What is a good photograph?

Seeing is thinking. Thinking involves putting together random pieces of our private experience into an orderly manner.

We like what is familiar to us and tend to back away from anything unfamiliar. Becoming more visually literate makes us more flexible. The photograph is like a window through which a scene is viewed, or a mirror that reflects a concrete reality. A photograph is nothing more than light-sensitive emulsion on a surface. It is possible that it shows us something recognizable, but may be it only shows us lines, shapes, and colours. "

How do you make a good photograph? It is a good question, even if we do not have the answer. Keep looking. The search will probably reveal there is no single answer, but many. Think about what Paul Strand said: "No matter what lens you use, no matter what speed the film, no matter how you develop it, no matter how you print it, you cannot say more than you see."

The people are looking into the camera and are smiling, it was taken at eye level, it isn't too cluttered, and it isn't too sparse.

The first and most important step in determining what makes a good photograph is emptying the mind of all images that have been bombarding us on television, magazines, newspapers, movies, or home computers. We know what is familiar; that a good photograph is supposed to be centered, focused, the subject is clearly identified.

A photograph is a picture that goes beyond a snapshot; it communicates your experience to another. A photograph has its own history - past, present, and future - and does not require any outside support. It can stand alone, as a statement. A photograph should be able to state something in a way that would be impossible to do in another medium.

Photography is a matter of order and harmony. The photographer battles the physical laws of universal entropy by attempting to control disorder within the photograph. The arrangement of objects within the pictorial space determines the success of the photograph. Order is good composition, which as Edward Weston said, "is the strongest way of seeing" the subject. The basis of composition is design.

Design includes all the visual elements that make up a composition. Visual design is the organization of materials and forms in a certain way to fulfill a specific purpose. Design begins with the organization of parts into a coherent whole. A good photograph is an extension of the part of the photographer that will create a response in the viewer. If the intentions are communicated successfully, the design of the photograph must be considered effective.

Anything that is touched by light can be photographed. Since it appears so easy when starting out in photography, many people tend to try and say too much in their pictures. They often overcrowd the confines of their visual space with too much information.

When making photographs for this section work simply and subtractively. A painter starts with nothing. Through the process of addition, the picture comes into being. A photographer, on the other hand, begins with everything. The photographic process is one of subtraction. The photographer must decide what to leave out of the picture.

In the act of photography, selectivity is everything. Use subtractive composing by going directly for what you want to include in the picture and subtracting all that is not required. This subtractive method of putting the picture together can help the photographer learn the basic vocabulary that produces the image. A good photographer is like a magician who knows how to make all the unwanted objects on stage disappear, leaving only the necessary items to create a striking illusion. For this reason it is necessary for the photographer to have a point of departure.

If you pick up the camera and go out to do something deliberate and specific, the possibility of encountering the significant and the useful is greater than standing on the corner hoping and waiting for something to occur. Do not be like the photographer described by George Bernard Shaw, who, like a codfish, lays a million eggs in the hope that one might hatch. Have a specific direction, but remain flexible and open to the unexpected. A work that continues to say something visually over a long period of time has what is called staying power. It usually takes years to cultivate this ability. It has almost nothing to do with the technical matters and means of producing a photograph, for the truth is how we feel about something. When this feeling is found in the picture, something of significance is expressed. For many things that we see, there are no words. As Albert Camus said: "If we understood the enigmas of life, there would be no need for art."