Boy and Dog, Nikon D850 with Sigma 35mm 1.4
Composing the Moment
Sometimes, in fact often, making a good picture is about waiting. Life is a waiting game in so many respects. To achieve a picture that is cohesive and produces an emotive response, we need to wait until the scene comes together in order to let it pack it’s fullest punch, so to speak. This is true of most forms of photography, from landscape to portraiture.
The decisive moment is a matter therefore, of timing, vantage point and composition. These three are inextricably linked. The light can work for or against us in these situations where it is most likely something will happen. Let’s examine these three points. Timing is the first obvious one. We don’t want to capture subjects at weird angles, with eyes blinking, squinting faces, odd poses etc. Most people understand this basic conecpt about photography. Vantage point is especially important in most scenes. Sometimes you just need to be a little higher or a little lower to change a good picture into a great one. It’s all about seperation. If I had been lower to the ground here, I would have had the subject interfere with the background radiator, and I wouldn’t gain the lovely seperation we have here. I would have also put too much window into the shot, which would have weakened the shot by pulling the eye out of the scene to a very bright area. Composition is the final, very obvious point. We need to piece the scene together in a logical way that garners the most impact.
For the particular scene above, my son was playing his Nintendo Switch on the TV, and my parent’s little dog, Lottie, was sitting with him as she often did quite content. She was there for quite some time but compositionally, from where I was sitting especially, it did not work as a photograph. I spent a bit of time just watching, no camera, but sitting in the place that would form a nice composition if she moved into the correct place, and he held where we was. I ideally wanted the dog at the corner of the rug, which forms a nice solid arrow towards our subject, Lottie. This along with a placement residing more or less along a third line, balances out the strongly weighted left scene I had in front of me before she moved into that spot. Remember, we have to be flexible here. I can’t put them both perfectly on thirds and just think I am some compositional master. It doesn’t work like that. This is about balance; and I need to show the TV set that my son is looking towards also, in order to give the photograph proper context. I like that they are both looking outward of the frame on the upper left and lower right sides, this actually further balances the overall scene. The lifted paw in slight motion blur, and the slight space between the floor and the paw along with the shadow of the dog on the flooring gives it a dynamic feel. The chair on the right frames the right side, such that the TV does on the left, further balancing the scene that would have still been a little left - heavy without it. It also alludes that this is a living room, of course.
Some compositional basics
The Equipment
If you are using zooms to shoot scenes like these, you are missing out on some goodness. Zooms with f/2.8 apertures are obviously slow compared to fast primes in the f/1.2-1.4 range (x4 less light) and steal opportunities to make a more impactful shot without using flash, which would have absolutely startled and freaked out the little dog. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the cinematic feel I have here with slow apertures either. I would loose the isolation, the vignette and some of the pop I am getting from this prime lens. You will notice in cinema, that the Director of Photography will pull focus between subjects when they are speaking etc. Often this just causes a subtle blur on the person not talking at the time. We have created this effect here, you can see my son is slightly out of focus, it drives the eye away from his large size in the frame towards the dog. The lens I used here is a Sigma 35mm f/1.4 Art, teamed up with a Nikon D850, the best DSLR ever built, period. It goes without saying, I would have had no problem shooting this with a D800, or D810 body. In terms of focal length for this scene, 24mm would have been far too wide (subject size would diminish unless I got very close), and 50mm too tight to reveal the important compositional markers hidden about the room and the subjects.
The Settings
As per my usual shot discipline, I am at base ISO here, in order to maximise quality. Importantly, I knew I did not want to blow the window highlights, as this bright area would pull the eye away from our subjects. I used; ISO 64, 1/100 and an aperture of f/1.4. I exposed to the right of the histogram, without clipping anything to have the maximum processability of the resulting RAW file. I wanted to be at f/1.4 for two main reasons. This aperture on a fast 35mm prime at close range, nicely isolates subjects and gives a subtle fall off, which further directs the eye. The second reason is that the natural lens vignette is a useful tool; it is most present at f/1.4 (I have slightly enhanced it in processing). By shooting wide open, the vignette helps me calm down the window area within the histogram boundaries, and keep the shadows in a better place. If I shot at f/4, there would have been zero vignette, and I would have had to back off the histogram more to the left side, meaning noisier shadows, and worse quality overall. The shutter speed of 1/100 is sufficient at this distance to freeze a slow moving subject such as the dog, however allows the tiniest hint of motion at the leading paw which I like (I could have gotten more of this by stopping the aperture down a shade, but it is at the risk of the dog becoming overall, too motion blurred and ruining the shot).
The Processing
Good processing should be unseen for the most part; in the sense that it is subtle and the edits cannot be physically noticed. The processing should bolster the story of the scene and further direct the eye. Everyone has their edit style, and most people have a constantly evolving style that only gets better through experience. I know mine has improved vastly, even just these last few years.
The next time you are shooting anything, just think where the scene elements will be the most impactful. Balance everything up, work with the light and process in order to further direct the eye and the story you are trying to tell.