Moving the Camera to Get a Different Perspective
If I had to identify a single, most important take away of the workshop with Vineet Vohra, it is the power of moving the camera to get a different perspective. If you are interested in getting clean figure to ground relationships, which I am, unless you are incredibly lucky, you are going to have to move around so that your subjects are separate from each other and from elements in the background.
A fortuitous pair of photos from my virtual and real life friend, Monica Lord, came to my attention this week. They demonstrate that even a small change in camera position, made in a split second, can make a difference. The first photo that I saw was the one below, although the crop was a little different. I was studying on it, as I typically do for photos posted in the Close to Home Photo Salon. In my judgement, Monica does particularly good work in catching the tiny transactions that occur between humans. This photo is a good example of her skill.
Photo by Monica Lord. Used with permission. You can see Monica’s Instagram gallery at @almostgreennyc.
When I am evaluating a photo like this one, I typically look for a good figure to ground relationship. The figure to ground relationship here is good enough, but there is still that tree “growing out of the fellow’s head.” I got ready to observe that moving the camera just to the left would have created that separation. Monica knows I am hyper focused on figure to ground, so she is patient with me talking about this, over and over. Before I commented, I realized she had posted a second photo, in response to another viewer’s question about her choice of crop. I am so glad I looked at it.
Photo by Monica Lord. Used with permission. You can see Monica’s Instagram gallery at @almostgreennyc.
These two photos are virtually identical in terms of the expressions and body positions of the two subjects, but they are not the same photo. The photo above has the separation between the guy’s head and the tree. I assume she took these two photos in rapid succession. That is a good practice, a habit I am trying to form, by the way. It can save you from a variety of problems, not the least of which, is finding that your subject’s eyes are closed because of a blink.
As it turns out, the photo with separation was taken first. I do not know if Monica intended to move the camera when she took the second one, but I think that is a good additional practice. If there is some deliberate variation between the first and second photo, you will have a real choice to make about which composition serves you best. What was extraordinary to me about these photos was the proof that even a small move of a camera can make a difference and, further, you will likely have the time to make that move.
I mentioned last week I used a railed fence around a subway station to practice getting people in the right place in the frame. This week I had some spare time in a Houston airport baggage claim to move around and study how it changed the scene. This is all part of my new effort to practice a little photography day by day.
There is poor separation here with both poles. The man on the left will move away from the pole as he walks.
I moved slightly to the right. I got separation from the pole but a man photo bombed the picture!
Changing figure to ground separation is not the only good outcome of changing perspective. Distance between subjects can prevent a viewer from making a connection. It definitely happens to me from time to time. I took the photo below because of the conceptual contrast between the apparent social station of these two men. If each was standing to the side of the middle door, it might have worked. As it is there is no way to bridge the physical gap between them.
While I do not think there was a way to save this particular photo, sometimes there might be with a change in camera position because a different perspective can minimize the distance. I do not have any street photos that I can show you what I mean, but I do have one of my daily, ever so ordinary, exercises that illustrates the principle.
Here the tree and fire hydrant are far apart.
Here they are close.
I suppose I understand perspective having had 75 years to experience it. But I need to be more intentional on the shooting angle when I take a photo. It will be interesting to me to see if I can increase intentionality, either to separate subjects or to change the visual distance between them, if I practice day by day with my phone.