Photography Tip .1: Rule #1 - There Are No Rules

There’s nothing like opening a series of articles with shooting yourself in the foot, but the truth must be told: in photography, like in other arts, every rule is meant to be broken. That’s what makes it so interesting.

That’s why this series is not about rules, and not even about guidelines. It’s just about a random collection of tips. A small collection to add to your toolbox and to use if and when they are appropriate.

Back to the one single tip that is a hard rule: there are simply no rules! The web is filled with numerous resources of the technical aspect of photography starting from lighting and exposure and up to composition rules. Some of that information is essential, some of it isn’t. But none of it should be taken as a recipe for creating visual art using a camera.

Some of the best photographic works I’ve seen are, to be blunt, out of focus. Yes, it is important to know how to create a photograph with your subject in focus. It is important to know what affects your ability to do so, and how you can overcome these pitfalls. But, it is at least as important to know when a perfectly focused photo just doesn’t do the job, and when being out of focus sharpens what viewer feel. Breaking “the rules” is sometimes the best option, and the same applies to every “rule” you’ve ever heard in the context of photography.

The 1M$ question is how do you know when to break the rules? The “simple” answer is: “you don’t”. The best thing you can hope for is to feel when it is the right thing to do. There’s simply no formula for that. Feeling is everything.

The good news is that you can grow such a feeling. One method of doing so is to watch the work of others and try to understand how it affects you as a viewer (but that’s for a future post). Another method is simply to experiment, and again to try and analyze what works and what doesn’t. It’s not easy to achieve the needed level of introspection for that, but it’s possible.

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that breaking the rules is not the goal, much like the rules themselves aren’t. The rules, as well as breaking them, are just tools which can help you achieve your goal. It is up to you to find your goal and to understand what serves it best.

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What does this work make you feel? For me (and this is of course an extremely subjective and biased view) the atmosphere in this series of three frames is dark and enigmatic. It open a hatch to many questions and potential stories, and that’s what make it interesting (I hope).

There is more than one element in this work that contribute to this atmosphere. The subjects in each of the frames as well as their background clearly play a role in creating it. But that’s not all. The tilted point of view and the apparent lack of stabilization (see the road lights in the rightmost frame) have a direct influence on the atmosphere and how the viewer perceives it. These elements communicate a sense of urgency and mystery. They help this work tell a better story.

Now here’s a challenge: Can you find a photography tutorial teaching you when tilting your camera in such an unnatural angle works? Can you find a tutorial teaching you when image stabilization is the last thing you would want? Can you find a table associating the amount of vibration in your hand (whether you plan it or not) and the mood it creates? And the most important question: Can you say a photograph taken with a camera titled as if it had fallen, in which the objects seems unclear due to a mysterious vibration is a bad photograph?

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In photography (and in art in general) there is no right or wrong. There is no “by the rules”. Obviously, not everything works for every photo. Something contributing to one work, can look ridiculous on another. There is simply no magic formula for deciding when to go “by the book” and when to write your own book. You have to practice. You have to experiment. You have to be honest with yourself. And you have to feel.

– Lidor Wyssocky

Sep 02, 2009 | Categories: Articles | Tags: creativity, focus, photography, rules, tilt, tip | 1 Comment »