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English
Language Teaching in Japan
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Buying Photos |
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"How to find a good photo" If you are buying photos
because you are designing brochures, websites, advertising, posters or any
other creative project, then here are some things you need to consider when
buying.
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Dodgy Looks:
Whatever project
you're doing, you don't want a dodgy looking result. Many university
websites, for instance, have pale, washed out photos of students and
staff members, as they couldn't afford a real photographer, with a good
camera and good digital processing ability, nor could they be bothered
to buy good photos from stock agencies (shown here). The result is, an
amateur looking website or flier. But this is the main and often the
first impression of your subject; and first impressions last.
So, things to
consider when looking for 'good' photos:
What's a good photo?
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A good photo has an artistic control on the settings
and the environment. There aren't any power cables, ash trays, or
half empty drink bottles next to the subject. (Click on the picture
on the right.) A good photo has good control
over the technical aspects, like noise, light, shadow, and others. |
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Noise
| Yes, you did read it
right, it does say 'noise'. So, what is it? It's the speckley, small
coloured dots in a picture. The darker areas is where they are
usually most affected, but in a good photo, these should appear smooth
(unlike these examples). Cheap, point and
shoot cameras typically have this problem, so that's why you should
save these cameras only for your holidays on the beach. |
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Light and Shadow
| The light should always appear
natural, like in the examples here. We all know the party photos
where the camera flash was used, and so there's a dark-shadow halo
around the your drunk buddy; that is amateur. The light ought to
appear either
global, or uni-directional, and usually soft. 'Soft' means no harsh
shadows. The picture to the right has no clear lines where shadow
areas begin. Also, like in the examples of
the Japanese New Year decoration with a mandarin on top, the shadow
areas oughtn't be too shadowy. The first example has some light from
the studio flash bounced back into the shadow areas, to make them
less dark. |
Above is the good example, and below
isn't
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Composition
| The basic rule of thumb
of photographers is the "rule of thirds". The subject is not usually
placed in the centre, or in the case of a close up portrait, facial
features would be roughly along the 'thirds' lines.
Another difference between amateur photos and pro
ones, is distance. Typically you only want to shoot the subject, and
so you should come right up close. This sunrise picture was taken
with a 300mm zoon lens at maximum zoom. Also, notice the other
examples on this page.
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A touristy
photo, with information signs, the subject isn't at an interesting
angle, and it looks far from the tranquil Zen we would expect of a
Shinto shrine
(Left)
A better photo.
As it happens, this place wasn't swarming with tourists, but I just
took this angle (among many others) anyway. |
Blur
| Blur is a common problem that amateur
photographers have. Typically the subject ought to be sharp;
especially the eyes. |
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Jaggies / Jpeg Artifacts
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This occurs from poor post processing. This
is also called jpeg artifacts to some. Good photographers never
re-save jpegs, they keep the original RAW, Tiff, or psd (PhotoShop
document) files, edit them, then save as a new jpeg. Also, when they
are saved at maximum (100%)
quality to create the maximum file size possible for maximum quality
printing. |
Jaggies, the blocky look: not good.
This picture is a portion of a larger one viewed at only 50% of the
original size |
ABlyth's
portfolios:
| Of course, I recommend you to buy my
photos at these sites:
But also, check out other artists photos, and make
your project better than your competitors'. |
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Search for some photos here:
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