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Conceptual Photography

Creating Concepts

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“THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN A SHARP IMAGE OF A FUZZY CONCEPT.”

-ANSEL ADAMS

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Conceptual:

: of, relating to, or consisting of concepts.

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Concept: : something conceived in the mind.

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Concept shooting

Third, concept shooting is centered on emotions, and the telling of a story in its message.

Second, concept shooting involves careful consideration of your audience and how the message will touch them most powerfully.

Concept shooting is similar to advertising, stock, and photojournalism for several reasons. First, concept shooting involves some intense analyzing of a “message” you want to strongly convey.

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  • Message: What do you want your message to be? Be clear and specific.

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Conceptual Shooting: Message

https://pixabay.com/en/beauty-conceptual-dark-death-3881159/

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  • Angle of the message: Be clear and specific, what angle will you take for your topic?
    • For example if your idea is love: Is your angle the true love of family or the true love of kindred spirits? The bitterness and pain of broken hearts, or the recovery?

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Conceptual Shooting: Angle of the Message

https://pixabay.com/en/beauty-conceptual-dark-death-3881159/

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  • Audience: Who is your audience?
    • This will help determine which angle to take and what decisions to make.

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Conceptual Shooting: Audience

https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-s-gray-hoodie-1482476/

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  • Emotional connectors: In what ways can you cause your story to resonate best with your audience?
    • Color, space, principles of design are all tied to emotional signifiers.

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Conceptual Shooting:

Emotional Connectors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Weeki_Wachee_spring_10079u.jpg

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  • Creative composition: How can you catch people’s eye?
    • An audience of high schoolers will require edgy, high contrast, and inventive imagery.
    • An audience of older couples will perhaps be impacted more by elegant, soft, and expressive imagery.

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Conceptual Shooting:

Creative Composition

https://pixabay.com/en/banana-person-conceptual-fruit-1000319/

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  • Dynamic artistry: Camera angle, type of lighting, color, venue, depth, and motion… all such factors will influence the overall outcome of your concept shot.
    • What will enhance your shot?

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Conceptual Shooting:

Dynamic artistry

https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1402973

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  • Story telling quality: In one image, does your concept tell the complete story?
    • A picture is worth a thousand words, so one image can capture depth of story. It will simply take some time in thought, and some well developed shots.

Conceptual Shooting:

Storytelling

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-conceptual-photography-portrait-1670747/

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Madeline

  • Concept: Animal Instincts
  • Message: Be who you are
  • Audience: Youth
  • Emotional Connector: Isolation from our natural instinct trying to fit in.
  • Creative composition: Taken from angle to best capture animal personality.
  • Dynamic Artistry: Light leaks, creative graphic edits.
  • Story telling quality: Does this series of images describe the feelings of animal instincts?

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Dru

  1. Concept: Day in the life of a skateboarder.
  2. Message: Ins and outs of what they do.
  3. Audience: Anyone
  4. Emotional Connector: Feeling of motion, finding the perfect the spot.
  5. Creative composition: Taken from good angles to capture moment.
  6. Dynamic Artistry: Slow shutter speed, panning, graphic edits to compile image.
  7. Story telling quality: Does this series of images describe the feelings and the experience of skateboarding?

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  • Research a few conceptual photographers, pick your favorite, and explore their photography more in depth.
  • Select a topic:
    • Blessed: What are you thankful for? How can you portray that in an interesting way in a photograph?
    • Cultural Glimpse: What defines you? What is your identity? How does your country, town, social circle influence who you are?
  • Capture at least 50 photographs and select your best 5 for submission.
  • Participate in a class critique.

Your Assignment…

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  • Photograph things that you are grateful for so that the viewer can emote with you.
  • What are you blessed by?
  • What daily moments make you feel grateful?
  • The trick here is to photograph the things in an interesting way while also adding in your concept.
    • For example, if you choose to photograph your parents, how can you photograph them in a way to show why you are grateful for them as opposed to a posed portrait?

Blessed

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  • Each of you has a unique story about your culture.
    • Were you born in your country or did you immigrate?
    • How many generations have lived in your country, town, or city?
    • What culture do you personally associate with?
  • Share the story of your experience in your community. It can be as wide scope as being a part of your country or more narrow, looking at being part of your social circle at your school.
  • Ultimately, this is an exploration of identity. How does your family, community, and culture define you?

Cultural Glimpse

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  • Message: What do you want your message to be? Be clear and specific
  • Angle of the message: Be clear and specific, what angle will you take for your topic?- For example if your idea is love: Is your angle the true love of family or the true love of kindred spirits? The bitterness and pain of broken hearts, or the recovery?
  • Audience: Who is your audience? This will help determine which angle to take and what decisions to make.
  • Emotional connectors: In what ways can you cause your story to resonate best with your audience? Color, space, principles of design are all tied to emotional signifiers.
  • Creative composition: How can you catch people’s eye? An audience of high schoolers will require edgy, high contrast, and inventive imagery. An audience of older couples will perhaps be impacted more by elegant, soft, and expressive imagery.
  • Dynamic artistry: Camera angle, type of lighting, color, venue, depth, and motion…all such factors will influence the overall outcome of your concept shot. What will enhance your shot?
  • Story telling quality: In one image, does your concept tell the complete story? A picture is worth a thousand words, so one image can capture depth of story. It will simply take some time in thought, and some well developed shots.

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Don’t Forget…

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  • Understanding of conceptual photography
  • Reflection of topic: #blessed or Cultural Glimpse
  • Elements of photography
  • Rules of composition
  • Creativity
  • Effort

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Your grade…

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THE END