Lesson 3: What's the Picture About?


"What's the Picture about?" This simple question is perhaps the single most important ingredient towards creating better photographs. Without it, you run the risk of making boring, cluttered, distracting pictures where nothing interesting stands out. Reactions to such weak images usually result in very quick and uninterested review by your audience, who remember very little, if anything at all about the shot as soon as it's passed.

This goes completely against the effect that most of us desire with our photography, which is to create strong images that impact the viewer and have a lasting impression. The strongest images not only captivate the audience in the moment, they imbed themselves in viewer's minds and are rememberd long after they have seen the shot.

Before taking a photograph, first decide what's going to be included in the picture. Usually, there is something about the scene that attracts you enough to want to take the shot in the first place, whether it's a specific building, land feature or person. Or, it might be multiple elements of a scene that attract you, as is often the case with landscapes. By identifying the most important subject matter in your scene, you take the first step towards composing a good image. However, it is not the only step, nor is it the most crucial.

After deciding what needs to be in the image, next decide what doesn't. This is often a more difficult process, but it can lead to much better photographs. As you look through your camera, pay attention to everything in your scene and then try to remove any distracing or unnecessary elements in the composition. This is done most easily by changing your camera position, by waiting, (a few seconds or a few hours) or by zooming in our out with your lens. Aim for a scene in which all the elements in your scene are related in some way, whether they compliment or contrast each other. A simple image is usually the stronger one, and often that means narrowing your scene down to one important visual element, or perhaps two or three that play off of each other somehow.

The viewfinder is your canvas and ultimately, you control what goes onto it. So from now on, before you snap the shutter, ask yourself "What's the picture about?", because if you don't know, then your viewer's probably won't either.