I've always found looking at other photographer's contact sheets extremely educational. A successful image is most often the result of working a scene to find the best angle, show the subject in its best light, and wait for the best moment to press the shutter.
With that in mind, I thought we could start a thread where photographers share their thought process, with images, to reveal how they arrived at their final image.
Unfortunately I can't show more than two images in a post at once, so I've had to include links to those images.
Starting off, this is the scene I was presented with. I knew I wanted the pelican to be the subject, and that I wanted to show the environment around it, but I wasn't sure on the composition yet. Here I was hoping a seagull might come into the foreground and give the image some depth, but it didn't happen.
I tried for a few minutes to capture the seagulls doing something interesting but the details in the rocks were distracting and there was too much of nothing in the image and I couldn't find a pleasing composition.
I zoomed in on the Pelican itself (24-105mm lens) and thought a simple portrait might work given the nice clouds as a backdrop. Just then a seagull started harassing the pelican. You can tell I was caught off guard, I hadn't yet focused properly here (I was using manual focus). I was annoyed that I missed the shot and almost went back to autofocus, but I find manual focus far better in these situations. I don't want to risk the camera making a silly decision right when all the action is happening. Autofocus probably would have saved this image though!
https://i.imgur.com/tOe4ZMQ.jpg
The seagull made several passes over and around the pelican. I stopped down my lens even further to bring the background chimneys into sharp focus and I waited. This shot was humorous, and I love the expression on the seagull's face, but the photograph lacks balance:
https://i.imgur.com/I7DiXHR.jpg
But then the Pelican became more aggressive, this time when the seagull swooped in the Pelican tried to fend it off with its beak. This was a decent shot but look at the head of the seagull, it's tucked down and not really visible. I much preferred the posture of the seagull in the previous shot.
https://i.imgur.com/qHPd3Gk.jpg
Finally the seagull made another pass, and this time the pelican raised up its beak vertically, mirroring the chimney stacks behind it. The chimneys went from being an interesting background element to having a direct relationship with the Pelican itself. It ties the image together. The posture of the pelican and the seagull is pure luck and out of my control. I could only control the position that I was in, my framing, and the moment that I pressed the shutter. But when it all comes together it's well worth the waiting and experimenting.
Final image:
With that in mind, I thought we could start a thread where photographers share their thought process, with images, to reveal how they arrived at their final image.
Unfortunately I can't show more than two images in a post at once, so I've had to include links to those images.
Starting off, this is the scene I was presented with. I knew I wanted the pelican to be the subject, and that I wanted to show the environment around it, but I wasn't sure on the composition yet. Here I was hoping a seagull might come into the foreground and give the image some depth, but it didn't happen.
I tried for a few minutes to capture the seagulls doing something interesting but the details in the rocks were distracting and there was too much of nothing in the image and I couldn't find a pleasing composition.
I zoomed in on the Pelican itself (24-105mm lens) and thought a simple portrait might work given the nice clouds as a backdrop. Just then a seagull started harassing the pelican. You can tell I was caught off guard, I hadn't yet focused properly here (I was using manual focus). I was annoyed that I missed the shot and almost went back to autofocus, but I find manual focus far better in these situations. I don't want to risk the camera making a silly decision right when all the action is happening. Autofocus probably would have saved this image though!
https://i.imgur.com/tOe4ZMQ.jpg
The seagull made several passes over and around the pelican. I stopped down my lens even further to bring the background chimneys into sharp focus and I waited. This shot was humorous, and I love the expression on the seagull's face, but the photograph lacks balance:
https://i.imgur.com/I7DiXHR.jpg
But then the Pelican became more aggressive, this time when the seagull swooped in the Pelican tried to fend it off with its beak. This was a decent shot but look at the head of the seagull, it's tucked down and not really visible. I much preferred the posture of the seagull in the previous shot.
https://i.imgur.com/qHPd3Gk.jpg
Finally the seagull made another pass, and this time the pelican raised up its beak vertically, mirroring the chimney stacks behind it. The chimneys went from being an interesting background element to having a direct relationship with the Pelican itself. It ties the image together. The posture of the pelican and the seagull is pure luck and out of my control. I could only control the position that I was in, my framing, and the moment that I pressed the shutter. But when it all comes together it's well worth the waiting and experimenting.
Final image:
Last edited:
