A component to being a good multimedia storytelling is being able to tell a story using photos. To do so, you need to learn your camera and intentionally capture your images using various techniques. A good photojournalist is able to demonstrate this and use photos to tell a story that is timely, impactful, has details, and has a beginning, middle, and end. In this blog post I will showcase the different photos I took and detail steps I took in changing the lighting and composition, to achieve the anticipated outcome.
Both of these images were taken in indoor, ambient lighting. However, the different between them is that the one on the right was taken with the camera flash on, while the one on the left wasn’t. The image on the right has more details and is in focus more because of the flash.
Next, I captured the same image but used no indoor lighting at all. The photo captured on the left uses camera flash, while the photo captured on the right uses no camera flash or indoor lighting. It is evident that the photo on the left has more information than the photo on the right. This comparison demonstrates the importance of lighting when capturing an image. Without the necessary lighting, a photo will not display the full information of an image and ultimately the story will not be effectively told.
When using outdoor lighting make sure to stand with your back to the sun, so that the sun is facing the image you are trying to capture. The next two photos represent the importance of this. The two photos use outdoor lighting to capture images of blinds. In the first photo, I am standing behind where them sun is shining in. The second photo has a golden hue because I am standing in front of where the sun is shining in. The second photo is much more vibrant and has more shadows because I chose to stand in front of the sun.
This next photos shot using a worms eye view. Because the sun is shining down on the tree and the camera is positioned looking up towards the sun and the tree, this image does not have a lot of details. Instead, this technique creates a shadow like image with dark hues.
In this photo I simply used outdoor lighting to capture the image. Take note of how the sun is behind the camera so that it is illuminating the tree that is being capture.
In the photo, the birds eye view technique was used to capture the image. Indoor lighting is used and the light is directly hitting the objects being captured so that the information in the image is optimized.
Lastly this photo demonstrates formal balance. No indoor lighting or flash was used not capture this photo. Instead, outdoor lighting was used and a contrasting background was used to intensify the image.
In Black and Write 