K.I.S.S

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta Canada geese take flight over Grande Prairie Regional College as they head to a field to graze. The birds are building up strength for their long flight to wintering grounds in the South.The old acronym KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) applies to a lot of things in life from life style to writing to photography.

In photography keeping it simple can actually make a photograph stand out — especially when it comes to keeping backgrounds simple.

Most sports, portrait and wildlife photographers know that one of the best ways to make the subject snap out in a photo is to use a clean background.

That can be anything from the sky to seamless background paper to out of focus trees thanks to a shallow depth of field.

Just take a look at the difference between the photo at the top of the page and the one at the bottom.

Which one captures your eye and draws you in? Which one do you have to make an effort to pick out the subject of the photo?

Shooting with a long lens and wide open aperture can do wonders for cleaning up the backgrounds in your photos.

But so can several other simple things like making sure you take the time to study what the background is like — no trees sticking out from behind a brides head giving her antlers— or getting down low to shoot against the sky.

Perhaps you can make use of light and dark. By lighting up a subject with flash and having the background in the shade, your subject pops out.

Often it is just practise. Shoot photos and then either by yourself or with someone who will sit down and honestly critique your photos, in other words not your mom or your biggest fan, analyze everything that adds to the photo and takes away from the photo.

Then shoot again working on improving your technique.

Like almost anything else in life in photography practise makes perfect.

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie A cluttered background takes away from the subject of the photo — the geese.

Into the frame

Grovedale, Alberta 13/02/10 Dale Thompson walks behind a harnessed team of horses as he makes his way over to a sled with bunks on it to haul firewood. One of my biggest short comings as a photographer is shooting too tight.

When I was at SAIT, my photojournalism instructor emphasized filling the frame and I think I took that advice too much to heart.

Sometimes negative space — the area which doesn't contain your photo subject — can be as important as the subject itself in telling a story in a photo.

(Cropping portraits also makes you realize that shooting tight isn't always the answer. When you shoot a portrait, crop it to 8x10 and lose all the space around the person, you begin to realize you need to shoot a little looser. It also comes into play when shooting athletes like figure skaters, gymnasts and artists like dancers. They want to see their pointed toes and fingers so they can see how good their technique is. Shooting tight is better suited for newspapers so the viewer can get a quick read of the photo whether it is a full page or one column image.)

I still have a tendency to shoot too tight but I am trying and make a conscious effort to shoot a little looser. (With the resolution of today's digital cameras cropping into a photo is a little less invasive than doing so using a Nikon D1H).

This photo is a prime example of when shooting looser helps with the story.

I could have shot this tight on Dale, the man at the reins, and his team, (although shooting tight from behind would have been an ugly shot) but shooting looser allows the viewer to see where he is going, the country he is going into, the weather conditions etc.

It adds the adverbs and adjectives to the photo sentence of "A man drives a team of horses".

On a secondary note, usually when you shoot people getting their face in the photo is desireable, but in this case shooting Dale as he drives the team away adds depth. It also adds the leading lines of the trailing reins which wouldn't be visible if he was coming towards the camera.

Playing shy

Photo Randy Vanderveen, Grande Prairie, Alberta A white-tail deer bounds off flashing its tail in a warning to others nearby. White-tail are more wary than their mule deer cousins.

If you are a hunter, a nature photographer or a budding naturalist, you probably are aware that white-tails are a little more flighty than muleys, which will often just stand still watching even if you are relatively close.

Sometimes as photographers, we are guilty of being too wary and shy.

We don't feel comfortable approaching people to take their photos. Even after almost twenty years of having to approach strangers and get their names, I still find it hard at times.

However, just the act of doing it makes the task easier the next time.

Another area photographers can be shy about is trying something new. Go for it.

You never know whether you have the talent to shoot sports, portraits, still lifes, etc. until you try and the more you work at it the better you get.

Why not assign yourself the task of shooting something or someone you never have before? There is no sense in running away from every new thing.