Here is a photo taken at The Houston Zoo during one of our Panasonic Digital Photo Academy Advanced Classes. It illustrates a number of topics, among them what the famous photographer Jay Maisel likes to refer to as “light, gesture, and color.”

It also shows that a photograph doesn’t have to involve a face of a person/persons to tell a story.

And our good buddy, “the rule of thirds,” is invoked by the position of the bodies and the little boy’s head.

The screen they are looking through adds some texture, and gives separation between the subject plane and the background.

The warmth of the afternoon sun is enhanced by the similar tones in grandpa’s hat and shirt, and since we were shooting in RAW, we were able to adjust out white balance after-the-fact to enhance this wonderful warm feeling.

And grandpa’s slight lean to the right helps add “movement” in the composition, offsetting the little boy’s vertical line.

Being alert to images right in front of your nose will help prove the old adage that “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity...”