@Randem

I’ve recently written a pair of posts about the difference between taking a photo and making a photo, and the whole subject of this difference has really gotten my mind going on the subject. It would seem that I’ve got quite a lot of opinions about it!

Photo takers capture what happens to be there. Some may prefer it this way, but I believe many have simply never thought about what it would take to me a photo maker, so this will be an introduction to what is involved in making a photo.

Knowing your goal

Failing to plan is planning to fail. A good photo must start with a goal. It is important to determine up front what you want to accomplish. What thought or emotion do you want to convey? Is the photo going to represent a professional? Is it going to be used on a business card? Is it a glamor photo? An editorial? An art piece? Is it meant to sell clothing? Is it meant to illustrate a procedure? Determining the purpose up front is an important part of making a great photo.

Knowing your audience
There are actually two parts to knowing your audience. The first is determining who your viewers will be. The reason for this is that you choose imagery to which your audience will relate. For instance, if your photo is about the strong taking advantage of the weak, an adult may relate to a photo of a group of police beating up on a minority, whereas a child might relate better to a bigger kid stealing lunches from a smaller kid.

The second part of knowing your audience is determining who you want them to be. This helps you to determine aspects of the photo such as camera angle. Should the viewer be emotionally neutral to the scene? Should they feel disoriented? Are they meant to revere the subject? Scorn it? For instance, if the viewer is meant to take the side of the bully, shoot from up high, over the bully’s shoulder. If the viewer is meant to take the side of the underdog, shoot from a low angle, up into the bully’s menacing face.

Choosing a subject

While those who take photos may already have some control over their subject, the control that is introduced when you make a photo may be quite new. Will you choose a subject with hard, chiseled features? Do you want a soft, friendly face? How should they be dressed? How should they be posed?

Choosing a location
What clues can your choice of location add to the photo? Again, with the bully example, how could your choice of location help or hurt that photo? What idea would the photo convey if you shot it at night, in a warehouse district, by the loading dock? How might that idea be different if you shoot during the day, near the merry-go-round, at a park? What about in a parking garage, surrounded by dozens of onlookers?

Controlling your lighting
Perhaps one of the most daunting of new factors one encounters in the switch to making a photo is the total control of lighting. How much light do you need? Where do you need it? Should the light be at the front? On the side? High? Low? Do you want long, ominous shadows, or soft, pleasant shading? Do you have a lot of detail that needs to be filled in? What if the light was set up that the bully’s face was hidden in a shadow… how might that change the meaning of our photo?

Composition
In addition to all the “golden rules” of composition, there are, again, new ideas to consider when “making” a photo? What part of the scene do you put in? What part should you leave out? How might you crop the shot to change its meaning? Can you use a different lens to cut out the cars in the parking garage? Can you assign a new meaning by tilting your camera to the right or left?

I’m certain that there are more aspects that could have been included, but hopefully this is enough to get the mind going, and start you thinking about how you could exercise a little control over different aspects of your photography in order to make more interesting photos.

Tags: photography

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 3:53 pm and is filed under photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.