Just a Thought...

Creativity is a very important aspect of photography, no doubt. From the particular exposure decisions we make to the timing and lighting, all of these require creative thought to get what you have in your mind’s eye. However, there are certain things that have been foisted on us that we hold to be “truths” or unbreakable rules of photography. Some people will tell you that there are no wrong answers—I don’t agree with that, but there are some questions that allow for a range of correct answers. For example, what should your exposure be in open shade at ISO 100? There is more than one answer to that question, and the answer is affected by whether you want some motion blur, or frozen motion, what photographic filters are you using, etc. But that is not the crux of where I’m going right now. There’s other things that are on the line.

“Thou Shalt Never Delete Any of Thine Pictures”

Says who? Think about this one a minute. Let’s say you do sport photography, and for every 1 good picture you have 40 that are either unusable or just average. If you shoot RAW, each picture consumes at least 10MB of space. Each game might consume upwards of 4GB of space. Are you going to keep all of these pictures indefinitely? Think about it, once the season is over and everything that is going to be done with these pictures has been done is there any reason to keep them? You can at least consider removing all the lackluster pictures. Storage is “cheap”, but it is exhaustible. Particularly in times of recession, you have to think about cutting loose the chaff. That’s not to say all work should be thrown out due to the fact there can be new uses for it. However, if you can’t think of a use for a picture now, and you aren’t particularly attached let it go.

You can learn from older pictures, but you should still be pressing forward and trying new things. The older pictures can be a source of inspiration, yet not every one of them will lend itself that way. Some people have been known to destroy negatives after a run has taken place, and I’ll be the first to tell you that there are some that I’m seriously considering destroying. Think about what would happen if you had a fire and lost everything. Your negatives (if you still shoot film), your hard drives, etc. and you had to start over. How many of you would really think about going back and re-shooting everything that was lost? I for one wouldn’t. I’d take it as an opportunity to re-invent myself based on the experiences I’ve had so far.

“Thou Shalt Use the Rule of Thirds, It is the Blessed Path”

The rule of thirds suggests that if you place your subject in the “power points”, your picture will be better. For example, if you dice your viewfinder with lines marking the thirds vertically and horizontally you will have a more “powerful” composition if you put something on those lines or where they intersect. This is a very useful compositional guideline, something we’ve taken from the great painters of yore. However, if you want your picture to be at rest, or static, that bulls-eye picture they tell you is wrong may just be thing the doctor ordered. Powerful is not always the emotion or reaction you want from your viewer. The rule of thirds is a very useful compositional tool, but there are other compositional tools you can use as well. Things such as repetition, diagonals, s-curves, color, contrast, etc.

If the rule of thirds is your only tool, you are a one trick pony and you are condemned to be “stuck”. Instead try to master how light and color affect the mood of your photograph. It’s amazing how a little fog, or some stray light highlighting your real subject improves the emotional impact of a picture. Use the light available, or possibly create your own light. Sometimes engineering the light in your picture is the only real way of getting what you want. If you can, walk around your subject 360 degrees. You might find a better viewpoint to improve the impact.

“Thou Shalt Not Allow Thineself to Enter Into a Slump”

It’s nearly impossible to think creatively all the time. We have times where we are “in the zone” and we intuitively think sideways. Then we have times where we either fall into a rut or are at a loss for the next big idea. The fallacy is that there are those that are creative and those that are not. The truth is that we all have creativity. The challenge is to look for inspiration. It’s OK to fall into a slump at times, because you have to think creatively to get out of it. If you are a one trick pony, learn a new trick and see where it leads you. If you have a variety of tools at your disposal, then it’s time to look in odd places for inspiration. Change your surroundings, give yourself a project. Give proper thought to the things that excite you and why they get you excited.

With all your doing, don’t forget to rest. Sometimes what you need to do is let go of a problem for a while and let the answer resurface all by itself. How many times have we been under crunch time, and you’ve been beating your brain all day, only to have the answer come to you when you are in the shower the next morning. When your mind doesn’t need to be actively engaged it’s OK to let it wander and see where it leads you. You can gain inspiration out of where your mind goes. Then you start thinking about how would you portray that in a picture. So it’s OK to let yourself enter a slump. That slump is usually the step before your next burst of creativity.