Do you create your photos? Or do you just take them and hope for the best?
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words but are you really thinking about that when you take your photos?
I believe the most important aspect of art isn’t composition or color or if your exposure is off (not that they aren't important!) but more-so the details and the meaning behind the piece. THIS is what I try to start almost everything thing that I create with: “What do I want this piece to say to people? What do I want it to make them think? How do I want it to make them feel?”
Consider the following:
If you tell a model to smile and be happy what would that look like?
What if you tell them to smile like they just found out their grandma is going to live after she hadn't been doing very well from surgery?
Which do you think is going to give you a better result?
Do you think a bright sunny day with lots of clean and crisp color is going to give the same effect as a rainy day with muted de-saturated and gloomy colors?
What mood do the colors in your image convey? How can you use colors to your advantage to convey a feeling?
Lets go further with this example and get more hands on here:
You want to create the idea of a couple who are VERY happy together lets say you want to make a shot of them kissing to show emotion (Do you have an image in your head yet?) What do you think would make a scene like this? What color choices would you use for ‘maximum effect’?
Here’s what I came up with:
After being apart for a month now Demetri and Eve share loves kiss under the pouring rain at the train station. Demetri went to get her right after work w/o going home first and waited patiently out in the cold and wet for her to finally arrive after her train was delayed for an hour. 95% desaturation on all color except for the couple who remain vivid so that they stand out almost as if glowing with joy. Demetri should be wearing khakis and an untucked “love” red button down shirt Eve should have on something casual with similar shade of “love” red in it. A long exposure to blur the motion of other people but leaving the couple motionless almost hanging in the moment of love.
How clear of a picture did you get from that? Was it as vivid as the one you came up with? How do you think you could push yours farther with more details?
Questions to ask yourself:
What do I want to convey? (emotion/idea/concept)
What makes ____ be/look/feel ____
What does ____ look like?
Etc etc..
I will leave you with the challenge (at last):
Take 7 pictures of the same subject but convey a different mood or idea in each picture
Hard Mode: Use an inanimate object for your subject
Boss Mode: Use as few props as possible
"Purist" Mode: Don't do any photoshop alteration other then SIMPLE color correction
Use the tag: detailschallenge
Be sure to include what you were attempting to convey in your image description
feel free to do this over a week if you like or do it all at once its not a competition so theres no deadline or anything
Thanks for the challenge! I guess this will going to be a real challenge for a beginner like me... to composed, to direct, and to elicit emotion out of the topic... This is really great... thanks for this brilliant Idea!
ahhhhhh i didn't quite read it right.... i dont have that watch now.... T___T it's my nephew's.. he just visited me... ermmmmm ahhhhhhhhh what to do.... let me think.. i think i can follow maybe tomorrow.. this really sounds fun! hihihi
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They say a picture is worth 1,000 words but are you really thinking about that when you take your photos?
I believe the most important aspect of art isn’t composition or color or if your exposure is off (not that they aren't important!) but more-so the details and the meaning behind the piece. THIS is what I try to start almost everything thing that I create with: “What do I want this piece to say to people? What do I want it to make them think? How do I want it to make them feel?”
Consider the following:
If you tell a model to smile and be happy what would that look like?
What if you tell them to smile like they just found out their grandma is going to live after she hadn't been doing very well from surgery?
Which do you think is going to give you a better result?
Do you think a bright sunny day with lots of clean and crisp color is going to give the same effect as a rainy day with muted de-saturated and gloomy colors?
What mood do the colors in your image convey? How can you use colors to your advantage to convey a feeling?
Lets go further with this example and get more hands on here:
You want to create the idea of a couple who are VERY happy together lets say you want to make a shot of them kissing to show emotion (Do you have an image in your head yet?) What do you think would make a scene like this? What color choices would you use for ‘maximum effect’?
Here’s what I came up with:
After being apart for a month now Demetri and Eve share loves kiss under the pouring rain at the train station. Demetri went to get her right after work w/o going home first and waited patiently out in the cold and wet for her to finally arrive after her train was delayed for an hour. 95% desaturation on all color except for the couple who remain vivid so that they stand out almost as if glowing with joy. Demetri should be wearing khakis and an untucked “love” red button down shirt Eve should have on something casual with similar shade of “love” red in it. A long exposure to blur the motion of other people but leaving the couple motionless almost hanging in the moment of love.
How clear of a picture did you get from that? Was it as vivid as the one you came up with? How do you think you could push yours farther with more details?
Questions to ask yourself:
What do I want to convey? (emotion/idea/concept)
What makes ____ be/look/feel ____
What does ____ look like?
Etc etc..
I will leave you with the challenge (at last):
Take 7 pictures of the same subject but convey a different mood or idea in each picture
Hard Mode: Use an inanimate object for your subject
Boss Mode: Use as few props as possible
"Purist" Mode: Don't do any photoshop alteration other then SIMPLE color correction
Use the tag: detailschallenge
Be sure to include what you were attempting to convey in your image description
feel free to do this over a week if you like or do it all at once its not a competition so theres no deadline or anything