Out of Chicago
The Chicago Photography Experience



Photography Tips

February 9, 2013

Stand Out From the Crowd: Look for Shapes

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Written by: Chris Smith
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Standing at North Avenue Beach on our photo walk in January, I’m thinking to myself, “We are all standing in the same place shooting toward the same set of buildings. How do I make something different than everyone else.” Over the next week or so, I’m going to share some of my favorite ways of getting a final image that is different than the one taken by the person you’re standing next to.

On our photo walk, I framed this shot to accentuate the shapes and lines rather than the subjects. The image is more about the shape of the space between the buildings than the buildings themselves. Look for interesting shapes, patterns, and leading lines in your subject to go way beyond what the person next to you has.

 



About the Author

Chris Smith
I am the editor of Out Of Chicago. During the day, I teach high school physics. I am a proud husband and father of two amazing kids. I love photographing the city of Chicago and the surrounding area and sharing my knowledge. If you have any questions, email me at Chris@OutOfChicago.com.




 
 

 
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  • Steven Weinberg

    How are you exposing a shot like this? Spot meter on the sky? Spot meter on the buildings? Matrix metering?

  • outofchicago

    Hey Stephen,

    I should have said that. I actually expose this the way that I do almost all of my shots. I use Live View. I put the camera in manual and set the aperture I want. From there I adjust the shutter speed around until it looks good to my eye. In this case, I like the colors and the design that I saw on the back of my camera so I stopped here.