the foto finch – capturing the story
hello friends! okay, first off, it looks like maybe the foto finch was getting too excited around here 🙂 from now on, i’ll be posting photo tutorials every two weeks (still on mondays) instead of every week, gives everyone a little more time to get their cameras out and work on the info 🙂 with that, let’s move on to the next installment of the foto finch series!
you know that saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”? most people would probably agree that you can convey a lot with a photograph. but what does a picture say? i think that there are images that probably only say a few words. then there are those that tell an entire story.
a story has a few key parts – characters, a setting, a plot (what is going on). it’s made richer when you add details, descriptions, and mood to it. when i pick up my camera, i have one goal – capture the story.
let me show you the difference between a picture that says a few words and one that says more. take a look at the examples below. these are from a trip the boys and i took recently with my parents to california
what does that picture say? if i saw this picture (and it wasn’t of me and my kids 🙂 and had to give a description, i’d probably say that it’s a mom and two kids visiting the ocean somewhere. that covers the characters and the setting (sort of), but that’s about it. now take a look at the next picture
what does this picture say? characters – a woman and two small children. setting – the ocean with a large pier. so far the descriptions are almost the same. but this image says a little more.
the way they are standing, looking out at the water and sky, give a sense of reflectiveness. the way the picture is taken, with the figures so small in comparison to the surroundings tell of how big and incredible creation is. the way they are standing, hand in hand, tell of their relationships. because this image is taken as a silhouette, there is contrast between the details in the setting (sky and water) and the people. this contrast adds interest.
i want my pictures to speak to people. i want them to be interesting and i want to be able to look back and remember those rich details – not just what we looked like, but our relationships, our personalities, who and where we were, how we spent our days. i want to capture the story!
don’t just point and shoot – think about characters, setting, what’s going on, details, and the mood of an image.
click on the link below to download this week’s reference card! these can be printed and stashed in your camera bag or downloaded for easy reference to your mobile devices!
get your camera out this week and think about the parts of the story. purposefully aim to create images that focus on the characters, the setting, the mood, etc. then share those images with us! post them on treu image photography’s facebook page (remember to tag yourself!) give everyone a chance to see what you’re shooting and leave you a little love in the comments section – i promise i will!
come back again for a new foto finch post and capture your days with amazing photography!
see you next time 🙂