Last Updated on 06/18/2018 by Mark Beckenbach
Bored with your photos? Try this easy pro tip to change the way you see and frame scenes and get instantly more interesting snaps!
Once in a while, we feel the need to shake up our routine, styles, and techniques to improve our photography. If you feel your work could use something new and different, you might want to try out this quick pro tip. It’s so easy that you probably haven’t thought of it before!
In a recent video, photographer and vlogger Pierre Lambert shared a quick tip he learned from a pro photographer friend some years ago: simply put stuff in front of your lens! At first, he wasn’t really sure about how it would make instantly better photos. But looks like he’s finally nailed this trick after some time and decided to share in turn with his viewers, demonstrating it through a photo walk around Chicago. Watch and learn!
So, how does it work? The idea, according to Pierre, is to put stuff in front of your lens to help you refocus your image, create unique framing styles, and draw your viewer’s eyes to the subject or scene of your narrative. As we can see in his example, this trick can be particularly handy for street photography, where you can use various objects (even your hand!) around you to essentially “cut off” of the distracting elements around the scenes.
This technique has actually been used a lot by portrait photographers to create dreamy effects with lots of bokeh and smears of light flares. The most popular practitioner of this trick is actually — yep, you guessed it — Brandon Woelfel.
In a post for ISO 1200, Pierre also says this trick can help other situations like isolating subjects when shooting with a wide angle lens, adding some bokeh effects in your frame, or when you’re simply bored with photography and want to try something new and fun. Other tips he shared to make the most out of this trick were to use the lowest aperture, use transparent and shiny objects for interesting shots, and make sure direct light hits the shiny and transparent stuff as you place them in front of your lens.
Do check out Pierre Lambert’s YouTube channel if you enjoyed this tutorial and want to see more of his videos.