Laura Morante
@63bpm6 Jun
Why do my photos lack "readability"?
Hi everyone, I’m not entirely sure why, but I always feel like my photos lack visual clarity or "readability." To me, the readability of a composition is the most important element of an image. A good photographer knows exactly how to lead the viewer's eye right where it needs to go, but I feel like I am really struggling to achieve that. I suspect a few different things might be causing this. First, I might not be choosing the right focal length or aperture. I am often shooting somewhere between f/5.6 and f/8, and I'm worried this might be flattening my images. Second, it could be my in-camera settings. I shoot with a Fujifilm X-T5, and I deliberately lower the clarity and sharpness. I really dislike it when an image looks overly sharp or has that clinical "digital" look. I prefer a softer aesthetic, but I wonder if softening the image too much is destroying my subject separation and muddying the composition. Did any of you run into these same issues when you first started photography? If you have any specific exercises, composition tips, or things I should try to get better at guiding the viewer's eye, I would hugely appreciate it! Thanks in advance.
Contrast and allowing shadows to remain shadows helps readability enormously.
One trick is when you’re in Lightroom or capture one, view the image you’re working on as a small thumbnail. Does it still read?
That might not apply to everyone but I’ve found it helpful.
That was one of Pinkhassov’s tips for doing selects : do them from thumbnails view.
Thank you Shane! I usually try to do that thumbnail test (a work habit, I suppose), and I do agree with the contrast and shadows parts a lot, that is something I have been working on lately! But I wonder if there is something wrong I am doing when I am taking the pictures, more on the gear side (camera settings) or technical side (composition, aperture...)
First : I think many of your images are wonderful and with very clear intent. I’m not convinced trying to push a softer look will affect readability negatively, and you’ve a great colour sense clearly so I wouldn’t mess with that. It feels like it’s more of a composition conversation - perhaps it’s an exercise in reduction instead? That being said I do like how your photos are typically free of unnecessary visual clutter. Is it possible you’ve reached the point where you’re rightly becoming more critical of your work, and fewer images are going to make the cut? That’s a good thing I reckon.
Thank you for your reply, Vincent. I appreciate it! I did notice that I've become more critical, not only when selecting my pictures but also when taking them. But in general, I feel that I am stuck between that vintage/soft look and what feels almost like a low-res, mushy rendering. It is not always the case, so I am trying to understand where this is coming from. What would you recommend as an exercise in reduction? I would be curious to try it out.
Thank you for your reply, and for the video. Needed to hear it 🙏🏻
Have you tried re-editing one of your images? Start from the RAW file, and refrain from using any of your usual presets etc maybe.
I usually use SOOC JPEGs, as I hate spending time on Lightroom! I usually end up throwing away the raw files. Will most likely change that in the futur 😅
edited
Honest feedback - from looking through some of your shots I do think the over softening detracts from the readability of some.
Thank you Andrew! I will try to reduce the in camera softness, and see if it changes something to the final result 🧐
The recent image you shared with the young girl, the softness really works. The image with the people in the purple hoods/costumes, there's so much foreground and background at the top of the image, the softness blurs them together removing any separation.
Thank you for your feedbacks, I really appreciate it!
