The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Companion

FINDING AND COMPOSING A PHOTO

HOW TO MAKE A PHOTO

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Look at Other Photos

Photography is a strange form because, while aspiring writers will all be able to

easily name their favorite writers and books, I encounter very few aspiring pho-

tographers who know much about the history of their chosen form. Few can

name a favorite photographer or pick up on references to famous, important

works of photography. Familiarity with great works, though, is an easy way to

improve your own shots.

Go to the library or bookstore, or do some Google searches, and find work by

some of the great masters—Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Strand, El-

liot Erwitt, and Alfred Stieglitz. Spend some time looking at their images with

an eye toward both simply seeing how they make you feel but and figuring out

what was done technically to create the image. Pay attention to how the im-

ages are composed, try to think about what the photographer might have done,

exposure-wise, to achieve a given effect. By reverse-engineering their solutions,

you’ll learn a lot about how they saw a scene and what choices and decisions they

made to turn that scene into a finished image.

TIP: Study Other Photographers

Looking at other works can be inspiring and energizing and is a great way to

practice seeing when you don’t have the time or opportunity to go shooting.

Practice

I already mentioned ...