Taking good photographs
This tool is designed to help you and your team achieve photographs with strong composition and which effectively capture moments of your Australia Day celebrations.
This tool includes:
Why use this tool?
- This tool can help you/community members/designated photographers create effective and interesting photographs.
- It provides a few simple strategies for taking effective shots when capturing one-off events.
- It suggests ways to make clear that the photos are of Australia Day celebrations.
Why take photographs?
- A picture really can be worth a 1000 words.
- Many of us are more comfortable with images than words.
- Visual records are valuable as reminders, records, memories, celebrations.
- You can use the images for cards, posters, invitations, t-shirts.
- You can capture aspects of your local community celebrations.
Photographs provide an ongoing resource for publicity, displays, publications. They are especially useful for sponsorship proposals and reports.
The most effective use of this tool would be to offer a workshop session in which you test the ideas. This could be a fun activity for a committee meeting or workshop. It is possibly more realistic to provide the following resources as guidelines to non-professional photographers to help them take photographs with strong compositions and which focus on key features of an event rather than on the ‘entire’ event.
The tool includes a ‘Composition and photography test’. This is a set of photographs and a few questions that budding photographers could use to test their understanding of composition.
RESOURCE ONE—Answers to three common questions from Australia Day organisers
If we plan to display, use or publish the photographs, are there any special requirements we need to know about?
Yes, there are three main requirements:
1. You must organise the completion of a photo release form/s if you plan to publish the photos in any form. This means that:
- you must obtain clearance to use /publish the photographs from the people in the photograph who can be easily seen identified
- you must provide them with some statement of the possible uses of the photographs
- the form must be signed by the person in the photograph.
This requirement protects you from charges of invasions of privacy, and ensures that the people in the photo understand what the photos are being used for. Completion of a photo release form protects both parties.
It is most convenient if the release form can be completed when the photographs are taken, but this it is not always easy to achieve.
2. If you display or publish photos with Indigenous people in them are you must provide a warning to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders.
- It is important that you are aware of and respect Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander’s belief systems when taking and using Australia Day photos.
- If you publish or display photos containing Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders, you must include at the start of the publication advice to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islanders that the photos may contain images of deceased persons and images of places that could cause sorrow.
Both requirements 1 and 2 above apply if the shots capture clearly and closely facial detail that makes identification easy. If the shots are long shots of groups the completion of a photo release is not required.
3. You must provide the opportunity for people to decline to be photographed.
- At large events, an announcement could be made (or a screen announcement projected) stating that photographs will be taken for publicity purposes.
- Organisers must make it clear that there is a designated area where no photographs will be taken.
- Organisers must announce that people who do not want to be photographed should move to a designated area where no photographs will be taken.
What can we do to have selected photos of our local Australia Day celebrations available for people to see and enjoy?
If you have the necessary permissions for the photographs to be used on web sites or in Australia Day or related publications (see question one):
- state and territory Australia Day councils and committees welcome receiving photographs of your event.
- photographs may also be posted on local council web sites. You will need seek permission for this from the local council.
- your local newspaper or local radio station website might publish your photographs both as a lead up to Australia Day celebrations and in a report on the event. You could be proactive by preparing ideas/notes for newspapers and then seeking some coverage.
Where can I find photos of Australia Day celebrations?
- The National Australia Day Council web site includes a photo gallery with a wide range of photographs.
- Most state and territory Australia Day web sites also have a photo gallery. Some simply link to the National Australia Day Council collection while others include more local and specific photographs as well.
- Some local councils add Australia Day photographs to their web sites. (You may need to use the search tool and try terms such as events, community events, festivals and celebrations).
RESOURCE TWO—Guidelines for taking effective photos of Australia Day celebrations
Thinking about shots
- We generally describe shots with reference to the amount of the frame that is occupied by the major subject of the photograph.
- Different types of shot have different effects and functions:
- long shots—generally for landscape or picturesque shots or to capture the scale of events
- mid shots—often used for general photos of medium to large sized groups
- group shots—are tighter shots of a specific group of people, often capturing the upper third of the bodywhere possible these should capture the upper third of the body
- close shots—shots in which the main subject of the photo takes up a large amount of the space within the frame.
Getting quality shots of events and people
Faces are most important feature:
- For most of us emotional states are most visible through expressions on the face (although body language is also a powerful means of expression).
- When you are attempting to capture participation, responses to events and interaction between people, their faces should be at the centre of the photograph.
- Close shots are generally more captivating than long shots:
- An active subject is essential to capture spectator interest in a photograph: Photographs are more interesting if the subjects are doing something. Avoid the standard portrait (head and shoulder) shots unless they are specifically required.
- In official ceremonies and awards presentations, the most fitting shot might be the static portrait shot from a low(ish) angle. The photographer will often not have much of opportunity to set up a more visually interesting composition.
Group shots
- In group shots it is best if the photographer stands slightly to one side of the middle person in the group. This helps avoid a stiff or staged look in the shot.
- If the photo is an organised (or formal) one, ask people to look at each other or at an object near the photographer rather than straight at the camera.
- If the camera is facing straight on to the group, shots often lack interest and any sense of life.
- Always think about the best possible placement of the camera.
- Of course there are times when all you can do is SHOOT!
Shots of large group events
- It is very difficult to get interesting photos of large events.
- Instead, try to select a specific activity (part of the whole) that is interesting.
- You can focus on that specific activity and, with a longish shot and using auto focus, you can also get the sense of the crowd in the background.
- You can capture the scale of an event if the photographer can shoot the event from some height.
Shots of people being presented with awards
- Photographs of people getting awards are usually shot in a standard way to include the key people and the award.
- Taking the shot from the side, rather than front on, can add interest.
- Photos are more captivating if the people are shot from the waist up so that some expression on the face is visible.
Quality of shots
Resolution:
- Take as high resolution as you can if you are taking digital photographs. This allows for later editing, selection of part/s of the photo, and cropping.
- If the resolution is high, selection of one part of the photo may still produce a photograph of sufficiently good quality for publication.
Light:
- Never shoot with the camera pointing towards the sun (unless using lights/flash) as it causes glare spots and dark shadows.
Quantity of shots
- Take more photos than you need. The more you have, the more likely you’ll find one you like.
What can we do to produce photographs that are instantly recognisable as pictures of Australia Day events?
To take a photograph which captures a specific event (or a part of it):
- position the camera so there is some sign of the event in the photograph (e.g. flag, banner, costume, stubby holder)
- you might need to ask for an object to be made more visible to the camera or for a person to make the object visible to the camera (but avoid the ‘over obvious’ or ‘in your face’ placement of the object unless you are taking a humorous or satiric shot)
- you may have to ask people to move around a little so that the photograph has an interesting composition while also capturing an Australia Day theme or celebration
- focus on some detail in the shot rather than trying to incorporate everything in the event or activity.
Remember the caption
- Photographs can be given captions (a brief description of the event under the photograph) to make the main subject of the photograph clear when the photo is used for publicity and promotion purposes.
RESOURCE THREE: Composition and photography test sheet
A brief test of your understanding, and some guides to looking at the photos.
- Look carefully at these photographs and answer the questions.
- When you read the comment sentences, think about whether you noticed the feature of the photograph that the comment asks you to focus on.
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1. What object is clearly ‘Australian’? 2. What effect does the curved line of people have on the interest of the photograph? 3. Note the people are shot basically form the waist up. 4. Note interaction between the people. 5. What sort of a shot is this: close-up? long shot? |
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1. This photograph appears to have been taken with the photographer further away from the main subject (the family) 2. What sort of a shot is this: close-up? long shot? 3. What does the background detail tell you? 4. Note that the group is ‘off centre’. Do you find this adds interest and why? |
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1. Is this photograph a close shot or a long shot? 2. What captures your attention with this photograph? 3. Would it be as effective if the main subject was in the centre of the photograph? |
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