The Goodman’s Blog: Lifelong Learning and Sharing

When people ask me to review their photos, I often find that they tend to take so many objects in one photograph. It was is if they head for a buffet table and pile as much food as they can on one plate.

One must learn that less is more.  Showing only one or two objects (but with one being more emphasised) makes a viewer’s eyes more focused on the object of attention.

I shot this in the early evening at Queen Sirikit Park, off Chatuchak in Bangkok. Fortunately for me, not too many people go there, so I had a lot of time moving around to find out which angle was best. I used a zoom lens. I intentionally blurred the backgrounds (black and green) by using aperture priority and a very wide aperture.

Note: when shooting close-ups of flowers and when you intend to have a large print (like 8 x 10 or larger), a tripod is critical.

In street photography, you have to think on your feet. Do you shoot people from a distance or do you dare to come nearer and ask them to pose for you? 

I was coming back from a boat cruise along Chao Phraya river.  As I got nearer to my budget hotel along Khao San Road in Bangkok, I was surprised at a large crowd gathered near my hotel. I asked around and someone said that they were shooting a tourist promotion video.

Then I saw this lady whose dress was being sewn, on the spot, to hug the contours of her body. She couldn’t speak English. I asked her boss, the owner of the dance company, whether I could take some closeup shots, once her dress was fully done.

I got her approval. Through sign language, I directed this dancer on how to pose for my camera. Whenever you shoot faces, always make sure the eyes look sharp. Everything else can be blurred. After looking at the playback on my camera, I had a hunch that I would experiment further, to draw the viewer’s attention on this lady’s lovely face. I did this by converting to black-and-white the rest of the background, to remove the distraction.

The lesson here is: don’t be afraid to ask people if you can take their photo.  Once they say yes, you have their approval to follow your direction on how to pose. Then, make sure you show the playback photo to them. They will gladly pose for you again and again. 

Then, if you want your photo to be good enough for exhibition, you must learn to apply photo-editing techniques. You can eliminate distracting elements through blurring or B&W filters.