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The Best Photo Tip
I Ever Got
The Atom Philosophy
By Bob Couey
Killer Whale and Trainer
Shooting from above turns this photo into a graphic interpretation.
Here we're dealing with color, light and shadow.
We don't see the trainer's expression but her obvious
surprise is left to our imagination.
It's simple, calm, almost passive.
Try and view your subject from every angle, like an electron moving around an atom, before taking a photo.
Photo © 1999-2007 Sea World, Inc. Used with permission.
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A world class photographer and college professor once said to me:
"Bad (or lackluster) photos are caused from laziness. Unfortunately,
too many photographers, amateurs to professionals, will approach a photo
assignment with a pre-conceived notion of attack - mostly from 'history
of style' and wanting to play it safe. Rarely, will the photographer
step back, put down the camera and size up the assignment before
proceeding. Instead, many of us will execute the photo from the angle
we initially approached the subject, never thinking to study the subject
and its environment first.
"Look at it like this," he continued. "The subject you wish to photograph
is the nucleus of an atom. You, the photographer, are the electron
spinning around the subject until you find just the right angle and
distance. Not until then will you have successfully evaluated every
aspect of that subject and its possibilities." He added, "Just the
slightest move to the right or left, up or down has the potential to
make or break the photo. Don't be in such a hurry to finish and leave."
That observation affected how I look at photography more than any other
instructor, class, course, seminar or guest speaker, before or since. In
fact, long ago, I based my "photographic vision" on this wonderful tip.
But what's more important; that professor suffered from the crippling
effects of adult polio. And even with that affliction (and in his 60s),
he still employed the "atom" philosophy with all the vigor of an
athlete.
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Bob Couey is the Photo Services Manager at SeaWorld San Diego. He graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and has received many awards for his corporate photography. Bob's work has been published in PhotoSecrets San Diego, A Day In The Life of California, One Digital Day, Popular Photography, People Weekly, and US Magazine. Send Bob an email.
This article is © copyright Bob Couey 1999-2007 for PhotoSecrets / Photo Tour Books, Inc. All rights reserved.
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