13 Ways to Better Photos...DAY 5 {perspective}

I’ll warn you that today is mostly a repeat of Day 1: ANGLE. BUT…the difference is that I want you to focus on telling a story through your photos. One thing that always amazes me about watching people take photos (especially those fanny-pack toting tourists) is that they just stand there and snap the pictures. Usually their hands are at the same level, their face is at the same angle…& their pictures are…well…BORING. What people tend to forget is that YOU HAVE ARMS. Arms that move! So MOVE THE CAMERA. This goes back to Day 1…YOU have the ability to move, but SO DOES THE CAMERA. Your eyeballs also have the ability to notice things…and those “things” can be translated through the viewfinder into VERY INTERESTING pictures! What a concept!

Don’t restrict yourself to one plane of view…try to look at things differently & TELL YOUR STORY. By “story” I don’t mean a chronological documentation of the goings-on of your day or trip or drive to the Coast; rather, I mean “story” to be what is left when you take away the “events”.

Emotion. Scenery. Detail. Love. Grace. Adoration. Beauty. Magnitude. Enormity.

I bet you’ll be surprised just how well you can capture emotion through the photos. Take a look at these pictures. They all follow the Rule of Thirds. They are all taken at different Angles. As you look at them (& trust me…I know they aren’t all fantastic…), try to answer the following questions…

Do they have a beginning, middle, & end?
Is the frame cropped appropriately?
What mood do you think best describes these pictures? Serene? Tranquil? Chaotic?
Was the sun out when these were taken? How can you tell?
What “story” do they tell when you look at them? Knowing nothing else about the subjects, the location, the events…what can you glean purely from the pixels?

I’d challenge you to go through a folder of photos on your computer. Look at a handful of your favorite photos & try to figure out WHY they are your favorites. What stands out to you? If someone else was to look at those same photos, what would they notice?



This post is part of a photography series...
Day 1 {angle}
Day 2 {the golden rule}
Day 3 {composition}
Day 4 {lighting}