Change Your World by Changing Your Angle!

What kind of angle do you usually use to shoot your shots? I do understand that everyone uses different camera angles due to the subject one likes to capture. However, what I always try to do when I shoot is to have a low angle. When you hold your camera and shoot with the low angle, you can definitely gain a different result on your film! You can change your world by changing your angle!

This photo was taken in the flower garden; it is tulip as you can see. Tulips can be high as 30cm to 70cm, but don’t you feel how dynamic this photo is? This tulip seems to be growing up like a giant! The reason why is that I shot this from very low angle by the flower. When you look up a subject, you can give such different perspective to the photo. I will be explaining how to shoot with lower angle on this article!

Different angle
Take a look photos below. Each two photos are taken at the same location, but then I changed the shooting angle. You can tell how we can change the photo perspective by changing the angle.

Looking into the detail by the same location

Now, let’s take a look. I prepared photo shots with same subject, from the same location, but with different shooting angles.

First one is not too bad, but then you don’t want to include the power line on the right. (1.5m from the flower). Now, change the angle a bit lower. Second shot (1m from the flower), trees got cleared out, but power line is up there. Third shot (50cm from the flower) got perfect subject line, but still seems to be busy around the flowers. Now, make it even lower; fourth shot (20cm from the flower) has a clear shot of sky and flowers, subject balance is good. It’s a very clear and dynamic shot we got!

As you can see, you can gain two things such as ‘getting different view’ and ‘hiding subject(s) you don’t want by changing your shooting angle.

How to shoot

1. Choose the best background.

First, you need to decide where to shoot. You can use any camera you like.

When you make the composition, make sure to choose the clear background. Try to exclude any man-made building or object(s) you can see. And, lighting! If it is sunny outside and very nice weather, make sure to avoid the backlight, that way you can capture the blue clear sky as a background. (Unless you are shooting the light through the flower petals, that is also a different perspective you can get!) Otherwise you cannot get the good lighting on your shot!

2. Choose the flower with nice shape.

Next, choose the flower with nice shape and color.

You should not only look the shape of the flower, but also look the way flowers line up and mingle with other flowers. Have a glance from the lower angle!

3. Go lower and lower, shoot from the ground!

Did you find any good location to shoot?

Now, it is time to shoot! Crouch down or lie down on the ground and look up the subject, and shoot. If you still see some subject(s) you don’t want to include, then go even lower, try to hide it (them) behind of flowers! As you are getting closer to the flower, make sure to have right focus setting on your camera if your camera is zone-focusing camera!

4 Advanced skill -MX

Another MX tip as usual!

I would recommend MX shot to make your photos more creative. If you use a Splitzer, even better! You can create the shots with low angle MX splizter shot! It is touch shot to take since you are in difficult position to keep, good luck!

(Please also refer my another articles about MX, Multiple Exposures with Flowers! and Life's Daily Photo Walk with MX Skills)

5. Try with different subjects!

Try the low angle with different subjects as well! You can also hold the camera by putting it to the ground, you will be amazed with the result you can get! (I will write another article about it in near future!)

Hope this helps! Enjoy your season and hopefully, you can try these techniques when you see the beautiful flowers in this coming season!

Enjoy your Spring!

written by hodachrome on 2013-04-20 #gear #tutorials #spring #lc-a #camera #flower #low #angle #tipster #low-angle #translation #technique #frame #lomography #article #skill #framing #hana #ratseye #lowangle #hodachrome #whynotwinnipeg