Hello! Koren Smith here from @koren.jpeg. I am a wife and mom living in good old Nebraska. Most of my work is documentary the only exception would be my self portraits which I tend to take a lot of (what can I say? I make the best model specifically because I’m the only one who listens to me when the camera comes out). I have a love for mystery and humor which comes across very clearly in my work. I love the color red, all kinds of light, deep soulful shadows and all things odd. My inspirations are my family, music and tv shows (I just finished The Umbrella Academy if you are looking for great music and cinematography you should check it out).
My gear: Sony A7RIII , 35mm 2.8 zeiss lens, I also from time to time use my phone and canon ae-1 film camera
Storytelling Photography
Storytelling has been used for years as way for us to connect with one another. We use it everyday to help communicate hurt, happiness, belonging, or whatever else we might be feeling. Photographic storytelling is no different.
Before you are really able to get started, you need slow down and ask yourself a few questions.
What are you interested in?
What makes you laugh so hard you feel pain in your sides?
What breaks your heart into a thousand pieces?
What inspires you to the point of productive motivation?
I ask myself these questions on the regular basis to help me focus on what I find important. Every time I take a photo I am choosing to make an investment and I don’t like to waste time that can be invested elsewhere on an image that doesn’t mean anything to me. I believe the best thing anyone can do for themselves is to figure out the stories they actually find a worth in telling.
MY BASICS
There are a lot of things that run through my mind when I make an image. I start off by asking myself questions and I take in the room to figure out why I felt the need to pick up my camera. Once I locate my source of inspiration I move on to the HOW. How do I get my audience engage with my story.
Hit Them in the Feels
When photographing human subjects, you can use their emotions as an easy way to draw your audience in. It creates a sense of relatability and immediately clues the viewer in on what’s going on within the frame.
FACIAL EXPRESSIONS:
Faces are great way to connect with your viewer. It’s an easy way to express sadness, joy and peace.
Although in the hospital, my husband has a slight smile on his face implying that there is some relief in the situation.
The tears in my daughter’s eyes help to convey sadness and evoke empathy.
HANDS:
Hands are another great way to express human emotions, they help to clue us in on the harder to read facial expresses such as being tired or confused.
Hands rubbing eyes in combination with her pjs help to show sleepiness.
Hand holding in this images helps to express a connection and tenderness.
Use Light to Give Life
A few months ago I started a personal project to help me understand light. After a doing this for a while here is what I have to say: There is no such thing as bad light. There is “hard” light, “I don’t understand how to use this” light and maybe “this feels impossible” light but truthfully none of it is actually bad light. If you are feeling unsure about different light source I encourage you to get out there and experiment. Some of my favorite images came from my experimenting.
Once you start to get comfortable using light it becomes a wonderful character in your still life images. It adds an extra touch of life to a lifeless image.
This is a box lit up by the moonlight taken at 1/15 f2.8 ISO12800.
Artificial light taken at 1/100 f2.8 ISO800.
Sunset taken at 1/400 f/4 ISO1000.
Keep it Simple but Be Clever
What makes it into your frame matters so we all try to do our best to keep our frame free from distractions. Unfortunately that doesn’t always happen, specifically when you take a documentary approach, and that’s why I love compositional tools. It provides us with a way to get our viewers at attention and focus to where it needs to be.
There are so many different amazing compositional tools that you can use but today I’m just gonna stick with my favorites.
FRAMING:
I waited until both my husband and dog were framed to help the images readability.
Framing helps to clean up an image, in this instance I was able to frame with light which allowed me to bring down my shadows and hide anything unnecessary to the image.
LEADING LINES:
Lines are my absolute favorite tool to use because they are everywhere and anything can be used as a line!
Car tracks and wires used as leading lines.
Using the light and windows and perspective.
REPETITION:
Another way to help make sense of the frame is repetition or a mimicking behavior. It can help to either emphasise something or to help so a relationship between subjects.
The mimicking behavior between the pet and toy help to give it a balance and relationship.
The two balloons helps to give a sense of balance in a chaotic room.
I hope you are able to use this information in a way that helps you grow in your storytelling abilities. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I always happy to help. I can’t wait to see what stories you tell this week!
Comments