Singular Message

[This month's article from the Fife Photography camp is written by Dustin. I'm sure Amber would make Star Wars references in her posts, too, but I figured that if it wasn't apparent this time around, I'd give you the heads-up to brace yourself.]

Lessons learned from interior decorating: Part 2

So here’s what our master bedroom used to look like:

What are we going to learn? Of course we could talk about removing “clutter” from photos (e.g., powerlines, parking lots, ugly buildings, etc), but that’s not the purpose of this post. Before I talk about what we’ll learn, first let’s look at the “after” picture:

So what’s the difference? Let me illustrate with speech balloons:

And now…..

Get the point yet? In our redesign, our room centered around a modern-Asian theme. Good design (be it photo design or interior design) centers around a singular message. The more multitudinous our messages, the more we advertise “amateur” with our images. Check out what we shot several years ago:

Let’s see it again with speech balloons:

See the problem? We are conveying so many different messages that the viewer doesn’t know how to interpret the photo. Is it rugged? Is it edgy? Is it classic? Is it epic? No. It’s all and none at the same time.

Now lets look at another image:

And with speech balloons:

Did you notice how all the elements are conveying a similar message? It’s thematic and consistent. All elements give the same message: here’s a man who’s depressed, or lonely, or trapped, or whatever. Though the message is dismal, at least it’s consistent! (I will say that this young man was none of the above, but rather cooperative and quite cheerful… so I guess there is one inconsistency, but you can’t tell from the photo!).

Now what about this message?

Is this breaking rules? I would say no. Why? Sure it’s a mish-mash of props (a girl in a prom dress on the train tracks), but it’s not a mish-mash of messages. The message is the same: a prom queen on the run.

As you’re creating the shot, ask yourself, “Does this pose convey the same message that the background is conveying? Would a person in this scene have that expression? Does this prop advance my intended theme?”

So go out, my young pattowan photographers. Capture the world in your cmos sensor and build all elements around a unified message!