CCEF (Photography)

CCEF (pronounced as "safe") is a photography acronym of judging photographs first coined by photographer E.S. Mutabazi.

The four components of taking a good photograph are: Communication, Composition, Exposure, and Framing.

Communication

Communication is the reason why we take pictures; we seek to project a scene we witnessed and its effect on us to those who were not present. The key to great communication in this case, is to have just the subjects you need to convey your message across. This is what might be referred to as information, and too little information risks not getting the message across, while too much information risks the message being lost in the clutter. If you are walking on the beach and you are impressed by the beauty of the sunset, you want to project it with the right amount of subjects. These might be children playing on the beach, a dog running, or something else of the sort. Too much information, in this case, would be anything that's in the picture that distracts attention from the sunset. This is one reason a lot of photographers use silhouette techniques to give everything else but the sunset a similar CONTRAST and help the eye focus on the charm of the setting sun. So, you want the right amount of information in your photograph that can be interpreted by the viewer.

Composition

Composition is an important part of photography because it's what regulates how much information is included in the picture. In the example of the sunset, this would include whether you want to include people, building, the ocean, boats on the water, the pier, etc. or not. Maybe you might want a combination of two or more of those things. Then, you would want to choose angle (below, above, same level), focal point (zoom in, or zoom out- focal point), and other factors that show the scene the way you want to project it. One way to understand the role of composition in photography, is to compare close-up pictures, such as portraits or macros, and zoomed-out ones, such as landscape, and understand what makes each picture successful. Composition, therefore, is vital to whether message is portrayed through the photograph.

Exposure

After you have settled on the message you want to project and how you will project it, the next step is to know the camera settings you need to get the right outcome. An over-exposed picture will come out too light, while an under-exposed one will come out too dark, and both of these will not show the right colors or saturation needed to make them attractive. The settings you need to be aware of are: Aperture (how much light you allow the lenses to take in), Shutter speed (how fast the shutter closes after you press it), ISO (how sensitive to light the sensor is), White balance (how you want the camera to interpret the colors), Color Temperature, and Exposure compensation (whether you want to darken or lighten the scene as the camera sees it). These are important because inaccuracy in any of these can affect how well your photography is perceived by a viewer. Imagine getting your hair done, wearing an expensive designer suit and shoes, and then having a ketchup or mustard stain on your suit. That little stain can hamper your efforts to project the right image of you to those you meet. It's the same with exposure; you want to be as close as possible to the right settings for your image to carry your message across.

Framing

Framing is the art of using objects to project a framing effect around the scene, much as physical frames are put around photographs. As physical frames affect the attractiveness of the picture they contain, so to do these in-picture frames. The key to framing is knowing what auxiliary objects can aid the eye of the viewer to focus on the items that project the message you want the picture to project. This can be mountains, buildings, trees, and other items that act as barriers to contain the eye within a certain space. A way of looking at this is that you want to build the best set for the subjects in your photograph.

With practice, a photographer can see a scene or moment worthy of being captured and, in a matter of moments, identify these components to enable him/her to take the perfect picture of that particular moment.