A couple of weeks ago on this blog I did a photo editing show-and-tell. As I went to publish that post it occurred to me that I might do more of these in the future. So, just in case, I titled that #1. Good thing I did because I’m now back with #2 :)
Choosing the most appropriate shot type
There are lots of different shot types, but when I’m teaching folks at work about how to take good photos, I usually stick with three: wide, medium, and narrow shots. Then, depending on the story they’re trying to tell, I get them to pick the type of shot that works best.
Here’s an example of me doing that from the photos I took at Midsumma Melbourne Pride March in 2020. I wanted to tell the story of what it felt like to be at Pride. I wanted a single ‘hero’ shot that summed up the whole event.
I initially thought a wide shot would do that best. It didn’t. The story this photo tells, for example, is “here is an outdoor event at which there were lots of rainbow flags”. And, while its cool that you can see the scale of this event, your eyes aren’t drawn to anything — there’s nothing here to focus on.
So then I thought I looked for a good medium shot. Something that showed more detail. That didn’t work either. The story this shot tells is “there were people at a pride event, many of whom were dressed up”. And there’s still nothing to focus on.
So finally I settled on this narrow shot. The story it tells is “here are a couple of queer students connecting at a Pride event”. That’s exactly what I wanted to talk about: people connecting, dressing up, showing up, making a statement about their presence in the world, and celebrating.
Shot angle, composition, and crop
At the same Pride event I took lots of photos of dogs. I quickly realised that none of the photos I took from human eye level were any good — the angle was all wrong.
So then I switched to dog level (or close to it) and that worked much better. But that alone wasn’t enough. I need to ensure my shot composition was right too.
So my final step was to crop that photo. This now properly showcased that adorable pooch.
Documenting versus storytelling
The main thing I teach people at work about photography is the difference between photos that document something and photos that tell a story. Both types have their place — but you have to know which is which, and which one to use when.
For example, here’s a photo of Augustus Gelatery in Yarraville that I took. The story it tells: “this place sells ice cream”. That’s the photo I uploaded to Google Maps to document what this shop looks like.
But that’s not the photo I shared on social media. That photo would need to tell a story. And the story this photo tells is: “ICE CREAM!” — which is what I wanted people to get excited about.
So there you have it: more of what I do to take decent photos.
I’m enjoying going back through my photos to document what I’ve learned and now apply, so hopefully I’ll have more of these posts to do in the future.