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?

Figure 1 – I like the body language of the student taking a biology test.  I also like that the background with the body parts is behind her.  The dish in front has tissue she is having to identify.

Sometimes the only way is to show folks. I believe many of my clients hire me over and over because of what I deliver as compared to my competition.

I want you to look at these situations and see the before and after treatment that I often do with lighting to give my clients a choice.  I often will shoot available light and many times I find that adding a light to part of the scene can enhance the photo.

Figure 2 The student seems more engaged than the student in Figure 3 and interested in the subject due to her pointing with the pen to the different parts of tissue.

Figure 3 While this student maybe be thinking about the parts like the lady in Figure 2 she is not visually showing the same interest in the subject.

Lighting can help create a mood.  The client sometimes isn’t sure what look they are going for in terms of mood, so I give them some choices.

Figure 4 With her hands by her side and not on the paper like the student in Figure 5 she looks at a loss for the topic.

Figure 5 The one eye engaged with the model, lips are tight, the fingers tightly grasping the pencil all are communicating she is in control of this content.

Which of these did you like the best and why? You can comment on them below. I would be interested in your thoughts as to which one you might choose and why?

Figure 6 Shooting with just the room lights.

Figure 7 Adding flash and colors to the room.

Figure 8 Adding a flash to the women helps to separate them from their surroundings.

Figure 9 You eye is not as drawn the to subjects as in Figure 8 since their faces are in the shadows.

Figure 10 Good color and pop is achieved with a flash off camera.

Figure 11 The subject is more like a silhouette and faceless as compared to Figure 10.

Figure 12 The whole room was given a boost of light with the flash to give a greater dynamic range which makes the color pop.

Figure 13 With just the light in the room the subjects have strong back lighting from the window which causes a flair which diminishes the colors.

Figure 14 With flashes raising the light value on the subjects and less light on the background, helps direct the viewer to what they are doing and increase the pop factor.

Figure 15 The stage lighting on the conductor makes him standout against the darker house lights in the background.

Figure 16 A flash is used on this back lit subjects to draw your attention to their faces.

Go back and look closely at the color and compare those with flash and the one without flash.  Do the ones with flash have much punch and color?  I think so, but do you see it?