Try a Different Perspective

Hello Again

Last week, I posted an article on using your camera to help you stop and smell the roses. The crux of that article was learning to see the world differently, and appreciate the beauty around you.

This week, I would like to begin talking about how to expand on the concept of “seeing” differently, and how to better reveal that beauty with your camera.

One of the amazing things about a camera is the ability to isolate the main subject from its surroundings. You can help people see the world in new ways.

However, if you simply point the camera at some object, and push the shutter, there are often a lot of distracting elements in the photo. These other items in the photo compete with your intended subject for attention.

There are two primary ways to really isolate the main subject of your photo, from the clutter around it; get closer or try an unusual perspective. Today, we are going to talk about how a different perspective can help you isolate your main subject.

Here is an example from my wife’s flower garden:




This lily was very pretty, but when I took a photo from a standing position, it blended into the rest of the flowers in the garden. I wanted to show the wonderful colors and textures of the lily, and pull it out of the clutter.

The answer to my dilemma was to change my perspective. Before taking a photo of any still object, I take a few moments and walk around it. If I can, I step up on something, and look down at the object, or get down low and look up at it. That is what worked with this flower. When I got down low, and looked up at it, the petals were isolated from the rest of the garden. The white petals against the blue sky had wonderful graphic lines and contrast.

A similar example is the Hibiscus, pictured below. I took a shot from the front, and it was pretty. However, it looked like hundreds of other photos that I have seen on the web. When I went behind the flower, however, I got a wonderful surprise. The light shining through the spaces between the petals formed a star. The green leaves behind the flower, formed a second star. It was wonderful, and I had to capture it.




The next time you start to take a photo of any still object, take a few moments, and look at it from different angles. You might be amazed by what you see.

Capture what you see with your camera, and you might make others take the time to look at the world around them, differently.