FART for Fantastic Photos

© 2010 KenRockwell.com. All rights reserved

FARTing

I take my best pictures when I FART first.

FARTing helps us remember to make a strong, meaningful photo instead of just snapping away and winding up with a lot of boring, thoughtless snapshots.

FART is a mnemonic for a creative process.


F: Feel

A good photo starts when you get the feeling to take a picture. You're walking around, and come across something that seems worthy of a photo.

Bad photographers just take a picture at this point.

Maybe they get something, but often they don't, because they haven't identified what it is exactly that caught their eye. These images expect the viewer to figure it out, and guess what: viewers won't bother. They just move on to the next shot.

It's never a subject, like "a Ferrari." What catches our mind's eye and leads to a great photo is always something more abstract. What attracts us to Ferraris as photo subjects is their bold, solid, primary colors and their brilliantly pure styling.


A: Ask

Once you've got a hankering to stop and take a picture, stop and ask yourself exactly what it is that made you stop.

Is it a bold color? Is it a crazy juxtaposition? Is it the wild light? What is it, exactly, that made you want to take a picture?

Is it the brilliant Italian design, lines, motion and proportion of the Ferrari? If so, what exactly about the design caught your eye?


R: Refine

Now that you have hopefully gotten some sort of clue as to what it is that attracted your eye, the hard part is to refine the image to emphasize whatever it is.

If we can emphasize whatever it was that stopped us, the photo will be far more likely to stop others and make them say WOW!

In other words, if we liked something, was it because it had a weird texture? If so, be sure to show that texture as boldly as you can.

If you like the color of something, don't be a wimp: fill the whole frame with it.

If there is an interesting relationship between two things, be sure to do everything you can to make sure that that is what takes over the photo.

Get rid of everything that isn't directly related to whatever it is that made you want to take the photo.

Compose as strongly as you can. Eliminate everything that isn't directly related to the point of the photograph.

In the case of a Ferrari, if you don't FART before snapping, you're likely to make another boring photo of the whole car from eye level.

If you FART first, you'll ask yourself what is it about the Ferrari that catches your eye, and when you can Answer that, maybe wind up with a close-up of those big round Hella tail lights, or maybe realize that it was the redhead driving it, and instead, head out to lunch with her and save the photo shoot for later.

It's never about the obvious subject. It's always something more basic and subconscious that draws us to want to make a picture of something.

You always can refine more and more, and as you do, your photos become stronger. If it was the redhead that caught your eye, what exactly about her caught your eye? If it was her hair, what exactly about her hair grabbed you?

The better you can Answer and keep Refining this, the more your photos will grab people, be they you, your friends and family, contest judges or photo and art buyers.


T: Take

This is the easy part. Take the picture.

Be sure the exposure and color (WB) are OK, and you're done.


Reprise

If you forget to FART first, as most people do, your photos will usually be boring.

FART first, and you'll make better pictures.

Forgetting to Ask yourself "why am I taking this picture" is the leading cause getting our pictures back, and having to ask ourselves "what was I thinking?"

Because we forget to ask ourselves before we take a photo, all we get are boring snapshots, regardless of how fancy our camera or how involved our techniques.

Ask yourself first, do your best to Refine and simplify your image, and when you Take it, you should never have to ask yourself later "what was I thinking?" You'll get much better images because you were thinking.

source: KenRockwell.com

jim paredes

"artist-I sing, write, teach, photograph, and live my art! Most of all, I AM!"

Jaime Ramon "Jim" Paredes [born 31 August 1951] is a Filipino musician, producer, educator, writer, television personality, workshop facilitator, and activist best known for being one-third of the APO Hiking Society, along with Danny Javier and Boboy Garovillo.

Paredes' most prominent solo work is 1986' "Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo", which has come to be known as the anthem of the bloodless 1986 People Power Revolution. It was recorded by 15 Filipino artists in April of that year, and its English version "A New and Better Way" was launched in Australia a few months later. In recognition of its significance, the lyrics of the song are embedded on a wall of the Our Lady of Edsa Shrine, which commemorates the 1986 revolution.

Ansel Adams

Ansel Easton Adams [February 20, 1902 – April 22, 1984] was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park. One of his most famous photographs was Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California.

With Fred Archer, Adams developed the Zone System as a way to determine proper exposure and adjust the contrast of the final print. The resulting clarity and depth characterized his photographs and the work of those to whom he taught the system. Adams primarily used large-format cameras, despite their size, weight, setup time, and film cost, because their high resolution helped ensure sharpness in his images.

[source: wikipedia]

There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.