Datasheet

119

Chapter 12: Taking Great Pictures

Microsoft Digital Image Standard User’s Manual

If you have a person or animal in your picture, you can place the subject’s face

on one of the four points, looking toward the center of the scene. If the horizon

is in a picture, it should run about one-third from the top or one-third from the

bottom, depending on whether the terrain or the sky is the center of focus.

The rule of thirds is not an absolute law, and there have been many great pic

tures taken that don’t abide by it. But the rule can be a great way to add balance

and interest to your pictures.

6. Find a Unique Perspective

You can challenge yourself to take original pictures that convey unique per-

spectives. Rather than just pressing your shutter button as soon as you have the

urge to capture a scene, take some time to assess your camera angle, proximity

to your subject, and background elements. You might transform your composi

tion by taking one or more of the following simple steps:

• Get closer to your subject to show more detail and eliminate distractions

in the background.

• Include just a portion of your subject in the frame.

• Take your original subject and place it in the background. Find a new

subject that adds context to the object in the background.

• Get lower to the ground, and point the camera up toward your subject.

• Move to a higher location, above your subject, so you are pointing down

when you take the photo.

For example, if you are traveling, your natural instinct might be to take straight-

forward pictures of local monuments. But with this approach, you might wind

up with the same lackluster pictures taken by scores of other tourists before

you. And there would be a good chance that a nearby souvenir shop would sell

superior, professionally photographed prints and slides of the same monuments.

For that matter, you could have just stayed home and ordered the professional

photos from a catalog.

Use your imagination to compose some original, creative photos that you won’t

ﬁnd anywhere else. Capture some of the local color by photographing a lively

food vendor stationed near the monument, and the monument can be the back

drop in your frame. Or use the self-timer to capture you and your companion

sampling the local fare that you’ve bought from the food vendor in front of the

monument.