Advice – Page 2 – D. Scott Carruthers Photography

3 Steps For Capturing Emotional Depth In A Photograph

In today’s world, we see so many pictures of happy people. From social media to billboards, we are bombarded daily with images of smiling people. However, we all know that so much more is going on within each and every smiling person. An image of that person smiling is capturing just one moment in a very complex life. True photographers want to capture what is real. They want to tell a story with an image, and they want to convey emotion. How do great photographers capture and convey emotional depth? How is it that by looking at one portrait, we can seem to see the struggle in someone’s face, or feel that we understand the losses that they have overcome? How do images convey a mother’s nurturing love for her child, or a refugee’s ache for survival?

Emotional depth is captured by a photographer who takes these three necessary steps: Observe, Feel, and Connect.

Step 1: Observe

In order to capture a moment in which true emotion is displayed, the first step is to be in your location purely as an observer. This does not mean that you have to take candid photos only, although they will be a great source for emotionally raw photographs. Instead, it only means that you can not impress your personal energy and state of being on other people. Instead, you have to imagine that you are invisible and neutral. You have to watch them experiencing an emotion that is not controlled or directed by you, the photographer. Look through Richard Avedon’s portfolio in order to get an idea of how even a portrait photographer can capture raw vulnerability.

Step 2: Feel

Famous Photographer Don McCullin is famous for saying, “Photography for me is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures.” This means that you must dive into your own emotions in order to get deep images. An image that conveys emotion can be a shot of a person experiencing the emotion that you want to trigger in the viewer. Or, on the other hand, your image could be of an object that you find emotional. When you are in touch with your own emotions, you can see them reflected back to you in the outer world. A drifting sail boat, wilting flower, or grass poking up through concrete could convey to your viewer a specific feeling. If you can not go into the depths of your soul and find those feelings, you will not recognize when the world is reflecting them back to you.

Step 3: Connect

The last step is to connect. Once you know how to be a pure observer, and can access your own feelings so that you can recognize them in the outer world, next you must connect to your subject. There is magic that happens in the moment of connection. The famous photograph “Afghan Girl” taken in 1984 by Steve McCurry displays a moment of connection. The wide, frightened blue eyes of the girl have almost palpable energy in them, as if lasers are coming out of them. McCurry clearly connected with his subject, and so viewers can connect with the photograph.

With these three steps, you will notice that your photographs start to have much more emotional depth. The world doesn’t need more pictures of smiling people. Instead, we need help understanding the raw and vulnerable sides of human nature.

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7 Easy and Cheap DIY Lighting Setups

Photography is interesting if you have all the tools you need and some skills. But most beginners have the skills but lack tools to execute different processes, which makes it necessary to pursue alternatives that can help them produce good photos. One of the ways you could do with cheap tools and items around you is understanding some DIY processes you could embrace. Here are several that you should consider as issued by experts.

Multi-Super-SB-Ring Light

This is a simple idea as you only need 6 Nikon SBs which you will mount on a coffee can using duct tape. The target is to produce fire power that will help to address the ringing problem you will encounter most of the time.

DIY Ring flash

For this you need a used milk jug/bottle and scissors. Cut the bottle well so it fits around the lens of the camera and this will help to create a ring flash that will work closely as well as the one you would have bought at the stores.

Inexpensive light tent

Another problem you want to solve is the use of a light tent, which is meant to help to replicate product images used in catalogs. The products appear as if they are floating on a white background, and this is the effect created by a light tent. What you need in your case is fabric, glue board, tape and light source. With the items, you need to arrange the setup such that the light focuses on the subject to be placed at the center of the setup and ensure the fabric used is not too light or heavy.

Party bouncer card

You could also make a party bouncer card if your camera does not allow off flash. For this setup you need a white business card and scissors. You will make two cuts on one end of the card then install it onto the hinges of the flash at an angle of 45 degrees and you are done. It will help by diffusing light and reflecting most of it to the roof to give you a clear photo.

Turkey pan beauty dish

If you don’t have a beauty dish, you can utilize a turkey pan for this purpose. You need to position it at the middle of the flash so it reflects light across a circular area, allowing you to easily achieve soft focus.

Homemade Softbox

Hot flash could be a spoiler that you want to avoid, and one of the ways to do so is having a softbox, which could be expensive hence the need for a DIY solution. There are many softbox schemes you can download to use. You will need sheets of paper to use while preparing the box as per instructions issued, and once done attach the setup to your camera.

DIY Flash Bouncer

You will need a pair of scissors, one sheet craft foam, and a wide rubber band. Cut the bouncer shape and sew the attachment band and wrap the band around your light source. This should take just five minutes and you are ready.