Work the Subject
There are many approaches to taking a photograph, most of them perfectly valid in certain situations. I work primarily in the natural world shooting landscapes and plants. For a long time my approach was to spot a subject, quickly assess the best shot, shoot a photo, and move on.
I can't remember where I first heard the phrase "work the subject", but since I first read about the idea, I've changed how I work.
I've learned to take more time for that initial assessment. I'll spend more time walking around a scene, checking various points of view, maybe changing lenses a couple of times, before I make a decision about what to photograph.
While I always use a tripod, I deliberately leave the tripod aside while I'm doing this. In fact, I never set the tripod up until I find the photo I want to take. If I start by setting up the tripod first, I'll probably shoot from that spot whether or not it's the best point of view.
Once I locate the exact point of view that I want to use, I'll set the camera on the ground directly below that point or otherwise mark the exact spot, then fetch the tripod.
At this point, it's important for me to leave myself open to finding a better shot. More often than not, by the time I'm done shooting that first setup, I've conceived a better solution in my mind. Sometimes I'll stop after the first or second setup and scan the whole area and find a subject even more worthwhile in another direction. Sometimes I'll realize that I should be shooting just a fragment of the original scene instead of a broad view.
If the light is right and the subject opportunity is worthwhile, I'll spend an hour or two almost in the same spot. Often, only after I shoot a series of mediocre photos, does the best picture reveal itself.
A variant of this idea is to begin the process without the camera. Spend a quarter hour quietly looking, listening, and absorbing a scene. The photo that you finally shoot will likely be different than the one you thought you'd photograph at the start of the process.
All materials on this site are copyright 1992-2012 by Doug Gorsline / ashcreekimages.com
