“Hibiscus 1″ by Richard Deadmond
Photographer and journalist, Jason Paterson of Fotohacker.com, still remembers this great advice he got from one of his photography professors: “Get closer.” When you move in tighter on your subject, the resulting shot can be quite dramatic, especially when you fill the frame. Take for instance, the picture above titled “Hibiscus 1” by Richard Deadmond.
Jason says when beginning photographers look through a viewfinder or at the camera’s LCD, they have a tendency to perceive objects as larger than they actually are.
In many shots, beginners will simply leave too much headroom in their shots — enough to fit another head in the space above your subject’s head. He advises us to look around the edges of the frame before taking a picture and move in closer if you’re not cutting off someone’s forehead.
Don’t rely on your zoom, either; it’s almost always best to physically move closer to your subject in order to get a tighter shot.
Be sure to read Jason’s post for more information and, let us know in the comments, have you been successful at consciously improving your compositions by following the steps that Jason advises here?
