Techniques

This is the first of a series of articles on composition in photography — obviously an obsession of mine, because first, it is so fundamental to making a successful image, and second, it receives so little serious comment. In fact, it was this paradox that prompted me to write a book called The Image...
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Black and white photography has been quietly revolutionised by going digital. One way has been its easy availability — far from needing different procedures and the conscious decision before going out to shoot to load a different kind of film in the camera, black and white has become, technically at least, a post-production decision....
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Last month I looked at the classic ideal of reportage (and especially street) photography — the unobserved moment. No-one in the image is looking at the camera, so we have the sense, though it may sometimes be an illusion, that the photographer and viewer are privileged secret observers of the life that is going...
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Here’s a personality test, quiz-style. You’re in the street, shooting. You frame a shot – a slice of life – but almost immediately your subject turns and looks at you. Do you…. A: Give up and look for another subject B: Shoot If A., you’re a traditionalist, a believer in the principle of the unobserved witness and the skill...
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I’ll put this down now while it’s still fresh in my mind. Focus and matters of depth of field are purely optical affairs, right? So computers and software ought not by rights to get involved (other than for blurring focus, which is trivial). But over the last couple of years I’ve been introduced to...
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The title is, I suppose, provocative. Surely it goes against the ethos of creative photography to suggest that there is such a thing as a ‘correct’ exposure setting and result? Absolutely right, yet there is, for every situation and image, an exposure that is perfect for your taste. Which will, naturally, likely be different from...
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