Making an Image: Avoiding Posed Shots

https://colvetmiranda.org/8652k7jf When I got back from this particular assignment, working for Costa del Mar and the IndiFly Foundation in French Polynesia, I sat down to review the images with a friend. We came across this shot and he commented, “How’d you get them to pose so nicely?” I laughed. No posing involved. In fact, unless it’s absolutely unavoidable, I don’t pose folks I’m shooting with… it changes the energy of the shot. What were real grins become fixed grimaces. A natural movement becomes awkward and self-conscious. Moments are missed.

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https://faroutpodcast.com/ik8mbqq For this shot, while wading the flats of the remote atoll we were working on, it was a challenge to shoot in front of the anglers without spooking potential bonefish and bluefin trevally in front of us. I was constantly pushing through the water, looking for angles that wouldn’t interfere with fishing but would make for strong images. On this particular flat the footing was terrible — thick, oozing mud that threatened to suck the boots from our feet. Everyone save Raphael, our local guide, took falls as our feet stuck but our bodies kept moving forward. I kept the camera raised above my head, saving it from deep water and the inevitable falls. We’d paused to reconnoiter when Raphael spotted a group of bones moving some hundred yards ahead. All three anglers stopped talking and immediately looked to the fish… I raised the camera, and the shot was made. The reflection in Raphael’s sunglasses tells a story within a story; we were on the hunt and movie with a purpose.

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go here Fight the urge to pose your subjects. Let them interact naturally and wait for the moment to come. It will be all the more authentic when you do.

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https://www.annarosamattei.com/?p=g2uhq2z Keeping gear functional and ready to work in saltwater situations – especially wading situations — is challenging. Here, a Canon 5D Mark III teamed with a 17-40 lens, keeps things open and to the point. Wide-angle lenses make you move your feet (thick mud nonetheless) and frame the shot from close quarters. A quality photograph should pick up your subjects and transport them to that place — to that flat, that atoll, that saltwater.

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