Perspective

A flower iced over after a rare ice storm in Fayetteville, North Carolina January 11, 2011. P.S. Friends don't let friends shoot dead center.

   I like this photo. But I hate how I composed it. At least my subject is clear. Someone, who is not named me, could argue it's framed; the ice kind of frames up the flower. But luckily for me this post isn't about composition  [wait, every post is about composition] this post isn't going to focus on composition [there I like that better] it's about perspective.

It always amazes me how rarely I see a people with camera's bend their knees.

   What probably doesn't readily jump out at you at first glace, maybe second glace, is that this little flower is on the ground. About 68 inches [that's a guesstimate] below where my eyes normally sit. I had to get all the way down on the ice for this shot.

   A brief note about color temperature; notice how a part of the ice just behind the flower  is white and the ice in the foreground is blue? Yeah, that's because the flower was in the shade and I didn't use a flash. This resulted in two light sources at two different color temperatures. Had I used a flash to overpower the shade the foreground ice would have been white as well. Of course, the blue ice in the WAY back still would have been blue. but really all that means is that i needed two flashes!

I find that the photos that capture me the most are ones that aren't taken from the height of 5 to 7 feet.

   What do I mean by that? Well quite simply the photos most people take while standing up don't show the world from a unique perspective but rather an ordinary perspective. Of course there are many great photos to be had from an ordinary perspective, but the ones that really capture, more often than not come from unique perspectives. 

   Luckily for us, unique perspectives aren't that hard to find. Climb a ladder, jump up on a truck, bend your knees, heck you can even lay down with your camera. You don't need to lean out of a Blackhawk [But it doesn't hurt to be someplace unique] for a unique perspective.