What makes a good picture? Explaining what is so appealing or captivating about a particular photograph is not always necessarily easy - whether it’s because of the rule of thirds, the emotion portrayed in the subject’s face, the colour combination, or something else entirely. Nevertheless, ahead of his masterclass with Andy Earl, I asked Guardian photographer Kevin Rushby to go through his archives and select three of his favourites, taking us through the process of capturing them and explaining why he’s picked them.
“In travel photography there are scenes you just come across and then have to work out what you can do. I’d walked up to a waterfall on the island of Principe and then noticed that some small birds were flying, at high speed, through the spray,” Kevin says. “It was a stunning scene but the autofocus was confused: focus on the rock, the water, the bird? There was also the issue of exposure. The camera saw a lot of brightness and wanted to under-expose. The only answer was to go manual, switch off the autofocus and experiment. Most people assume the camera will cope, but in a lot of situations it will not. That’s when you need a bit of knowledge. I didn’t nail this one quite as perfectly as I would have liked. It was just a little too far away and the slippery rock meant I couldn’t get any closer, but I did my best.”
“It looks a simple shot, but I had to explain to my dive buddy - before we got in the water - that if we saw a shark, I’d want him and the shark in the picture. When it happened, there was a massive current running and I was having to hold on to the rock with one hand just to stay in position. Frankly I was astonished when we got out that I’d managed to get anything!”
“These two were brothers and as we talked I realised they perfectly represented old and new Papua New Guinea, except that Ishmael, in sunglasses, was older and more westernised. I liked the contrast, but it was midday and very bright sunshine. Eventually I found a doorway where the light was less severe and got them in position. They instantly grasped the idea of the picture: one staring to camera, the other looking away. I used a large aperture to reduce depth of field - that helped blur Ishmael and draw all attention to his brother’s eyes.”
