I want to tell a story

The four elements of a good photograph

1) Composition

2) Lighting

3) Subject

4) Story

I was at a baby showers last Sunday and the only photograph I brought back was that of the baby (i.e. my subject). I had wanted to take some pictures of the red eggs. I did take two but they were not up to my expectations. The room's lighting was casting shadows on the red eggs. As I was taking the photos of the red eggs, I overheard one of the relatives' comments. She spoke in Hokkien and when loosely translated, she meant "Eggs, she also want to take.." I do respect that and stopped taking. Else I would have tried a diffferent angle and re-take the eggs. Of course, the baby is the main subject but most people tend to ignore the nitty gritty details and the surroundings.

Traditional cakes and eggs, dyed red to symbolise luck and blessings are given out to relatives and friends. Eggs are chosen as they represent fertility and their round shapes symbolise harmony. It is believed that if you have a boy, you give out an odd number of eggs, and if you have a girl, you give out an even number of eggs.

Think about this, we are attending a baby shower. Which set of photos will tell a better story? 1) set consisting of only baby photos or 2) set consisting of baby and red eggs photos?

Settings : f5, 1/15sec, ISO 3200, WB @ Auto, Flash OFF

You can tell that there is noise in the photo. This is because I was using a high ISO to compensate for the very dimly lit room. The baby is only a month's old and I do not want to use any flash on him. (I will blog about "respect for the subject and surroundings" in a separate post).

Let me elaborate on what I mean by details and surroundings. I was at Emily's birthday Soiree two weeks ago. Apart from taking photos of the birthday gal, I also focused on other details such as, Danielle brought an adorable soft toy, the invitation card that the birthday girl has made, the birthday cake, the restaurant we dined at, some of the food we had, candid shots, etc etc.

Whenever I take a photograph, I always think to myself, "What is the story that I want to tell?