Everyone has a soul that binds itself to photography, so why not unleash it? Before diving in the depths of the equipment, let’s swim in the shallow ends and pick the shells of knowledge about the basics of Photography. We believe that to click a good photo, one needs perspective more than a heavy device.

Framing and Composition are the keys to get a good photo on the desk. While the art of photography has such a wide horizon to explore, some rules and techniques still come handy-

1. Rule of Thirds – Wondering what are those lines on your camera’s or phone’s screen that divide it into 3 parts? Well, those 3X3 lines help you with the Rule of Thirds.

• If the points of your interest are placed at the Points of Intersections, a more balanced and visually appealing image is obtained.
• In Portraits, the eyes are important so placing them on the Points of Intersections brings more focus to them, than the secondary objects.
• Cropping the image to attain Rule of Thirds may help remove distracting elements. A precise crop gets the viewer’s attention to the subject.

2. Golden Hour – While walking down a street before sunset, we feel eternal peace due to the view around us. What is so different about it? The light. The light right after sunrise or before the sunset is subtle and warm, which makes it less harsh on our eyes and obviously, pleases the camera.

• Soft shadows and warm tones are observed.
• Portraits snapped in the Golden Hour lead to flattering results, so a wider aperture is appreciated for use.
• Look out for getting flares. It is achieved when the sunlight works its way to the center of the lens.
• Silhouettes turn out to be superb during the golden hour as a faint glow or bright outline seems to be roaming around the subject.
• Put your shoot on your schedule early itself as you don’t want to be late. The sun ain’t waiting for us.

3. Spacing – Spacing is one of the prime ingredients to serve a perfect photo. It is all about the Positive Space, Negative Space and the objects adjoining it.

• Positive Space is the subject itself and the minute details running with it. Apparently, one can have a photo without negative space but without positive space, a photo can’t be shot.
• Negative Space has one role- that being enough to stage the positive space.
• For instance, the person is a positive space while the supporting act is the negative space.

4. Storytelling – Stories have it all- beginnings, middles and ends, and  a digital story should abide to the same. A photograph is a thousand stories captured in handful pixels, and everyone reads a different story through one photograph. Apart from photographs, such storytelling is important in Corporate Video Production, TV Commercial Video Production and Advertisements. It’s us behind the cameras who let the avid readers read a paragraph, expressed in colours and objects.

• The purpose isn’t to put forward a frame and narrate a story. It is more about creating enough room for the person to have his own perspective.
• There should be an interesting character or detail that catches the eye of a viewer.
• Packing many elements in a frame doesn’t make it good, it makes it clustered and confusing.
• Imagine a station, where two people sit on a bench, hugging each other. Now the way you frame it determines how the story goes, ie. if you want to show that they’ve met after a long time or it’s the sadness of going apart. Here, even colours and monotones play a role. Sadness here can be staged in the form of Black and White’s while colour adds a happy side to the story.
• When into portraits, focus on eyes. Eyes speak a lot about the mood.
• Pay attention to gestures and emotions.
• Frame it correct. While capturing a landscape, the photo must guide the viewer from a point to the other. Experiment with rule of thirds and centric photos here.

Photography is a complex field that makes life easy. Why not pick up the camera and fill your bag with curiosity of exploration and step out, snap some shots and frame a photo, go beyond that, and add a life to it! You may enjoy this trail but we too would love to see the smile on your face after doing that. Creative Splash is an animation studio in pune and has been articulating stories through the means of visuals and has been moulding stories, right from scripting to shooting! We deal with Video Production, 3D Animation and Video editing too! Knock our door near Deccan Corner, and we can have a chat on 8554982761 as well. Mail us your journey at info@creativesplash.co.in and make us a part of it too!