Evening star., 1952-11-30
Camera Angles

q forest" he sale to himself,
"deer must be very plentiful.
So saying. he pointed his rifle
In the general direction of the
woods and pulled the trigger
and a beautiful buck, which had
been hiding, gave a great leap
and dropped dead at his feet.
Year after year the hunter re-
turned to the scene of his feat
and fired many rounds of am
munition but to his surprise and
chagrin, he never bagged an
other deer.
No, haven't gone off my
rocker-this a column about
photography. But a majority
Of photographers could benefit
from the morale Of this pint
sized fable. The main reason
that over rs per cent of the
snapshots taken every year
eventually wind up in the trash
can should be fairly obvious.
Give the average person a cam
era and turn him loose in the
great world and he puts on an
act that parallels the hunter.
He aims his camera in the gen.
eral direction of an area which
he thinks should contain ex-
cellent picture material and
away he goes, swapping away
his film in the hope that he will
come home with a prize win
ner. Accidents will happen but
the odds are a million to one
against it.
A camera cannot perform
miracles for it Is only a mechan-
ical instrument. It lacks a brain
to think with; that must be
supplied by the photographer.
The world is loaded with the
beauties of nature-all potential
subjects for your camera. But,
in the final analysis, it is you
who must be able to "see" the
picture as it should be taken.
Then, and only then, can the
camera be used in your hands
as the brush is used in the
hands Of a skilled painter. The
potential is there if you are
capable of using it.
The ProcticoI Side
We are not trying to make
you into an artist in one easy
lesson. However, by mentioning
some of the key points of pic
torial composition, we do nope
to be able to improve your cam
era work. There is a very prac-
tical side to this from the none
tary standpoint because each
missfire with your camera is
tossing money down the drain.
After all, the film and process
ing isn't free and we assume
that you place some value on
your time. So let's take a quick
look at what goes into the
making of a good picture
In everyday photography you
are faced with acceptance of
natures scenes as you find
them. You do not have the
latitude of the painter who can
change form and color as he
wills But you can select your
viewpoint from which to take
the picture and you can elect
the time of day when the light
ing is best. You can also, at
times. introduce a figure to a
composition that will give it
that final touch of balance or
meaning to turn a good picture
into one of rare perfection.
First, any picture worthy of
the name must have unity. A
Photographic picture. like any
other, is a whole made of many
parts. To be successful, all of
the component parts must hang
together to form an intelligible
and meaningful entity. One way
of achieving unity in picture is
through a dominant subject, all
other elements being subordi-
nate. Take a harbor scene as an
example. You might make pic
ture of a liner at anchor. vivldly
backlighted by a setting sun,
with a curving Shoreline in the
background-nothing else. Add
another ship of equal size half
way across the composition and
you would have divided center
of interest with a complete loss
of unity. This principle can be
applied in any picture you make
of your children, landscapes and
so on. Make a child the domi-
nant subject of the picture and
be sure that all other objects in
the scene lend support but re-
main subordinate to the subject.
BoIonce Is important
Unity may also be expressed
in terms of REPETITION where
variations in form and size are
noted among the several objects
! in the scene that otherwise are
/ similar in character. Continuity
of pattern may be used to bring
unity to a picture. AS an ex-
ample, am sure that most of
us have seen pictures of COM
mon street scene in Baltimore
where the famous white steps
are featured in the foreground
and are repeated in dwindling
perspective in the distance to
form a fascinating pattern.
Balance is important to any
picture. To avoid the sugges-
ton of top-heaviness or extreme
weight to one side, one group
Of objects can be used to bal
ance another. It should be en-
phasized that objects of similar
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