“When words become unclear, I shall focus on photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” – Ansel Adams

Many technical concepts, such as aperture, shutter speed, focus, Ff, and exposure, must be learned by photography students and amateurs.

You’ve probably already read enough about it, but how about some photographic effects?

1. Bokeh

Bokeh is the aesthetic characteristic of blur or the portion of a picture that is out of focus. It’s how the light renders out-of-focus bright regions. The disparity in lens aberrations and aperture shape leads the region to blur, resulting in an attractive appearance.

Many photographers employ the shallow-focus method on purpose to generate photographs with significant bokeh patches. The phrase is derived from the Japanese word ‘boke,’ which signifies haze or blur.

There is excellent bokeh and terrible bokeh, which occurs when the blur is so distracting or severe that it draws the emphasis away from the topic. As a result, excellent bokeh may improve an image while bad bokeh might damage it.

Use of Creative Bokeh

You may also make bokeh in different forms, such as the heart and star bokeh photographs shown below. This may be accomplished by employing a filter of the required form. You can even come up with your own 

2. Panning

The horizontal, vertical, or rotational movement of an image still or video is referred to as panning. It’s a time-honored method. Panning requires a moving subject that you must ‘stay with’ while framing the photo before and after pressing the shutter.

This will provide an intriguing appearance, with your subject crisp against a fuzzy background. Excellent for photographing moving subjects, racing, and sporting events.

Panning will take some practice, but you’ll get the hang of it, and the work will be well worth it. Of course, a human subject is simpler to ‘follow’ than a quicker subject such as a dog, motorbike, or automobile.

3. Thirds Rule

One of the most fundamental concepts of composition is the rule of thirds. For ages, artists, painters, and even photographers have employed it.

The photographer divides the shot into thirds, horizontally and vertically, to create nine equal portions using the Rule of Thirds.

Because the primary topic is not in the center of the frame, it appears dynamic, moving, and fascinating.

When shooting a photograph, you must mentally divide your viewfinder or LCD display into three sections to frame your shot. Using the grid as a guide, locate and frame the main places of interest. This comes effortlessly to some photographers, but it will take work for others.

The usage of the rule of thirds effectively creates movement and intrigue in any shot.

When it comes to post-production, remember the rule of thirds. If the composition of a photograph bores you, you may always post-process it with Photoshop’s cropping and reframing features. Experiment with the tools at your disposal to enhance your photography.

4. The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour, also known as the Magic Hour, is the time between when the sun rises and when it sets. It changes the light quality and adds interest and drama to the scene. It’s the ideal time of day for taking stunning photographs, but act fast since illumination shifts and disappears.

What actually occurs during the golden hour? When the sun is near the horizon during sunrise and sunset, the daylight is of indirect light from the sky, which reduces the intensity of the sun’s dazzling light.

The lighting is softer, the colors are warmer, and the shadows are longer. The sun’s brightness might be excessively intense and harsh during other times of the day.

The intense light of the sun is especially problematic in portrait photography since it can cast undesired heavy shadows around the face and torso.

When it comes to landscape photography, the best photography tip is to shoot during the golden hours to improve the hues of the subject.

5. Golden Rectangle

The Golden Rectangle (also known as the Golden Mean or the Golden Ratio) is a compositional rule that is more sophisticated than the Rule of Thirds.

The Golden Rectangle is the mean of the Fibonacci Sequence ratios (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, and so on). The ratio results in a golden rectangle, which is made up of a square and half of a square in the same dimension.

Again, the idea dates back several centuries. Even Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is framed with the Golden Rectangle. Paintings, artworks, and photographs that adhere to the Golden Rectangle are often gorgeous and attractive to the eye.

It’s because it’s a natural aesthetic proportion seen in flowers, shells, insects, and even the human body.

It is quite difficult to frame a picture to the Golden Rectangle directly from the LCD or viewfinder. Fortunately, various tools are now available to crop your images to the Golden Rectangle dimensions during post-production.

6. Flash Fill

Light is a photographic technique in which the photographer employs flash to ‘fill in’ dark regions of an image. It is ideal for backlit areas. Typically, the backdrop is much brighter than the subject. Adjust the aperture and shutter speed to properly expose the backdrop, then use flash to illuminate the foreground while retaining the attributes of the background.

When the subject is in shadow, there is more light in the background than in the front, and you are close enough to the subject, you may utilize flash. Remember that your built-in flash can only reach a distance of 9 feet.

Fill Flash may brighten deeply dark regions, boosting the image without overexposing adjacent parts.

Fill flash is fantastic for spotlighting the eyes, especially on sunny days when the subject is wearing a cap.

7. Long Exposure

Lengthy exposure is another fascinating photographic effect that involves a small aperture and a long shutter speed. This is done to create dreamy landscapes by capturing the fixed features while blurring the moving aspects of the image.

Long exposure can be difficult. It should be taken in low-light circumstances; most images will be overexposed since having a lengthy exposure on sunny days might be problematic because too much light will reach the lens.

It is also known as ‘night photography.’ Stars, moving autos, and lights are all interesting subjects to photograph.

However, there are many excellent long-exposure images shot during the afternoon in low light. Long-exposure photography of fog and water is popular.

8. Contre-jour

A common photographic effect is contre-jour. It is French meaning ‘against daylight,’ and the camera is aimed directly at the light source. Countre-jour is a fancy way of saying silhouette photography.’ The source of light is immediately behind the figure.

The contre-jour effect creates photographs with a dramatic contrast between light and dark. It conceals details while emphasizing the contours and forms of the topic. In nature and landscape photography, contre-jour is more prevalent. The technique is frequently employed to give a scene a more dramatic atmosphere and powerful ambiance.

Contra-jour, on the other hand, can improve or degrade the level of detail in a photograph. Some photographers propose adding a lens hood to enhance the impression of contre-jour in images by considerably minimizing glare entering the lens. If too much light enters the lens, it will cause overexposure, causing the photo to lose its definition.

Of course, these are not the only effects in photography. There are dozens more, and you can even create a photography effect through your own experimentation. Photography’s only limit is the photographer’s creativity.

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