The Five Zen Photography Tips You May Not Have Heard Before, Part II

The response to Part I of my Zen Photography Tips was gratifying; the resulting traffic pretty much hammered the Underground’s bandwidth limits (which I had to raise).

That’s good. That’s great. It means you know the path to better photography (like the path to a better cast) doesn’t necessarily run through a $1000 camera or $800 fly rod.

Bravo, Zen photogs. You’re better than halfway there.

Let’s Review

The first post was all about recognizing this one, simple fact: when you’re taking a picture, you’re composing an image on a two-dimensional surface — just like a painter.

You can’t rearrange the objects in the photo, but you can move the frame. Remember: Don’t look through the viewfinder or LCD screen — compose on it instead.

Ready for more? Good.

Zen Tip #3: Wait for it, wait… wait… there!
The camera freezes a moment in time, and because you’re running the show, which moment is entirely up to you.

Even in less-dynamic photos, you’re looking for a “decisive moment” — that split second where the elements of the photo come together.

Dave Roberts crafting a very difficult trick cast. Note the dark background.

Most fly fishers drag out their camera, snap a frame or two, and move on with their day. That’s fine, but the Zen outdoor shooter is already investing a couple extra seconds composing the photo, so why not invest a few more into finding the critical moment?

I’m not talking about the obvious timing stuff here — like catching a fish in mid-leap. I’m talking about the quiet things that really help photographs pop.

The float tube stands out when it’s highlighted against a beam of light.

Spray from a taller wave and a glance really pop this image.

I waited for his fly line to highlight itself against the darker water.

Imagine a scene with a lot of river in the foreground. Before you snap and run, look upriver and see if a brightly colored leaf isn’t floating your way — a leaf that would add a spot of color to your image should you have the patience to wait for it.

Shooting a friend on the river? Your picture will probably look better if his fly line is highlighted against the dark background instead of the bright sky.

Every dog has its day; every photo has its moment. Are you willing to wait for that moment?

It’s Zen, baby. Zen.

Tip #4: Dynamic is better: Diagonals and the Rule of Thirds
OK, I lied. Everybody includes this tip in the “top ten tips” articles, and now, I am too.

The concept is simple; diagonal compositions – with slightly off-center subject matter – usually feel more dynamic than centered, level pictures.

See the diagonals? The branch, the wing? Notice the egg sack is off-center?

Notice the disappearing, triangular perspective? It adds movement.

The off-center subject rule? It’s called the “Rule of Thirds.”

Divide a lot of better images into thirds (both horizontally and vertically), and you’ll notice the main subject matter of many of them falls one third of the way from two edges.

You can see it in the photos above; the fisherman and the egg sack are both at the intersection of lines 1/3 of the way into the photo, which offers them a more dynamic feel.

Divide the frame into thirds. This is a good place for your subject.

When you’re composing your images on a two-dimensional plane, you can use strong diagonals and the Rule of Thirds to create powerful images.

Trust me. Master these simple ideas, and you’ll become a zen photography master.

Tip #5: You’ve taken the picture; is your job done?
You arrive home from a trip with a camera full of digital photographs. Do you grab one and send it to all your friends? Maybe, but most photographs benefit from a little touch-up.

For example, every photo doesn’t have to fall within the familiar 2:3 ratio common to cameras. Will your better photos benefit from an extreme horizontal or vertical crop? Would adding a little contrast help?

I added contrast to this “gray day” photo, helping it escape the “blahs.”

Post processing perks up your photos, and even better, you don’t need to buy a copy of Adobe’s bloated, expensive Photoshop software to do it.

I formerly used free image software (Photofiltre), and while it doesn’t offer the scorched-earth power of Photoshop, it does the simple things extremely well, and doesn’t require tons of memory to do it.

Other software is available, and it’s likely some even came with your digital camera.

The power’s available to you, so why not crop, resize, brighten and increase the contrast of a photo?

This unusual framing happened in the PC, not the camera.

For example, photos taken on gray, overcast days will often require more contrast to “pop” for the human eye.

Photos taken after the sun’s gone behind a cloud need a little “yellow” color correction to avoid looking overly blue.

I added lots of contrast and a little yellow to pop the leaves.

These are more advanced ideas, but don’t ignore simple adjustments like brightness and contrast in your quest for Zen outdoor photos.

You can even fire up some special effects to create the photographic equivalent of five-alarm chili:

Wild, but fun. And fun is Zen too.

Special Bonus Zen Tip (Absolutely Free!)
Here’s a little secret: digital photographs cost you next to nothing.

You learn to take better pictures by taking a lot of pictures, and the beauty of digital photography is that bad pictures only cost you the amount of time it takes to throw them away.

I shot a lot of underwater pics; most were no good (I was shooting blindly).

If you regularly come back from your fishing trips with three images on your camera (all hero shots), then you’re not going to improve your photo skills any more than you’ll improve your fly casting doing it once a year.

When I was in school, I learned a lot in a hurry because I shot a lot of film every week.

After all, most of our photographs are failures, but it’s true we learn more from failure than success.

I only shot two of the lily flowers, and wish I’d shot more.

There are trips when I come back with only three pictures, but I’m more likely to download a couple dozen, a lot of which were taken when the fishing was slow.

Of course, I’m a fly fisher who takes pictures; you can speed your photographic Zen-ness along by looking at the photos of real shooters like Michael Wickes, Dan Mitchell, Gale Rainwater, Richard Bernabe, Val Atkinson.

f/8 And Be There

Fly fishing involves long stretches of largely blank canvas. Those dead spaces offer you a chance to step back and take a few pictures while the other guy fishes (though I don’t know anybody who keeps taking pictures when their buddy starts hammering trout).

The good news is this: photography’s most immutable rule revolves around the saying “f/8 and be there” — the idea being you’ll never take a great photo unless you’re out among the proper picture-taking raw material.

That means — as a fly fisher — you’ve probably already done what is for most photographers “the hard part.”

You’re there.

And it’s true; every once in a while you step into a scene so beautiful, the photos practically take themselves, and it’s just like hitting a hatch you didn’t know existed.

The Zen fly fisher/photographer knows it’s payback for all the bad pictures/dead light/no fish hours you’ve invested, and you enjoy it while you can, and don’t regret it when it’s gone.

See you behind a camera, Tom Chandler.

(You can read Part I of my Zen Photography Hints here.)

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