Always choose the right viewpoint for your photo, less is more

Sunday 8 January 2023, 14:07 by Nando Harmsen | 3,716 views | 3 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When something is beautiful, you naturally want to include as much of it as possible in your photo. The downside is that you may also capture distracting elements. Sometimes they are small, sometimes they are large enough to ruin the photo. The right viewpoint can be the solution.

It is easy to get distracting elements in your photo. Use a wide-angle lens and photograph as much of the landscape as possible. It does not matter whether it is an urban landscape or a natural one.

In the French Bastide village of Cordes-sur-Ciel, I found a spot that could produce a beautiful image. As is so often the case in these picturesque villages, cars always get in the way. In this case, there was even an entire car park.

A quick overview photo for illustration, so you get an idea of what the situation was like on location.
The little house in the foreground, with the walls and church tower behind it, seemed like a beautiful subject to me. But there was a car park full of cars, a parking bollard and a traffic sign. Including all of that in the frame obviously does not produce the most attractive image.

I did what I always do, look around and view the spot from several positions. What happens if I stand on the left, or on the right? How does a low viewpoint work, or a high one? I could even stand on walls for a really high viewpoint.

This was already a better viewpoint. But there was still a car, the parking bollard and now the bollards in the frame. In addition, the composition is unbalanced. So that has to change.
It should be mentioned that I had my Fujifilm X100t with me, with a fixed lens that has an angle of view of roughly 35mm on full frame. This meant that I could not zoom in or out.

In situations like this, it is good to let go of the idea that you have to include everything in the frame. Less is more sums up that idea perfectly. Including everything does not always make the best photo, and looking critically at what you do and do not include in the frame can produce a better photo.

By including part of the little building in the frame, the photo became much more balanced. In addition, there are no distracting elements left in the frame.
In the end, I moved closer to keep all the distracting elements out of the frame. I have less in the frame, but the photo has only become better as a result.

In addition, I used the lines of the roofs and façades to create a pleasant viewing line. Everything draws you into the photo, and a balance has been created. The composition is better.

Do you ever find yourself in a similar situation? All you have to do is look carefully and be critical about what you include in the frame. A zoom lens or a different focal length can also help, but that is not the most important thing. The right viewpoint is much more important.

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