Make great images using basic tools - an example

Sometimes making great images is possible using very basic photographic tools. The key is to find something that speaks to you, approach the subject not as an external object but rather as a reflection of your disposition at the time and proceed in a way so that it remains in touch with your inner self until the final photograph is taken. As always in photography, you need to also draw on a bit of creativity and imagination. And of course, using the tools at hand skillfully - no matter how simple or sophisticated they are - is mandatory. As an example, I would like to illustrate how the photograph below came about.

I was taking a stroll with my Nikon D70s and the 18-70 kit lens attached to it enjoying the nice weather of early autumn and, in particular, the almost-transparent autumn sky of pure blue. I contemplated photographing the sky but it was obvious that just the sky itself would not make a good picture. I kept on walking at a leisurely pace keeping the idea of photographing the gorgeous sky at the back of my mind.

After a while I came across some nice yellow flowers sunbathing in the mellow sunshine of the lazy afternoon by the side of the road. I was naturally attracted and went over. That is when the idea of photographing the blue sky came back and I thought of photographing the flowers against the blue sky - the colours appeared to match beautifully.

I then started working the idea and, at first, thought of what a suitable composition for a bunch of bright yellow flowers and a blue sky as a background would be. However, everything I tried did not feel right and, remembering one of the old and major rules of photography - "simplify" - I decided to photograph only one flower up-close instead.

I then thought that it would be nice to include some clouds to further emphasize the easygoing yet nostalgic disposition. However, I did not want to include too many of them and make the picture too busy ("simplify", again), which meant that I would need to use the lens at 70mm to encompass as limited area of the sky as possible. I then searched for a group of clouds in the sky which would surround the flower neatly to create a harmonious composition. Further, I decided to use an aperture setting such that the flower would be fully in focus whereas the clouds would be slightly blurred - to create a 3D-like effect. Using the DOF (depth-of-filed) preview button I figured that at 70mm f/11 was perfect for this.

As I did not have any accessories or other photo gear with me, I simply held the camera in my right hand while upholding the flower in my left. Camera set in Aperture-priority mode (at f/11), the lens at 70mm, I placed the flower against the group of clouds I had chosen, adjusted its position to make sure the composition in the viewfinder was satisfactory, auto-focused at the flower using the central censor in AF-S mode and took a shot.

The first picture transpired that fill-flash had to be used as the shadows on the petals were too harsh. I then took several shots with the in-built flash on and identified that -0.7 compensation for flash output created the fill-flash effect I liked most (at -0.3 highlights were still blown out; at -1.0 the shadows were still a bit harsh).

This might appear like a long process but in actuality it took me only several minutes to take the final picture. As far as post-processing is concerned, only three (standard) adjustments were made. Namely, I changed White Balance slightly when converting the RAW file into TIFF format and then adjusted Levels a little and applied an appropriate amount of sharpening in Photoshop. Otherwise, the photograph above is as shot.

Really simple, would not you say?