DEPTH: UTILIZING THE FORE AND BACKGROUNDS TO AUGMENT THE ENVIRONMENT

An extension of Zoom, creating a sense of depth with your environment holds more potential than any other part of the photograph. More than solely a source of illumination, the environment for your photograph holds the potential through depth to create a whole new narrative with subtle changes.

BLOOM

A bloom effect is a powerful and useful technique to take unique photographs. By manipulating the Context of an object, a burst of either light or color can be added, utterly augmenting the original idea for your photograph. In order to create bloom effects, the desired item creating the effect, (be it a flower, car, or light) needs to be so close that the camera interprets it out of focus. This is accomplished by either zooming in really close, or moving the camera directly in front of the 'blooming' subject whilst adding aperture or shutter speed. When this is accomplished, the camera will expand the bloom effect in relation to the photograph, creating a stunning photo.

MISDIRECTIONS

A self-defining concept, Misdirection shots are designed to purposefully focus on items other than the main 'character' in your photograph. For this, the main character, or subject needs purposefully to by put out of focus by use of aperture or shutter speed. Like a bloom effect, aim the camera real close to the subject you will keep in focus (in this case the snow on the ground), and aim to keep the 'main character' large in your photo. The larger you can keep the out of focus areas, the more sense your photo will make, and therefore the better story it can tell.

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS

- When trying to achieve a bloom effect, as you increase aperture or shutter speed, the bloom effect will diffuse and get larger

- When trying to achieve a bloom effect, the more you zoom in, the more the background and foreground will cohere. When trying to convey a theme including great distances between subjects in the photograph, move the camera rather than zoom in to maintain the distance

- When you shoot misdirections, it's important to maintain a certain amount of focus within your out of focus character, for if the background turns into a bokeh, then the point will be lost.

Continue with our Teaching Series to learn more photography techniques such as Context, Zoom, and Selection. Click here for more from Project Overtake.