Telling stories with your images

[UaeExile]

Is this something you actively go out of your way to try and achieve?

I'm instantly drawn to images like this but I can't seem to crack it myself. I tend to have a "safe zone" and looking through Lightroom at images of my son it's depressing how many of them are head and shoulder portraits. Nice pics. But no narrative.

A lot of the wedding photographers I admire are masters at it but also a lot of (dare I say it) "mom-togs" I see on Instagram are creating really beautiful images on a daily basis!

Any tips, guidance or otherwise?

 

[Phil V]

Is this something you actively go out of your way to try and achieve?

I'm instantly drawn to images like this but I can't seem to crack it myself. I tend to have a "safe zone" and looking through Lightroom at images of my son it's depressing how many of them are head and shoulder portraits. Nice pics. But no narrative.

A lot of the wedding photographers I admire are masters at it but also a lot of (dare I say it) "mom-togs" I see on Instagram are creating really beautiful images on a daily basis!

Any tips, guidance or otherwise?

Hide your tele lenses

 

[Phil V]

Seriously though...

We train ourselves for 'portrait lenses', and a head and shoulders portrait is an attractive thing, once we've perfected them though, it's easy to get stuck there.I'm training myself out of the same rut, not that I was stuck there fully, but like you say it's a 'safe zone'. Oddly when I'm selling our work I point out how many other photographers idea of 'candid' is a smiley headshot with no context.

And those 'mom-togs'? many of them have a fixed 30mm in hand (Iphone) and they've learned what that focal length is good at.

 

[simonblue]

Look at the work of the Master & i don't say that lightly W Eugene Smith

 

[UaeExile]

Hide your tele lenses

You know what Phil, you might be on to something there.

I've been forcing myself to use primes recently and the 85mm has been bolted to my camera.

24-70 for the next few weeks it is.......

 

[Serendipitous Sid]

... a lot of (dare I say it) "mom-togs"

Tut tut! Correct terminology if you please. MWAC pronounced "emwack", not "mom-tog".

... how many other photographers idea of 'candid' is a smiley headshot with no context.

Ain't that the truth! My candids at weddings were boring as hell until I ditched the 70-200 and started getting in close.

And those 'mom-togs'? many of them have a fixed 30mm in hand (Iphone) and they've learned what that focal length is good at.

Plus they're female, and they have the right personality to work right in people's faces without being in any way objectionable.

 

[The23rdman]

Shoot wider, shoot more often, be brave.

 

[juggler]

Is this something you actively go out of your way to try and achieve?

I'm instantly drawn to images like this but I can't seem to crack it myself. I tend to have a "safe zone" and looking through Lightroom at images of my son it's depressing how many of them are head and shoulder portraits. Nice pics. But no narrative.

A lot of the wedding photographers I admire are masters at it but also a lot of (dare I say it) "mom-togs" I see on Instagram are creating really beautiful images on a daily basis!

Any tips, guidance or otherwise?

I find it really difficult. Even on those occasions that I do manage it, it feels contrived. One tip I was given was to always think about the response I want to provoke in the viewer.
I sometimes think that doing some (proper, up close) street photography helps for a bit - I must do more.

Sometimes stories only really appear when images are viewed as a set or created as a project. Personal projects are a great way of working but I'm starting to think that a lot of themed projects are just a way of dressing up uninspiring photography - kind of an alternative to HDR.

 

[The23rdman]

Sometimes stories only really appear when images are viewed as a set or created as a project. Personal projects are a great way of working but I'm starting to think that a lot of themed projects are just a way of dressing up uninspiring photography - kind of an alternative to HDR.

Photography, like any art form, isn't always about eye candy though. It can be about symbolism, challenging perceived reality, asking questions or even just asking the viewer to see the magical in the mundane.

 

[juggler]

Photography, like any art form, isn't always about eye candy though. It can be about symbolism, challenging perceived reality, asking questions or even just asking the viewer to see the magical in the mundane.

True, but in some of the projects I've seen the work suffers from poor composition or technique when it simply need not. If the photographer is going to ignore those conventions then it should be for a good reason, not because (a) they can't or (b) they can't be bothered.

Your own project posted elsewhere on this site is a great example which manages all of the above (symbolism, etc) while creating well crafted images which could stand alone, too.

 

[The23rdman]

True, but in some of the projects I've seen the work suffers from poor composition or technique when it simply need not. If the photographer is going to ignore those conventions then it should be for a good reason, not because (a) they can't or (b) they can't be bothered.

Your own project posted elsewhere on this site is a great example which manages all of the above (symbolism, etc) while creating well crafted images which could stand alone, too.

Flattery will get you everywhere.

 

[Livin The Dream]

Sometimes stories only really appear when images are viewed as a set or created as a project. Personal projects are a great way of working but I'm starting to think that a lot of themed projects are just a way of dressing up uninspiring photography - kind of an alternative to HDR.

Gotta agree with this statement Simon.

Photography, like any art form, isn't always about eye candy though. It can be about symbolism, challenging perceived reality, asking questions or even just asking the viewer to see the magical in the mundane.

That last bit is the part that I'm still learning to create myself, great quote.