Thinking Through Visual Design

An outstanding image is one with visual and emotional impact. Composition, lighting, exposure, and selective focus all come together by our hands and in our eye to invoke a response (pleasant or not) whereby viewers are transcended from their worlds to the world we have put before them. If we remove the creative aspect of photography, we become documentarians. In my photography there is no separation of aesthetics and technique—it’s the creative process providing the viewer with an interpretive and communicative vision of my choosing.

Pre-visualize

To consistently achieve that vision and transpose the images we see in our mind to the capture medium, it is necessary to think through, or pre-visualize, the result. Pre-visualization is possible when one has gained technical proficiency. For example, knowing the photographic fundamentals and being able to see and understand light, its quality and quantity, physical properties and how they relate to your subject and capture medium will allow you to take control of your imagery. Being aware of the lighting direction relative to the subject will allow you to choose a camera position that will enhance your unique vision. Flash and fill-flash compensation remain a mystery to many, as does obtaining correct exposure. Composition and backgrounds, sometimes overlooked in the heat of the moment, can ultimately make or break an image. Scour the viewfinder; less is usually more. Eliminate distracting background elements and objects in the frame that are significantly lighter or darker than the subject’s tonality. Keep these in check.

Slow Down and See

With every frame we expose, we are afforded the unbelievable opportunity to be creators and masters of our domain. The success of an image lies in your ability to stimulate the viewer. The instant before you press the shutter, you alone decide what is to be. View the frame with diligence. Slow down; analyze what it is you want to communicate to the viewer. It may be the fear in an animal’s eye as it is being preyed upon, the gentleness with which an alligator helps its young to the water, or perhaps the ferocity she exhibits in their defense. It is easy to freeze a moment in time by simply pressing the shutter release; it is much harder to elicit an emotional response.

Master the technical side of photography first. Mastery provides freedom, expanding your possibilities and allowing you to see outside the box. I do not think one person can learn to see the way another does, nor would I really want to, but I believe people can learn recognition of key components that make an image successful.

Create a Story

When creating images, develop a storyboard. Visualize the images as a spread in a magazine, a photo documentary where you can present the subject in totality. Again, ask yourself questions. What drew you to this subject or location in the first place? What images do you need to effectively document and communicate the subject, its habitat and behaviors? Territorial displays, mating, eggs in a nest, an adult feeding a chick, sibling rivalry? Photograph as many different aspects as you can; your images are the answers to these questions. It is through this kind of planned imagery that photographers can communicate beyond documentation. Think of the big picture in advance and tell the story, and you are far more likely to come away with a higher percentage of usable images, including that killer vertical photo for the cover.

Think Out of the Box

For me it is all about pushing the limits of both my equipment and creativity, regardless of where I take an image, be it in my backyard or the remote wilds of the world. This constant striving to produce an image to the best of my abilities is what drives me. It is the reason I seek to learn more, try new techniques, and think “out of the box.”

How does one go about shooting “out of the box”? Imagination, visualization, and technical competency are the keys. If you can visualize the image, you need only figure out the technique(s) needed to capture it effectively. And those techniques are unlimited and there for the learning.

• Try unorthodox cropping. A tight in-camera crop can focus a viewer’s attention to a specific part or parts of a subject rather than the whole. When composed correctly, portions of a subject can often prove more dramatic and visually interesting than the entire subject.
• Use whatever ISO is ever necessary to capture the vision you desire. At Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico, I took a number of in-flight twilight images at ISO’s between 800-3200. Sure, there is noise; to expect otherwise would be unrealistic, but you can bet the images taken exhibit a mood not otherwise obtainable. A creative photographer should be able to see past the noise or grain for the image within. Far too many are so worried about what is the acceptable norm that they hinder their creativity with negative self-talk. Dare to be different, your photography and inner-self will be much better for it.
• Try low intensity sidelighting (my lighting of choice). While the light-over-the-shoulder method produces images with clean detail, I find that when combined with long lens image compression (particularly with stacked converters), it produces an image of two-dimensional quality. Sidelighting creates shadow, and it is shadow that creates the illusion of three-dimensional depth on a two-dimensional medium. In my opinion, an image side-lit will appear livelier and more realistic when compared to an image flat-lit. However, extra care must be taken when photographing subjects in this light; a slight turn of the head and the spark of life in the eye is gone. The lower light levels that occur in early morning and dusk are best suited for sidelighting subjects.
• When used appropriately, fill-flash can be a particularly effective method of controlling image contrast and lighting shadow-to-highlight ratio. Fill-flash must be used sparingly, so as not to overpower the natural color temperature or direction of the ambient light. As always, first assess the ambient light and its direction relative to the subject.

Technical ability is like crayons, the larger the box the more choices you have. I am not saying a fine image cannot be produced with only one color, but if given the choice, I do not know of any adult or child who would prefer only one. And, like colors, there is no right or wrong way, only your way. Since you are no longer shooting the literal, this is a great time to bend, stretch, and break right out of the box.

Mental Focus

When shooting, pick a “window” of opportunity for both light and background. This can prove highly effective; but isolating, tracking, maintaining focus and composing your subject, all while peering through the viewfinder, can prove an arduous task. This is especially true when you have multiple subjects flying in at the same time. Pick out a subject at a distance, concentrate and track it into your “window of opportunity.”

When the lighting fluctuates in quality and quantity, such as that on partially cloudy days, I find it best to only choose the lighting that best suits the subject, be it overcast or sunny. Expose for and only shoot the subject when these conditions are again present. Eliminate the variables by concentrating on one task at a time. Defining your goals and focusing your attention on your “window of opportunity” will increase your productivity.

In conclusion, vision is bestowed upon us and seeing is intuitive. Our experiences play a significant role in our ability to perceive the world around us and our photographic skills grow. These gifts allow each of us to be unique. The capture medium merely exists as a non-entity until we decide to make it otherwise by creating images that have visual and emotional impact that communicates our vision.