Fall is in full swing! With so much beautiful scenery and vivid foliage, there cannot be a better time for you to delve into your hobbies and snap some photos of the outdoors. There is plenty of time for you to put these skills to good use on your vacation, since winter break is right around the corner.
To many, the concept of photography seems simple enough—after all, how hard can it be to take a couple of photos? However, as we will see, the process of creating memorable photos is much more than that. To better demonstrate the process of creating a photo, I decided to ask photography teacher Thatcher Cook about the different techniques photographers here at PDS employ to film and edit their photos.
A large part of photography entails having your camera around you at all times. “I just try to carry my camera with me, like everywhere I go, so if I can take a photo of anything that jumps out at me,” said Sophomore Victoria Sichel, who takes the Intro to Photography class. “However, I’m shooting on film, so I have to be more mindful of what I take photos of.” With that in mind, perhaps the most important aspect in considering what to take is the emotional message the scene conveys. Mr. Cook explained: “It’s less about what the picture is of and more about the emotional content, so, how it’s lit, how it’s framed, and how I feel when I look at it.” Therefore, when taking a photo, it is important to consider the position of different objects within the frame. Mr. Cook further elaborated: “The first consideration in making a photograph is always where the horizon is and how your subject interacts with the horizon.”
Sometimes, a good picture takes more than just the camera. Those taking photography use Adobe Lightroom, an application all PDS students are able to access for free, to edit their photos, which usually involves adjusting the brightness and tint of photos. “If there’s too much light in a photo, and there’s a lot of white in it, then I would lower the white and the highlights [the brightest parts of an image],” explained senior Abby Leonardi, who takes the Advanced Photography class. “And if it’s too dark, then I would raise that along with bringing down the shadows [the darkest parts of an image]. Also, if there’s anything I need to erase that’s taking away from the main subject matter, there’s a tool for that.”
Ultimately, while some people spend thousands on buying expensive gear to take their pictures, photography is something we can all pursue—in fact, one of the best tools to take a photo with is built right into our phones. “The iPhone allows you to take photos that you wouldn’t normally be able to take because it’s so great at photographing in different types of light sources,” Mr. Cook says, adding, “the portrait mode is really wonderful on the iPhone.”
To conclude, whether you are picking it up just as a hobby or seriously thinking about getting into photography, there has never been a better time to start than now! So the next time you are off on vacation, consider picking up these techniques to make your pictures look even better! Believe me, you will not regret it.
