Digital Photography - Photographing Themes

Many of us fall into photographing themes of one sort or another. I love to photograph waterfalls and cascades, mountains, desert scenes, flower close-ups, lighthouses, water-powered mills, covered bridges, and sunrises and sunsets.


I find myself constantly looking for these themes wherever I go regardless of the purpose of the trip or photo shoot. Consequently, over many trips, I have built up a large stock file of these themes. Without really thinking about it, it created a good base for my stock photography.

With theme photography, you develop an eye for seeing theme topics. Along with the knack for seeing, you develop a procedure specific for photographing each type of theme. Digital photography tips one: photograph the subject of each theme the same way each time in different places.

For example, when I photograph water-powered mills, I photograph the device driving the main driveshaft whether it is an overshot wheel or vortex turbine. I also photograph the crown wheel coming off of the main driveshaft. Before I leave, I also photograph the mill race, mill pond and outside of the structure. By photographing these same subjects in each mill, I have built up a library of several different water powered mills each with photos of the aforementioned subjects. The various miscellaneous shots varying from mill to mill as I do not want to overlook the uniqueness of each mill as each one is unique in its own way.

With the photography also comes learning about each theme. The learning acquired through research, along with the photographs taken over a number of years, creates a knowledge base defining you as an expert of that theme which can result in a niche market for you. Eventually, through networking and other sources, you will be known as one of the go-to persons when someone has a photo need in one of your theme categories.

Themes can be general or more specific. For example, one of my themes is flower close-ups. One of my sub-themes within flower close-ups is orchids. Another sub-theme is wild cactus flower close-ups, so you can see you can get as specific as you want.

Themes can also be about the format of the photo. Some photographers have a theme titled panoramics. This theme is more about the format of the photo being long and narrow and not so much about the subject matter.

Still another theme category may be the format orientation of the photograph. Some photographers shoot certain themes as verticals. Some theme topics look better when shot in a horizontal format. Digital photography tips two: A flower photographed from the side at the level of the flower, including the stem of the flower, not only falls into the flower category, but also into the vertical format theme.

Some themes focus on photographs shot in black and white. Some photographers shoot only certain subjects in black and white and other subjects in color. Many of the subjects having texture look better when photographed in black and white as the lack of color focuses the eyes of the viewer on the texture of the subject without the interference of color.

Themes do not have to be of just the natural world. Some photographers shoot themes of subjects resulting from the hand of man. These themes range from architecture, to pottery, to machines in addition to many other subjects.Themes can also be of topics undesirable to look at, such as damage to the environment, air or water pollution, global warming, erosion, wrath of Nature and many others.

Some photos cross into other theme topics. A desert sunrise or sunset not only falls into the sunrises/sunsets theme, but it also fall into landscapes or into the sub-theme of deserts within the landscape theme. It is all in how specific you want to get as a photographer. The larger number of specific themes can lead to a larger opportunity for niche marketing of your photos.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless. You are bound only by how much time you have to photograph your themes and then marketing them.

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Composing For Impact

Composition controls how much impact your photos have on the people viewing them. Below are some tips and techniques you can use to maximize the impact of your photos.

Rule of Thirds –

The rule of thirds, also known as the Golden Grid, was discovered by the ancient Greek painters. The rule says to mentally divide the scene in your viewfinder into thirds both horizontally and vertically. If your main point of interest is a static spot, place it on one of the intersecting points. If your main point of interest is horizontal, then place it on one of the horizontal lines. Place vertical points of interest on the vertical lines. Using this technique by itself, will give your photos impact.

Other factors influencing impact on your photos include:

- Framing

- Depth

- Focus

- Viewpoint

- Brightness

- Color

Framing –

Framing is used to draw the viewer’s eyes into the photo – right to your subject. Once you start to look for items to use as frames, you will see them all around you. They can be natural or man-made. Tree branches and limbs, doorways, and windows are three popular ones. A mistake many make when first using framing is placing their subject too far away from the framing. When that happens, the subject appears small thereby losing the impact of the framing.

Depth –

The illusion of depth occurs when there is a noticeable distance between the foreground and background. Photos showing depth tend to draw viewers into them. When two items of the same approximate size graphically appear to be different in size, the eye interprets the small one being farther away from the larger one. Atmospheric haze contributes to the illusion by making the smaller item appear lighter in color.

Focus –

The viewer’s eye naturally goes to the object in focus. Use this phenomenon to your advantage. You can make this happen by using selective focusing. Having your subject in focus and the rest of your photo slightly out-of-focus happens when you use a small f-stop number. Using a small f-stop equates to having a very small amount of your photo in focus from the front of the scene to the back.

By focusing on your subject, you will ensure your subject is in this small plane in focus. The farther you move both ways away from the plane of focus, the more out-of-focus the items appear.

Viewpoint -

Viewpoint is the physical placement of your camera at the time the photo is taken. Before taking a picture, look for other viewpoints. Try shooting from a position higher than the subject, a position lower and finally, from a different lateral position. See how these viewpoints change the way your subject appears in the viewfinder. Digital cameras are great for this because you can take a photos from several viewpoints and instantly see the photo. Now you can keep the one(s) you like and discard the ones you don’t without having to pay for the processing and printing.

Brightness –

The brightness of a photo is the greatest contributor to the feeling of that photo. A photo having a very light tonal range, known as high-key, conveys a feeling of youth, hope, beauty, or softness. Often, you will see a beautiful young girl or flower portrayed in a high-key setting. Conversely, low-key photos imply seriousness, sobriety, age or impending danger. A photo of an impending storm will convey the feeling of danger.

Color –

In a photo, color serves two purposes. It sets the mood of the photo and enable us to distinguish the different elements in that photo.

The more color of an object contrasts with its surroundings, the more likely that object will become the subject of that photo. Location photographers use very colorful props when photographing people. It identifies them as the subject and separates them from the rest of the photo.

A uniform color of a photo overall establishes a mood also. A photo having a bluish cast will convey a feeling of coldness. A reddish color conveys a feeling of hotness, endangerment or adventurer.

Experiment with these compositional factors the next time you shoot photos. If you are visually aware of these factors, your photos will have impact.

There are many more compositional factors that will give your photos impact including position of the horizon, line, balance, contrast, shape and pattern. I chose the seven discussed in this article as they are some of the more overlooked compositional factors.

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