Photography Tips | Minimalist Photography | Keep It Simple

© 2013 Wazari Wazir | Mother and Daughter at Habu Boh tea Plantation | Cameron Highlands

Sometimes the best things in life is to keep it simple, I think so does goes to photography. There is a place for minimalism and there is a place for a little bit of context in photography. Sometimes the simple photograph does not tell the whole story since we have already crop out any unwanted attention in the photograph and when it is simple, the visual story become simple also.

This photograph may look simple, just a mother which is my wife and our newborn daughter against a green tea plantation at Cameron Highlands. But if you look closer, it is not that simple, a lot of things are put into consideration to make this photograph.

Among others is that, the choice of clothing colours that my wife wore on that day. It is not by coincidence that she wore that orange colours sweater, we plan this shot to make sure that my wife will be able to stand out in the photograph, despite her small presence in the frame. The idea is to have a great contrast between the subject and the background or the surroundings. Bright colours always attract attentions.

Then I choose a background which have a nice pattern, to make it look much more interesting, the line create a perspective here. The other thing if you notice I choose or ask my wife to position my daughter to where the light falls on her face. I want my daughter to be the centre of attraction here and then people will gradually look at her mother.

About the composition, I choose to follow the “rule of third”, meaning that I will not put my subject at the centre of the frame, but a little bit closer to the right and a little bit closer to the left.

Other than that the choice of aperture also play an important roles here, I choose f/4 for this shot. I don’t want the background to be completely out of focus, I need some details about it, hence I choose f/4 instead of f/2.8 which my lens have.

To make your photograph simple, may not sound so simple enough, it is not as simple as taking your camera from your camera bag, point your camera at your subject and then just press the shutter. We choose the right colours of clothing even before we get out of the hotel door. I’ve a vision back at home on what type of a photograph that I need, I did not plan it at the location but I planned it well ahead in advance.

Simplicity in photography may not sound so simple enough, don’t you think so…