DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Improve your landscape images tenfold by using these storytelling tips

Sep 2, 2022 by Alex Baker Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

“If you focus on this instead of getting the latest and the greatest camera gear,” says Mike Smith, “you will get so much better than you could have ever imagined.” By ‘this’, he means storytelling. It’s an elusive but valuable skill and one that any photographer benefits from. It’s the difference between a nice image and a compelling image.

But it’s not easy. Including any kind of narrative in a still image is hard. It takes practice. “Sometimes I get it and other times I completely miss the mark,” says Mike. In this excellent video, Mike walks us (literally!) through his ideas on how to tell better stories through your photographs.

Mike says that the key to getting better at storytelling is understanding that it’s all about the viewer’s imagination, not yours. The important thing is to lead your viewer on a sort of journey while they look at the photo. But how do you actually do that?

Firstly, you want to only let them see what you want them to see. You don’t have to show them absolutely everything in the scene. That’s where lens selection and in-camera cropping are essential. Depth of field and choosing what you want to be in focus will also play an important role here. It’s all about making deliberate decisions before you press the shutter.

Classic composition rules will also help you. Decide what the ‘hero’ or main object is in the photograph, and then use classic composition devices like leading lines or triangles to draw the viewer’s attention to that.

Mike includes some great examples in the field, and shares his choices and why he’s making them. It’s great to actually see that decision-making process in real time.

The final tip is to try to tell the story of the day in as few shots as possible. “This will really hone your storytelling skills,” says Mike. But he stresses that it’s normal if you miss the mark. Just keep working on it, and eventually, you’ll get there!

 

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Getty Images opens access to over 30,000 images to elevate black history and storytelling These 10 tips will help you improve landscape photography in 2017 Improve your landscape photography with Kai’s top ten tips Seven tips to improve your skills in landscape and travel photography marketing

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: landscape photography, storytelling

About Alex Baker

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

« TTArtisan announces 25mm f/2.0 APS-C lens and it’s only $55
Digitalfoto’s new FS-100S is a 100W bi-colour COB LED that’s shaped like a camera »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Sony teases upcoming ZV-E1 full-frame vlogging camera coming on March 29
  • The Xencelabs Pen Display 24 is silent, glare-free retouching tablet
  • Fall in love with astrophotography with these 10 space objects
  • Hipstamatic app relaunches as a social network, but only for iOS
  • Instagram now has ads even in search results. Sigh

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy