More on Unusual Angles
Remember back in secret eight, I discussed looking for unusual angles? Here are some tips I received from my subscribers on other ways to include unusual angles in your photos.
- Hold your camera at waist height and click while walking around. Some photos will be blurred, but you can usually find some that are very good. This works particularly well in sunlight when walking around a tourist area.
- When shooting any subject with a lot of straight lines (like someone on a fence), turn the camera 45 degrees to give a diagonal look to your image that enhances the mood of the picture.
- Sometimes the best images need to be taken from unusual locations such as from the top of a building (for a birds eye shot) or right down on the ground. Also point the camera different ways .including straight up or straight down. Don’t be afraid to try different angles. Placing your camera at angles of 30 degrees from the horizontal or vertical lines work well.
- When finding that great angle, don’t worry about looking the fool! Being self-conscious will affect your ability to find great angles, your concentration, and maybe even the quality of your photographs.
- You don’t need to go to extremes to find a great angle - even standing on a step, or getting down onto one knee can make a lot of difference.
- To make small things look large, lie on the ground and hold your camera towards the sky. This will make your small subject look like a giant! This also works well for tall buildings such as lighthouses.
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This is a great tip! I always have a lot of fun playing with the angle of a picture! it adds energy and Feeling into the photo! thanks for the great tip!
September 18, 2006 @ 8:05 am
great tip. will try this to help
my photography at functions. hope to
see fascinated clients
September 28, 2006 @ 1:50 am
Your digital photography tips have been extremely helpful for someone like me who is just starting in this wonderful and exciting hobby. You make the experience more enjoyable. Thank you.
October 1, 2006 @ 2:33 am
This tip is definite one that can be used by anyone, not just photographers. I took some pics with a little tilt to them and they turned out really good….Thanks.
October 10, 2006 @ 8:18 am
that is cool hopefully you will send that tip on how to add an image to another photo thanks alot have a blessed day all
October 13, 2006 @ 11:40 pm
Some weeks ago I took a great shot of a sunrise, “cutting” out the roof of my neighbour’s house by tilting my camera along the line of the roof.
I also like to get down to “grassroot” level at kids’ birthday parties. It makes for great pictures because they pay immediate attention to this adult lying on her stomach with a camera in hand.
Ouch, it does sound weird, but hey, the results are sometimes amazing.
Thanks for all the great tips, David and hope you are feeling a lot better by now.
Greetings from South Africa
October 14, 2006 @ 8:14 am
Thanks for the advice, I love exploring different angles. Im anxious to try the first one
October 17, 2006 @ 1:31 pm
I’m doing these angular takes. Shots for my son Luke, our neighbor’s cat and to some of my plants.
It’s really cool.
Thanks for this tip, David.
October 24, 2006 @ 9:18 am
Thank you for the tip on Angles.
Because I am disabled,
normally I prop myself against something to take photos, but now I sit in the chair with my arm on the rest to keep the camera steady and just follow with the camera where ever my little Great Grandson goes.
I am pleased with most of the results.
November 7, 2006 @ 4:40 am
Great tip, will try and let you know the result.
November 13, 2006 @ 11:49 pm
hi, thanks for these great comments, just wondering if we could have some tips on achieving a crystal clear white background, thanks, mart x
November 14, 2006 @ 6:16 am
“Off angles” are always fun. At parties or other crowded events I like to hold my camera above my (& everybody elses) head for some unusual candids. I also play with different aperature settings and zoom focal lengths. This “blind” shooting my only yield a small percentage of decent pics but…Wow! Well worth the effort. Thank you David for all your tips and accompanying comments.
November 22, 2006 @ 11:51 am
Sometimes it’s nice to give children a small camera each to take photographs. Some, not all, of the results are amazing. They really get stuck in and go crazy. Obviously giving them all a NIKON D200 is a little costly but a small disposable camera will do fine. You can play camera games at a kiddies party where they take pictures of each other pulling faces and posing. This gets them right into the idea of a camera and they all want to be part of a great shot. If there is a child who doesnt want to play, well the other children will bully him or her and taunt them, but at least there will be some great shots of a very upset child. lol hahahahahahaahahahahahahaha
December 4, 2006 @ 4:42 am
this are great tips.
December 4, 2006 @ 11:21 am
I have taken alot of angular photos. People are usually the most impressed with these. Bridal portraits, senior portraits and children are great to use an angle on!
December 6, 2006 @ 8:10 am
You’re tips are really great… They are very simple yet the result is very impressive. They are great for beginners like me….
Holding your camera waist height is like using a lomo camera and the result is really awesome.
Thanks David!
December 20, 2006 @ 2:20 pm
Thanks for your great tips, I have learnt so much. I have taking photographs are far as I can remember.
December 21, 2006 @ 2:32 am
Hi Thank you for these tip’s they have been very usefull thank you for thanking the time to send them to use
Steve ( UK )
January 2, 2007 @ 11:38 pm
Cool tips 4 cool pics!
January 12, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Good Tips !
January 26, 2007 @ 2:52 am
thanks a million all the tips from one to date has being of great improvement to me
January 31, 2007 @ 6:06 am
Been trying out all different angles,great on streams and beaches.
March 2, 2007 @ 4:49 am
Your site is fantastic,thank you so much for the tips. My photos are turning out a lot better.
March 23, 2007 @ 4:16 am
Shooting nose to nose with your subject is great too. Whether it is eye level with you or a kitten four inches up from the floor. I end up on the floor or ground sprawled out on my stomach to get nose to nose with the animal, plant, or bug.
March 23, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Hello David,
I just want to thank you for all the helpful tips you’ve been sending me.
Have not the had the time to try all of them out yet.
I sure appreciate all the help i can get.
I am just a grandma who loves taking pictures.
Thankls again….Ena
March 30, 2007 @ 6:06 am
I just want to thank you for all the helpful tips you’ve been sending me. am a student/ graphic designer and photographer and trust me your tips has real broaden my horizon and how i see images in my view finder.thank you so much i cant wait to purchase ur book
thank you
March 31, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
Thanks for the very useful info. Much of this applies to both Film & Digital photography but its nice to have info specific to the new digital age since I am now doing quite a bit of my photography digitally. It’s a different world to “Wet Photography”. Now I can do this without the space and requirements of an actual darkroom.
Thanks again,
Gerald.
April 4, 2007 @ 5:55 am
Thanks for your tips David. I appreciate the help. Had a Nikon in college 20 some odd years ago. Decided to get a digital slr 2 years ago. I am so happy I did. This world has so much beauty in it and the slr brings it out for us to see. Thanks again, G.S.
April 10, 2007 @ 4:14 am
Thanks for all the tips folks. For those near ground level shots (like flowers or toddlers), use a mini-pod or tripod w/out the legs extended. Place a stool behind it and kneel down and lean against the stool. That way you’ll have your hands free to manipulate the camera and its controls.
April 13, 2007 @ 11:15 am
David, you are one of a kind. You obviously enjoy sharing your immense knowledge of photography. Like many others, I really enjoy all your tips, in particular your interviews with other Pros. Thank you!
April 13, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
David, I almost 200% agree with your 4th point - self-consciousness. I once over self-conscious whether I would look like a fool until I made myself to think that I’m a transparent object and free myself to more creative photos! Really appreciate your great works!
April 20, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Thanks for the helpful tips. I take pictures of kids for a living and always enjoy changing up the angles. I got some wonderful pictures of kids the other day. They were standing up on the edge of a deck about two feet off the ground, and I sat down low - shooting up at them. I also threw my large reflector on the ground with me, angled up at the kids and got some fascinating key light.
May 11, 2007 @ 10:25 pm
Thanks for all the great ideas! Your suggestions are always helpful and it is fun to see the changes in my photo taking. I will look forward to your next e-mail.
May 21, 2007 @ 10:19 am
yeahh its help me a lot.. thanks dude..
June 21, 2007 @ 2:33 pm
Shooting with a compact Point-and-Shoot digital camera especially with a swivelling LCD gives you an advantage over tight spots where bulky SLR cannot go. I had at one time able to squeeze my lens atop a fence and swivelled my LCD, framed my shot looking over the top, without stepping up and able to shoot my subject.
August 5, 2007 @ 2:23 am
I learned from my 9 year old granddaughter. She got up very close to people’s faces from below. Sometimes the tops of their heads were cut off but usually the shots were fantastic. Give your camera to a child and watch what they do.
August 25, 2007 @ 6:10 am
I’m going to have fun with this one.!
Thanks so much for your photo tips.
My motto: ‘We learn something new everyday!!’
Thanks,
September 7, 2007 @ 3:17 am
Thanks David for the tips they are very useful. I use the different settings on the camera and the pictures are great. Thanks
September 7, 2007 @ 10:02 am
when i first got my eso rebel g the first place i whent to was the world trade center i forget the photographer preson but i remeber what he said take your camera and lay flat on the ground and look up and thats what i did i laid flat down on the ground and took the pic looking up a the trade center it was so cool so tks you for the advise
September 10, 2007 @ 4:08 pm
your tips have been good, but being a source of information on imagery, you need to explain your tips with a rich source of diagrams and images.
October 21, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
Thanks for the hints about new angles! It´s really nice to remind some of this ideas for new angles! Another great angle is turn the camera up side down… try it and see the cool results!
November 17, 2007 @ 6:27 am
Great tips…Must give a try.Thanks!
Regarding abt tip no 1,what is the best mode setting ?
February 21, 2008 @ 10:11 am
I too really enjoy the great tips that David has shared with all of us. I love taking pictures from differant angles like the time I layed on the ground in front of the Seattle Space Needle and took shots straight up along the sides of the Needle and boy did I get some looks by the people walking past but hey I got one of a kind shots. I also love shooting in night mode and putting my camera on the dashboard of my car while I drive down the street, what great streaks of light I get something to try but keep your eyes on the road while driving I sure do.
April 5, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
I have been a hobby photographer for 20+ years and tried from underwater to everything else possible, i am only getting real wow results from friends now.
I am sure many people know this already, but what helps me a lot, for getting some different views, are rubber knee pads, the type tilers use. We buy them from Builders Wharehouse. If i don’t want to look silly, i wear a outdoors cargo camping type pants over them and nobody knows a thing. Hope this can assist a few photo buddies with bad knees.
Composure and setting up the shot gets me better results, stopping and thinking for those few seconds, about what i am going to see in the photo and what i am really doing to get it works.
Thanks a lot David for teaching me to think out of the box, these DSLR cameras are really clever these days and they do a lot of the tech stuff for us.
April 22, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
Thanks for all your great tips,useing different angle shots makes the whole picture look more interesting.
Tia
May 2, 2008 @ 7:45 am
Hi David.
I always look forward to your tips. They are a great inspiration for criative pictures. I love to play around with the motif, and you provide us with so many useful ideas.
Thanks!
Best regards
Tanja
May 26, 2008 @ 12:43 am
i love the tip of keeping the camera by the waist . Never tried that one!!
Thanks again david!
June 14, 2008 @ 6:58 pm
Whilst on the macro subject: I purchased an adapter ring to mount my f2.8 - 20mm wide angle lens reversed onto the front of my 200mm telephoto. Focusing on the subject takes some fine tuning but the results are those of a microscope
June 20, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Yes, yes, I am still enjoying your amazing secrets tips Mr D Peteson, very much and I have improved myself a lot. Thank you.
June 20, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
i always look forward to your tips.
thanks a lot for sharing.
you have been a great help.
regards!
June 30, 2008 @ 8:58 pm