Finding texture in photography adds a certain appeal to your images. Everything you see has a texture, and photographing to capture that texture can make your images much more relatable to the viewer.

Still life photography can sometimes be seen as an ancient, lost art, but you see still life photography everywhere today. Whether you are trying to sell your own homemade items (like at https://www.etsy.com/) or looking for a specific still life stock photography website (like https://www.istockphoto.com/) still life images are still widely used in marketing and advertising.

Being as the definition of photography is literally “to draw with light” (in Latin), you better believe that controlling light is really important! There are lots of different directions we could study when talking about light in photography, but for now, we are just going to study one category: natural light.

Natural light is the easiest light for a beginner to master. Below are a few different conditions in which you might take pictures and why you might want to take pictures there. 

Emphasizing negative space is an excellent tactic for a photographer. The negative space is the “not stuff” part of your image. It is what allows the viewer to really focus on the subject.

One of the most eye-catching things that you can do with your photography is use leading lines. These lines could look solid (like train tracks) or they could be “psychic”, like a person pointing across the picture at something. Whatever you choose to do, your lines should lead the eye into the picture.

Also known as close-up mode, macro mode is what allows you to get in super close on your images without getting blurry shots.

It’s time to talk about color…wait a minute…I thought we were talking about white balance, well we are! (Deceiving isn’t it?)

White balance has to do with what color your camera perceives to be white. For example, have you ever taken pictures in a gym (or similar lighting) and found that everything seems to be a little yellow? Or have you ever taken pictures outside, perhaps when the sun starts to set, and found that things or people seem to look blue? This is an example of wrong white balance.

What does your vantage point as a photographer have to do with taking pictures? A great deal! Where you stand in relation to your subject can make a big difference in how you subject is perceived. 

There are 3 different vantage points that I’ll talk about in this article: worm’s eye view, eye level, and birds eye view. Each view will change the way that you see the subject, so you want to choose the one that makes the most sense for your subject and situation.

I am so excited to announce that I will be adding digital photography lessons TODAY! I will periodically  release a new unit or lesson. By the end of the semester, there will be 18 weeks worth of photography lessons available.

Also, next week I will begin adding weekly blog posts covering a photo-taking assignment or topic that you will be able to use in your classroom.

Something new and exciting here at the Digital Art Teacher: I’ll now be offering Photography lessons! As part of these lessons, I’ll be adding new blog posts discussing what quality photography looks like and giving simple tips to help improve student photography.