23 Mar Making Images With Impact: Part 3
This is the third installment in a three-part series. Check out the previous installments below:
Making Images with Impact: Part 1
Making Images with Impact: Part 2
Larger than Life
Photo by Rick Sammon.
When we use true macro lenses, which give us at least a 1:1 magnification, as opposed to the close-up settings on a zoom lens that provides close focusing, we can print images that are larger than life – and larger-than-life images are impressive, if we have an interesting subject.
I took this macro photograph of an orchid with my Canon 50mm macro lens.
Eye Contact
Photo by Rick Sammon
Eye contact with the subject can have an impact on the viewer. Look at the works of the master painters. In many paintings, the subjects are looking directly at the artist . . . and you can feel as though the subject is looking at you.
I photographed this young woman near Inle Lake, Myanmar. Sure, I like her red headdress and sunscreen/makeup. But it’s the eyes – the windows to the soul as the Greeks said – that gives this photographs impact for me.
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Processing
Photo by Rick Sammon
John Lennon said, “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” I agree. What’s more, it’s fun to create our own reality – and to add impact to our images – by creative images processing.
I altered the reality of this scene in Old Havana, Cuba by increasing the contrast and saturation of my file for a somewhat surrealistic image.
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Photo by Rick Sammon.
Adding a Bi-Color filter in Nik Color Efex Pro to a rather dull photograph altered the reality of this Merritt Island, Florida scene.
Photo by Rick Sammon.
We can also make images with impact by created composites, as I did her by combing an Alaska landscape photograph with a tight shots of a bald eagle. Both photographs were taken on the same shoot.
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Panoramas
Photo by Rick Sammon.
Granted, this panorama, created from 12 Raw files, does not have impact on this page. However, because of the size of the file (202 MB), a large panoramic image mounted on a wall would have a lot of impact.
Action
Photo by Rick Sammon.
Action photos can have impact, especially if you capture the peak of action. Action photographs can have even more impact when you add some of the other elements that are listed in this series of columns. How many of these elements do you think apply to my photography of these Mongolian soldiers reenacting a Genghis Khan attack?
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Latest posts by Rick Sammon (see all)
- Perfecting Panoramas - April 25, 2015
- Making Images With Impact: Part 3 - March 23, 2015
- Making Images With Impact: Part Two - February 25, 2015
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