December 16, 2020

A Beginners’ Guide to Documenting Daily Life: Composition (Part I)

f/8 1/125 ISO 12800

I talked about why photography has been so meaningful to me, how with no formal training or education, I dove into photography as a means to document the time I felt slipping away as I watched my children grow up. Like anything worth doing, it took a lot of work and a lot of practice to make images that have gained recognition. Over the years, I’ve had lots of people ask for advice about photography or for help figuring out their SLR cameras. A good camera is like any other tool . . . it’s only as good as its operator. It’s also important to remember, the best camera is the one in your hands. You know what’s (almost) always in your hand? A smartphone. Over the summer, in the chaos of our move, I was volunteering at an outdoor church service when I realized I didn’t have the right memory card for my camera. Instead, I made images with my iPhone, edited them, and uploaded them to our shared drive. The next week, someone said, “I can’t believe you took those with your phone. I only knew they were from your phone because I could see you shooting with it.” It’s just about the highest compliment I’ve ever received. The camera doesn’t make the photographer. Photoshop or editing software does not make a photo.

Shot on iPhone

The truth is, there is no one trick to making a great photo. In fact, my personal experience has shown that it takes making a LOT of garbage images to make one great one (a fact that I will discuss in detail later). Here is what I have found to be the most helpful things I have discovered along the way, and with a little bit of knowledge and practice, anyone can raise the quality of their photographs using ANY type of camera.

THE (VERY) BASICS

I have been shooting in manual mode for about 5+ years, which wasn’t easy to learn, but allows the photographer to have complete control over the images. While shooting in manual isn’t necessary for the average person trying to document family life, it’s helpful to understand what each setting means. The exposure triangle includes aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. Aperture (or f stop) is the amount of light allowed through the lens of the camera, sort of like the iris of a human eye that expands and contracts to control the amount of light let inside. The higher the aperture, the smaller the opening, and vice versa. A high aperture allows objects in the distance to be as in focus as objects closer to the camera. In low light, a LOWER APERTURE provides more light to the camera’s sensor. In bright, outdoor sun, a HIGHER APERTURE is necessary to capture details by limiting the light. ISO refers to the brightness being added to the image, so in a poorly lit space, an image can be brightened. However, the higher the ISO, the more “grain” you will have in your image (which isn’t a bad thing!). Shutter speed refers to how long the shutter remains open to capture the image (and is written as a fraction of a second). If the shutter speed is set too fast, the image may be dark. Too slow, and you will notice a lot of blur (the rule of thumb for moving subjects is a minimum shutter speed of 1/125). The exposure triangle is a careful balance, and after having a lot of practice, I can pretty much walk into a room, look at the light, and know exactly how to set my exposure. (I’ll share some settings for images as a reference.)

Exposure aside, there are three elements that make a photograph work: light, moment, and composition. As a documentary photographer (not manipulating the scene or subjects in any way) there is only one element over which the photographer has control: composition.

COMPOSITION

Simply put, composition is the elements within an image and how those images work together. The intention of the photograph, the elements and details you include, and the representation of the person in the image all speak to the viewer in your voice as the photographer. While there is no secret that makes a great photographer, there are simple ways to improve the composition and quality of images.

1. Intentionally choose viewpoint. Where you position yourself before you hit the shutter will allow you to photograph as you see the scene. Get closer to focus on the person or people in your images. Back up to include more environmental information. Shooting from above or getting lower will change the story you tell with an image. Use the distance or closeness between subjects to communicate what’s happening in the scene

f/8 1/1600 ISO 640

2. Choose the cleanest background. For example, you may find yourself taking photos of your children at a playground and you have two options for background. One would be the busy playground and equipment. But if you change your position, there might be a brick wall or an open field to clean up the background. You may choose to include the playground but position yourself so that your kids are framed by a visually open space, an example would be getting low and using the sky as the background instead of a visually distracting playground. Try to position yourself to find your subject in the “cleanest” space.

f/8 1/1600 ISO 640

In this image, I got onto the ground, looking up, and moved so that he would have the sky behind him.

3. Compose for the moment. There is a lot of psychology that can be applied to photography, and one of them is that people tend to repeat behaviors, especially kids who are doing something they shouldn’t. If there is a moment that has been missed, just be patient, because as the rules of psychology apply, odds are you’ll have another chance if you are patient. Position yourself where you have the best chances of capturing that moment, making an intentional composition choice.

f/5 1/1000 ISO 400

4. Keep shooting. Treat each moment like a scene, and see it through from beginning to end. Whatever you do, when you are shooting a moment and think “I got it”, do not put the camera down. I have learned through experience that just when you think the moment is over something amazing can happen. It is not uncommon for me to shoot 200+ frames of one scene, only keeping a few to edit. An example is a photo of Sawyer from 2018, by far my most successful single image, winner of several awards and exhibited in two galleries. When I went back to my contact sheet, I took 257 images, just to get ONE that worked the best.

f/7.1 ISO 500 1/640

5. Train kids to ignore your camera. Most kids I meet are very camera aware when I first start photographing, many trying to “cheese” it up or strangle their sibling next to them, “posing” for a photo. Back to psychology 101, reward the behaviors you want to see and ignore the ones you don’t. If I think someone is intentionally putting on a show for the camera (and it’s pretty obvious when they are) I just put my camera down and ask them a question. When my kids were little, I would sit with them while they were playing and just ask them questions about what they were playing, what is the story, tell me more . . . the more boring I make the camera by connecting with them, the less they pay attention and are more likely to give me what I am looking for: their genuine personality. My kids became so used to being photographed that they respond to me in the same way, whether I have my camera in my hand or not.

f/2.2 1/320 ISO 2000

6. See and compose with your heart. I am 100% a visual person. When I walk my dog on the beach, I’m always looking/scanning for something interesting, on the horizon, or in the sand. Sometimes, I find random bones or sea glass. But each time, of all the things in my vision, I noticed something and instinctively knew it was something before I could see what it actually was. Now, I think in photographs and I have really found value in that split second reaction that makes me do a double-take. I notice light on my son’s face or how the winter light makes shadows through my hallway. I am intrigued by the nuanced gestures of people and the things that are their passions, or the ways in which relationships play out in subtle ways. The heart reacts quicker than our eyes can see, so when you feel that nudge, take it all in and “see” what drew you there in the first place. Be curious about what you feel drawn to, follow that voice, and your images will take on new meaning for you. In each one of the images below, there is a deeper story, something beyond first glance. Even if it means nothing to the viewer, it means something to me.

f/8 1/250 ISO 4000

7. Look for moments of anticipation. There is a certain energy that exists right before something is about to happen, before a kid blows out the candles on the cake or jumps into the pool or reaches for a toy or pops the bubbles. Photographing that energy that exists in those tiny increments of time right before the action takes place is a potential to create great documentary images.

f/9 1/640 ISO 100

Lastly, just to complicate things, there is one thing to remember: moment matters most. There are quiet moments and there are loud moments. It doesn’t have to be anything extraordinary. But when the moment is there, the imperfections in an image matter less. An example I have is this one image that I adore, and it’s a mess. It’s out of focus and technically off in so many ways. We were in a record shop in 2017 and when Sawyer reacted to seeing the Nirvana “Nevermind” album cover with the naked baby. The moment wasn’t even a moment, it was a split second. Most of the images I make are not going into competitions. They’re going into family albums, books, and printed to be stored in keepsake boxes. It’s true for myself and for my clients. The work that fills my soul is seeing the beauty in the simple lives we all live, the quotidian moments framed in a different way.

So, I will leave you with this: perfection is a myth. And not only that, perfection is boring.