Photography is not just a hobby but it is more of an art. You can teach someone how to take pictures but you can not teach someone how to take good pictures. I know it sounds cliché but sadly its true.
I think I have some sense to capture beauty or beautiful things, and I admit I am no way an exceptional photographer, but I am a very good photographer in my own rights. So, over the past 3-4 years since I developed this hobby, I found out that I can actually take good photographs. The way I approach to take a picture sounds quite simple.
Usually I have some kind of idea in my mind that I want to express thorough the photograph. Once I know what kind of shot I want to take, I check out the object of focus, then I check out the surrounding and then I frame my shot. This is straight forward if the object of interest is a not an animal or human being, as the motion is reduced or at least can be controlled to some extent. But, taking pictures of people in the outdoor setting or even indoors poses a great challenge, and at that time willingly or unwillingly I have to resort to either paparazzi technique or be film director.
I know paparazzi doesn't really sound right but when the people know you and you know them it is the best way to capture the natural expressions, and any photographer would admit that it is not purely luck to get a good picture but also involves a lot of skill. You have to follow the movements of the person and try to capture best possible moments if not all, and doing this involves a great deal of skill and patience. This is technique is something you simply can't teach a person, you develop it yourself.
The director method, sounds simpler than the paparazzi as you are in complete control of the shot except for the background. You can ask the person or people to act in a certain way. The task is fairly easy if you are the camera man as well as the director. Doing both, gives you total control over the shot you take, and I would say I had fair amount of success doing this thing. What I found it most difficult was to get a good shot of myself when I give my camera to someone show that person a sample shot, and ask him/her to take a similar shot. Earlier, I used to think that it would be a simple job to perform. But no, it wasn't I tried several different times and to my no avail whenever I instructed on how to take a particular shot, I would never get it the way it was supposed to be. To give you a simple example of what I am talking about, check these two pictures 1 and 2. Even if you ignore the motion blur in the second picture you would get my point, and this is one of the reason why I don't want to be in a photograph….if I am using my camera.
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