Author:: Scott Robert Lim

Tags:: Photography

Basic Rules

Subject is brightest

Eliminate hot spots in other places

Always be conscious of the background

Bind background where subject would be brighter

Test: underexpose and see what remains

You can get away without this, e..g, when the other elements are working, or there’s a bright rim light

Subject is sharpest

Subject is largest

This is one of the hardest things for new photographers to do

Subject is contrasting (e.g, silhouette)

When rim light is bright instead of the actual subject, that works too

Color

Look at the wardrobe of your subject and try to find contrasting colors in the environment

A colorful environment creates interesting image

In Practice

Find areas of darkness. Put your subject slightly in there so they’re still lighted.

You can use a white umbrella as a simple reflector on a stand, even without using a flash in it.

If your camera is in auto mode, you can’t do a low key image

If your viewer is taking half a second to figure out what’s happening in the shot, it’s not an impactful photo. Clean up the photo, make your subject the largest.

When you get closer to the subject, the bokeh gets bigger.

Expose silhouettes so you can still see some detail in the subject

When making a silhouette, make a shape.