Portraiture and the News Snapshots with meaning

Fundamental features of Portraits Expression Subject Awareness Light Perspective Angle Mood Depth of field

Expression A woman grieving the loss of a neighbor who died suspiciously overnight.

Expression A “moment” of a woman celebrating her 95th birthday.

Subject Awareness Obviously this guy is far too aware of the camera, thus it wouldn’t make for a good journalistic photo.

Subject Awareness She, on the other hand, is not nearly so aware, thus it makes for a more natural feature photo.

Light Notice how the subject’s perspiration glistens in the sunlight, creating a good aesthetic effect.

Light A photograph needn’t be exposed traditionally to have storytelling value.

Perspective A photo needn’t be head-on to be interesting or effective.

Perspective Another non-traditional perspective that may work given the context of your assignment.

Perspective Here a silhouette speaks for the person in the hammock.

Angle A traditional angle is sometimes all you need when the photo has power regardless of its arrangement, as in with a child holding an automatic rifle.

Angle However, sometimes the lines or symmetry in nature can provide a reason to change your angle, such as when the photographer here tilted his horizon line.

Mood Sometimes eyes alone can tell a story about the mood of a subject or event.

Mood Childhood innocence summarized in one easy snapshot

Depth of Field: sometimes it matters