A simple way to get a different look is to change your position to the subject.

The first flower is taken standing upright, the way most would take the picture.  The second is much closer to the level of the flowers.

The lower angle can make such a small difference, the viewer won’t even think about why your photo looks different.  Or you can make it obvious that you’ve taken the photo at an unusual angle.

Break a rule of thirds, and put a subject in the dead center of the frame.  It helps if the subject is symmetrical and strong enough to catch the viewer’s eye.  What could be more powerful than a battleship?

Put some kind of framing element around the edges.  This can be almost anything to direct your viewer’s eye into the key element of the photo.  It doesn’t have to be a complete frame; a partial frame will still direct your viewer’s eyes.   I like to find something that seems natural to whatever scene your shooting – stage lights in a concert; buildings in an urban scene; or rocks in a park to frame the distant glacier.

Instead of trying to capture the whole subject, focus on just a portion of it.  Bring in enough of the subject, and your viewer will create the rest of the image with his imagination.   It’s a subconscious reaction for most folks.  I very rarely get questioned about why I didn’t shoot the whole flower or car.

We’ve talked in other blogs about the joys of abstract photos.  Concentrate on shapes and patterns.  Again, you may want to just take part of the whole subject.  You can leave viewers guessing as to the identity of the real object.  A carefully placed interruption to the patterns can also make an interesting shot.

So, get out there and change your approach.  It can help you take more compelling shots that look different than most.  The more you practice with your photos, the more automatic it becomes.  And, you’ll have more fun making them.

We’ve written about working in Lightroom before, but I thought this would be a good time to review how much you can do to improve a photograph.  This is done completely in LR.

The first several steps are part of my usual workflow. When you develop a consistent pattern, you’ll get more consistent results and learn how different tools will impact your final image.  I shoot in RAW, but a consistent workflow will help you get better results from your JPGs, too.

This is part of a bracketed set (for an HDR) that I shot last year.  I picked the underexposed image to demonstrate that even a less than perfect initial image can be dramatically changed.  My first step is to apply the lens correction and move the camera calibration to landscape.  This actually makes the image a little darker, but gives me stronger greens and blues.

Next, I move to the top of the Develop panel to address the basic adjustments.  Bumping up the exposure by half a stop and adding some fill light, brings back some of the sunlight.  If you were shooting a JPG, this is probably a pretty good representation of what you’d have if you had the camera set in Program mode.

The image still looks a little flat, so I would apply the Punch preset.  Presets have a bad reputation because so many people just hit the preset and move on.  Presets are a good beginning point; they affect the image in a consistent manner, but you may still need to make some further adjustment.  Don’t be afraid to do this.  The Punch preset affects the clarity, vibrance, and saturation of your image.  Adjust the sliders further to your taste.  I see this as a big improvement to this image.

I’ve been on a panorama kick, lately.  I really like the look of the extra-wide images from combining several images into one.  This is a single image, but I can still get that look by cropping the image.  Make sure you unlock the crop aspect or you won’t be able to crop it this way.

Moving down to the hue, saturation, luminance sliders, I’ll slightly darken the sky and add some saturation to make it the way I like it.  I bumped up the luminance on the green.

Next, I apply some sharpening to the image.  Sharpening should be applied cautiously, so you don’t overdo it.  Use the masking to sharpen only the edges of features within the photo.  Holding the Alt button, while using the masking slider will show you exactly what you are sharpening.

Finally, I review the image for any other changes I might want to make.  In this one, I just touched the brightness a little. This is, certainly, not the only way to work on your images; it is the just workflow I’ve gotten accustomed to.  In real time, these adjustments would take me about three minutes or less.  If you are consistent and develop a personal workflow, you’ll enjoy the process and be happier with your results.  Then you can get back to the fun of shooting something new.

Before

After

Your first chance to use this tool doesn’t even require any software – it’s your camera viewfinder.  Every photographer crops the scene before he pushes the shutter button.  As you look through the viewfinder and change your position to capture the exact image you want, you are cropping.  If you have a zoom lens, you can create several different crops without moving your feet.

But we’re talking about a rainy day activity when you just want to explore.  You can do extreme variations like the one below.  When I took the first image, I just noticed the two different building materials and the nice geometric shape of the geometric rafters. I didn’t have any other thought about it, a simple snap.

When I got home, I decided to play with the ceiling rose and process the rafters differently, so I cropped in tightly, and decided I liked that image better.

Sometimes you don’t want to change the viewer’s focus, you just want her to look to a different side.  I don’t know why – maybe it fits better in your photo collage in the guest bathroom.

When you crop in to focus on a detail, don’t forget you can also rotate the image.  A landscape format just feels different than a vertical.

When I shot these models in Georgetown, I really liked the white line on the sidewalk, but I included a little too much wall on the left, so I cropped in a little.

The picture was better, but I decided the line was a nice design element, so I cropped in tighter and liked it better.So, the next time you have the urge to play around with your images, give cropping a try.  It’s always better to crop in the viewfinder, but, later, you may want to change it some more.  Go ahead and play.  Just do it on a copy because six months from now you may want to change it again.  Have fun.

Yeah, I know, most of the events we like to capture are in daylight hours, but that’s usually a cover for “I’m not sure how to take photos without loads of light.”  The night has some interesting looks, too.  You just need to think about a couple of extra things – but only a few.

Because of the reduced light, your camera will need adjustments we’ve already discussed before: you should increase your ISO; your exposures will be longer; you’ll need to open up your aperture; or some combination of all of these.  Use a tripod or monopod for stability.

Backlit scenes, like big, stained glass windows will fool the camera’s meter to believing there is enough light for the entire frame. This is a time to pay attention to your LCD and bracket your shots.  If you want the area around the glass to be more than a black frame, you may need to use layers, with different exposure values, in Photoshop.

If the image has a combination of artificial and natural light, you may have to balance the different temperatures.  They don’t have to be balanced to the exact same temperature because your viewer is used to seeing mixed lighting in certain scenes.

Night time photowalks can be great fun.  They will present you with images that are interesting and challenging.  Take your time and try several variations of the scene.  Summer is here, so the weather is warm.  End the evening at your favorite restaurant for some good food and wine. Your portfolio will have more interest, since, as we proved at the beginning of this blog, most photographers won’t have many night shots. You be different.

I particularly like photography podcasts for my daily commute.  They help the make traffic bearable, and you may just learn something new. Here are a couple that are available from both websites and iTunes (free):

This Week in Photography (here) has great discussions every week, with a couple news items, opinions, interviews, and answers to questions.  They rotate through a fairly regular set of hosts, each involved in different types of photography, in a relaxed, congenial tone.

The Candid Frame (here) is hosted by Ibarionex Perello and is a interview podcast.  I really enjoy his interviews, but be prepared for serious art discussions.  Ibarionex is an adjunct professor at the Art Center College of Design in addition to being a highly published photographer.

One of my favorites, and highly recommended, is Jeff Curto’s History of Photography Podcasts (here).  Jeff is a Professor of Photography at the College of DuPage.  He runs through the timeline of invention to present in the first few sessions.  After that, he moves into a more conceptual approach, using photos old and new to illustrate themes like portraits, major photography movements, famous photographers, and manipulations. His series is a great listen, but watch it in QuickTime Player to see the accompanying photographs.

Of course, for the analog lovers, books are available at great prices these days as bookstores try to hang on for a couple more years.  I am lucky enough to live near a large used book store.  Most of their books are in great shape and priced low enough to keep me filling my library shelves.  Again, we’re talking photography books, not technique books.  I love the A Day in the Life of series of photos from around the world, all shot in one 24-hour period.  I have biographies of Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams, David Hume Kennerly, and many others; all of them have been read several times.  You can’t read them while you’re driving, but you’ll probably have better retention with books.

I hope you will take the time to learn about photography, not just making and processing images.  As your understanding of all things photographic increases, you will be rewarded with inspiration, education, and a deeper appreciation for the wonderful shots you see from other photographers and your own camera.