Becoming a Photographic Magician {intro}

Photography & Magic... Hmmm, your probably wondering what the heck I am referring to here but read on to better understand my comparison.

I recently drew a conclusion about the art of photography. Obviously like anything you do, the more you know the better you can be, but it's much deeper with photography. If you've ever watched a magician (I'm talking a really good one) let's say David Copperfield, you're contantly drawn to not take your eyes off what they're doing, and typically can't stop asking yourself the famous question "How did he/she do it?!".

Well the same goes for photography. Instead of a wooden box and a fake saw, our tools for performing "our" magic would be our lenses, lighting, camera bodies, exposure, etc... With these tools we can create compelling photographs that make people stop and stare.

I would relate the sleight of hand to the photography world as understanding the settings on your camera. Without understanding how to make changes to Aperature, Shutter and ISO we cannot fully control the outcome of our photographs. Although speed is not quite so important when shooting Landscape or still life photography, but the faster you can make changes to these settings and the better understanding of how they correlate, the more opportunities you will have to WOW your viewers.

Stage presence is all about composition. The same way a magician lures his audience with costumes and capes, the same you can draw your viewers in to your photograph with great composition. There are a few basic rules for composing a photo and I will get to those in the posts to follow. Using lines, colour, blur, contrast and even clutter can all help to draw your viewers eye to where you want them to look (and I don't mean just at your photograph) but at certain elements of your photo that help to tell the story.

Smoke and Mirrors? Well this is where our material tools come in to play. Lenses, strobes, reflectors, filters... Think about these as the behind the scenes tools that, at least conventionally, nobody see's when viewing your photographs. By adjusting the positions of lights you can create dramatic differences in the way your subject might look. Lenses and filters all can accomplish different tasks and this will depend on the effect you need to acheive your vision. For example, a long zoom lens will typically give a flattened look to your image, while a short (wide) lens will add an almost 3 dimensional look to your image. I was reading a blog about food photography and saw a pull back shot from a renowned food photographer and was amazed at how much went into just lighting a pizza!

SO, you want to become a great magician of photography!? Well over the following days I will post a 3 part blog series explaining some of the most relevant photography techniques that will help you WOW your audience. I am in NO way proclaiming to be a great magician of photography myself, but I can offer some insight into the basic techniques of setting exposure (the magic triangle...f/stop, Shutter Speed & ISO), general rules for composing a photo and the uses of on camera flash/strobes and choice of lenses.

Hopefully you will find these posts insightful and will give you a better understanding of how to achieve the results of your vision! Most importantly is to have fun... But keep in mind, just like magic, the more you learn about the process of "getting there" the more it will take to impress you when looking at even your own photos!

Stay Tuned!

Go to: Part 1 of 3 "The Exposure Triangle"

-Pull Back Shot of Pizza compliments of Mike @ FoodPortfolio.com