Getting A Perspective On Things.

Yesterday , I quickly snapped a bunch of pictures. I needed some photos for  the Spanish learning blog. It was rather boring subject matter, and I just snapped away without adding much thought to the photos. A quick snap of a lawn mower, a wheelbarrow, I snapped a couple images of food on a grill, and didn't think twice about anything I was doing.

The photographs were taken with my phone, with very little thought to each image. The end result really showed the lack of care that went into each photo. The lighting was awful, the perspective terrible, and the overall result showed a photographer who could care less about the subject matter that was being shot.

An image I shot for a Spanish blog. Terrible subject perspective, and by simply adjusting the angle of the shot the image would have been improved tremendously.

The lawn mower shot is probably the best example of this. The image almost looks warped by the angle it was shot at. If I hadn't been so lazy and simply squatted down  for 5 seconds to get a better angle or shot perspective the image would of came out so much better. In most cases your perspective should be eye level with your subject matter. The end result should be as if you were looking straight at the object. This isn't the case with every shot, and varies with subject matter, however, a good rule of thumb is shoot at eye level for basic shots.

Another good rule of thumb would be to take multiple shots from different angles. By doing this you will always get the best angle or perspective of the subject matter that you are trying to shoot. In this case I just snapped one quick simple shot and moved on to the next item. HUGE MISTAKE!

The day was cloudy, and the lighting was not very good either. If I would have just taken a moment to adjust the brightness level on the phone, this would of certainly improved the light quality of the image and made for a much better end result. The lighting is so terrible, I couldn't even improve it in my image editing program.

The end result is of course what you see above. A bland image of a lawn mower, with poor lighting and terrible perspective. I learned from this experience, and although I went ahead and used the photographs, I know the next time I shoot some images like this I'll put a little more tlc into it.  With just a few seconds of added effort to each shot I took, the end result would of been dramatically improved.

I made these three rules to follow from here on out.

1. Always take multiple shots of a subject.
2. Take each shot from a different angle.
3. Adjust the brightness on the camera and use different setting for different angles. 

I feel that by following these 3 simple rules, even the most boring subject matter will have a much improved and a better quality end result. 

Although product photography is much different than shooting an object outdoors, you can see the difference in perspective and creativity. This image was taken for a friends blog using my phone camera, using outdoor light,  and the background is a paper bag with a pattern printed on it. Although this isn't great product photography, it does show what a little thought and creativity can do for otherwise boring subject matter.