The Most Important Lesson a Creative Photographer Can Learn

Diving into the fascinating world of creativity within our craft can raise people’s hackles. Many commonly accepted truths about what makes a good photo are subjective and swayed by widely held opinions. Nevertheless, breaking free from the constraints of popularism can lead to creative results that stand apart from the crowd, and that's important.

Most novice photographers are conservative in their photography. They often lack the bravery to venture beyond the simple act of just recording what is there. Others progress but copy what already exists, producing clones of others’ images. Although skill goes into creating these, there’s no real challenge to the viewer because they have seen similar photos before.

Becoming creative requires hard work and constant learning. Discovering some of the different elements that go into building a photograph and then mixing them makes it possible to create something out of the ordinary. The result may confound some people and may even cause derision for those who lack vision. However, that rejection is good news because it shows you are exhibiting creativity and, in doing so, pushing your photography beyond the mundane that everyone is used to.

By playing and exploring different methods one can discover exciting new photographic ways that may surprise and enthrall your viewer.

Here are some options you can play with, and add extra dimensions to your photo. Deliberately shunning the ordinary for something more unusual can elevate an image to a new plane of creativity.

Stopping or Showing Movement

All photographs are still images and stop movement. Nevertheless, there are ways we can suggest motion.

Recently, I read dozens of articles and books about wildlife photography. There seems to be one common theme: the importance of stopping movement. That is fine if you want to produce a species identification photo for an animal or bird book, but pictures of birds perched on sticks are commonplace. Adding a bit of action makes the image more interesting, and blurring some or all of the movement can lift the image beyond the commonplace.

That doesn’t just apply to wildlife photography. Even with landscapes, you can take them up another level by including a dynamic element. A person walking through a landscape, crashing waves on the sea, scudding clouds blurred with a long exposure, and gulls tumbling in the wind can all make a scene more interesting. Equally, you can choose to still a scene to give a sense of calm.

Depth of Field

Considering depth of field is important. However, a very shallow depth of field, although popular, is “old hat.”

At f/1.2, and – more importantly – if your position is proximate to your subject, your depth of field becomes narrower. Yet just because you have a fast lens doesn’t mean you must use it at its widest aperture. While wide apertures (small f-numbers) create that dreamy background blur (bokeh), they are not a panacea, and that look can become a cliché. When every other photographer seeks that, why not try a different approach?

Stopping down a bit ensures sharper overall focus. Furthermore, revealing what is behind the subject may add context to the photo and provide an opportunity for greater variety in the scene, setting it apart from others.

Adding Effects to the Image

The inclusion of appropriate effects can improve a photo. For example, a fan blowing a model’s clothes and hair, using smoke machines, and other such props can add interest. Unusual lighting can make an image work too.

Taking studio equipment out on location can add meaning to an image that a plain backdrop behind the subject fails to do.

Composition

Composition is a major area where you can change a photograph completely. For example, putting the camera in positions not at the photographer’s eye level, getting close to the subject, and playing with the placement of objects within the frame can alter an image’s look and feel.

The rule of thirds, the golden section, symmetry, the use of lead-in and leading lines, or the inclusion of diagonals are all compositional elements that you can use or ignore for creative expression. Creating triangles, even implied triangles where only the corners are suggested, can add to the strength of an image.

Subject and Contrasts

Next is the subject you choose to shoot and whether you consider it aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to photograph. As a rule – all rules in photography are not hard and fast but open to breaking and bending as needed – photographers like to shoot either brand-new, shiny subjects or items that are old and decrepit. Juxtaposing those against each other works well, just as adding any contrast can lead to a more interesting image. Soft and hard, smooth and jagged, large and small, bright and dark, drab and colorful, and any other pair of antonyms you can imagine create contrasts that can make your photos more compelling.

Visual Weight

How obvious the subject is within the frame is an important consideration. This is called visual weight. Using the contrasts mentioned above can be used to emphasize a subject in the frame.

However, there are certain things that we are immediately drawn to, such as human faces and, especially, eyes. Visual weight is a more important compositional device than leading lines, but many photographers are unaware of it.

Looking for Patterns

Repeating patterns are another creative element that can affect an image, especially a repeating pattern that is interrupted. The interruption adds visual weight to that part of the picture.

Delaying Tactics

Although the obvious approach is to give the main subject the most visual weight, the photographer can momentarily delay the intended subject's appearance, thus introducing an element of surprise.

Adding Tension

Deciding whether you want harmony or tension in a photo is also an element you can add to your creative compendium. Among other things, tension grows with contrasting colors and suggests the pull of gravity.

Letting In The Light

Lighting is probably the most important creative element of all. Its brightness, color, and direction, its closeness to the subject, and how diffused it is can completely transform how a subject will appear in the photo.

Processing the Image

I consider developing and editing to be two separate parts of processing an image, although they overlap. Developing is adjusting the global sliders, whereas editing affects parts of the image. Some people prefer to process an image so that it looks as close to the original scene as possible, as envisaged by the eye of the photographer. Meanwhile, others like to apply less-than-subtle adjustments and err more in the direction of digital art. Either approach is valid, and your taste dictates what you do with your photos. It’s not anyone else’s business. That is unless you present an image as a true report of what happened, as documentary photographers do, and you are not trying to create some deception designed to mislead.

Finding Your Influences

All great photographers were influenced by the photographers who preceded them. However, their work was not a direct copy. Instead, they concentrated on one part of the creative process and mixed it with different aspects of photography their hero used.

Ansel Adams was heavily influenced by Alfred Stieglitz, an advocate for the Modernist art movement and, arguably, one of the most important photographers of his time. Building upon realism, Adams and his friend, Fred Archer, developed precise exposure methods.

Although best remembered for his “decisive moment,” Cartier-Bresson was hugely influenced by his art tutor André Lhote. He studied the artist’s work for his entire life, wanting to add balance to his work by using, especially, the Golden Section. He was also especially inspired by the surrealist movement. Those influences are evident in his work, but his photos are by no means copies of what came before him but the foundations of what he achieved.

Being influenced by others' work, taking and building upon what they did before, is important. But this doesn’t mean copying them. For example, you might intend to be the next Dorothea Lange, David Lloyd, Annie Leibovitz, or Temi Lawson. But that is pointless because you will only be a poor second. However, you can study what your most inspirational photographer did and build upon it, going off in your unique direction.

Photographic Hardware and Software

Your choice of camera and the lens you attach to it make a big difference to the image. I am not saying whether one is better than the other. After all, all the big brands can make good gear. Nevertheless, the sensor inside the camera, the chosen focal length, the various computational photography features available, and how the image is rendered all impact your photography.

I’ve taken the same photo using three similar cameras from different brands, and each produced a different result. The colors and tones varied.

Similarly, I have opened the same image in numerous raw converters, and even before touching the sliders, significant differences could be seen.

Therefore, making less common hardware and software choices brings opportunities to move away from the norm.

Of course, buying gear costs money and might not be a viable option for some underpaid jobbing photographers and hobbyists.

Putting It All Together

All that is just a brief outline of a few rudimentary elements that can be considered and used creatively. There are many more, and each topic I’ve written about has been the subject of entire volumes.

Doing research and being influenced by what you like is crucial. Playing and practicing with your camera and discovering what works for you is equally important. You can read books and watch YouTube videos, but they are no substitute for getting your camera and taking pictures.

Be Brave

Experimenting and putting your work out there can be scary. There is pressure to submit to others' opinions and produce work that looks like the crowd's. But no great art was ever created by a committee.

Moreover, embrace those who support and encourage you, because they want to see you succeed. I've found that the people who do that are already successful and are invariably encouraging of others. They got there standing on the shoulders of giants and know that you can too.

So, be inspired, but work hard to do your own thing. If you like what you are doing, that’s all that matters. Every time someone else enjoys your work too, that’s a bonus.