How to Photograph Footprints

Capturing footprints with your camera is an simple task given the right camera angles and composition.

Photographing footprints is a creative and relatively easy way to experiment with your camera. We find footprints in a multitude of places, on the beach, in the desert, on a hiking trail or in the sandbox and sometimes the visual metaphors these prints create compel us to document these little marks on the earth via two methods. The first method uses a point and shoot camera for a basic approach, and the second method uses a more complicated camera with interchangeable lenses, called an SLR, or single lens reflex camera. Regardless of which camera you use, spending some time experimenting with footprint photographs can provide hours of entertainment for you and your family and unlock some of that inner creativity.

Instructions

Using a Point and Shoot Camera

1. Create several footprints in the sand or loose dirt to use as test models for your photograph.

2. Set your camera to the widest angle possible using the wide and telephoto button. If your camera has a macro setting, select this option for taking your photograph. Macro lenses allow the camera to take the photo from a very close distance to the subject while still allowing for sharp focus of the object closest to the camera. A flower icon usually represents a macro setting on a point and shoot camera.

3. Place the camera at a low angle in relation to the footprint. You may either bend down to shoot, lay on your stomach, or use a small tripod or stationary object--such as a log or brick--to take this image. By using a low angle, you are adding an artistic element to the image and emphasizing the footprint.

4. Compose your image with the footprint in the foreground, or closest to the camera, and place the horizon line at the lower third of your viewfinder or LCD screen on your camera. Try and wait for a person to enter in the middle of this image, in the distance, to add a human element to the footprint and an interesting layer to your shot.

5. Press the shutter once your image is composed, and view the results in your LCD. If you are capturing multiple footprints, such as adult and child prints on the beach, frame the two shots in the foreground and raise your camera a little higher than ground level but still keep the horizon line in the lower area of your viewfinder.

Using a Camera with Interchangeable Lenses

1. Select the widest angle lens, preferably a 28mm, to compose your photo. If you have a macro lens, use it for this exercise instead of a wide angle lens.

2. Use the aperture priority setting on your camera, and set the camera at an aperture of 2.8 or 3.5 setting. These settings will allow the background of your photo to be blurred with a shallow depth of field, leaving the foreground area closest to the camera in sharp focus, placing emphasis on the footprint. The camera will automatically set the remaining settings in your camera based on the aperture numbers above when using aperture priority. The aperture is the diaphragm opening of the lens and allows light to enter the camera for a properly exposed image.

3. Compose the image using lower angles with the footprint in the foreground and placing the horizon line in the lower elements of your viewfinder. Using manual focus may be helpful for this photograph since you will be close to the subject, which may confuse the auto-focus settings on your lens.

4. Press the shutter button on your camera once your composition is complete. Take multiple shots with varying angles and aperture settings. Add human elements to the image and create visual metaphors for your footprints, such as a set of prints leading out to an empty horizon or an adult print juxtaposed with a child's print running toward the sun. Be creative and experiment with your subject.

References

• PhotoNet Web Site: Macro Photography