Have you Put the Viewer in your Picture

Tyrannosaurus Rex - taken for my son who loves dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus Rex - taken for my son who loves dinosaurs

Ansel Adams, a famous landscape photographer, once said “There are always two people in every picture – the photographer and the viewer”. By ensuring that the viewer is an intimate part of your picture you are acknowledging you are taking the photo for someone.

Your target audience is important. Taking photos for a specific person or audience helps you to think of doing things from a particular viewpoint. Last year I took photographs for my clients, students, for myself and for competitions. Lots of my shots were family shots, many were for my 365Project. Some shots were for sale; some shots were for this website. Every shot had either an intended or a perceived target. In all my shots I have “put the viewer into the picture”. Recognizing your viewer helps you to formulate your pictures to meet the needs of that audience. This helps to inform your approach to the shot.

Try to think who your audience will be for every photograph you take. It will help you to think about how to take the shot, what to emphasis and give you a goal for making it a good shot.

By Damon Guy (author and Photokonnexion editor)

Damon Guy - Netkonnexion

Damon Guy (Netkonnexion)

Damon is a writer-photog and editor of this site. He has run some major websites, a computing department and a digital image library. He started out as a trained teacher and now runs training for digital photographers.
See also: Editors ‘Bio’.

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