2. Capture the emotional side of your subject.

Whether you like it or not if your image does not appeal emotionally to someone it likely won’t be a success. For me this is a difficult notion to contend with as much (more like all) of my photography is of objects and buildings. We generally do not think of inanimate objects as having an emotional side. While the object itself is void of emotion it can still be used to draw emotion out of its viewer. In Room with a View I try to give the viewer a calming and inviting feeling even though there is no one there with open arms or a warm smile.

In this image the lines formed by the tile are those open arms drawing the viewer into the image and the soft light spilling in from the window is the warming smile. The empty seats invite you to sit for a spell and enjoy the snowy view.

When you size up a scene for capturing pause and think about how how the image you are about to capture appeals to the emotional side of the viewer. Emotion can be affected by many things. For example, shooting from a low angle can give a menacing feeling while a high angle shot conveys a feeling of power. Dark images generally feel…well darker enabling you to convey a sense of mystery, fear and drama. A more exposed image washes out highlights making them feel almost heavenly, inviting and clean. A soft focus can add a romantic touch to a scene or part of the image can be deliberately out of focus or blurred to add a sense of motion.

These are just a few examples almost every camera control or element of a scene can be used to convey an emotion. Experiment. Use that control you never used before or shoot objects from different angles with different lighting situations and pretty soon you will start mastering the emotional side of photography.

 

You might also like...