Photo of the Month

This month, NYI Associate Dean Jerry Rice has written the Photo of the Month Review. Jerry's keen eye can help readers decipher any type of photograph. A lifelong lover of fine photography, when Jerry talks about photographs, everyone at NYI listens. We know you'll enjoy Jerry's observations on this month's photograph.

At NYI we teach our students a simple Three-Step Method for setting up every photograph they shoot:

• Step 1. Know your subject.
• Step 2. Focus attention on your subject.
• Step 3. Simplify.

This simple Three-Step Method is the secret of every successful photograph ever taken. We teach our students to consider these three steps every time they look into the viewfinder. To consider them before they press the shutter button.

When our students mail in their photographs for analysis by their instructor, the instructor starts by commenting on what we call the three Guidelines. Of course, the instructor analyzes other elements of the picture too – focus, exposure, filters, etc. But the key to every good photo – and the essential element of every great photo – is adherence to these three Guidelines.

How do they work? How can you apply them? It's beyond the scope of this Web site to teach you every nuance, but you will get an inkling from the Photo of the Month Analysis that follows.

Picture of The Month: Landscape

Location: Taichung, Taiwan

Photo by NYI Student Mei-Min (Zoe) Peng

I have heard some ignoramuses say that there is nothing to a landscape photograph. Find some pretty scenery, aim your auto-everything camera in that direction, and that's all you have to do except press the shutter release. The absurdity of the remark should be painfully obvious to anyone who has struggled, usually much more than once, to make a good landscape photograph. Come along with me on a nature hike, bring your camera and a peanut butter sandwich, and together (you and I) we'll explore this complex problem of scenic landscape photography. And I promise that we'll be back by nightfall.

But before we start our hike let me remind you again of the three well known NYI Guidelines: strong subject matter, focusing attention on the subject, and then simplifying the picture by eliminating all that is unnecessary and keeping all that is important. And I'll be referring to those Guidelines as time goes by.

The photographer in this case is NYI Student Mei-Min (Zoe) Peng. The image was taken near the the city of Taichung, Taiwan.

The principal subject, the general subject, is the beauty of the land on this particularly lovely day. But a case could be made for the people on the pathway being the subjects of the photograph. Also, it is possible to consider the horizon extending from the gazebo on the left to three houses on the right as being subject matter. In other words, it is not really clear as to what the actual subject is. So, let me put a little bug in your ear - not tarantula size but a little one. Could you be the subject and the life around you be the things to which you react? It's a possibility; at least, some food for thought.

Since I have not been able to name a precise subject in this picture suppose I direct your attention to some of the techniques used to focus attention on any subjects shown here. Remember that focusing attention is your second NYI Guideline.

Halfway from the gazebo to the couple in the right center is a diagonal line that runs from the path itself down to the lower left hand edge of the picture. It looks like another path that bisects the horseshoe-shaped one. It creates a kind semi –circular island and calls attention to the couple in the lower right center.

Now let your eyes drift upward to the strong diagonal horizon line extending from the gazebo to the several buildings in the upper right center at the top of the hill. There is a line of trees, possibly poplar ones, that seem almost like pilgrims ascending to a shrine. And if you look very closely you will see some real people, two of them, also ascending toward the buildings. I don't know about you but I seem to hear a rhythmic chant, a mantra that might sound like those of Buddhist priests in Lhasa, Tibet.

You should consider the size relationships here between land and sky. As interesting as the sky is it still is the less important part of this picture. That will not always be the case, of course. There will be times when the sky clearly should dominate the scene, the land playing subordinate role.

If the photographer Mei-Min Peng had accompanied us on our little hike perhaps we could inquire how the photograph might be simplified. Frankly, I'm not sure. Are you?

In any case, I hope that you'll agree that bringing along the peanut butter sandwich was a good idea.