Tips and Techniques to Make Your Photos More Inviting

A hungry polar bear stalks for prey on the ice looking for something to satisfy its appetite. A seal breaks the surface catching the bear's attention for a moment. But then the bear senses something larger something more fulfilling. It quickly turns and suddenly the full intensity of its ravenous eyes fall on you. Hi, I'm professional nature and travel photographer Ian Plant. And I spend a lot of time in the field getting stared at by scary animals. When you take a photo, the eyes of your subject aren't just falling on you they're also falling on the eyes of your viewers. Eye contact is a very simple and graphic way to forge an emotional bond between your viewers and the subject of your photograph. Eye contact offers viewers what I like to call an invitation to participate. To feel as though they are part of the action. As if they are standing with you as you trigger the shutter. Ansel Adams once famously said, "There are always two people in every picture:" "the photographer and the viewer." In a sense, your job as a photographer is to welcome the viewer into your compositions. Invitations to participate are cues that help draw the viewer in emotionally as well as visually. Eye contact is one way to invite the viewer in with wildlife and people photography. Another way is to tell a story with you photos. When there is a story behind the image viewers engage on an emotional level. The story in you photo doesn't have to be the real story. For example, with this lion I photographed in Kenya, the image shows this mighty creature roaring in a display of its dominance. In fact the lion was yawning after waking up from its late afternoon nap but the dramatic twilight skies the selective lighting and seemingly aggressive posture all work together to create a more compelling story for the viewer. When working with landscapes, the best way to tell a story is to establish a sense of place. To find something that is unique to the landscape you are photographing. Something that tells its story. For this photo taken while I was backpacking in the Hallands of Venezuela when the mist parted to reveal one of the tabletop mountains in the background I knew I had a moment that told the unique story of this mysterious landscape. I also like to include a human presence in my landscape and travel photos to invite the viewer into the scene. The human presence serves as a proxy for the viewer giving them a sense of being there. For this photo of Yasur Volcano in Vanuato I made a self portrait, adding myself as a human element to the composition to give the viewer a vicarious thrill. These are just but a few ways to invite viewers to participate in your compositions. Always be looking for ways to tell a story and to incite curiosity with your photos. By doing so, your work will easily stand out from the crowd and get noticed. I'm Ian Plant and thanks for watching.