The Road To Taking Better Photographs – by Jack Coll

The Road To Taking Better Photographs

A Few Simple Tips to Help You Become A Better Photographer

By Jack Coll

 

     So you are snapping pictures like crazy, cell phone, I-phone, sure-shot camera, and the usual 35 mm camera.  Hey your pictures are OK, you got the shot, you’re happy.  But why does that guy or that girl’s pictures look so much better?  Could it be the camera, or the phone, it might be because their phone is so much more expensive than mine?  Not True!

     I’ve been taking pictures professionally for nearly 35 years, my son Brian has been shooting professionally since before he obtained his driver’s license about a quarter of a century ago.  While we don’t have all the answers, we can certainly pass on a few good tips for taking better photographs.

     Give it a try:  Over the years I’ve taught a number of photography classes, everything from Fellowship House seminars, to the classrooms at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.  First, let us do a quick check on a few simple fundamentals.  The biggest mistake helping to create blurry photos or photographs that just don’t seem quite as sharp as the guy next to you, it could be one of three things.  When taking a picture you should never stand with your legs together.  When you’re standing in one place with your legs positioned tightly together, our bodies have a tendency to sway.  At times that sway will contribute to a slightly out of focus photograph, maybe not real noticeable, but certainly a touch out of focus.  Spread your legs apart, position them one out in front of you and the other somewhat behind you to help you stay balanced. 

      Number Two:  When taking a picture with any camera never hold your arms out like wings, I see a lot of people taking a great shot of their children with their arms spread meaning your elbows are up in the air, almost at ear level.  Once again you will have a tendency to shake just a little bit.  With your legs clutched tightly together, and your arms spread out, you might be experiencing a lot of shaking.  Take your elbows and pack them down into your chest area or rest them into your stomach, this will help stabilize your stance and shooting position.

     Number Three:  It sounds easy, when you push the button to trigger the camera or phone, the only thing that should move is the bottom third of your finger.  Your head shouldn’t move, your hand or arm shouldn’t move, and certainly your body shouldn’t move.  Any movement of course will kill the sharpness of your photo.  When you push the button to take the picture is should be a soft touch, sometimes we have a tendency to push the button quickly in an effort to capture the moment.  In reality pushing the button quickly means a harder push on the camera sometimes moving the camera as the picture is being taken resulting in a slightly out of focus photograph.

     Just a few more helpful hints:

     MOVE IN CLOSER:  When you raise your camera to take a picture it shouldn’t include getting people’s heads that are standing in front of you.  I hate to put it this way, (and perhaps some of you have seen Brian and I operate) but when I’m taking a picture no one in the room is more important than me, no one in the room is more important than the person taking the photograph.

     Typically, if I’m shooting a bride and there is a big crowd trying to do the same thing, I will generally let everyone else take their picture and then move to the front of the line and say “OK, we’re looking right here, right now, at me” in order to get my shots with the attention on my camera, and an unobstructed view of my subject.

     BE QUICK:  Again, anyone who has ever witnessed me covering an event I know what my shot is, I set it up and I snap a number of photos in a hurry and say “thank you.”  You shouldn’t say “hey, can I take your picture,” pose the subjects, or freeze them from going elsewhere in the room while you are fidgeting with your camera, “Hold on, my flash will be ready in a minute, OK, here we go, wait a minute did the flash work, Oh, what button is it, hold on, wait a minute wait a minute it’s not working, wait a minute I wanna take one more, waiting on the flash.” 

When I ask for a photo I’m ready, I know what I want, I quick snap a couple of photos and I’m done with the shot.

    

     Even with a flash, light is important, I use a fill flash both indoors and out.  Having a subject face the sun for light isn’t always a good thing, as a matter of fact it’s rarely a good thing.  I typically line my subjects up in the shade and use a fill flash for a nice soft finish for the skin tones.

     GET DOWN OR UP TO EYE LEVEL:   When photographing children, standing above them and shooting down getting great pictures of the top of their head never made sense to me.  I’m not above getting down on a knee, or two knees, or laying on my stomach if that what it takes to get a better shot, it’s not about getting a good shot, it’s about getting the best shot and shooting down on children are really lousy shots.  The worst place in the world for pictures as far as I’m concerned is shooting at a concert when I have stage passes.  Standing below a stage and being forced to shoot up the nostrils of a performer as far as I’m concerned is a wasted shot.  I’d rather go twenty isles back where I can get face to face level for my shots.

     SHOOT A LOT:  My saying, when I’m on assignment is “Shoot like Hell and sort it out later.”  What I’m saying is if you rely on that one or two shots you got, and eyes happen to be closed, or a head slightly turned you’re out of luck, at least in the old days when you couldn’t look at the pictures you just shot.  (We’re talking about the film days here)  When covering an event, or a party shoot everything, everywhere, shoot a lot, now-a-days your shots are free, it’s not like you’re burning up film, and digital is free.

     DIRECT YOUR SUBJECTS:  You’re taking a picture of them, you want them to look good, and they want to look good in the picture.  I always scope out the room for the best possible locations for photographs, you don’t want your background to busy, and you don’t want trash cans in the background or sometimes other people.  Quickly explain to your subjects hey, “I think pictures will turn out really great if we take them over there.”

     CENTERING YOUR SUBJECTS:  When taking pictures take a minute to compose your shot, not every subject needs to be centered.  Sometimes the photograph would be much more exciting if the subject was off to one side of the photo or the other.  For instance if you are taking a photo of your kids on the beach at the edge of the ocean, showing your kids in the center of the photo with half ocean and half sand, (beach) might not look as good as say your children on the far right in the photo with more ocean than sand showing, catching the waves, the sunlight off the water and the contrast you get from the moving water makes for a much more pleasing photograph.  Taking a picture of your parents at the Grand Canyon you might want to capture your subjects in a position where the majority of the picture is the Grand Canyon with the subjects off to one side or the other.

     I said earlier move in on your subjects, get close, but that doesn’t always apply.  A close up picture taken in Disneyland makes for a nice photo, but then you have to explain that you took the picture in Disney.  Why not let the picture tell the story, if you back off a little and show the beautiful Disney Castle in the background then the picture becomes self-explanatory.       

     Two final tips, you don’t always need the subjects to look at the camera and smile.  Let’s say you’re sitting in a room with the children playing.  Your child, the neighbor’s child, a few other neighborhood kids, their playing a game, all getting along, the setting is adorable.  You feel the need to capture the moment, you jump out of your chair, grab your camera, run over to the kids and say, “OK everyone, smile, no, look at the camera, Bobby look here, smile, OK, everybody, ready hold itttttt, got it” I’m not sure what you got but it certainly wasn’t the scene that drew you to the event in the first place.  Just quietly position yourself, get eye level and take the picture without interruption of the event.  Forcing everyone to stop what they’re doing to look at the camera and smile is a portrait photo, your intention was to get the kids playing so just snap the picture.

     Finally, I’ve noticed a lot of sideline Mom and Dad photographers taking pictures of their children playing sports.  Television commercials look great, your kid is about to do a bicycle kick into the net, you pull out your camera, hit zoom, BAM, you got the shot, only in reality it’s not that easy.  Shooting sports is a tricky endeavor, a lot goes into the shot of a lifetime.  When photographing from the sidelines the key to a good shot is position, your position.  Standing under the basket at a basketball game won’t always yield the best shot depending on what you’re after. Should you be under the defensive basket, or the offensive basket?  Some of my best shots over the years at basketball games came from two or three rows up in the stands, I can cover more of the court from there by shooting over the players.  Under the basket puts me close to the action but when my kid gets the ball I’ve got two or three players blocking my shot.   If your kid is playing guard on the right side, well from the stands all you get is his back, maybe it’s time to head to the visitors stands so I’m actually looking at my kid when he has the ball.  In football, when it is a third down with ten yards needed for a first down, I don’t want to be at the line of scrimmage because I know the quarterback is going to pass the ball at least ten yards downfield, or at least I’m hoping he is going to pass the ball downfield directly into my viewfinder.

     Here’s the thing, everybody takes pictures today, everybody takes good pictures and you, well you want to take great pictures.  If you can follow maybe one or two of the above tips, you’ll be on your way to being picture perfect! 

     And Hey! Print your pictures don’t leave them in your phone.  What happens when you lose your phone, you just lost two years of great pictures that you can never get back, go to a camera shop and print your pictures.

About Jack and Brian

Jack Coll

     Jack got his start in photography more than 30 years ago with the old Conshohocken Recorder newspaper.  Over the years Jack has contributed to the Norristown Times Herald, Ambler Gazette, Today’s Post, Philadelphia Inquirer Neighbors section, and the Colonial newspaper among others.

Jack photographed Presidents Bush and Clinton, First Lady Hilary Clinton, and other high ranking politicians like Al Gore, John Heinz, John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Catalina Villalpando, the one-time United States Treasurer serving under George H. Bush, Ed Rendell, Harris Wolford, and many others.  Jack has also photographed hundreds of celebrities, sports figures and musicians.  Along with Brian, Jack has also authored and photographed more than a dozen books including several on Conshohocken.

Brian “Butch” Coll

          Brian has been taking pictures for nearly 25 years and has contributed to several newspapers and many other publications over the years.  Brian has covered the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Eagles, and Philadelphia 76’ers.  Brian was also the principal photographer for a number of books on Conshohocken and has contributed to nearly a dozen books overall including the highly successful “Conshohocken: The Year In Pictures 2012.”  Brian runs the website Conshystuff.com resulting in having him carry a camera around his neck seven days a week.  Just recently Brian became a certified expert on baby photography.

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Conshohocken Then & Now

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Tales of Conshohocken & Beyond

Conshohocken: The Year In Pictures (Sold Out)

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Our Lady of Mount Carmel Italian Feast

Norristown Then & Now

 

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