Creative Photography and The Fine Art of "Seeing"

11/04/10

The medium of photography is a fun and accessible outlet for creative thinking and a vehicle for exploring different avenues of self expression in visual form. It is the elusive qualities which, unlike technique, cannot be learned which are widely appreciated and celebrated. The fine art of "seeing" is about finding unique and intriguing aspects and or treatments which transform the mundane into something extra special; it may be something as simple as an unexpected angle or tight framing which sets a creative image apart from a snapshot. For the imaginative photographer there is no limitation to creative photography.

There exists a multitude of ways to produce creative photographic images, multiple exposure for instance is a method as old as photography itself, yet still widely used today to produce great pictures. The first image example illustrates this perfectly. The model is standing in front of a brightly lit paper background which minimises light spillage onto the subject and thus defines the perimeter of the form, the stronger the silhouette stage, the more effective the end result. The silhouette part of the image is then exposed to whatever is photographed next, the white areas are bleached out while fine details like the hair are retained. It is possible to achieve similar effects using the latest image processing software, however it can be markedly slower and requires a different skill set.

Another image was created using the late setting sun projected onto the shadow of a bottle on a wall. A simple photo of back lit flowers “Spring in the City” photographed from a low view point using a wide angle lens emphasises the foreground interest, and the city architecture silhouetted in the background adds to the story. The lettuce photographed from above using natural sunlight gives the familiar object an abstract quality.
There is no right or wrong when being creative and you may even draw inspiration from great artists such as Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali.
Copyright © 2012 Ivor Tetteh-Lartey. All Rights Reserved