Photography With Emotions

Today in photojournalism we learned that capturing emotion in a photo makes quite the difference to the meaning of that photo. Emotion brings out that extra element that can connect to a viewer depending on if the emotion of the photo and the emotion of the viewer match. Emotion can bring out a bland, basic picture, and make it shine with all new meaning. There are many ways to achieve this emotion. For example, one must realize their mood before spontaneously snapping away. By deciding what mood you are in before you start taking pictures, you can see how your photos are going to turn out. If you are in a happy mood, aim for happy subjects that will bring out this emotion. Same goes for all other emotions. Another way to depict emotion is to tighten the shot and focus in on the little things of a big picture. By doing so, one can reveal the emotion of that one area that fills the frame and form a relationship. If one were to take a large, wide shot of a city, one would miss the little things that could bring out the emotion. Another tip to use to reveal emotion in photography is to capture the faces of people in the photograph, for obvious reasons. By focusing in on the main source of emotion, one can obviously feed off of the emotion the person in the picture is portraying. Absorb your surroundings. By doing this you can take in the feel of your surrounds and think through what kind of picture you are going to take. Mindlessly taking pictures without thought are not nearly as meaningful as a few thought through, thorough pictures. Return, if possible, to a subject you shot on a previous day. You might be feeling different on the return and this could reveal a whole new emotion never imagined in your setting.

This picture is an example filled with emotion. The photographer has filled the frame with the girl which is key to emotion.

Vertical Shot, Know Flash Range, Picture Director

The next tips we used included take a vertical shot, know flash range, be a picture director. When taking a vertical shot, we tell our viewers, hey! Why not get creative and change up the angle? Something that is not meant to be confined in a horizontal shot should be revealed in its full force with a vertical shot, as represented in this picture of a vertical pole. Another tip we learned, know the flash range, keeps us aware of how far we can be to still light up the subject we are aiming at taking a photo of. As seen in this picture of the lockers, with out the knowledge of knowing the flash range, the lockers, previously hidden in the dark, would remain dark. The last tip we learned for the day was be a good picture director. This basically means to arrange the subjects of the photo in a nice presentable way. When taking a picture of three people, get creative and arrange them in a new and cool way, as represented in this picture down below.

Best 9

After learning and practicing the top 10 tips for a while, we faced a new project where we had to pick the best out of all of our pictures and make a photoshop document about it. Out of all of the pictures i took I chose these because i thought they best depicted the quality these various techniques are ment to portray. I only have 8 photos in my project because some of the photos in my last folder, the number 9, were not valid for the folder so i could not use them.

Use Flash & Move in Close

Today in class we learned two more techniques in our top ten tips. We learned move in close and use flash outside. Use flash outside brings someone who would normally be blocked out with shadows, into the light of the flash, allowing people to see the picture more clearly. Move in close is basically taking the subject of the picture and filling the whole frame with that one subject. I took a picture of my friend where she was in a shadow and the flash made her face more clear. This picture above is an example of move in close due to the fact that I basically made the lock the whole picture.

Start Snapping Blog!

This is one of the pictures I took for our Start Snapping assignment. I liked this photo because it not only portrayed rule of thirds but also showed the technique fill the frame. This is one of the a many techniques we learned today where you take the subject of what you are trying to capture and fill the entire frame with just that object. I feel like filling the frame is a good technique because it gives you an artsy and close view of what the photographer wants you to see.

This is another picture I took in one of our first assignments, Start Snapping. This one show the technique framing and rule of thirds and maybe even fill the frame. Framing uses natural boarders to frame the subject you are trying to capture in the picture. I liked this picture because it looks really crisp and artsy and every little detail is caught. 

Here is a picture of three acorns that i set together in my backyard! This picture represents the technique of birds eye view due to the fact that the subject is seen from a top angle. The term birds eye view basically speaks for itself, meaning that the person get in on the way a bird from a high level would see the world. I particularly liked this picture because not only did i present a bird's eye view but it also shows a good use of rule of thirds. I just think the focus in the picture was worthy of showing!

Plain Background

In class today we learned the two techniques of get on level and plain background. This picture depicts both of them and I particularly liked it because the background is not busy and simple, which is what you're going for when using the technique plain background

Get on Level

Today in class we learned two techniques in our list of upcoming 10 techniques to learn. We learned to "get on level" and use a plain background to set up your subject. I picked this picture from my summer trip in Ecuador because I really love the detail in this picture and it accurately depicts the technique of getting down with the subject and seeing the world as it does. This demonstrates get on level.