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"How do I get what I see on film"?
"I saw this deer and took a picture of him and now I look at the picture and can't pick him out from the sagebrush, the quakies or the hillside."
"I took a picture of my kid playing baseball and he is a small dot in the picture"
Or, the person is going on and on about the great photo they took and when they finally get it out for you to look at, it is nothing like the description.
What is one to do when people show you mediocre images? Images that they had expected to be good. Images they wanted to convey some excitement yet fall flat. Images that do not begin to convey what the photographer thought they were going to have on film.
How do you improve your results so what you saw is what you get?
There are a number of ways to do it, most of which involve effort.(one reason few get what they think they are going to get when they push the shutter button) None of the solutions is difficult and they usually waste much less time and effort than is used in continuing to take mediocre photos.
First, look at the whole view in your cameras viewfinder. The mental image one gets when looking at a mature bull elk in Yellowstone is the big rack in gorgeous light. The reality is that the bull elk is 200 yards away and you are shooting with a point and shoot camera with a 35mm lens. You listen to the bugling elk. You feel the snap of the cold and see the steam from the breath. You can feel the pressure of morning sunlight on your face as you point the camera at the elk, but you don't look at the whole image in the viewfinder of the camera.
You shoot a mental image and totally space out what your camera is trying to tell you as you ignore all the wasted space it shows. Trouble is, the camera doesn't shoot your mental image, it is limited in what it can do. It can't read your mind and compensate.
So, you look at the image and rush out and buy an 80-200 zoom on a bargain body and come back again. Once more the weather cooperates and everything is perfect. The elk is even in position for your efforts, just as before. You shoot with the lens at 200mm, ignoring the ring of photographers in the meadow with 400, 600 and 800mm lenses, ignoring the guy running around passing out Lennie Lee Rue III equipment catalogues, ignoring everything but the idea that now you will get the great image you see in your mind.
Result? A just barely larger fly speck in the brown meadow.
What happened?
You still shot the mental image, not the photograph the viewfinder showed. You have not yet learned to actually LOOK at what the viewfinder shows. Corner to corner, edge to edge and with an idea of how you want to compose your masterpiece. You just wasted more film, using a more expensive camera and still came back with nothing but a sharper fly speck.
At least you are moving in the right direction. Not in laying out cash for ever more expensive gear, but in making an effort to get results on film that will match the experience on location.
So what does it really take to get the great images? You bought a new body and lens, went to Yellowstone at the peak of the rut, saw the same great Elk as all those guys with the big lenses and even met a lot of nice photogs and had a great experience.
But your pictures still suck. Why?
Is it because you don't have a 600mm f/4 lens and a $4000.00 body to put it on?
No. It is because you still don't look at the image the viewfinder presents to you. You are still looking at the excitement, not the picture. You are expecting technology to make up for your shortcomings-and they ARE your shortcomings as most cameras, lenses and films in todays markets are fully capable of taking great images if you are capable of finding them and learn the basics.
You bought the zoom and 35mm adjustable body to get better photos. Now really learn to use the thing. Though the process is simple most won't do it as it takes effort. It isn't spoon fed while sitting is a Lazy-boy chair chowing down on Pizza and soda pop and watching the ski jumper hit the deck for the millionth time on Wide World of Sports.
It takes effort.
Get up and go out with the camera. Anywhere. Set your camera on a tripod and frame a subject. I tend to shoot wildlife, but if you live in a city, do a city scene. Frame as scene and really concentrate on the main subject. Now, look all around your subject. Look at the edges of the frame. Look at the corners. Look behind the main subject and see if a light pole or quaking aspen or other unexpected object is growing out of the head or competing with your subject for attention.
LOOK at everything in the frame and take the picture, even if it may be lousy. You want a record of your first view. Now, move in closer to the subject and eliminate all the space around what you really wanted to photograph. Frame it tightly. Move right or left, up or down as need be to get the light pole or tree from protruding out of the head of the subject and shoot another image. Now, if you can do so safely, move in again and get nothing but subject in the frame and shoot again. Do this with whatever lens you have, it doesn't matter.
If you are using your new 80-200 lens at the 200mm setting you probably have some space between you and the subject. If you are using a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera you are probably so close to the subject that you are uncomfortable, and if it is a person they probably are also. If it is a bull elk you probably just got run over or a ticket from a park ranger. But, you also learned the difference in filling the frame of the camera and filling the frame you see in your mind.
A major key to better photography, to getting the image you are trying to get, is to fill the frame of the camera with the mental image you see. It requires a setting aside of the "experience" so you can become an observer. It requires objectivity. It may also require a different lens or camera. The bull elk isn't cooperative and the person in Times Square or outside the U.N. Building may not be either. Either way, you have to make a conscious effort at seeing, really looking at what the camera viewfinder shows you as you are out photographing. To ignore it is to guarantee failure.
A few things can help a lot in the quest for getting images that show what you saw and felt. Not every problem can be solved with a bigger lens.
The first thing to do is to slow down as you shoot. Look at what you frame in the viewfinder, no matter the camera. If you need to move closer, then move closer when you can do so safely and won't disturb your subject. Moving closer to the elk may put you in danger while moving closer to a Marsh Wren or Mountain Bluebird may spook the subject. Moving closer to some people might be even more dangerous than an elk. But, when you can, move closer to better fill the frame with the subject as you want it to be on film. You are always better to get the full subject on film, framed as you like rather than to rely on the lab to crop and enlarge a section of the image later.
Look edge to edge and corner to corner as you frame and before you shoot to make sure you really see what you are taking a picture of. A grid screen can help here as it partitions the view, helps to keep horizons level and can be an aid in composition as you learn. The grid screen can give solid reference points to a "rule of thirds" photo or to placement of heads in portraits. It gives a feeling of confidence when working on scenics in having lines you can use for reference in composing your image. Right now you are looking at the whole viewfinder and the grid gives you the opportunity to look at everything, one quadrant at a time, to see if it works for you. It can help in the quest for good images and in narrowing your view to take in what the camera actually sees. It can help sharpen your focus.
A tripod helps immeasurably. It allows you to compose the image and then step back to see what it is you are looking at. You have set the camera, checked the viewfinder and area ready to shoot. Now you can move back a touch or off to the side and look at the scene, the camera set up to shoot it, and critique what you are doing all without losing the image you have composed. There may be other things that will compete for your attention, but the camera stays focused on what you saw. The tripod is an aid in forcing you to pay attention to what the viewfinder shows. To see what you framed and composed within the square or rectangle the film will capture an image on. So shoot it and move on to the next subject. Draw a diagram if need be, or write down the technical info. Anything that helps you to concentrate on the image the camera actually framed as you set it up.
So, you use the full screen for your composition and a tripod to make sure you could set the view as you liked. You paid attention to safety concerns in backing off a bit to make sure you didn't get run over by a nervous whatever or get too close to the edge of the cliff or the traffic.
Now what?
Do you know how to operate your camera? Do you know what your lenses really see when you use them? Do you know how your chosen film interprets what you see?
We have been pushing to see what the camera sees, but now that it comes time to take a real photo, now that you have framed everything perfectly and need to make an exposure you discover the shutter speed will be slow. But, you don't know if the camera has a self timer or provisions to use a cable release and you don't have the instruction book with you. Maybe you know you want the image sharp near to far and don't know if your camera will let you preview the depth of field to see if the photo will come out the way you want. Maybe the scene is really colorful and you want that to show but don't know how the film will record it?
Now you have to learn to use the camera creatively: another way of saying, L earn the Basics.
With your growing awareness of exactly what the viewfinder shows and your concern in getting a good image that expresses your vision you can't let unfamiliarity with the camera, lenses and film stop you now. Just as one learns to walk, you can learn to use your camera. The fact you can walk or talk doesn't make you a champion sprinter or debater. The fact you own a good camera with a good lens doesn't make you a great photographer. But every photographer started without knowledge of how their cameras work. Every one who has gotten good has learned. Some faster than others, some easier than others. But no one is born knowing how to use a camera, it is a skill one learns. Talent and an 'artistic eye' are a different story, but the basics are within the reach of nearly everyone who is willing to try.
The very act of putting the camera on a tripod and viewing the whole scene as presented in the viewfinder will help you learn how your gear works. As you learn its characteristics your images will improve. You will become more comfortable with the camera and lens or lenses. Your will become familiar with the film as you shoot more and more of it. This experience will become more enjoyable as your vision starts to mature a bit and the results improve.
All because you wanted to get the image your mind sees on film and were willing to work a bit to make sure it happens. If you do it one step at a time, at your own pace, you cannot help but improve. There aren't any magic answers. No camera will do it for you as you still have to go out and shoot images, sort through them and throw out the bad ones after you learn why they aren't working. It takes effort. A concerted effort. But the results are worth the effort.
Attachment: Red fox at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge
The fox was very cooperative, allowing me to carefully frame him and wait until he posed as I wanted. The feeling of space at the top allows placement of text for publication. It is a use of open space which also conveys a feeling of where the fox lives. I had to do something as I could not move closer nor use a longer lens for a full frame image of just the animal. I checked this out in the viewfinder carefully as I framed him, moving the framing back & forth as he would move, turn his head and change posture. The light was working well, softening a bit as the sun sank over the Promontory Mountains on the North Shore of the Great Salt Lake, where the historic "Meeting of the Rails" took place with the driving of the Golden Spike here in the USA.
Through careful framing and use of light I was able to capture an image of the fox that is almost pastel. By knowing a bit of behavior I was able to wait until the breezes brought a scent that attracted his attention. By using a longer than normal lens at a wide aperture I was able to center all the sharpness on the fox while intentionally blurring everything else even though limited in my choices of location from where to shoot.
And, through conscious choice of framing, I shot him with a vertical composition rather than horizontal. The image on film is a good representation of the image I saw in my mind.