Creating more than just a pretty picture

When you create a photograph, what is your end goal? A pretty photo? A memory? Maybe both? But who are you creating it for? My answer to that one would be for the viewer. And who might that be? Well...anybody who looks at your photo. Allow me to elaborate.

The viewer of your photo is anyone who looks at it. And that might be you, right? So as you keep reading this post (and I’m SURE that you’re intrigued enough to do that) you can picture the viewer as yourself, a museum curator (I mean why not dream big, right?), a family member, or a blog reader. Anyone who is going to experience the image you have created with your camera.

Now think about what you want for that viewer. You want them to have the best experience possible, and truly appreciate your work of art. 

You want them to appreciate the beauty of the image they’re seeing, but also FEEL like they were there. FEEL the experience that you captured with your camera.

I talk about the “viewer experience” a LOT with my students when we do photo critiques. What do I mean by that exactly?

When you create a photo, you have something in mind. You are looking at a subject, a scene, an event. You want the viewer, even if that’s you in a couple of years, to see what you see. But it’s often hard to replicate an experience with one frame. Or even a few. So by thinking about the “viewer experience” you’re thinking about how best to recreate an experience, a feeling, rather than just a thing.

OK, you might be somewhat confused right now. Because this all might sound really different, and maybe even a bit weird. I think the best way to clarify what this all means is to talk about how you achieve that viewer experience. And there are a few ways to go about it.

This is more than just a photo of Montmartre. It’s about the people, the path up to the cathedral, and the energy around it all.

Composition

As you compose a photo, you’re thinking about what is most aesthetically pleasing for the viewer. What makes a photograph beautiful? Part of that is positioning of your subject within the camera frame.

Part of why this is important is so that it’s obvious exactly what the subject of your image is. 

Let’s look at an example. When you have a busy scene, like this New York City market, there’s a lot going on, and it’s easy to get lost in it all. But by placing emphasis on my subject, in this case the lady in the white coat and red scarf, now your eyes go right there to start the journey through the photo.

Think of it this way. Your photo is the experience. You are the tour guide. And it’s your job to lead your viewer through the experience. And you start with the subject. 

If you want to know more about composition, there’s an entire blog post dedicated to the subject. I mean really, how could there not be??

Even though this market in NYC has a LOT going on, it’s easy to pick out my subject - the lady in the white coat and red scarf.

Lighting

Another way to emphasize your subject is with lighting. Our eyes tend to automatically land on what’s 1) focused and 2) brightest. #2 can mean brightly lit and/or bright in color.

Now sometimes you have control over lighting and sometimes you just don’t. But you do have control over how you stand in relation to your subject, scene, and the light source. So if you shift yourself around a bit sometimes you can adjust so that the lighting helps emphasize your subject.

But sometimes you can’t. Don’t worry, I have just the trick you need that will help alleviate this problem if you have it. Just keep reading...

Even though there’s a lot going on here, the light landing right on this pair of hands help emphasize that they are my subject.

Camera settings

If you really want to emphasize your subject, one sure-fire way to do that is shallow depth of field. We’ve talked about this before, and if you need a refresher, check out this blog post. 

Remember what I said earlier about what our eyes tend to automatically land on? Well #1 was what’s in focus. And that is what shallow depth of field does. It focuses right in on your subject, while the rest is slightly blurred.

And another camera setting that can really add to the experience is shutter speed. A slow shutter speed can create blurred motion. So when you have a subject that’s riding a bike, for example, now that subject might look blurred.

That tells the viewer that the subject is dynamic, moving, energetic. 

Camera settings seem like a technical component of photography - and they are. BUT by understanding how they work, you can also add creative elements to your photos too. I know, they can be hard. But I have LOTS of resources to help you out in this department. You can start with this handy free guide. And if you need more, I have a whole course in camera settings. Because I KNOW you CAN figure them out! How do I know that? Because they were the bane of my existence for quite a while. But I figured them out and so I know you can too.

Moving on.

The blurred motion here was accomplished with a slow shutter speed (1/50) and it helps show the energy and movement of the bike rider in New York City.

Editing

Now this is your chance to REALLY improve the viewer experience. Because when you create the photo out in the world somewhere, you can’t control every element. You might get a pretty decent photo back, but it’s...not all that interesting. The subject fades away into the background. Or it’s so busy you just don’t even know what the heck to look at. Or there are some distractions like bright objects or colors that you can’t stop looking at. OR the lighting ended up really bright in exactly the wrong place...and dark where you actually wanted light.

It happens.

And that’s where editing comes in. Very subtly, so that your photo still looks completely natural, you can highlight the subject, and even help create a path right through the photo for your viewer to take.

You can remove distractions so that the viewer doesn’t get stuck on them. 

You can brighten some parts...darken others...and change the dynamic of HOW you experience your photo. And, of course, add some wow, pop, and zing while you’re at it.

Oh I know what you’re thinking now...I NEED to learn how to do ALL of that! Patience, grasshopper. Here’s a place to get started.

Unedited version: where is my subject? What am I looking at??

Edited version: more pop, and there’s my subject, inside the doorway taking a photo of her own.

OK, let’s pull it all together with an example.

Here we have a carousel in Paris. Of course. Could I have chosen ANY other example? I think not.

First the composition. I have the leading line of the path taking you around the carousel and landing next to the people sitting on the bench. They are my subject. The people sitting watching the carousel in Paris. Yep. No surprises there.

The lighting here was not really my friend, but nor was it my enemy. It was an overcast day so the light was flat, not highlighting my subject, but also not being too contrasty and distracting from it. So I did the best I could and then helped it out with some editing. We’ll talk about that in a bit.

For camera settings, I went with a slow shutter speed of 1/10th second. Which is a little risky because the whole darn image could end up blurry. (this blog post can help make a little more sense of that, if it’s confusing to you). But I wanted to show the motion of the carousel. Et voila!

And finally editing. I liked the leading lines, and the blurred motion of the carousel. But because of the flat light, I wanted to give it a little more pop overall, and emphasize the subject and viewer path. So that is exactly what I did in Lightroom. 

Before on the left, and after editing on the right.

And THAT, my friends, is how you create a viewer experience through your photos. Yeah I get that it’s a lot of information. But start with one area at a time and build on it. And the other thing that’s SUPER helpful here, is to look back at previous photos. Look back at them as the viewer. What do you look at first...second. Where do your eyes rest the longest? Can you tell what the subject is?

If you want some help figuring all of this out, I’m here for you! I offer mentoring sessions where we can look at your photos together and work on ALL of these things and more. If you want to know more about how that works, click here. 

And finally, if you’d like to participate in our monthly photo challenges, and be inspired by other creative travelers...join us in our PhotoFluent Travelers Facebook group. We’re having a blast over there!