Shoot what you feel

Look at other people's photographs. Famous photographs, things your friends have shot, anything. How does a photograph make you feel? How do you react?

If it makes you think a little, or feel a little, beyond the usual "what a pretty flower" or "what an awesome HDR", try to figure out why. What is it in the image that makes you feel that way?

Some elements of the visual vocabulary:

• Darker vs. Lighter
• High contrast vs. Low contrast
• Color temperature (this applies to B&W too, as tonining)
• Where is the subject in the frame?
• Point of view (low, high, left, right)
• Angle of view (wide, narrow)
• What is emphasized, and how?

This might seem like art nerd wankery, and it is, but if you can learn to read the language a little, you've got a better chance at speaking it.