photography tip

The hip shot has been around for years, but was just recently brought up in conversation with some friends of mine who also enjoy photography. They were telling me that while in a mall the hip shot is a perfect way to snap a photo.

Having just had the conversation I put it to test while in Jasper this past August. Walking down the crowed streets I could simply take photos and no one would even notice. I have learned there are a couple of reasons why the hip shot can be a creative way to take photos.

The first being the obvious, no one knows you are doing it. If you are like me and like candid portraits of people than this is perfect. The second thing is the angle. Most of our photos are taken from eye level when we are standing up, it is so common. It also doesn’t make a photo look very special, unless you are an amazing photographer. So shooting at a different level than what the eye can see adds a bit of creativity.

This photo was taken at hip level as I walked down the street. He was on the other side, just hanging out. What do you think? Have you tried the hip shot?

I’ll tell you right off the bat I did not actually find the perfect sunset. Recently Fort St. John has had the pleasure of seeing some wonderful, beautiful red sunsets. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case yesterday evening. I saw the sun setting and thought maybe it would be spectacular, but then my dilemma was where do I go?

Having remembered seeing a good spot north of Fort St. John I took off towards Cecil Lake. Now this is a 26km drive through some Coolies, which take you into a large valley where you can’t see the sun. Looking back I actually went the wrong way, I was supposed to go towards Rose Prairie. I ended up going a ways down a farm road until I found this empty fields where I could see the sun slightly.

I’m not proud of these images, I wanted to do so much better. While some would say that these photos are actually pretty neat, which I think they are, but they’re not the level that I wanted them. As I don’t consider myself an actual photographer, I wanted to share them anyways and tell the story about them as it is the journey that I am on to learn how to be a better photographer.

So the tip I learned yesterday evening was to scout out your position first. Find the best spot for different types of photographs before wanted to take them. In my case during the day sometime I’m going to scout out the proper place to view a sunset, and also a place where it would make for an interesting photo. I assume that many outdoor portrait photographers are always looking for new places to shoot. Now that I’ve learned my lesson, I’m always going to be on the lookout for that special spot.

Photography Tip: The Hip Shot

Chasing the Perfect Sunset