Angular

Maybe I will start writing posts sharing what I've learned about photography. If not, at least you will get this one post about it!

Since I started learning about photography (not just shooting randomly like a wild monkey sprinkler), I have learned to keep photographing my subject using different angles until I find the best shot. What normally happens is I take a picture (or maybe two), look at it, and think it's awesome. In the past, at that point I would be done. Got my shot, score! But now, I have learned that taking a photo I think is great is just the beginning. When I see a shot I judge as being good, that means it's time to keep shooting until I find the best angle. When I use this technique of pushing myself to find a better angle, better light, or even just focus more sharply, I almost always end up with a better picture than the original "awesome" one.

Here are a few examples:

Light & Positoning

This is the first picture I took the night I went downtown to photograph Inner Harbor. I thought it was awesome! I guess I was just amazed at my tripod that makes taking pictures of cities at night possible.

But, if I had stopped at the first photo, I wouldn't have ended up with this picture. After taking a few shots, I realized that I wasn't getting enough light. I also decided I didn't want the mess of the sidewalk in the shot.

Angle

As soon as I saw these lights (at Christmas Town), I fell in love. There was just a little strand on a wreath decorating a hot chocolate stand that wasn't in use. I quickly grabbed this shot, which certainly captured one light, but didn't have the effect I was going for at all.

After repositioning, I came up with this. Still not spectacular.

I felt pressured to limit the use of my camera because I didn't want Whit to get bored, but I begged him to let him take one more shot of the multi-colored lights when I saw a few trees lined up next to each other. If I hadn't taken the time to grab this extra shot, I wouldn't have this shot, which is one of my all-time favorites!

Focus & Light

This was the first shot I got. So cute, right? A little bunny all wrapped up! Well, the main problem here is that the light is much too harsh, especially for a sweet little baby bunny.

What's wrong with this one? Too dark! The darkness wouldn't be as big of a deal, but I wanted warmer tones to make the bunny feel softer.

So I waited for the sun to come back! I actually love this picture, but I don't think it's as sharp as it could be, and I love the angle I captured next.

Everything here went right except for the focus. As great as a picture might look on the back of your camera, I PROMISE you will not love it if it's blurry!! You'll regret it if you didn't spend the extra 10 seconds (or 5 minutes) trying to get the perfect angle AND the perfect focus.

Ahh, bliss! Sweet little bunny with no blur to distract you from seeing the precious light on his head. (If you can't tell the difference, click on the pictures to make them larger.)

And one more! 

Focus & Angle

This picture looked great at first, but it just didn't do anything for me. Also, although it looks pretty clear, it's not perfectly sharp.

This angle is so much better! It's perfectly focused, but I am so glad I swung around for one more different angle...

...because I LOOOVE this picture!! I love the other one, too, but it's better to have two things you love than just one, right??

Whoops, this post ended up being about more than just angles. Anyways, lessons learned:

-If I think I took a great photo, take more!! Find a different angle and make sure to get that focus sharp.

-Wait until the lighting is just right. If you're shooting outside, wait for the sun to come out from under the clouds, or vice versa.

-If you take a great photo that's not tack sharp (100% focused), it won't ever be your favorite. You'll try to convince yourself it's your favorite but it really won't be. Go back and take as long as you need to get it in perfect focus - EVEN if it takes forever because you lose the original angle you had. I always tell Whit - there's no point in spending 5 minutes (or however long) to take a picture if you're just going to throw it out later because the angle is weak or it's a little bit blurry.

-Focusing manually is HARD! Hard as diamonds. Or hard with diamonds. Getting my engagement ring in perfect focus was a difficult challenge because of all the light it was reflecting! However, I continued to try different angles (so the light reflected differently), shadier spots (less reflection), and different apertures (it's easier to focus at higher apertures). If you need to, raise the ISO so you can use a faster shutter speed! (Although, try raising the aperture first if you can. The pictures of my ring were all taken at f/3.2 EVEN THOUGH I was using my amazing f/1.8 lens! I made the sacrifice for better focus and I still love the bokeh I achieved using 3.2.)
-Whatever happens, don't give up! If you had the perfect photo in mind, but you were shooting a moving object and you lost it and didn't get the shot, it's okay. Maybe next time you'll surprise yourself with something you never thought would be your favorite photo. The scene/subject itself isn't what makes a photo great, it's your skill in taking it. Keep practicing and when you see improvement you'll notice that some of your favorite shots aren't the ones you thought they would be.