Is there a difference between a photograph and a picture? In my mind, yes! A picture is a snapshot documenting a person, place, thing, or moment without intention. A photograph is created with intention, process, and technique.
What Is Intention?
Intention is what one tends to do or bring about, or a determination to act in a certain way. If we think about this through photography, are we creating photographs or just pictures? Both have a place in the world of photography. It could be a vacation where we intend to relax and have fun, so we create pictures documenting our trip. If we have planned a trip specifically for photography, now we're creating photographs with a purpose or goal in mind—now we're creating photographs with intention!
Things to Consider When Creating Images With Intention
It is easy to pick up the camera and click the shutter without any intent to create an actual photograph. Many times, we can find ourselves in a position where it is easier to create images without intent than to think through the process. What are some things we can think through to make these types of images?
Subject
This one may seem obvious! Over the years, I have been mentoring students and found that many struggle with identifying the subject. I ask, “What made you stop or caught your eye?” Once they tell me, I say, “There is your subject.” This is usually the case, but not everything that catches your eye is your subject. When choosing a subject, you want to ensure it is eye-catching and exciting. We want our viewers to be drawn into our image and immediately know the story and subject.
Composition
We want to create a good composition—another obvious one. As photographers, we occasionally get caught up in the technical side of photography. We ponder what is the correct shutter speed or aperture, and even worry if the ISO we have chosen needs to be lowered and how much noise will be introduced into the image. In the end, we lose the creative side of photography. When we think about composition, it is arranging the elements in a photograph! You will want to think about lines, shapes, balance, and even the light. We want to make sure the composition complements our subject. Do the lines draw your viewer to or away from the subject? Is the lighting creating the mood you want in the image? It is easy to look back at some basics of photography and the rules of composition. The rule of thirds, leading lines, and symmetry are compositional techniques you can use to help. Also, remember that it's okay to break the rules as long as it works for that image, and you can tell that the breaking of the rules was used intentionally.
Settings
Shutter speed, aperture, and ISO are the foundation of photography, along with light, which creates a photograph. Choosing the right settings is also critical in creating an image with intention. These settings can help tell the story and set a mood for your image.
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Shutter Speed: We know faster shutter speeds will help freeze action and motion, and a slower shutter speed will allow more motion to be shown. This is where many photographers try to use intention in creating their image. At the same time, it's also where we tend to fail. Occasionally, I come across images from mentoring students who try to pass off too slow of a shutter speed as creativity. It is easily noticed if a shutter speed was intentionally used to create the image or just passing off a mistake as creativity.
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Aperture: If you're into landscape photography, you first think about stopping down your aperture to achieve that deep depth of field. If you're into macro photography, you think to open your aperture up to achieve that shallow depth of field. What happens if we explore flipping that around? Taking the road less traveled and shooting images that are not the norm is a great way to experiment and create new images. Who says you can't shoot a shallow depth-of-field landscape?
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Editing: Editing is the best way to show your style as a photographer. When editing your photographs, you also have to show intent. Many times, beginner photographers purchase hundreds of dollars in presets. I have nothing against presets; they are a great way to start editing an image. They are best used as a starting point in the image editing process, and you can then begin to tweak the preset to achieve your desired style for the photographs. You still have to use these intentionally and with thought and foresight. Not every preset will work for every subject or image!
Asking Yourself Questions and Analyze the Photograph
Many times I hear, “I hate this photo.” The first thing I ask is, “Why?” I usually get, “I don’t know, I just hate it.” You can’t just like or hate an image without knowing why. I try to get mentoring students to tell me why. Is it editing, composition, settings, or lens choice? You have to achieve a deeper level of thinking. The image is like an onion; it has many layers. Once you peel back the first layer, you can tackle the second, third, fourth, and other layers. I do this with images.
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First Layer: I wouldn’t say I like the image. Why do you hate it?
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Second Layer: If it's a tree branch on the right side of the frame entering the image. Now you have established the "why."
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Third Layer: How do I fix it? Is it cropping? Maybe you cropped it out, but you don’t like the composition now. What else can we do to keep the composition and fix our issue? Perhaps we can clone it out.
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Fourth Layer: Now ask yourself, “How do I do that?”
Each one of these is a layer in that onion, and once you peel each layer back by asking yourself questions and analyzing the image, we start creating images with intent! You also need to examine each element in your photograph and decide if that element needs to be included or excluded. Does the element add to the photograph, or is it a distraction?
The Story
It's probably the hardest thing to do if you're not photographing portraits or photojournalism. It’s telling the story. From the beginning of the image-making process, we must look at what our viewers want to see and feel. You then have to analyze the image, decide what your subject is, and how to tell the story. This may be one image or multiple. If you focus on portraits, you might study your subject's emotions and create images. You can also start to look at angles from which you are taking a photograph to create a perspective never seen before that helps tell the story. You can also use editing, lighting, lens choice, and more to help elevate the story for your viewer.
Weather and Time of Day
Occasionally, the best weather doesn’t make the best photographs, and the worst weather makes the best! Don’t get me wrong—who doesn’t love a sunny day? It may be overcast and rainy, but the weather can create a more exciting photograph. You should look at the weather and time of day. These two things can help turn a mediocre image into a stunning one just because of the poor weather. Time of day can make or break an image as well. I made the mistake of photographing a mill in Wisconsin one year, where I dropped hours in the dark for sunrise and the morning light to fall on the mill. I had poor planning; it would have been better suited for an evening sunset shot. The mill was still an exciting and incredible photo, but if I had gone at sunset and not sunrise, it would have been an image that would have been ten times better. Make sure you plan your location and the time of day. My image was great, but you could tell I wasn’t very intent on creating the image other than showing up!
Lens Choice
This one can be a biggie, almost critical when creating images with intent! The lens you choose can make your audience perceive the photograph differently just from the choice of lens.
- Wide Angle (14-35mm): Wide angle lenses exaggerate the photograph, creating depth and making your viewer feel how vast the landscape is while also making elements in your foreground appear larger than they are.
- Standard (35-70mm): This focal range will, for the most part, replicate your vision. It is great for most photography, helps show context with a more natural feeling, and showcases your subject.
- Telephoto (70+mm): The telephoto is my favorite! It will compress your foreground and background together, making them feel closer together than they are. It is excellent for isolating elements within the image to bring your viewer's attention to the subject. Grab the telephoto if you want the image to have a more intimate feeling.
In the end, if you want to create a photograph vs. a picture, you will have to take the time and start using intent and thinking through your pictures more deeply during the image-creating process—thinking through each element of the photograph and deciding if it needs to be included or excluded. We are considering light, composition, weather, and lens choice. These are just a few things we need to consider. In the end, if we slow down, dig deeper, and put thought into the image-creating process, we will start creating more images with intent and not just pointing the camera and clicking the shutter.
