People always talk about storytelling
apparently you've got to have it in your photographs otherwise you've failed as
a photographer but is it really that important and what is it exactly is this a grand old part
of our landscape that have stood the test of time or is it just a tree is this a beam of light that
has burnt through a night storm after a terrific battle with the weather or is it just a sunrise
and is this an epic landscape you could imagine yourself hiking around or just some place in north
wales today i'm gonna unravel this one thing in your photography that could be holding you back
and give you some practical tips that'll actually help now this is one of the things that i've
battled with for a while at school i wasn't the best reader but when i got into a book
my imagination went wild i found things boring but when a movie captured my imagination i was hooked
and at work presentations sucked until there was a story woven into it
and all of these things give us clues about our photography
and how we can develop it and it all comes down to the imagination and not yours but the viewers
but how can you possibly influence this person looking at your photos after all when you're
behind the camera you're the photographer and then when you look back at your photographs you'll
have some kind of emotional connection to them well this starts with learning how to create a
compelling photograph it still sounds wishy-washy doesn't it but there are certain things that you
can do in your photography to lead the viewer into your image and lead them on a journey
the first thing is to include only what you want them to see
instead of having a shot of absolutely everything work out what you want to be
in focus work out how much detail you want in it and work out what you don't want them to see
at this location i don't want the mid ground to dominate my shot
as it's messy and distracting so i'll get low and include more of this foreground
whereas at this location i might want to exclude the foreground
because it's not adding anything to the photograph
if you consciously think about where you want the viewer to start looking this will get you
into the mindset of the viewer and not the photographer this may seem counter-intuitive
but it's kind of a way to start thinking about composition as opposed to thinking about
settings once you know what you're going to include in your frame think about what's going
to be most prominent maybe make that brighter or put that on one of the thirds then maybe
try and find a leading line to it and this will be the start of your viewers journey
now what is the subject in your photograph you need to be able to answer this and if you can't
you need to find one in that scene say for instance here we've got the lake we've got
the mountains we've got the weather and sometimes we've got a reflection when that wind dies off
what is the subject you can include more than one but don't include too many
otherwise the photograph will become really busy and no one likes a really busy photograph
ansel adams is quoted as saying there's nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept
and this is great because it's talking about settings it's talking about composition
and you could have all of the best gear in the world you could have your settings down to a
tee but you can still get a rubbish photograph it's all wrapped up in that one quote now from
this location i could shoot a pano we've got lots of lake the mountains in the background and then
the path on the right hand side so very quickly it could be confusing with lots of stuff on the
other hand i could shoot a medium shot and just get part of the lake and the mountain in your shot
i could even use a telephoto lens and just grab the top of driven so there's lots to think about
and lots to take into consideration and it's all about trial and error remember you've
got lots of room on your sd card so try lots of different photographs but then get them back onto
your computer and analyze them and see which one worked the best and then the next time you're out
see if you can just hone in on the photographs that really work like my mentor once said manhole
cats fly with chopstick accomplish anything no not that one the other one the greatest picture
of failure is so don't be afraid to make mistakes after all this is part of the learning process and
this is why i put some of my not so good photos in my videos to show you that we don't always
take those amazing photographs even though some people might try and lead you to believe otherwise
now if this all seems a bit daunting start to think about what you're shooting
and try and capture it in a sequence of shots it doesn't matter how many shots you take
just try and edit them down to as few as possible start off with maybe 30 shots then 20 then 10 then
five and try and narrow it down to as few as shots as possible say for instance the weather
got better or the weather got worse does it tell that story or say if you're going out with a
load of friends on a long hike does it tell the story of the day again narrow it down to as few
shots as possible and this is where you'll really hone your storytelling skills in your photography
i have to admit i sometimes miss this out in my photography and i've been doing it since the mid
90s so it's something that we're all working on but this is what makes photography so great
no matter where you are on your path you'll always learn something new
and you'll always develop on that journey so keep going with it i sometimes get it
in one shot other times i get it in a handful of shots and sometimes i just don't get it at
all and this is what keeps me coming back time and time again to photography it's frustrating
it's infuriating but when you get a shot it's so rewarding and it makes it all worthwhile
this is basically storytelling in pictures try and tell that story in as few photos as possible
learning this skill is so much important than buying a new bit of gear or getting
a brand new camera and once you learn this skill your photos will be so much
better than most of the other photographers on the planet now composition adds so much to
the storytelling aspect of your photography and to take this to another level you need
to watch this video next to really learn how to construct your images effectively