CHANNELING REMBRANDT

When shooting landscapes, try to think like a painter. Take the time to completely explore your surroundings. Decide what angle allows you to capture the aspects of the scene you would want to include in a painting while not including objects that distract from the scene. When we take in a scene, we normally don't see it as a camera would. We tend to filter out certain aspects of a scene. For instance, if there's a metal sign in view stating "NO DUMPING HERE", we might barely notice its intrusion into the scene. However, a painter would probably choose not to include the sign in a painting of the scene because on canvas or paper, it would prove quite distracting. The same applies to a photograph. One major difference between painting and photography is that the painter's primary challenge is to decide what to include. The challenge for the photographer is to decide what to leave out. However, the thought process is essentially the same. The artist, be he painter or photographer, must look at the scene in a different way than the average viewer. He (or she) must assess all aspects of the scene to a much fuller degree than the casual viewer. Then, utilizing the rules of composition, tonality, etc. common to both the painter and photographer, the shutterbug makes various choices. This then, constitutes the major difference between the snapahot and the well thought out artistic photograph. The casual viewer does not notice the tree seemingly growing out of the old man's head. The discerning photographer, on the other hand, notices the problem, then moves around himself, or re-arranges aspects of the scene to rid it of the distracting element. Larry Elkins - elkinsphotos.com