Are there times when you feel that currently your photographs are dull and uninspired? You set up the shot, try for a new angle, but it ends up looking like more of the same?
I periodically go through phases like this. I'm so dissatisfied and depressed because I feel that the photos I'm taking are reasonably nice, technically OK, but they just don't 'sing' or resonate with that ... 'something' extra! There is a dullness or a sameness to the composition and design of my shots that makes me realize that my 'eye' has become jaded and is in urgent need of an injection of freshness and inspiration.
This is when I put away my camera and go in search of inspiration - new ideas, different techniques, new vision, new influences. I raid fellow photographers' book cases, scour library shelves, the local bookstores, online stores in search of the input that is going to shift my perspective from jaded to inspired once again.
As you have no doubt guessed, this is where I have been stuck for the past couple of weeks. In my quest for inspiration I found a marvelous book on composing and designing digital photos that has shifted me from that awful space and introduced the freshness I was searching for. Phew, what a relief to have my enthusiasm back!
The book is aptly entitled The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
by the well-known photographer Michael Freeman.The wonderful thing is that he articulates really well why images work and explains how to set up the design of your shots so that they become more than the sum of their individual image-parts. He shows you how composition and design help you set up images that can be meaningful or ironic or humorous or just great fun.
Michael Freeman has written many books on different aspects of photography and I, for one, am looking forward to exploring some of his other titles.
In the interests of full disclosure, if you do make a purchase from my link, I will receive a small commission - not enough even for a latte!
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