Tell a great story with your phone!

Taking a picture of the watch would be okay, but even with my phone camera, I can tell a story!

     Last week, I posted about my favorite camera app for my phone.  As I mentioned, there is nothing wrong with being a phone photographer, and even the most popular photographers do it all of the time!  Unless you have an old flip phone (you know who I'm talking about), your phone is a great tool to take great pictures and tell great stories!  And I like the word "great" a lot... guess that's why I don't write for the NY Times...

   

The world has also gone a bit crazy when it comes to "selfies".  I was shooting a client yesterday and she had just recently been introduced to the term selfie.  Don't judge her...she's busy!  There are probably a TON of people out there that have A LOT of selfies on their phone, and that's great.  Well...only kinda great.   But here's the thing:  you are carrying around a pretty decent camera all day long, so why not learn how to tell really good stories with it?!
How, you may ask?  Well, I'll tell ya...


 1.    SLOW DOWN!
Unless there's a squirrel in a helium balloon floating by with a 10 mph wind pushing her along, there's no need to pull your phone out of your camera and just snap away.  Take a moment to pause and decide "why" you want to take that picture.  The trees are pretty.  Okay.  Why do you find them pretty?  Do the colors pop?  Do they look good with the other trees?  Do they look pretty with the other trees and the contrast of the sky and grass?  Trust your eye and your instincts.  Slow down and suss up the scene.  Whipping the phone out of your pocket and taking a picture of that one tree may not be as interesting as including the rest of the scene.  If the scene is the story, I'm not afraid of switching to Panorama and getting the entire setting!  If that is the story, if that is provoking an emotion, I want that shot!

The Michigan Rehab Center thought they might get a couple hundred people to show up, but almost 3,000 running fans , photographers from News Papers, Running Magazines (and hired photographer, little me) turned out and became quite the scene!  That was an important story to tell.

2.     Step back, Jack!

     

     The ducks swimming in the pond are cute!  So you pull out the phone and swipe to zoom in.  That's cute.  Now step back!  How about including the whole pond?  The edge of the pond? Did you build this pond?  Where are these ducks?  Do you see where I'm going with this?  Just like the tree example, the more you can include will help tell the story!   The duck is cute, but the swan, the pond and the background are telling a better story in my opinion...

3.  What are you trying to remember?
So you're sitting on the couch and you decide to look through your gallery and you notice that you have about 20 pictures that need to be deleted.  So delete them.  Now look at the images you've kept and figure out why you took them in the first place.  What were you trying to document?  Why were these moments important to you?  Why not try to "compose" your thoughts next time you pull out the phone to remember why you want to take this picture.  Look around and decide how you could tell this story.  Little Shelley is getting an honor award, right?  Okay, well where are you?  How big is the crowd?  Who's giving the award to little Shelley?  You can tell a great story by setting the scene AND include the close up reaction of little Shelley receiving her little Nobel Prize!  (Then turn the camera around and get a selfie of you bawling your eyes out!)  That's telling a story!

4.  Closeups are Important!
Not every image needs to be all inclusive of the surroundings.  A closeup will capture emotion.  So why not add a filter or frame with a cool app?  I know this sounds simple, but I didn't want to say that closeups are not important, just make it a good one! Do you really need 6 images that look alike?  Get one or two and move on.  Pick a good background that compliments you and your friend.  Choose an interesting angle.  (and try not to use flash!)

5.  Decide to ONLY tell a story!
     This can be the hard part.  I'd like to challenge you next time you are on vacation or at an event or party to try and tell a story.  This will mean using all of the advice above and mostly being disciplined enough to think about your pictures.  Will 10 pictures of you and guest be a great story to replay?  How about taking a cool shot of the exterior?  Then the menu cover or business card?  The guests?  The surprised guest of honor as she comes in the door?  The cake all lit up at an angle that includes the birthday girl?  The guests singing happy birthday?  Blowing out the candles?  The applause?  The hugs?  The toast?  See what I mean?  I've just told a story and you can too with your images.  Try it on your next vacation!  YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

     In the end, you have this really great tool to capture moments, emotions, events or whatever appeals to your eye and you don't need to know the difference between an f-stop and ISO to take really good pictures.  If you imaging the story or movie you are trying to tell, I guarantee that you'll be the hit on Facebook or Google+ with an album that everyone will be commenting on!