#FridayNightLights — change your perspective

In photography, there's a couple of basic rules for creativity that are simple.

One is the "rule of thirds." Think of your picture as like a tic-tac-toe grid, and have the main lines of strength and action in the photo align with the two vertical and two horizontal lines. (Newer versions of Photoshop have an optional setting on the crop tool for it to show the grid when you use it.) Things like faces should be at the upper left and upper right intersections within the grid lines, without getting anal about it.

The other, that many beginning shutterbugs have heard, is "change your angle."

They hear that, and they only think horizontal angle. Or, if they do think of vertical angle, they forget it again, often because it requires more work.

Well, I was at a recent sports photojournalism seminar at TCU, and one of the presenters talked abut changing vertical angles.

For football, he said he shot on his knees on kneepads. Especially on fields with a high crown, he said he got a great perspective.

I've shot on my butt in basketball, but basketball players are smaller, and don't have the weight of pads. I'll pass on not being on my feet for football shots.

But, said presenter, having mentioned going into the stands for hoops and volleyball to change the vertical the other way, didn't mention, when possible, doing the same for football.

I was shooting Whitesboro vs Bushland tonight.

They played in Iowa Park, which is a semi-sunken stadium. (It's a slight climb uphill from the ticket gate to the stands, and you come in at the top of them, so semi-sunken would be 80 percent or so sunken.)

Having gone to the press box for first, coffee, then food at halftime of a cold-for-Texas 40-degree game, at the start of the second half, I thought, "I'm going to stay at the top for a while."

And, I got the picture you see at left, as well as others that are available for use in the Whitesboro paper.

This one is just a throwaway on quality, but you can see that if I were shooting it at ground level, it just wouldn't have worked.

So?

Change your angle.

Change your perspective.

Oh, and to riff on an earlier Friday Night Lights post? I saw a horsecollar tackle called as such tonight.