There are four ways to get rid of visual clutter now the most obvious ways to simply crop it out. Take your camera and move physically closer to the subject, or if moving closer is impractical or simply not possible. Then you can switch to a longer focal length lens, which will narrow the angle of view and achieve a similar result of cutting extraneous space around the subject, which is what I did for this image. This is a picture of a bear's poor on dim, particular, its claws on to focus your attention on what is my story. I've used to telephoto lens to crop out all the information. There's not relevant, including most of the bear. Now there's enough information to tell you it's a bear, but I've drawn your eye to the subject. I want you to see the poor now. Cropping works fine with peripheral distractions, stuff that's going on around the subject. What about clutter? Thats directly behind that's not so easy to physically remove. Instead, you have to remove it visually. This is an imag...

e of a kingfisher perched on the stalk of grass. There's not much doubt about that, but look behind the Kingfisher. What I saw was a mask, clump of branches, leaves, bushes and tree trunks. But you can't see that because I've removed all that detail by blurring it. Human beings a program to ignore things that a blood, the greater the blur, the more we ignore it. Now in photography, we can exploit this aspect of our makeup to visually remove distracting clutter that we can't lose physically. Now, another tool you have at your disposal is selective exposure, and a great example of this is a silhouette. Technically, a silhouette is under exposed. But artistically, the deep shadow hides distracting details, which is texture of pattern and color in orderto emphasize shape, this is a giraffe on like the Kingfisher. There's no doubt about that. You can tell by its shape, but can you tell me, for example, the sub species or its age? The answer to both these questions is no, because I haven't given you that information. I've hidden it in the under exposure. Now, with selective exposure, you can also go the opposite way and over exposed bright tones. In this example, I've over exposed the snowy backdrop to remove any semblance of texture to create an artistic interpretation of the scene. The final way of removing distracting visual elements is to use the principles of design. On a perfect example is black and white photography of the five basic elements of design, line, shape, color, pattern and texture. Color is the most powerful to the extent it overwhelms all others is comparable to the power of vision in the five human senses. And just to show you what I mean as an experiment, close your eyes for a moment and notice all the sounds going on around you that you were oblivious to when your eyes were open. As vision overpowers, our other four senses. So color overpowers the other four elements of design. And here's an example. I was watching this hippo very late in the day at a waterhole in Kruger National Park. Now in color, it's a poor snapshot, a record of the event. So why did I take it to answer that question? Let's see what happens when I turn it black and white. Notice how the shakiness and texture of the hippos head suddenly stands out. That's what I saw, texture and shape of my story, and I've removed color to help tell that story in a visually powerful way. I'm going to end this module not with my words, but the words of the legendary photographer William a lot. It's how you see It's the old Hemingway house, which you cutaway cutaway kind of way to get rid of the stuff you don't need your responsible for every little bit of that space within the picture. In other words, great photographs are defined by what you leave out rather than what you keep in No.

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Chris Weston

Chris Weston became a professional wildlife photographer in 2001, changing his career to follow instead his passion for what he describes as “the extraordinary behaviour of animals”.

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topics covered in this class

Beginner Fundamentals Digital Photography

Ratings and Reviews

Edmund Cheung

Perhaps the style of presentation and simple, short, and direct messaging does not "jive" with some; but others may really love this. Yes the production of each episode is stylized and perhaps a bit formal (like a TV Show?), but there is something to be said about it. Perhaps this is not meant for professional photographers? I think of myself as decent amateur / high level photographer. I found lots of great nuggets of wisdom and inspiration from this. Especially when I an in a rut for creativity. Yes I have heard all these concepts and ideas before. BUT it is always great to hear and see a different way of presentation and voice. Please do NOT take the naysayer reviews as the end all. You should judge for yourself and watch a few episodes. If the style and content click for you, I would highly recommend this course.

Kai Atherton

While I am perhaps more advanced in my photography then this course. It is always great to be able to go back to fundamentals and remind ourselves of the basic principles, and even camera function. I thoroughly enjoyed this course and Chris's other. It is a great motivational jumpstart when lacking fresh creative idea's.

Abdullah Alahmari

Thanks a lot to mr. Chris Weston This course is great and It is a 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 course for me. Beside the other course ( mastering the art of photography ) both courses are Complementing to each other and highly recommended.

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Getting Rid of Clutter

Getting Rid of Clutter

Lesson Info

20. Getting Rid of Clutter

Lessons

Your 10,001st Photograph

Camera Gear

Piece of Gear We Always Forget

Be a Storyteller

Finding Ideas For Photography - Know Your Subject

Cae Study - Why Are Zebras Black and White Striped

Photograph What You Love

See the Extraordinary in Ordinary Things

Have an Opinion

See With a Child’s Eyes

Tell Your Story

Find a Needle in the Haystack

Lions Hunting Under Star Trails

Ansel Adams and Visualisation in Practice

Keeping an Open Mind and Thinking on Your Feet

Case Study - The Maternal Bond

Don’t Tell the Same Old Story

Relevance

#1 Reason Photographs Fail