Photography, by its nature, is not only about looking at the photographer but not to express our internal ideas. When I travel through the natural world, my conversation with the places I viewed and wild animals has shaken a lot of feelings in my heart. As a photographer, then, the challenge is not just to catch an image; This is to accept these emotions and capture them visually.
This process is not always easy. How is it possible to translate your feelings in a tangible medium, a picture? It was never comfortable for me at first, and so it became a matter of spending more time in nature to do photography. A structure came with time and practice, and later, a series of logical steps that can be taken to take more meaningful photos as a photographer during someone’s visit. I will share those feet with you today.
1. See with heart
This is the first and most important step towards taking meaningful pictures. See with the heart.
My photography is based on a fundamental and unequal basis: I only shoot what I love, which I consider internally beautiful, and above the top, which reacts to me an authentic emotional response. It is not about looking for “the right picture”, nor is it just a technical function, but a deep recognition, almost a calling.
Whether it is the tenderness of a bird, the intensity of a deer imposing antellers, the intensity of a large cat’s gaze, the flexibility of a creature rich in harsh conditions – or even the environment, the landscape without animals – every subject – every subject should be resonant with your internal raga.
It is a filter, type – a selective approach that leads you to some subjects in the first place. As photographers, if we do not love our subjects, how can we expect so much time to observe and then take them photos? Listen to what your heart says about the things in front of your lens. For me, photography is like the act of paying tribute. Instead of documentation, I want to celebrate the beauty of the subjects that I like and who inspire me.
Once a theme and a position catch my attention and my heart, the process turns into an intensive analysis. I inspect the animal, view and its environment. I pay special attention to how the scene makes me feel. Often, if I have time, I close my eyes To get a moment of darkness to focus more on my feelings and feelings. The goal is what I have seen physically and I have felt emotionally in my heart.
With my eyes closed, the questions I ask myself is simple but powerful: “What did I really see?”
When I open my eyes again, I see with much more clarity – not only the subject, but also the graphic component of the visual, such as lines, shapes, colors and textures. And with that, distracted. Can I eliminate these magnificent details from the composition? It becomes clear what the essence of the photo should be, what is really meaningful.
2. Decide what you want to communicate
The next step of this spontaneous process has to ask yourself questions about your intention with the photo. This is how you turn emotions into images.
Do I want to express the stress of a hunter lying in waiting, the mother’s love of a mother for my youth, the rigor of a challenging environment, or simply the inherent beauty of the subject? Or perhaps the magnificence and dynamics of a moment of action: a moment of flight, a wild run, or a moment of prediction?
The composition is a tool to prepare your visual story, the story that strengthens the image. All consistent elements should be focused, and all incompatible people should be excluded. As much as possible, the entire image should aligned to tell your story: the subject, its currency, interaction with secondary subjects and backgrounds, environment, shot time, and of course, light.
3. Start with a visual sketch
But this isn’t so easy. In practice, I rarely get that complete alignment between thoughts and results. So, the practical phase begins. It is a recurrence process of intuition and mistakes, discovering different angles, frimings and approaches, or simply waiting for the right moment when the subject looks in the desired direction.
Mostly as every art, it is known as a rough draft or sketch. I believe that photographers will get more success by embracing this concept. For almost all my photos, there are first efforts – sometimes it is not even captured, but is only examined through the visual -sighted – which I call “visual sketches”.
These are visual drawing testing and experiments. He has only a kernel of the meaningful image that I am trying to catch. However, this is enough. Through my sketch, I am slowly presenting the elements that are strong, trying to include in the final image. Sometimes they are purely casual: a stunning detail, a burst of movement, a catchlight in the eye.
And, with equal honesty, I know that these visual sketches are filled with weaknesses: an unbalanced composition, a missing expression, or a distracted element. By recognizing these distractions in the sketch, I learn what to avoid in later works.
I do not want to high, but it is similar to how a painter makes the initial sketches before applying color to the canvas or how a sculptor shapes the soil before carving the marble. If it is natural for those artists to undergo a series of drafts and studies, why should it not happen for photographers?
4. Optimize recurrence
This is the final stage where you take photos. It started with the subject you saw with your heart, the concept you had chosen to communicate, and soon became physical in the sketch that informed you how the image should be visible.
Now, take whatever you learn from the sketch and start capturing the pictures that bring all the desired elements together. Photos still cannot be correct, especially before. So, this is a process of learning and refinement.
Take a photo, consider it, and improve it. Was the subject not ideally deployed? Was the background very existing and was “disorganized”? Is the depth of the region correct? Is the light correct? Would it be better than a lower approach? Do I need a different weather?
Take another photo that improves one or more of these things, and then repeat the process. Consider it again. Think about what can be improved. Try your best to improve it, then rethink again, and so on.
This is not a personal test that matters, but that they are improved. Every effort, mistake, or imperfection brings you closer to the desired vision.
This process is the easiest if the subject is not very shy, even if it is “normal”. This allows you to move around when using, and gradually refines the image towards your ideal. Rare and fleeting subjects cannot give you too much time, making it difficult to have visual drawing or recurring adaptation.
However, it only makes these stages more valuable when your subject allows them. By using this repeated approach more often, you will become faster on it, and it will be more comfortable. Then, when you come to rare and more challenging themes, you will be enough to capture the desired image more often.
conclusion
The most successful way of following these steps is that I have found to make meaningful pictures. And yet, there is a difficult result to get a meaningful picture, at least for me. This is a reality that I have learned to hug.
When the results are difficult to come, it is important to identify that you are following a path where not all elements are always under control. There will be another opportunity, even another day, or a new way to get closer to the problem. And even if there is no successful photo results, you have still expanded your eye, your heart. The next time you practice photography, you will take this experience with you.
Photography is an intimate journey, the intersection to see the outside world and search for your internal landscape. The goal is never the overall number of shots taken during each outing, but the route towards images of quality and impact.
It does not matter that, at the end of the day, only a few pictures are to be taken – or, in unfortunate days, no one. It does not matter that many efforts are required. What does it matter that you spent time to see, take photos and try to catch the essence of the subject. This is how you really capture meaningful pictures.
I hope this article is on my way of understanding, painting and eventually loving the subject, which I can be helpful and inspiring for your next outing dedicated to your favorite subject. If you find it interesting or have any questions for me, feel free to leave a comment.
