Photography has gotten a lot easier in many ways. We no longer have to deal with processing film, developing negatives into pictures, or having to worry about choosing the right f/stop and shutter speed. With that said, what I hear people complain about most is getting a “good” picture. I tell them for that they still need an eye for what makes a good image.

Way back when I was teaching photography for the University of Maine, I used to begin each course in Beginning Photography by telling my students, you have to train your eye to see as the camera sees. That’s a lot more difficult than it sounds. Something important to remember is when taking pictures, we’re still dealing with two dimensions; length and width. There’s no depth in digital images, although maybe someday we’ll be able to take 3-D images with our phones.

It’s good to remember the best cameras we have are the ones we’re born with, our eyes. We see things in three dimensions because we have two eyes. In photography this is called “depth of field” when everything in the image is clear and sharp. Things look different when we close one of our eyes. This reduces our depth of field. Try it and you’ll discover it becomes harder to see things in the background clearly. Artists painting a portrait often close one eye to achieve a better perspective of their subject because they are also dealing with a two-dimensional medium.

A camera, be it an old fashion one like a 35mm single lens reflex, or one built into your iPhone, is basically an extension of your eye. It has a lens, like your eye, and light sensitive electronics you might compare to the eye’s retina. You might think of your eyelid as being like the camera shutter because its function is to let light in. The light is regulated by the pupil which opens and closes depending on how much light there is. Got all that?

So, what makes a good picture? A lot depends on what kind of image you’re trying to capture. Some of the best people pictures I’ve taken are the ones I’ve taken when the subject is unaware they are being photographed, although I’ve taken some pretty good posed pictures, too. Here are a few tips for taking better people pictures: Rule number one, closeups make better pictures. The face, or faces as the case may be, are what you’re after so get close. I like to photograph people from the shoulders or waist up.

One of the best rules for taking outdoor pictures is to photograph with the sun over your shoulder. In doing so you’re almost guaranteed to get better pictures. Remember too, that you can hold your camera or iPhone both vertically and horizontally. Try taking a picture both ways. Landscapes are best photographed when a third of the picture is foreground, a third is background and a third is sky. Got a question? Email me and maybe I can offer a suggestion.  

Phil Di Vece earned a B.A. in journalism studies from Colorado State University and an M.A. in journalism at the University of South Florida. He is the author of three Wiscasset books and is a frequent news contributor to the Wiscasset Newspaper and Boothbay Register. He resides in Wiscasset. Contact him at pdivece@roadrunner.com