How do you communicate emotion in photos?
- Thread starter Pickett Wilson
- Start date
- Latest activity Latest activity:
- Replies 121
- Views 17K
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
True, but it is the subjects emotion you're seeing, not necessarily the photographers emotion, unless they coincide...
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Exdsc, no matter how long you've been at this photography thing, you keep pushing the limits, trying to get closer to your vision. The increments get smaller and harder to achieve. But, for me, that's what it's all about. We'll never have all the answers, but some feel tantalizingly close at times. 🙂
gb hill
Veteran
You are not gonna make everyone that sees a photograph convey the same emotion as the one whom took the photograph. awhile back Helen Hill took some awesome photo's of the homeless in NYC. When seeing a photo of the homeless what do you feel? Do you feel pity on the poor soul or shame that such a person should be allowed to fill the street.
As for myself I don't think I can recall feeling any emotion when I take a photo except a feeling of how interesting the photo might look. I leave the viewer to decide what emotion they feel as they look on my photo, which is a feeling of "why did he post that crap" 😀
As for myself I don't think I can recall feeling any emotion when I take a photo except a feeling of how interesting the photo might look. I leave the viewer to decide what emotion they feel as they look on my photo, which is a feeling of "why did he post that crap" 😀
kxl
Social Documentary
I think the question goes deeper than addressing whether or not one COULD but rather whether or not one SHOULD. Your question is similar to an ancient debate of didacticism versus the philosophy of 'ars gratia artis' or art for art's sake.
Should a photographer's 'voice' be conveyed through his photographs or should an image stand on its own?
Should a photographer's 'voice' be conveyed through his photographs or should an image stand on its own?
finguanzo
Well-known
I sometimes cry when I take a picture.. 😛
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Greg, as a newspaper shooter, I've spent my professional life creating artifacts. But it is windows I want to create in my personal stuff. To do that effectively means I constantly struggle to say through photos what's in my head. I'm much better at artifacts than windows.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
Keith, my feeling is that the only way forward for photography is for photographers to communicate a very personal point of view. There are billions of photos that stand on their own.
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
IMHO all photos do. And it's a h*ll of a job to create a single shot that relays the same emotion to all spectators and the photographer himself alike. Two examples come to mind with me, the images of poverty-stricken farmers in the Dust Bowl from the 1930's and '40's (pity) and the image of the poor fellow about to get hit by a NYC subway cart (horror). There must be more but this is what floats up in my limited vision.
Relaying a single emotion through a series of photographs on the other hand should be much easier since the photographer can 'groom' the emotion from the combination of certain shots.
It's either that or add a caption, or a description I suppose.
Damaso
Photojournalist
Thanks. I really do think one has to have a connection of some kind with the subject in order for that connection to be transferred to the viewer. I call it an emotional bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYOhV_aeALc&feature=g-crec-u
Damaso
Photojournalist
As someone who came from a newspaper background I think that one has to deprogram one's self. Photojournalists are often trained to communicate the most amount of information int he least amount of time. Communicating emotion is often the exact opposite. I think the key word is nuance....
Exdsc
Well-known
Every time I hit a break wall or I feel burned-out, I start to philosophize about photography.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Hosermage
Well-known
Here's just a personal theory, please be gentle if you disagree. I'm learning that as I get better, I go for wider angle of view. In a way, as a beginner, I want to isolate the single subject, but as I learn more and want to communicate more with my photographs, I need a wider angle to capture the subject along with the relevant scene. To me, to communicate a mood and emotion, is more like transfer them. You saw something, felt something, now you need to capture all of those elements in your photograph so the same elements may trigger the same emotions in the viewer.
my 2 cents.
my 2 cents.
Roger Hicks
Veteran
Dear David,
Interesting idea. Maybe it's age related, too. Assuming that's you in the avatar, you look to be quite a bit younger than I, and I've found that after 30+ years of using mostly 35mm (Summilux) I now use mostly 50mm (C-Sonnar). More and more extraneous details seem to become irrelevant to me...
Cheers,
R.
Pickett Wilson
Veteran
I'm going the opposite direction, Roger. I've always tended to frame tight, isolating content. Probably because of the "crop their ears off" newspaper world I live in. Now I find myself reaching for wider lenses, 35mm and even 20mm, to include context in the photo I've in the past added through a cutline.
Michael I.
Well-known
I add emoticons
Damaso
Photojournalist
I agree with Roger. I started with a 20 or 24mm, moved tot he 35 and have settled in at 50mm. I don't know what if anything that has to do with showing emotion but I do find it easier to keep our the extraneous details with a tighter lens...
Hosermage
Well-known
Hi Roger, it could very well be just a phase I'm going through, as I still think of myself as a beginner and I'm still trying various FL.
Another thought came to my mind... in regards to capturing the mood/emotion by including the scene, is the depth of field. I was enamored with shallow DOF in the beginning, often shooting for the sake of the bokeh instead of actual storytelling. But now, I'm learning to use it as a tool to add more "depth" to my pictures.
Here are a couple recent shots that are very "moody" to me, and I hope the emotions will transfer across:
Another thought came to my mind... in regards to capturing the mood/emotion by including the scene, is the depth of field. I was enamored with shallow DOF in the beginning, often shooting for the sake of the bokeh instead of actual storytelling. But now, I'm learning to use it as a tool to add more "depth" to my pictures.
Here are a couple recent shots that are very "moody" to me, and I hope the emotions will transfer across:
airfrogusmc
Veteran
Heres my thoughts. I think great photographs communicate ideas and great artists all use visual language to achieve that. Learning how to use this language frees you from rules. A great photographer once told me in grat photographs either everything in the frame is helping the visual statement or if it not helping the statement then its hurting it. Nothing should just be there.
To many new photographer think in terms of one great image. One great image no more makes a great photographer or a great body of work as would one great at bat make a hall-of-famer. All the greats work in bodies of work.
I think another big mistake new photographers make is trying to create images that give immediate gratification. Heres a great quote by Ralph Gibson.
"A good photograph, like a good painting, speaks with a loud voice and demands time and attention if it is to be fully perceived. An art lover is perfectly willing to hang a painting on a wall for years on end, but ask him to study a single photograph for ten unbroken minutes and he’ll think it’s a waste of time. Staying power is difficult to build into a photograph. Mostly, it takes content. A good photograph can penetrate the subconscious – but only if it is allowed to speak for however much time it needs to get there." - Ralph Gibson
Using the tools like line, implied line, shape, color, repeating shapes, etc are all things that need to help support the statement which would include composition and any one of those elements are all of those elements in great photographers are all helping the visual statement.
Bresson was so good at it. A great quote by him.
"You are asking me what makes a good picture. For me, it is the harmony between subject and form that leads each one of those elements to its maximum of expression and vigor." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
I would say emotion can be enforced by using some of these elements or in some cases all of these elements by using them to enforce what you, the photographer is trying to say.
Also think about what you are saying with your photographs. Are you merely shooting the noun or are you saying something more? are you telling us what that object means to you. Are you showing it to us in a way that you see it instead of the way it actually is? Anyone can shoot it as a noun but how and what does the subject actually mean or what it might actually be; the verb.
Building these element into the work along with seeing and working in terms of bodies of work also help develop a personal way of seeing and a style. All the great artist have a style. I think the best compliment that a photographer can get is that photograph looks like a photograph that that photographer made. Heres a few quotes by a few of the greats about seeing you in your work.
"You should be able to look at me and see my work. You should be able to look at my work and see me." - Roy DeCarava
"The decision as to when to photograph, the actual click of the shutter, is partly controlled from the outside, by the flow of life, but it also comes from the mind and the heart of the artist. The photograph is his vision of the world and expresses, however subtly, his values and convictions." - Paul Strand
"This then: to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock." - Edward Weston
I say worry more about getting yourself into your images and less about emotion. Emotion is subjective and as Winogrand and the OP brought up what might have you emotional might not have any effect on someone else so instead build your photographs on something solid and work on getting you into tyour work Thats what will make it truly special and unique because if it looks like everyone elses work then its not special its what everything elses looks like.
To many new photographer think in terms of one great image. One great image no more makes a great photographer or a great body of work as would one great at bat make a hall-of-famer. All the greats work in bodies of work.
I think another big mistake new photographers make is trying to create images that give immediate gratification. Heres a great quote by Ralph Gibson.
"A good photograph, like a good painting, speaks with a loud voice and demands time and attention if it is to be fully perceived. An art lover is perfectly willing to hang a painting on a wall for years on end, but ask him to study a single photograph for ten unbroken minutes and he’ll think it’s a waste of time. Staying power is difficult to build into a photograph. Mostly, it takes content. A good photograph can penetrate the subconscious – but only if it is allowed to speak for however much time it needs to get there." - Ralph Gibson
Using the tools like line, implied line, shape, color, repeating shapes, etc are all things that need to help support the statement which would include composition and any one of those elements are all of those elements in great photographers are all helping the visual statement.
Bresson was so good at it. A great quote by him.
"You are asking me what makes a good picture. For me, it is the harmony between subject and form that leads each one of those elements to its maximum of expression and vigor." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
I would say emotion can be enforced by using some of these elements or in some cases all of these elements by using them to enforce what you, the photographer is trying to say.
Also think about what you are saying with your photographs. Are you merely shooting the noun or are you saying something more? are you telling us what that object means to you. Are you showing it to us in a way that you see it instead of the way it actually is? Anyone can shoot it as a noun but how and what does the subject actually mean or what it might actually be; the verb.
Building these element into the work along with seeing and working in terms of bodies of work also help develop a personal way of seeing and a style. All the great artist have a style. I think the best compliment that a photographer can get is that photograph looks like a photograph that that photographer made. Heres a few quotes by a few of the greats about seeing you in your work.
"You should be able to look at me and see my work. You should be able to look at my work and see me." - Roy DeCarava
"The decision as to when to photograph, the actual click of the shutter, is partly controlled from the outside, by the flow of life, but it also comes from the mind and the heart of the artist. The photograph is his vision of the world and expresses, however subtly, his values and convictions." - Paul Strand
"This then: to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock." - Edward Weston
I say worry more about getting yourself into your images and less about emotion. Emotion is subjective and as Winogrand and the OP brought up what might have you emotional might not have any effect on someone else so instead build your photographs on something solid and work on getting you into tyour work Thats what will make it truly special and unique because if it looks like everyone elses work then its not special its what everything elses looks like.
Similar threads
