“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
Like revolutionary photographer Ansel Adams says, photography is more than just capturing images with a single click. He is a visionary, renowned for developing the zone system used to determine the ideal level of exposure and contrast in photos. Every aspect of his life has an important element in his creation of images. He seeks to make not only beautiful photography, but also synthesize a wide repertoire of feelings in a small rectangle. And he is right; that should be the aim of any photographer.
It’s often believed that having expensive equipment with several extra tools will give you the best photographs, but the truth is that you won’t create beautiful things if you lack feeling. However, this doesn’t mean you have to settle with any low quality equipment; you must be knowledgeable about some different tricks that will help you achieve the image you want. Some choose to manipulate photos with Photoshop, but there are still many adherents of analog photography who prefer to use some practical tricks to give more depth and meaning to their photos and preserve their personal essence.
Johannesburg based photographer, Sheldon Evans, shares Adams’ vision and tries to help amateur photographers create more professional images without having to use many tools or sacrificing that personal touch through technology and manipulation. Evans focuses mainly on portraits, and each one of them conveys the strong feelings and expression from its models. Plus, they also look amazing and of high quality. He obtains this result with some practical effects that replace technology.
In a YouTube video, he reveals some tricks that will help anyone improve their technique and create fantastic portraits. These are the following:
Plastic bag softbox
Flash is the worst nightmare of any portrait photographer. The flash of light makes people feel uneasy and highlights all the negative features of the photographed subject. A softbox or lightbox helps you expand the light more consistently, but it can be expensive. To avoid expending too much money on professional equipment, you can simply use a transparent plastic bag and place it in front of the flash. Of course is not an elegant solution, but it is practical for brief sessions in small spaces.
Towel video slider
This hack is intended for videos or series of photos that capture the same angle from different perspectives. It’s a way to replace a dolly or a slider, so it will only work on a wide and smooth surface. You just have to place the camera over a towel and slide it with your hand carefully.
Fake bokeh effect
The bokeh effect is the effect produced by out of focus blurs or lights. Though it is relatively easy to achieve, things may get complicated if the subject you’re shooting is positioned in front of the lights and we want to highlight the background. This requires more specialized focuses and lenses. However, if the subject is too small, like a toy or an item, it is enough to download an image with bokeh, just to use it as the background. You could also do the same at full scale, but that’s a little bit more complicated.
Lens flares
Lens flares refer to a bright light effect that illuminates the subject or the background. You usually have to use special lightbulbs or multiple reflexes to achieve this effect. Evans’ alternative is quite simple: you just need a CD and place it in an appropriate angle, so that it reflects natural light or any other source of light at hand. This is just a matter of experimenting and moving the CD until you get the effect you want.
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Matchstick film burn
This hack is the most classic and also most common. It is usually sought to add a melancholy touch to the image. Film burns occurred spontaneously in old film when it was worn out. Now we can emulate this old effect placing a light match in front of the camera.
Ansel Adams experimented a lot to imprint these effects and feelings in his images. His work still resonates through contemporary photographers like Sheldon Evans. Both of them prove that expensive tools are not necessary to create meaningful images. You just need enough spirit to seek and find new ways. That’s all you need to understand and start your way in the world of photography to become a professional.
You can watch Evans’ video right below:
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Based on the article by:
CulturaInquieta
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Translated by Andrea Valle
