Image Review: Gone Fishing
Lesson 35 from: Mastering the Art of PhotographyChris Weston
Image Review: Gone Fishing
Lesson 35 from: Mastering the Art of PhotographyChris Weston
Lesson Info
35. Image Review: Gone Fishing
Lessons
Class Introduction - Three Steps To Creative Photography
03:48 2Firing The Creative Mind - Part 1: The Camera Points Both Ways
03:10 3Firing The Creative Mind - Part 2: Letting Go Of Judgement
06:53 4Firing The Creative Mind - Part 3: Detaching From Outcomes
04:12 5Practicing Mindfulness In Photography
02:43 6Finding The Visual Narrative
02:39 7Behind-the-scenes: Naples
07:52 8Seeing Beneath The Surface Of Things
02:30Finding Inspiration
03:19 10Slowing Down
03:57 11Three Reasons To Shoot RAW
02:29 12Choosing the Right Frame Format
03:52 13Don’t Be Limited By The Shape Of Your Camera
05:07 14WYSIWYG
04:15 15Choosing Lenses
05:02 16Perspective
02:44 17Considering Foreground And Background
03:10 18Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad But Three Into Two Is Better
03:43 19Separate And Isolate
02:32 20The Art Of Creative Exposure
06:38 21Focus On The Story
04:20 22The Passage Of Time
03:00 23Creating A Visual Sense Of Mood
04:24 24Color vs. Black & White
03:09 25The Decisive Moment
03:00 26Using Color As A Cohesive Tools
01:51 27Photography Is A Two-Part Process
06:55 28Case Study: Recreating The Art of Sumi-e
07:04 29Case Study: Making Something Out of Nothing
04:32 30Case Study: Moody Blues
03:29 31Image Reviews
03:02 32Image Review: The “Thinking Man”
01:55 33Image Review: The Golf Course
02:32 34Image Review: Dreamstate
02:38 35Image Review: Gone Fishing
02:24 36Image Review: Promenade
01:47 37Image Review: Sky and Reflections
01:57 38Image Review: Grass and Field
02:20 39Final Word: Show Me What The World Looks Like To You
04:44Lesson Info
Image Review: Gone Fishing
one of my students, Dean McIntosh, posted this image on the group's Facebook page, and I was immediately struck by the background as much as the subject. Beautiful soft lighting and warm pastel colors, which set the mood and sufficient diffusion so as not to be a distraction from the subject. So we're off to a great start, so let's look at the composition now. The title of this shot is gone fishing, but the square crop creates a visually static image, and the position of the implied horizon line created by the branch is mid frame, which gives equal weighting to what is above and below it, which again creates a very static composition. This is a bird more in the mood for thinking about fishing rather than actually partaking in any fishing. So my first suggestion would be to change the framing. I'd go with the standard rectangular format and position the bird in the top left corner. This does two things. First of all, it creates an implied diagonal line from top left of frame the bottom.
Right now, unlike horizontal lines, diagonal lines of dynamic creating a sense of visual energy. So now our bird is more in the mood for fishing. Secondly, it places the implied horizon line in the upper third, which emphasizes everything below it. This makes it more imminent that the bird is about to act to go fishing, so that simple change of framing has turned a static shot into an image full of visual energy, which resonates with Dean's original title. On the processing side, the bird is slightly underexposed, and in contrast, the bright background draws attention as it did mine when I first saw it. So I would selectively adjust the exposure in light room, using the radial filter tall, lifting the exposure just on the bird and adding a bit of contrast by the texture, slider and a bit of vibrancy to lift the colors. A final tweak I'd make is to darken the very top of the frame, just a touch using the graduated filter at all. This is a really small point, but the extra weight just helps push the eye down into the frame and the direction the bird is about to go when it really has gone fishing
Ratings and Reviews
Gary Hook
Wow, what a wonderful journey. I love the concept of telling a story with one's photos and as I go through past images, I'm seeing them in a much different perspective. That's the good news, The bad? The lost opportunities I never 'saw' before; however that is a good thing. There is so much to internalize with the material so that it can get out of the head and into the 'heart'. I also found the concept really helps me with composition, both in camera and post. Biggest take away, as Chris underscored in his closing, is to slooooow down, take the time and feel it. Don't be so quick to leave one scene as there remain other aspects, yet to be discovered. A great experience that I truly enjoyed Thank you
Glenda
I loved this course - in particular the latter part of it in which he demonstrated how post processing lets you really tell the story of the image. Another fabulous course. Thanks Chris & thanks Creative Live.
Abdullah Alahmari
Thanks a lot to mr. Chris Weston This course is great and It is a 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 course for me. Beside the other course ( mastering photographic composition and visual storytelling) both courses are Complementing to each other and highly recommended.