Most photographs you see on Flickr or Facebook were taken looking directly at the subject or slightly below or above the subject, not many photographs are taken underneath subjects because of the difficulty involved. Changing the perspective of your photograph to something like this adds an interesting allure, most people have never laid on their backs and looked up at a hook on a chain or whatever your subject may be. Although interesting, the same subject taken face on (image below) is far less eye-catching as the photograph above.
Should you take all of your pictures from underneath the subjects? Yes. Just kidding, that would be crazy. Mix it up once in a while, walk around your subject and look at it from all the angles you possibly can. I had no idea how the hook would look in a photograph from below and it turned out that was my favorite angle. Different angles like this catch viewers eyes and hold their attention a bit longer than the same old, same old.
Next time you’re out photographing flowers, plants, trees, etc. try getting your camera below the subject and snapping a couple of photographs to compare to your usual shots. A lot of tripods these days even allow for you to remove the center rod and flip it upside down so that your camera can be mounted upside down and close to the ground (great for macro photography). I reviewed my personal tripod a while back here, it is ideal for this sort of shooting.
Tips:
- Use a tripod that allows you to mount your camera upside down
- Try to have the sun behind the subject to either make it a shadow or for plants it will make some leaves and petals look transparent
- Take a blanket with you so you don’t get your precious pants dirty
- Macro Lenses work great for this type of thing
- Take a water bottle to mist your subject so you can get some “raindrops” or raindrop reflections
- If you’ve got a reflector you can use this to reflect natural light under your subject so you don’t blow out the highlights (great if the background is the sky)
Related Articles
How to Photograph Flowers
How to Shoot Macro Photography
Night Photography Guide
