When Your Photos Are Bland, Add Some Seasoning

Sometimes, you come upon a great scene, the light is beautiful, and everything seems right, and then, you take a photo that just seems to be lacking something you can't put your finger on. When that happens, try adding a bit of seasoning to it. 

Coming to you from James Popsys, this great video follows him as he discusses photos that are too busy or not busy enough. Popsys gives the interesting and useful analogy of adding the right amount of seasoning to what's already a dish with potential and how this can help to create compelling and carefully thought-out images. Of course, what he is really doing is thinking additively. He seeks out scenes and compositions that have potential, then he finds an element to add that completes it. For example, in the shot of him in front of the waves, he has good light, an interesting sky, splashing waves, and black sand, all arranged in geometrically pleasing parallel layers. All it needs is a bit of color and something that goes against the uniform geometry to add interest. The benefit of this method is that it avoid needlessly cluttered images. Check out the video above for more.