Photographers have the opportunity to show how engaging subjects are in their environments. You can show how animated and interesting the subject is by himself or herself as in figure 1.

Figure 1

You can show how passionate a person is and how those around her are being polite but not really engaged as in this photo in figure 2.

Figure 2

If you wait and shoot enough you will most likely find another moment that shows that those present are interested in the subject like in figure 3.

Figure 3

You don’t always need to see faces of people around the subject to show they are listening and engaged. You can tell they are facing the person and the subject engages the photo audience as well as the audience for the subject.

Figure 4

While this person from the audience wants to ask this panel a question, I chose a moment where those around him helped communicate a little about his personality from their expressions.

Figure 5

Compare figure 6 to figure 7 and you can see that those around the subject give you a tone of the question being asked by their body language and face expressions.

Figure 6

Sometimes you can show the audience alone’s reaction to a question to the panel from a subject that gives you a feel for the moment.

Figure 7

Just a photo of John Doe says something and the moment you click the shutter you are deciding a great deal about what you communicate. If you have a variety of moments you may be able to pick the moment that best depicts the tone and message the best way. If you have few to pick from you may actually have a photo that might be better not used because it runs counter to the message you are trying to communicate.

Are you aware of what communication is going on in your photos?