Good Pictures Make Good Sense

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.  Even guys like me, who made their bones with the spoken and written word, use pictures constantly in our presentations.  In the modern communication environment the savvy presenter uses PowerPoint, photos and video in their blogs and on their websites.  Sure, you have to be able to speak, or write, well.  But competency in the realm of words, even excellence, is immeasurably enhanced by good pictures.

While I’d never pass myself off as an expert photographer/videographer, I’ve picked up a few tips shooting stills for a commercial business newspaper (the now defunct Commercial Chronicle) and doing some field video work for a local cable news station.  Here are my tips.  First in still photography:

1)   Get close.  The single biggest mistake I see in still photography.  Most of the time you should fill the frame with the subject.  Doing so will cut back on the need for cropping and enhance the quality of the photo (or the crop should you need one).

2)   It’s all about light.  Unless you’re shooting brooding promos for the “Twilight” series, you want to keep your subject brightly lit and minimize distracting shadows.  Shooting darkly lit scenes is an art, and it is difficult.  Shadows can be interesting, but make sure they’re in the shot because you want them there.

3)   Don’t get stuck in the middle.  You don’t always need to locate your primary subject dead center of your frame.  In fact, it will add interest to the shot if the subject is off-center.

4)   Keep the action inward.  Unless looking at the camera, or centered in the frame, your subject should seem to be looking or walking into the frame, not out of it.  So, if your subject is located on the left side of the frame, the action should be to right, toward the center.

Take a look at the photo of the famous Jack Skellington.  He fills the frame.  While he isn’t brightly lit he’s very well lit, with interesting shadowing and no distracting “halo” shadows.  He’s not in the center of the frame.  He’s looking inward, not outward.  I like it.

For the videographer:

1)   Once again, get close.  For the same reasons.

2)   Establish the shot.  It takes awhile for the observer to make sense of the image.  Stay with a shot for a minimum of about six seconds.  Faster image or subject changes will leave the observer confused.

3)   It’s called “panning.”  Don’t “jerk” the camera from one image to the next.  I know that’s how you move your head but, when looking at an image you either need to “pan” from one subject to the next (a pan is a smooth, fairly slow movement) or you need to “cut” from one scene to another.  Take at least six seconds of video.  STOP SHOOTING.  Go to the next subject and begin shooting again.  A jerky motion is very, very hard on your viewer.

4)   The “pull out” is almost always more interesting than the “zoom in.”  People new to videography will almost always use the zoom function from wide to tight.  Try it from tight to wide sometime.  You’ll be happy with the results and, from that point forward, will very rarely “zoom in” again.

Dynamic presentations require powerful, motivational, inspirational words.  Very often they require good pictures too.

photo credit: ShironekoEuro