Extraction – Part II

I would like to revisit a really important concept about making images. I feel so strongly about extraction that I’m going to teach a class on it for Kelby Training later this summer. Extraction is nothing more than looking deeper into the scene that attracts your attention. When you see a
subject you may not, immediately, know what was attractive about it, to you. It’s a process you need to train yourself to do, asking the question, “what did I like about this scene?” The more you practice the better you will get. O.K. a couple of pieces of advice; (1) look for uniques colors. Often a strong color will draw attention and you will realize that was what attracted you in the fist place to the scene. (2) Look for strong patterns. This is another eye or attention catcher, after doing this for a while you will start to recognize patterns and lines of direction immediately. (3)
Don’t be afraid to crop with your zoom very, very tight. I use the 24-120 and 70-300 because I can almost always tighten up on the subject. You can always loosen up after you shoot the tight
composition. Walking around the track yesterday, I saw and photographed the images below,
maybe some of these shots will help you see the concepts I described above.

So, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice…….and crop, crop, crop.

the pilgrim

*Photo Notes; All images D7000 and 24-120 & 70-300 except last image. Nikon D3s with 600mm AFs VR f4 lens.