Glorious details
Our eyes are oriented to take in the big picture. Our front-facing horizontal field of view including peripheral vision can cover as much as 270 degrees. That’s a whole panoramic world in one snap of our eyes. That wide image that we see however is made up of small glorious details which we sometimes miss. We must train ourselves to focus and see them. One thing I’ve learned in photography is that it is as much as taking in the particulars as it is capturing the complete image.
Details, details
As in our tips last week on photographing stained glass windows, we tackled on zooming out or backing farther away in order to capture the whole piece. On the other hand, we are advised to zoom in on parts and areas to emphasize details. In my experiences in photographing boats I also follow that process – get it wide to capture the subject whole then zoom in on areas to get some particulars. That way I get as much perspectives and variety in my shots. Details can be a confusing mishmash of objects, colors, lines, shapes and forms such as the picture of a tanker ship below, or it can be a clean image showing the finer points of a fisherman’s gear like the picture above. Why are details important? As in anything else, details comprise the big picture. Let me share a quote from sociologist Howard S. Becker:
“Every part of the photographic image carries some information that contributes to its total statement; the viewer’s responsibility is to see, in the most literal way, everything that is there and respond to it. To put it another way, the statement the image makes – not just what it show you, but the mood, moral evaluation and casual connections it suggest – is built up from those details.”
Photo Quotes 149
Sometimes a photograph offers the photographer a gift he didn’t expect, a marvelous detail – what the eye longing for meaning sees unconsciously, and includes.~John Rosenthal
Capture the details
Details define a picture. It’s hard to present a story, meaning, account or statement with a fuzzy image. A picture must convey and communicate. It must be able to stand alone without words or descriptions. Hence it must be clear, crisp and faithful. Unless an image is meant to be an abstract art, then that’s a different story. According to writer and photojournalism professor Cameron Knight, detail shots “draw attention to a specific detail of a subject that might otherwise have gone unnoticed.” In the article The Art of the Detail Shot: Capturing Beautiful Detail Photographs, Knight expounds on many aspects including using macro and framing, shooting textures and silhouettes, taking pictures of flora and fauna, creating layers and non-close up details and a host of other essential tips. Train your eye to see details. Photography is very personal. It is about capturing things and subjects others overlooked.
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