Photo Techniques

Analyzing Photos

 

By Al Sanchez

 

Hey!

 

Well…a lot of teachers of photography tell newbies to “look at photos and analyze them”. This report is made to do exactly that!

In this report are a few pictures and I analyze them to death! You can take the stuff that makes these photos work and what makes them not work and use them in your own photos immediately!

So what makes this photo look nice?

Silhouette- The use of the silhouette of the landscape and the palm trees makes for a very calm effect in the photo.

Asymmetrical Balance Notice how balanced this photo looks. The palm trees to the left foreground are balanced with the sun in the background on the right.

What makes this photo so visually satisfying?

Pattern- This photo very effectively uses pattern. Look at the pattern that these flowers make.

 

Color Look at the color and how its used. Yellow is a complementary color with blue and the yellow flowers and blue sky work very well. N.D. Graduated Filter Notice how the sky transitions from light to dark. This can be achieved using a gradiated N.D. filter

 

What makes this photo so visually satisfying?
Lines- The use of lines leads the viewer through the tunnel Simplicity Not a very complex image at all, simply lines.

Motion Blur – This looks like a photo shoot out the window of a subway. The movement makes the lights become lines. This was achieved because of the fast speeds of the train and a shutter speed that was slow.

Now it’s time to look at some photos and identify what’s wrong with them.

Dead Center- Having the cop dead center can make him seem more powerful but this shot is just plain boring. Yawn.

 

Wrinkled Outfit Obviously this shot was taken very rushed.

What Could Be Improved - The photographer looks like they were trying to make the cop look powerful. What could’ve been done is actually lower the camera so it is looking up at the cop. This would’ve made the cop looking down on the camera and seem more powerful.

The picture above is pretty interesting. You’ll notice there is some good use of lines and the shallow focus is particularly interesting.

The Problem - Chromatic Aberration. Because the photo is of a metal subject, chromatic aberration occurred.

The picture above shows a pretty nice looking area. The problems are plently.

Cluttered - This picture is way too cluttered. There are trees hanging from both sides. These trees either need to be removed in photoshop or the photographer could’ve backed up and used the trees as a framing device for the mountain and to lead to the center.

Lens Flare - This shot is taken directly pointing at the sun without any lens that will block the flare. The result is unwanted flare that messes up the photo

Dull colors- Adding more green to the grass and blue to the sky could make this photo much more appealing.

 

For a Complete Guide on Photography check out the Photo Techniques Program