Practical photography tips:

1. Photograph gestures

For example, the gesture of the boy putting his hood on. Having a hand-gesture gives the photo more engagement and dynamism.

2. You shoot what you eat

Photograph what you eat, as a personal diary, and also a revelation of yourself.

Also a benefit of photographing your food is this:

Food is deeply tied with personal memories.

Thus by photographing your food and meals with your loved ones, you will solidify more meaningful memories.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

3. Photograph shapes in shadows

Find interesting shadows (often during sunset), and shoot the photos with -1 or -2 exposure-compensation, to darken the shadows.

Furthermore, a good way to bring out the details from the shadows is to “crush the blacks” by dragging the ‘blacks’ slider extremely to the left. Furthermore, play around with the contrast, exposure, highlights, shadows, whites, until you get a look you like.

For ease, I recommend using ERIC KIM MONOCHROME presets when applying to your RAW photos in Lightroom.

4. Work the scene

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

You never know when you will make a good photograph, so make sure to keep clicking to ‘work the scene’.

It is always best to take hundreds of photographs of an interesting scene (with a good subject, good light, or interesting gestures). You will photograph subtly different angles, gestures, moments, light, etc. And after you take tons of photos of an interesting scene, then in the image-selection (editing) phase, you can choose the photos you like best:

• 

• 

• 

• 

5. Photograph lines, shapes, and forms

Practice your composition by finding interesting lines, shapes, and forms. You can find them in parking lots by looking down, and when you’re shooting, keep playing with your composition. Tilt your camera, move around (closer, further, little to the left, little to the right), hold your camera at different angles and perspectives (sometimes hold the camera high in the air and point downwards), and keep shooting until you make a composition that you’re pleased with!

To bring out the details in the textures you see, I recommend processing the photos into black and white, and by experimenting with your post-processing.

Treat it like a fun visual treasure hunt. Look for circles, squares, rectangles, diamonds, triangles, arrows, and other shapes.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

6. Harness the spirit of experimentation

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I’m starting to relive my initial enthusiasm for photography: a brave new world of endless and open possibilities, rather than a restrictive world governed by “rules”.

In photography there are no rules, nor should there be any rules.

Photography is the most innovative art form in human history; the ultimate synthesis of technology and art.

Photography is constantly evolving, with mobile technologies, new computational photography, image processing algorithms, and artificial intelligence. We must learn to embrace the spirit of experimentation.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Never lose the thirst of experimentation. We are visual scientists, and playful children. Let us see how far we can take the limits of photography; the sky is the limit!

• 

• 

• 

• 

SHOOT ON!

ERIC