I am a teen and new to the site and photography. My question is does putting a quote on your photograph distract the viewer or enhance their experience? Here is an example of what I sometimes do on my photographs. Opinions?
Depends, I think it can enhance it in some situations if its not "intrusive"
If you are good/decent with photoshop it can work well if you incorporate it into the image as opposed to just slapping it on top of an image.
You also have to be careful of it messing with your composition as well. I think in this case you may have been better having it run along the blade of grass coming up diagonally from the bottom left and having the text be that color as well.
Most people will add a quote or inspiration (if there was a specific one) in the description under the image. When im browsing I usually read this with an image if its not horribly lengthy and that can certainly add to an image!
Thank you so much for your reply! I would never have thought of running it along the blade of grass! As I said I am very new to this but am loving it and want to study photography in college when I get there. This is the type of advice I need. Thanks again for the reply!
My thoughts are that the people who do it successfully already have stunning photos and they do it sparingly to enhance the message or feeling of the photograph.
I tend not to do that, but cannot say I would not do it in the future, but what I think a good rule to follow is to not be heavy handed in font, size, color, occurance and such.
I don't do this very often, because I think it is generally distracting. Usually if I do this, it's because I'm dis-satisfied with my photo and want to do something to distract from my sub-par photo. Here's 2 examples though.
Bullet the Blue Sky by U2
An inside joke with my friends about being "Charles in Charge".
It depends on placement, size and relativity to subject matter really. I do it on occasion - I actually just did it today for a challenge... and I think it came out cool. It added that little missing piece of the message that I was trying to capture.
I like what you have done with your quote - the subject matter and quote mesh well together. The coloring you chose is really good too. My only suggestion would be to place it in a different spot so it flows more naturally - perhaps the bottom right corner would have pulled my as much but blended a bit more.
It's a great shot so I think if you fiddle around with it some more, you'll find a comfortable place between quotes and images... Good luck!
@rawrritsnicolex No problem, my best advice for "incorporation" if you cant find something clever (like running it along the blade of grass) is to experiment with blending layers in Photoshop and/or add texture to your text that fits with the photo
Overlay usually works best for this, if its too faint try duplicating the layer once or twice to make it show up more.
You can do this by: right click the text layer > Rasterize Type
Then turn on Pixel Lock
This will allow you to use brushes to paint your text but it will only paint in the area of text (Hard to explain, just try it out and youll see what im talking about)
Thanks again. I do not have photoshop yet, and my priority at the present is getting a better camera for my birthday this summer. But I intend to continue to work hard at my composition in the meantime and hopefully the photoshop program will come in awhile also, if I can talk my folks into it! Again great and greatly appreciated advice! Thank you !
@vikdaddy I'm kind of with Vik . . . It can work sometimes, but generally it makes me think more of commercial art, marketing, college posters, etc. I think a quote included in the photo description can convey the message/mood you are going for just as effectively without detracting from your image . . . but, hey, I'm no expert!!!!! In the end, it's your work and you should do what you like! :D
I curate a biannual open air fine art sale, and just this week I rejected a 'photographer' who was adding cheesy clichéd motivational and spiritual quotes to dull images and calling them art. Not fine art. Not art at all. It creates posters, and a majority of them aren't very good or very interesting. Obviously, I agree with @vikdaddy.
I suppose I have got something constructive to say; I just see it as a big distraction.
The great thing about the art of photography is that different people feel different emotions from the same picture. Why try and 'push' people towards an emotion by adding some tacky text or a quote that you googled?
As @lynnmwatson suggests, let the photo speak for itself!
I think it really depends on how you construct the whole thing and what the purpose of the photograph is. I did a version with the quote because I'm going to get this on a large canvas as a present for my parents and I knew they would like a quote on it.
I think it really depends on the situation, but I do think sometimes a quote can work on a picture. I think you just have to pick your battles.
I generally stay away from it because I think it looks too commercial. Adding the title of the picture sometimes works better than a quote. But, that being said, this is YOUR project to do with what you please. You need to find your own niche and not try to please everyone else.
I like it perhaps underneath the photo--just because it shows where the photographer's thoughts were at. However, when it's on the photo I find it a bit distracting.
I think it's distracting if you just want the viewer to see your photograph. If you'd like to convey a message with it, why not? Then it becomes "about" the message, I think, more than the photo. But it enhances the message and makes you remember it. Here's one of mine (because I love C.S. Lewis :)
Here is an example of where I think it really made the photo. The photo was excellent before, but I understood and had a deeper emotional reaction with the words.
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If you are good/decent with photoshop it can work well if you incorporate it into the image as opposed to just slapping it on top of an image.
You also have to be careful of it messing with your composition as well. I think in this case you may have been better having it run along the blade of grass coming up diagonally from the bottom left and having the text be that color as well.
Most people will add a quote or inspiration (if there was a specific one) in the description under the image. When im browsing I usually read this with an image if its not horribly lengthy and that can certainly add to an image!
I tend not to do that, but cannot say I would not do it in the future, but what I think a good rule to follow is to not be heavy handed in font, size, color, occurance and such.
Bullet the Blue Sky by U2
An inside joke with my friends about being "Charles in Charge".
I like what you have done with your quote - the subject matter and quote mesh well together. The coloring you chose is really good too. My only suggestion would be to place it in a different spot so it flows more naturally - perhaps the bottom right corner would have pulled my as much but blended a bit more.
It's a great shot so I think if you fiddle around with it some more, you'll find a comfortable place between quotes and images... Good luck!
Overlay usually works best for this, if its too faint try duplicating the layer once or twice to make it show up more.
You can do this by: right click the text layer > Rasterize Type
Then turn on Pixel Lock
This will allow you to use brushes to paint your text but it will only paint in the area of text (Hard to explain, just try it out and youll see what im talking about)
The great thing about the art of photography is that different people feel different emotions from the same picture. Why try and 'push' people towards an emotion by adding some tacky text or a quote that you googled?
As @lynnmwatson suggests, let the photo speak for itself!
At the time, I was considering putting a quote on it, but didn't for my project. Here it is on my facebook page with the quote.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=163015750423429&set=a.159234784134859.37364.135833669808304&theater
I think it really depends on how you construct the whole thing and what the purpose of the photograph is. I did a version with the quote because I'm going to get this on a large canvas as a present for my parents and I knew they would like a quote on it.
I think it really depends on the situation, but I do think sometimes a quote can work on a picture. I think you just have to pick your battles.