I once attended a talk bu someone who shot for National Geographic for years and took many of the magazine's covers. She said (I paraphrase) "Before you press the shutter ask yourself 'why am I taking this photo in this place at this time?'. If you can't answer that question, don't press the shutter" That's deceptively simple. Doing this will make you more mindful when you're shooting and very likely will produce better images.
She was likely shooting Velvia or Provia film and only had so many shots in the tank. With digital just take the photo, what's the harm? I've gone back over all kinds of shots that when taken did not make me excited but after review a few weeks later, were actually quite good. Digital film is cheap.
@@TheRflynn I come from many years of shooting professional sports. Don't know anything about wildlife. I think her advice probably applies more to slower-paced genres, and doesn't consider if you have to get 20 usable shots to the editor at halftime. :) I know I think about what she said when I shoot travel and landscape stuff now
I love these ideas… I am going to go out and shoot with this mentality in mind this weekend! Let’s see if it yields any improvements in my photos for me 😊
And this is why medium tele lens like 85, 90 or 105mm is useful. In the context of street photography, I think some good examples are Saul Leiter and Ralph Gibson. No, it's not about bokeh or compression, but tight, less cluttered framing. This is a bit challenging on wide angle lenses because you tend to put more stuffs in the frame. But sometimes, more objects in the photo can work great, e.g Alex Webb, which is known for his "layered framing".
One thing my dad said to me... fill the frame with your subject. I try to follow this mostly and I like your comment about if it works it works. After all, it's my photo . I just want to enjoy the process. Excuse me... gotta go out ... let me grab the camera.
This is the first lesson I learned from my first photography class: a photographer operates in reverse of a painter. A painter starts with an empty canvas and gradually adds elements to the frame. A photographer starts with a scene and gradually removes elements that shouldn't be in the frame.
Something kind of interesting, fwiw, painters actually do start with everything and remove down to simplicity. They just do it at the thumbnail stage 😉
@@xiii_junior yes, i know. I speak english. "studio work" doesn't mean people either. it can mean taking pictures of products, flowers, etc. - any pictures that are taken in a studio.
"Cropping is cheating" is one of the dumbest things I've heard in a long time, and it's been gathering momentum a lot over the last 3 or 4 months for whatever reason.
Unfortunately, you didn't give a single concrete example. You didn't bother to show a photo you took, talk about what you think you could have removed to make it better and then show one where you did take a photo that applies the principle. You were so elated with your wisdom that you satisfied yourself by just to espousing your mantras. Please come back to earth and relate to us normal humans.
I started out with many lenses with auto everything cameras. Now I am 67. I now own only one manual camera, the Leica M240 and a manual 35mm lens. As with photography subtraction is essential, so too with the equipment. I now see the world through a 35mm lens in black and white. The colours don't distract as I capture the essential. Manual focussing allows me to be take my time to subtract. The rangefinder requires both the eyes to be open so as to subtract what is not needed in the framelines. I zoom with my feet, subtracting what is not needed. Subtraction is an art where the only thing you need to add is time.
67 isn’t a sentence. Open up to something new just to freshen up shooting experience. Try 85mm, I swear by it for street photography. Try those sexy 50/55mm Takumar lenses, they produce fantastic bokeh balls and vintage rendering. For cheap. Try ultra wide-angle. Or 105mm. Each lens renders differently which can be rewarding for your mind and variety of shots. 35mm is standard, but the only focal length to enjoy.
So wise - his remark about using single lenses versus zooms. Using your legs instead of zoom changes the perspective of the picture rather than just cropping a picture with a zoom.
you sound painfully pompous for someone who just snaps pics. you even had to drop the brand name of your camera in your little statement for that extra bit of superiority.
"Cropping is cheating"? Every time you point the camera in a particular direction, you are cropping everything else out of the photo. Whether this occurs in camera or in post makes no difference. I consider cropping the image my most important tool in creating a successful picture. Also, determine whatever has drawn you to a scene and maximize that element.
Yeah I never really got that. Even in the days of film we still cropped our photos with the Enlarger or marked the crops on our proof sheets and had the lab do it.
In photography school I had to print the film perforations too, or the photo wpuldn"t be graded. It taught me to compose from the edges inwards. That's why rangefinders because those better enable that way of composing
Simple, but profound. The misunderstood no cropping advice comes from the introduction of grainy 35mm film, and color slides. 35mm film degraded very quickly when cropped and of course with slides which were all a standard size, processed and mounted by someone else, it was all but impossible to crop after the shot. The advice then was not "zoom with your feet", but "crop in the viewfinder." That has all changed with digital where you have control of the whole process, but people keep repeating the same old advice they heard somewhere in a world that no longer exists.
Right and a pro would case out a shoot, check to see what time the sun is best, set up a tri pod, take lots of shots and crop in the lens. I on the other hand walk or ride by something I won’t to shoot and I pull the trigger. During editing I crop out what I don’t want. Saving pixels for large prints makes sense but cameras have plenty of pixels to allow cropping.
100% of the absolute best shots you missed are those you did not take. These few minutes of video contain more wisdom about what "photography" is all about than what you will find in any book. Bravo Andre, and thank you!
French aviator and author of Le Petit Prince, Antoine de St Exupéry, once wrote: « Perfection is not reached when nothing else can be added to the work, but when there is nothing left to substract from it. »
On many occasions I go back to my photos {mostly Street} a few days after I took them, and realise the elements that lead me to take the image in the first place are there, but often lost amongst unnecessary surroundings. It is then that I start my cropping, and am frequently delighted to find that what I thought to be a bit “ordinary”, is now quite a decent image. I strongly recommend waiting a day or so before making these decisions because you then see your image in a new, and fresh perspective.
I will agree that this is actually a bit of a magic bullet to making better photos. I came to this concept through the Robert Capa quote "If it's not good enough, you're not close enough". And while most people will agree he was talking about an emotional connection with his subject matter, he also got very close physically, and I took that quote literally. I started taking an extra step, or two, or ten closer, leaving out a lot of peripheral junk, and it made a massive difference immediately to my composition.
Never got the "no crop" rule... what to do? Let a good photo not been seen because you won't cut out the distracting things? That would be stupid as ... i cut, i stamp, i do "border patrol" and i remove everything that is not "david" of my photos... so should you.
Given that you can crop/zoom in-out with a lens or with your feet, how can cropping in post be bad? Sometimes you only have a second or two to get the shot so better to be a bit wide and crop later than to try and "crop" in the field and miss it.
This is the first time a title that looked like clickbait, it wasn't. And for that you got yourself a new subscriber. Thanks for sinking in more deeply a though that I have been toying with in my head for the past few months, but you just gave it a name: "What can I remove". I'll print some stickers and put them on my lens caps so I get reminded every time I grab my camera. Thank you!
Spot on, best advice any photographer can get or pass on. Before Photoshop in the days of 35mm film, I did my cropping when printing pictures. It was surprising how often you could get an interesting image from what seemed to be nothing special. The essence of this advice relates to colour v B&W photography. ‘Taking away’ the colour somehow ‘simplifies’ an image and allows us to concentrate on shapes and contents. But I have always preferred B&W images and still do.
As far as cropping is concerned, I always try to leave a little space around my composition, as most of the time my photos are not perfectly horizontal and I need to rotate them slightly in post-production. We have the luxury of many superfluous pixels, so we can use them to our advantage.
You're absolutely right about cropping. especially with the high megapixel cameras these days, it gives you a lot of real estate to work with, why wouldn't you want to get it just perfect so it looks as best as it can. I can see why people scoff at composites but cropping and straightening shouldn't be an issue with anybody.
Now I got another principal key that I must put it in my head. That negative thing made it easy to grasp while many Pros like to talk in a bit too formal and too complicate way. I'm more like hobbyist currently but trying to up skill my photography. Thanks for the video.👍
"They spend too much time thinking and fantasizing about photography instead of going outside and actually taking photos." Lol, wow you just called me out 🤣 this is a good video though. Thank you!
Not a single example to illustrate the central point of this video "framework is a subtractive process". Really? You couldn't showcase your point with any examples?
A photographer walks 2 paths at the same time: you learn to be a technician and you try to be an artist. A photographer can take a beautiful photo of a cell or of 🪐 without being an artist. An artist can make art with a photo taken basically randomly. New by the game often forget that a technically perfect photo can be meaningless and a beautiful subject can be ruined by poor skill.
Another dogmatic direction to photography. All or nothing. This is right and that is wrong. Sorry, while I get the point you’re making and would agree for some photos, I’d argue that it’s just never going to be a one-size fits all statement. It’s definitely not a statement I make because I hold dear to cramming unnecessary subject matter into my photos either.
This was extraordinarily helpful. I've been very frustrated with where I live, as it's not a very interesting place. I find photography difficult here. Just a smaller city in the upper Midwest. This mindset can help my perspective on my surroundings. This video pretty much forced me to subscribe. Thanks again for this.
1.Learn (learn from the best) 2.imitate (imitate great photographers style) 3. recreate (recreate AMAZING photos, not exactly the same photo but similar)
I’m don’t totally agree, less I more, but it’s depends what you want to achieve has photographer. I like for example to take pictures of urban structures, not building, but structures, and it’s most of the times complex lines and can be full of people or not but still complex and full frame. But I agree that photography should be simple in the sense of not focus on equipment and all that things, but focus more on art and emotion you want to share or record forever in your pictures. Sorry I’m complex even in my comments 😅
Some before-and-after examples using the images you displayed while talking would have been helpful -- e.g., in the scene with the cyclists, removing the garbage can and coming in tighter on the group, or cropping out the mother and baby carriage leaving just the kid on the rail with the sunset behind.
HI - thank you for an interesting perspective. What this movie lack are examples - so let's say you framing a shot and narrating what you focus on, what u can subtract and leave behind and what you include in your photo and why. It would be much more interesting to see the process. Cheers mate!
Use a prime and zoom with your feet, I agree but also crop with your feet too. The more you can do in the camera the better the end result. Why lose megapixels when you don’t need to. Use your viewfinder to remove things.
The entire reason to have high megapixels is to be able to crop, Whoever says you cant crop is a moron LOL. Some people have an authority complex, do whatever you want.
I've stood a dozen times in the exact spot at 0:40, I can even see my apartment building from there, and also the same spot at 1:50 going down the stairs...lol.
Sorry, don’t agree. It’s ok to try to be a purist. Adding constraints when shooting helps develop good craft. We are not sculptures, we collect details and instants, that’s it. Agree that watching photo RU-vidrs, although entertaining, won’t do much, hands on practice is much better.
Less than 7 minutes of talking.... Just one comparison of photos would have conveyed what you have been talking about. But since this comparison is not there, the message is not effectively conveyed. SORRY
not entirely true, you can learn to use anything shown in the frame as an advantage - not disadvantage. I do a lot of documentary photography and it took me a few years to consciously use this method (less crop = better etc) - although this might be specific for doucmentary of course
I'll add something: Learn Graphic Design. As a graphic designer and Art Director, I realize that most photographers (that I see on instagram) have a lesser developed "global" eye than graphic designers. With graphic design you learn to master all mediums and all aspects of visual arts, and mature a global eye that photographers often lack. It's easier and quicker to become good in photography with no tuition coming from visual arts and graphic design in general, than starting as a photographer and sticking to photography only even with tuition. You limit yourself IMMENSLY from maturing your eye in diverse contexts and using different mediums. For example, knowing how to frame a photo comes from graphic design -knowing how much space you need between the borders and the photo according to a photo specifically, or if you even need a border, or if it's better to display your photo in large or in small: you need a graphic designer eye, not a photographer eye. Photographers who are bad at framing their photos is the number one most common issue I see photographers struggling with on instagram, then comes photo cropping and composition
I clicked on this in a moment of boredom, thinking I was going to see another advanced amateur pretending to vast expertise and blowing smoke up the fundamental posterior orifice of the inexperienced, in order scam a few cents out of RU-vid. Imagine my surprise when Andre's piece was prefaced with his amateur status, then went on to offer good, valid and uncommon advice. Outstanding.
This is why I became instantly fond of the 45mm (on m4:3) after starting on a 17mm. Because on the 45mm you leave out a lot, it's easier to pick a subject apart. 17mm is a lot more thinking, less opportunities to capture a great shot with it, you need the right scene, finding the right distance between you and your subject is harder. That said, my all time fav shot of mine was taken on the 17mm (and cropped out a lil' of course, I'm a graphic designer originally). Precisely 4 days after starting photography from scratch ("let that sink in", I tell myself all the time
Hi Andre. Thanks for a wise and concise video. The reference to Michelangelo was an interesting one, especially in relation to sculpture. By definition sculptors work in the ‘negative way’ as they are chipping (or taking away) from the raw form. It also seems to me, regarding cropping, that this practice is also one of negative work. Like in movies, the art of deletion or editing is often where the art is revealed. Great cropping itself requires an artistic eye. For me, I sometimes take an “archival” version of a photo to include a lot of information - like a diary entry or travelogue. Most often no one sees this, but rather a cropped version that contains the “kernel” of what is needed to entice a sense, or tell a story. I think you are correct to tell people to ‘just get out there every day’ with their cameras. There is no substitute for this act, but don’t undersell what you give us through your site; it is more helpful than you may know. All the best to you, Bob
It did. You put some thought into this, removed los pensamientos del toro and what is left shows that you are right about cropping, that there's nothing immoral about it. Since photographers do so, starting with the shot in their mind's eye, why not get out the scissors? It is hard for me to get too close to strangers so a prime lens of 50mm and a 135mm-my go-to glass for 35mm. Not a d-digital guy.
Take as many photos as you can. Just walking around.... pick a spot and take a few photos.... when you think thats enough of that particulr spot.... take just a few more. You learn by editing your images and the more mistakes you make the more you learn, the quicker you learn. I taught myself photography by looking at National Geographic. Very often their books are on sale in large bookstores.... go and buy a couple. Even if the genre of your photography is totally different.... my genre is sports.... you will learn what a good photo is and why and you will learn about composition....
Starting (again after years) with the X100V helped me understand this deeply. Find the general scene that grabs your eye. Zoom with the feet to frame it. Finish composing the shot and push the button. Then, working with zooms (e.g. 28-70mm), I learned to punch in and frame, taking out stuff at 28mm and going to 50mm or even 70mm. One shot I took of a car's gorgeous back end provides proof of concept. You follow the line and that's really all the eye needs for that car shot, not more. Nice video. Simple but instructive.
I have another take on the concept of "Negative". When I teach my assistants, I'll tell them to not get greedy. All too often I see beginners trying to jam as much "stuff" as they can into a photo, thinking they don't want to miss anything. Instead, I encourage them to, as you said, cut out the noise and clutter. Decide on what's important and leave out everything that is not. Side note, on one of the shots with the X100VI, at 4:33, there was a light tan color strap. Which brand and model is that? Anyhoo... great video concept. Look forward to seeing more.
One thing I like to do is similar to “what you leave out” (may even be just a different form of it) I like to call, “and also.” In this, a shallow depth of field is needed, but you’re not “leaving things out” so much as using it as your backdrop to what you’re focusing on. Example would be taking a picture of a sidewalk cafe. Blur out the bustling cafe as your backdrop and put a single table where someone had just left as the subject. The idea is to have the majority of the image be the blurred out bustling cafe with just that table in focus. May not be the prettiest subject ever but the contrast between abandoned table and bustling cafe in the blurred out background may evoke a sense of melancholy or curiosity over what just took place at that table. Something to experiment with as it doesn’t work for everything. Oh, one final note about this: People are _never_ the subject here, only ever part of the blurred out backdrop (if you have people at all). If you do have people, you don’t want a strong blur either, they still need to be recognizable as people. The idea is “something happened here, what was it, and also this took place in X.” The example isn’t the best, but you get the idea.
I worked for 10 years shooting for a weekly newspaper, taking the photos, developing film, and then printing the photos in a wet darkroom. I always cropped, in fact the 8x10 paper was too small to fit all information on it. The Nikon school said, the name of the game is to fill the frame. Each photo had to tell a story.
Loved this! It makes so much sense and I think it is what I unconsciously seek to do. I tend to shoot with the longer lengths of my 14-140 telephoto lens and I also use a 25mm prime with my Micro 4/3 Lumix. I enjoyed the way you spoke of these ideas. Very clear and simple. But elegant in some way. A bit mind shifting. Eliminating any excess in your ideas, just as you suggest in thinking about photography. Very nice!
Practice makes perfect. Faffing out of doors makes your approach efficient, you quickly spot what kit is just carried. Taking images leads to better images, processing improves processing skills. If you don’t go regularly taking photos you aren’t doing photography
Agreed on the crop, if it works it works. I just don't do it cause I'm perfectly perfect 😂 Joke aside I only use cropping when I messed up my horizon or need to work perspectives but then I get mad because I really like, in the process of taking a photo, to get my framing right and generally I frame tightly (don't want to use the word "precisely", too pretentious) so the cropping removes things. But hey, if it can save the photo why not?
Everything is fine, but the phrase attributed to Michelangelo is a widely spread poetic myth. An attractive concept that needed a reference to authority.
I shot for many years street enviorment with expensive primes. Being told by so called famous street photographers on multi media. I learned that primes are not the best for street photography at all. For the reason you just made clear in this video. So now I make much better pictures with a 35-150 zoomlens and I1m able to make the most stunning pictures. Even better as those so called top photographers with their bunch of primes.
Regardless of price, every camera in the world is a flawed, over-priced device with lots of limitations, issues and cost-cutting omissions. A genuinely fantastic camera would only have Aperture and Shutter Speed, for you to create your aesthetic….and nothing else. Its AF will focus accurately with zero input from you…always. Hence, its menu would be 1 page at most.
Funny, "Not what you add in, but what you leave out" has been said more than a thousand times before this vídeo, and yet, people keep going on the wrong direction
All true. Depending on do you want to leave in context. If you only shoot subjects, this is fine. If you do documentary however, you have to master the art of the whole image, and compose it well. And so that everyone understands the situation. Greates street shots are documentary or commentary, not isolated subjects.
I feel like adding things that were not actually present is cheating. But cropping is the whole point of photography. Limiting the composition by either distance or angle and sometimes light itself are things we all do with our cameras to bring out a subject.
4:17 This is exactly why the term “making photos” has been getting on my nerves. We are capturing the world not making it :) great video! Also yes obviously this has more to do with a non-studio context
Makes sense to me. Pointing a specific camera with a specific lense somewhere is already a choice, or number of choices, ergo a whole string of subtractions from a given reality, so it goes from there. Fiddling with the dials etc. is just a continuation of that process.
Its all about focus, and sometimes focus means to introduce elements into your photo - such as foreground elements. I agree that usually, in photography at least, less = more - but only when that less emphasizes your subject
This is great advice, I have taken photos from when I started in the 60s, many years ago and each time I shoot there is always some magic in the light and the subjects. It is hard to believe that someone would not want to crop in the darkroom (way back when) or now on your computer. It is just one of many tools to enhance your images. However you are right the closer to the final image you can get while shooting, the better off you are.
Thank you for sharing a great approach to be applied to photography. I need to get better at composition, before I take a picture. Although I end up applying some of your ideas while editing, I wish I could do it in real time before I hit the shutter button!
