This month’s photography post is all about angle. When you hold your camera at different angles, you get totally different pictures, even if it’s a picture of the exact same thing. There are many, many, many angles to choose from, just like there are many, many, many lighting options.
Today I am going to explain the most-used five: Close-up, Landscape, and the three angles used within close-up and sometimes landscape–Above, Below, and Slant. Remember, the way you hold the camera really makes a difference in the picture you’re taking!
Close-up:
I specialize in this angle over the rest of them, and usually take all my pictures at this level. In this picture I got down and held my camera right up next to this leaf, which, as you can see, has an interesting formation of ice hanging off it.
For close-up pictures you usually need a pretty still object (or animal, if you can get it to stay still for a time), otherwise it makes the photo blurry. You also need a steady hand for the same reason. When taking close-up pictures of plants, I recommend going out on a still day, with no wind to stir the leaves, flowers, or other plants, so that you can get a good photo.
This angle is pretty simple and I use it a lot. The only thing you have to watch out for with this angle is any movement. If you have a nice, still subject, then most pictures will turn out well. (Make sure you use the right lighting though, or you might get a too-dark, or too-light photo.)
Landscape:
Ahhhh, landscape. Relaxing, isn’t it? These are fun to take, and you get to go farther than your backyard too (if you like). I took this one on Sharptop Mountain here in VA. I like the way the hill slants, making the picture look as if I were holding the camera at an angle, even though this picture is perfectly straight (*coughs* not perfect, perfect…but pretty close).
With this angle you don’t have to worry about movement quite as much, because the thing you’re taking a photo of isn’t as close to the lens anymore. But with this angle you do have to worry about lighting. A lot. Landscape photos depend greatly on the lighting. You need to adjust your camera’s exposure level to the right setting so that it focuses on the landscape, and not the brightness, or darkness. (You didn’t know a camera did that sometimes, did you?) Yes, sometimes the camera I have focuses on the light instead of the subject; I don’t know why.
Other angles-Above, Below, and Slant:
For these angles (Above, Below, and Slant) I don’t have much to say, except that you need to implement the rules I gave you for landscape and close-up, depending on which one you use. Above, Below, and Slant are used in both Landscape,
and in Close-up,
It’s a matter of just holding the camera differently.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our photography series so far. You can check out the first post here and the second one here.
We will be talking about the last step (editing) next month. See you then!
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