Not every photo has to be clear about what it is portraying. Perhaps what you want to portray is some mystery, some intangible notion or thought. Sometimes the power of a photo can come from what it isn’t saying outright, but from what it’s suggesting to the viewer. A good photo of this genre will suggest different things to different viewers.
Lost in Thought
OBJECTIVE:
I wanted to take a photo that used light and shadow, but not flash as a light source. I also wanted the photo to say something although I wasn’t sure what that was at first. I was in a pensive mood. I wanted to take photos but felt rather uninspired. That’s when I realized I could use me and my mood as the subject and with luck, it might produce a photo that could be interpreted differently by different viewers.
COMPOSITION:
The light coming through the vertical blinds made some of my decision for me here. With the blinds only slightly open I could see the sort of light I was looking for … directional. This meant I needed to place my subject to the left of frame and choose to put myself well to the left to show more of the blinds, but more importantly, create some active space. Active space (sometimes also called negative space) is an area of the photo with less elements in it, that is used to leave space for what happens next, to suggest something. In this case, I wanted the viewer to follow the gaze of the subject and wonder what he might be looking at, and therefore thinking as well.
SETUP & SETTINGS:
1/60th – f8 – ISO 200. 68mm focal length. No filters on the lens. Tripod. No flash. Only lighting was the ambient light and the strong light coming through the blinds.
POST PROCESSING:
Small amount of sharpening. A lighting render tool used. A blur technique applied.
END RESULT:
The lighting render created a dark outer vignetting effect which, in turn, created the effect of using the person as a frame for the left side of the photo. The blur technique I used softened the blinds but allowed me to keep the facial features sharp and clear which I think enhanced the effect of the active space.
I think this does as it was supposed to. What is he thinking? What is holding his attention? He looks worried? Concentrated.
