The Adventure of Photography
We all know Thoreau’s famous quote about simplicity. The same is true of photography.
Most images have too much content. What is in the frame can create a story: a tale of childhood, springtime, the human-animal bond, or the power of nature. Just one short story, with nothing left over.
The cinema can teach us about efficiency. A major motion picture can cost tens of millions of dollars to produce, several hundred thousand dollars per minute of story. Nothing is included in any shot that is not essential to the plot. Every word, wardrobe item, movement of an actor, and background prop is part of the director’s vision. Pick a favorite scene from a movie and watch it ten times. Study how the director makes his point with every detail, including, and perhaps most importantly, what he or she left out.
Now look at your images, and ask yourself if there anything in the frame that does not need to be there.
These versions of one of my unedited RAW files illustrate how simplifying, in this case just cropping, an image can make it more powerful. I spotted this Bald Eagle running across the opposite shore of a river in Alaska. He was exuding so much character that I took a number of images, even though he was not filling the frame with a 500mm lens.
What is the story in the first one, in the original 2×3 format? It is a photograph of an Eagle running along a riverbank. Not bad.
The next image, with a closer, more horizontal crop, creates a more dynamic photograph, with a little more intimacy.
But what is the image really about? What drew me to this particular bird? Showing more of the beautiful Alaskan landscape might be the way to go in many images, however, I think the riverbank in this shot is unremarkable. What is remarkable is his posture and expression.
So let’s move in closer.
What is the image now? It’s a photograph of determination. In my opinion, it’s much better than the first framing. Of course I would have liked to have shot the image this way and not had to crop, but my equipment did not provide that option.
It also illustrates Capa’s famous quote…
One more example…
I spotted this fellow at a local fair and couldn’t resist taking a snap before he disappeared into the crowd. His outfit was great and the bold yellow truck and red ketchup bottle made for a nice primary color scene.
The image as shot however has distracting elements around the edge of the frame, and while the colors are nice it’s not saying anything except “look at that guy at the fair”. When I started to crop I found my story. Cropping out his head removes the portrait element from the shot and redirects the viewer to the action: feeding. Ketchup, Pepsi, hot dog, and a big belly add up to a subtle comment on eating habits.
Think about your subject matter and ask yourself what drew you to it in the first place. What is the one thing you want to say in your image? And then figure out the most efficient way to say it, with no extraneous details.
Back to Thoreau; if you practice removing clutter from your photographs and find they become more powerful and more effective, think about where else you can apply the sword of simplicity in your life.