Working the shot

Do you get the best shot first time?

Chances are you might not. When you view the photograph later you notice that something isn’t quite as you expected. Perhaps the composition isn’t quite right or something got in the way.

This has happened to me many times so what I try to do now is take my time to take the photograph.

Maybe I will move to a different position to see what it looks like now. I will come in closer or move further back. I will always check the background, check the foreground and check the edges. Is there anything that adds or distracts from your subject?

I try to take a few photographs of the subject and see which ones work.

To see how it works and how you might find this technique useful, here’s a recent example of some photographs I took.

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I was out on Hampstead Heath in London at dusk. It was dark but I noticed one tree standing against the sky. If you have been a follower of my blog for anytime you know how much I like the shape of trees against the sky. So I paused to photograph it.

Here’s the first example, taken on the edge of the Heath.

I framed the subject through other trees which created a nice feeling of layers; your eye is being drawn into the photograph. I then tried again away from the trees nearby to emphasise the night sky; it was overcast but there was a nice glow from beyond the horizon.

This was my next image of the tree after I had moved closer in to emphasise it on the horizon.

Checking my photographs I also noticed that there was a light behind the tree that was a little distracting so I decided to change my position.

For my next photograph I turned the camera to get a portrait mode and include more of the sky. I took a few photographs this way and in one of them a person was walking past the tree; I didn’t notice him until I got home but I thought he added to the image.

And here is the final photograph I took.

I had come in much closer now and I realised that I could actually make a feature of the lights in the background that I had tried to exclude earlier. They were in fact the lights of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead a mile or so away. I quite liked the idea of the quiet of the Heath contrasted with all the activity that was going on in the hospital.

This was the process I went through to photograph this particular tree.

It is not always about getting the best picture but getting the picture that tells the story you want to tell. It could be that as you explore different stories emerge.

For me it was the last photograph of the tree on the horizon against the lights of the hospital in the distance. I also liked the one with the person in it which was taken by chance.

All the photographs were taken handheld. I had set the camera to the highest ISO setting (hence the grainy quality of the images) and I had opened up the lens to the widest aperture.

None of these pictures would have happened if I had just seen the subject, photographed it and walked past.

Next time you are out photographing, why not spend some time working your subject? Explore it from every angle and taking multiple photographs until you get the image you want.

It can help you create better photographs and you will be more engaged with your photography.