Tips for better photos

Thanks to all the Daily Herald readers who shared their favorite vacation photos with us this year. Unfortunately, we weren't able to publish all of them, but a few more are displayed in this issue. For suggestions on improving your photos, go to www.photosecrets.com, a travel photography resource from the publisher of PhotoSecrets books and winner of the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Award for Best Publisher's Web site. An excerpt follows.

Photography is the perfect companion to travel. It encourages us -- as travelers -- to discover an area; it provides tangible memories of the trip; and it is an enjoyable way to express ourselves in art.

A camera is really an excuse to delve deeper into a place than we otherwise would. Looking for a good shot forces us to seek out the unique features and scenic beauty of a location, to explore further and to interact with our surroundings. When you press the shutter release, you're making a personal connection to the place and its people. You are there.

Photographs preserve the memories of our trip. We can show others the exciting places we've been, the wonderful scenery and the great people we met. Our minds are triggered by images, and reviewing our photographs helps everyone on the trip relive its adventures and misadventures. Taking pictures is also a very accessible art form. With a little thought and effort you can create captivating images of your own creation and interpretation.

Fortunately, taking good photographs has little to do with owning expensive equipment and knowing technical data. The secret is in seeing. Ask yourself: What do I look at, and how do I see it? A good photograph has qualities that display the skill, art, interests and personality of the photographer.

What makes a great photograph?

A great photograph is a piece of art. It captures the spirit of a subject and evokes emotion. Photographer Bob Krist calls it "the spirit of place." You are an artist who can use subtle tricks to appeal to your viewer's senses. Let's see how.

A picture is a playground, with places for our eyes to wander and investigate, plus spaces for them to rest and relax. When we first see something, we are defensive. Our eyes instinctually find light, bright areas and look for people, particularly their eyes and mouth. Do we know the people in the picture? What are they feeling, and how does this relate to us? Are they drawing attention to something? If so, do we recognize it (a building, a landmark) and what does it look like? What is this picture about? What is the main subject or objective? How big is the subject? We determine scale by comparing elements to something of known size, such as a person, animal or car. Once we've checked for people, we turn our attention to more abstract features.

We first notice the subject's color or tone: fiery red, calming blue, natural green, foreboding black. Then we see shape: soft curves, hard edges, sweeping lines. How the light strikes the subject gives subtle hints as to its three-dimensional form. You, as a photographer, can manipulate this by searching for shades and shadows, shifting intensities of tone and hues. How is the eye drawn into the picture?

Form leads us to texture, how the subject might feel to the touch. Is it soft, is it smooth, hard or rough? Does it have character and warmth? The way the elements are juxtaposed and affected by the same light makes us consider their qualities and interrelation. Balance draws our eye from one element to another, investigating their unity, contrast and detail, each item adding pleasure to the next. What is the relevance of everything?

The overall composition, the proportions of layout, denotes the importance of the elements. As the artist, you can decide which features appeal to you, and how best to emphasize them.

The recipe for a great photograph is: "Consider how the parts interrelate with the whole."

How to get stock-quality shots

If you look at the sort of shots that get printed in travel magazines and expensive coffee-table books, they tend to share similar attributes. Look for pictures that you admire and try to analyze why you like them. These are some of the features I like:

• Include people

Magazines in particular always like people in the shot. It gives the viewer a human connection, a sense of being there and a sense of scale. Photographs evoke emotion, and empathy comes with someone's face. Avoid crowds and simplify the shot down to one person. The young and old are preferred subjects, with their innocent expressions and weather-worn faces, respectively. People make your shots warm, friendly and personable. Just like you are.

• Simple, clear layout

A good shot focuses your attention on the subject by using a sparse background and a simple but interesting composition. Always remove clutter for the picture -- this is a real skill. Like a musician, it's always difficult to make things look easy. Zoom in, get close, get to eye level, find a simple backdrop, look for balance.

• Bold, solid colors

Stock-quality images make great use of color. Look for solid primary colors: bright sports car red, emerald green, lightning yellow and ocean blue. Use a polarizer to bring out the colors. Avoid patterns; keep it simple. Bright afternoon sunlight will add warmth. Alternatively, look for color harmony -- scenes restricted to similar tones and colors, or even a single color. This presents a calm, restful image where the eye plays with the differing shades and intensities. Look for pastels, cream or delicate shades.

• Depth

Always include some pointer about depth. A photograph is two dimensional, but we want it to appear three dimensional. If you're shooting a background (mountains), include a strong foreground (people). If you're shooting people (foreground), add an out-of-focus blur behind them (by using a wide aperture -- small f-number).

Use a wide-angle lens for exaggerated depth. With a 20 mm to 28 mm lens, get just a few feet from your subject and, with a small aperture (large f-number), include an in-focus deep background too. This exaggerated hyperfocal perspective is used in a lot of magazine shots. What impact!

Alternatively you can remove all depth by using a long, telephoto lens. This compresses or compacts the image, making your 3-D subject appear flat.

• Dramatic lighting

Photographs that win competitions are often ones that make interesting use of light. Look out for beams of light shining through clouds, trees or windows, long shadows, and the effect of side and backlighting. Shoot in the warm golden "magic hours" of early morning and late afternoon.

• Preparation

A great shot takes time. Scout out the area, make mental notes of important features, unusual and interesting angles and changing crowd levels. Take time to prepare the shot. Get there before the best time of day, clean your lenses, set up a tripod or mini-tripod, add a cable release, try out different filters, wait for a good foreground and talk with people who might be in the shot so that they're comfortable and will pose well.

Give us your best shot

Send a copy of one of your favorite vacation photos to Your Best Shot, Going Places, Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights, IL 60006. You also may e-mail one high-resolution jpeg image to goingplaces@dailyherald.com. We will contact you if your photo is chosen for publication, so include your daytime telephone number as well as your name, suburb and a brief description of your photo. Sorry, photos cannot be returned.