October 2025, About Being Close

News about happenings at Deliberate Light and photography instruction (see Digital Photo Academy). My views on this month’s photography topic: Great New Photographers.

NEWS

Upcoming Workshops. I am next scheduled to teach workshops for Digital Photo Academy on January 3rd at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia. You can sign up here.

· Mastering Your Camera Controls (1.5 hours) – intended for DSLR/Mirrorless/Compact cameras (smartphone tutorial available separately)

· Composition in the Field (3 hours) – walking tour around the venue with instruction and hands-on practice composing photos (bring any camera)

New Photo.

A Light Place. When I look at this image from the depths of the pandemic, I feel again that sense of fighting through darkness to get to the light. We did it. But I wish I could say I don’t still have that feeling. On the other hand, there is some beauty in this image, like an illustration for a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

(Media, PA, 2020)

For a more detailed, enlarged view and to get it printed, see it on my website.

VIEWS

About Being Close

When I teach photography composition, one of the first tasks I give students is “get close to your subject – really close.” The reason I start there is that it is a little cheat that pushes you to really see details and it rewards you with an interesting photo.

But there can be more to it than that. Often when we are taking pictures we want to get the whole view that we see as a way to document what we see. There is nothing wrong with documentation. Go ahead, get that full view to record that interesting house.

(OK, if you know me, you know this is Thunderbird Lodge here in Rose Valley where I spend a lot of time these days.)

Having gotten that shot, now consider going close to the ground for a more dramatic shot like this.

And, of course, there is all kinds of “close”.

For example, zeroing in on the hands of a workman repointing the stone walls captures the gritty texture of the wall and emphasizes the humanity of hands hard at work that might not be as impactful if I showed the entire person next to the whole wall.

There is also the “less close” close like this image of an ice-covered tree branch that focuses attention on the lines of the branch and that colorful little frozen leaf, but is still far enough away to make this a scene and not a minute detail like the first image.

And finally, there is the “close” that turns an ordinary scene into an abstraction. In the next image, I doubt you can recognize what it is and, having no preconception, you can just relax into the gentle colors, lines and light.

(This is a photo of light flashing on a curved portion of concrete wall in a New York City park. Does knowing that enhance your appreciation or lack thereof?)

Carl Finkbeiner

Mobile: 610-551-3349 website instagram facebook linkedin digitalphotoacademy