Shoot for the Light – Improve Your Composition

When I started reading this Post By: Etienne Bossot on Digital Photography School I thought he must have been on one of my courses and heard me say, as I do all the time, “look for the light and wait for a subject”. It seems so obvious to me, photography is about light, so concentrating on that is truly doing photography. I am sure you will find this article interesting and worth your time. Last night I was teaching our new Travel Photography course and I spent as much time talking about this as I did explaining how not to get ripped off by local scams which itself is very important too! I very much agree with his line “No, believe me, as someone living in Vietnam: one old lady with a pointy hat looks the same as another old lady with a pointy hat.” I was lucky enough to have a brilliant time in Vietnam in 2013 and he is right, what seems so exotic at first becomes commonplace very quickly

Here is one of my most valuable tips. The one I will offer to someone who comes to me, complaining that after 20 years of taking photos they can’t get out of their usual compositions, and want to get into a new level of creativity.

It may sound like something you have heard before. Yes, photography is all about light, and if there is a good light then there is a good photo…….Instead of that, try and focus your entire attention on the light around you. Not the beautiful sunset light in the whole sky, but the little spots of golden light right there, on the floor next to you. Yes, can you see them? Well, there is your next photo my friend.

Etienne Bossot has some excellent images to populate this article and I would recommend you spend a little time looking at them as you read his sage words. Read the full post here