrow from an old artists' trick, and place our main subject on an intersection known as the 'rule of thirds'. Imagine your frame divided into nine equal boxes (similar to a noughts and crosses game). Place your subject at a point where two of these lines intersect, and you will create a far more pleasing composition. So, in the example above, the cottage could be placed on the right side of the image (at one of the intersections), with the road and trees leading to it starting from the bottom left of the picture
* Contrast - Making your main subject the lightest or darkest element of the picture (or even the only element containing a certain colour) will make it stand out strongly. This also helps emphasise shape and set a mood. An instance where I found this worked well was at sunset on a beach in Barbados. A young couple were standing on some rocks taking photographs of each other. They were backlit by the evening sunshine, and their silhouettes made a strong contrast with the reds and yellows of the sky behind them. The photographs I took of them in this situation remain some of my favourites to this day, and excellently capture the relaxing mood of a Caribbean holiday.
These are just a few of the digital photography tricks that can help your main subject stand out, and comfortably lead your viewer where you want them to go. Remember to try hard to capture the image you want in the frame as you take it, so that any subsequent Photoshop work is used with subtlety to enhance, rather than repair, your photograph.
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Discover how easy it is to take memorable photographs by using a few simple digital photography tricks. Please check out http://www.photographycourseonline.info for further information.
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