Now that you know what story you want to tell (discussed in part 1), let’s talk about the type of photo you want to take.
2. Figure out what you’re trying to say, then pick the appropriate type of photo
To simplify things let’s say there are three main types of shots you can take:
Wide shots: these are for setting the scene or for showing the scale of your project or event
Medium shots: these are for when you want to showcase one part of your project or event
Narrow shots: these are for when you want to focus on something specific in your story
Basically, you need to match your image (ie the type of shot you’ll take) to what you’re trying to saying. Ask yourself which type of image will be the best for telling your story.
Wide shots
Here’s a photo with a good perspective that shows an event space and how active it was. The story it tells: the popular event was packed.
Overhead photo of a large event registration space, probably taken from the floor above. Dozens of people are standing around chatting with each other, while some are standing in front of tables to collect their name tags. [Source: Product School]
Wide shots are good for showing the scale of your event and the space it’s held in. They provide an overview of activities.
The challenges with wide shots are their lighting, framing, and finding the right angle for your photo. Wide shots are particularly difficult to take in office meeting rooms.
My recommendation is to not bother taking many of these unless you can get a good (or unusual) angle that provides a nice overview of what’s happening.
Here’s a bad wide shot. The angle is poor (too much ceiling) and you can’t even tell what the attendees are doing. The story this tells: lots of people were crowded into a large room for some reason.
Photo of a long space with a curved glass ceiling. There is a crowd of people in the room, but you can’t tell what they’re doing. [Source: Dion Hinchcliffe]
Medium shots
Here’s a good medium shot that shows people doing an activity (which makes the photo interesting). The story it tells: people participated at the event and achieved something together.
Photo of people in a meeting room. Most people are sitting around a large table with their laptops open in front of them. The far wall that has lots of colourful sticky notes grouped on it. A woman is standing by this wall with her hand raised towards to the sticky notes. Most of the people sitting on the table are looking at her. This appears to be a project planning session. [Source: Leon]
Medium shots are good for showing people and emotion. They help you highlight a specific activity or part of your event.
The challenge with medium shots is adding emotion and dynamism to your still photo. It’s also not easy to always get a good angle or to time your photos to capture emotions and activities.
My recommendation is take lots of medium photos from different angles. Try to capture emotions (take burst shots and pick the best one). Do your best to avoid posed photos (especially of people in a line – those are the most boring photos you could take).
Here’s a bad medium shot. All you see are a bunch of people in a line. You can’t tell who they are, where they are, or why they’re sliming at the camera — at least not without reading the caption. The (super boring) story this tells: these people were at an event.
Photo of four people standing next to each other, all looking at the camera. The people are wearing business attire and all have name tags on identical lanyards. They are apparently at a conference. [Source: AFGE]
Narrow shots
Here’s a good narrow shot of people doing an activity they’re focused on. The story this tells: people are actively collaborating on work.
Photo of two people seated at a table, both looking at a large computer monitor. The person closest to the camera is using a trackpad and keyboard. [Source: Christina @ wocintechchat.com]
Narrow shots are good for showing something specific that’s cool or interesting. They’re particularly great if you can find a single photo that captures the whole mood of the event
The challenge with narrow shots is finding something or someone specific to photograph. The framing and timing of these shots can be difficult too.
These photos aren’t easy to take, but my recommendation is you should try anyway. You never know when you’ll get a great photo. See if you can find something small but significant to photograph.
Here’s a bad narrow shot. For starters the angle is weird. But really, this photo wouldn’t be interesting even if you knew who this person was. The story this tells: this person was at an event…maybe?
Side-on photo of a woman looking off camera to the side. The woman appears to be in a large room, maybe? You can’t really tell what’s happening here. [Source: Pioneer Library System]
So, to sum up: now that you know what story you’re trying to tell, figure out what type of photo is best suited to tell that story. Picking an appropriate type of shot will go a long way in telling your story effectively.