Making Your Images Stand Out
PHOTO CHALLENGE | Start a personal project, create a series, and/or work on a self-portrait. Share 5 images that reflect your project. Your intent should be visually obvious.
PHOTO TIPS
Place an object at the same height and place of where the camera will focus on you (for a self-portrait), then place yourself in that same plane to get the focus right.
Photography isn’t as valuable today as it was in the past. People used to pay photographers a lot more money for photos, because it was so technically difficult. Now anybody with an iPhone can take a great photo.
We face a difficult challenge of making our photos stand out in an oversaturated sea of images. It can be hard to discern what makes the difference of becoming “known” or getting lost amongst all the others.
Be Consistent | The biggest mistake is not starting off with consistency. Just as a plant that is moved around too much will never grow strong roots. It’s important to experiment in photography, but as you discover things that you love, make you happy, and you’re good at, you should stick to those things and do them over and over again.
No one can stand out without distinction and a personalized style to their photography. Henri Cartier-Bresson shot black and white his entire career with a 50mm lens, and shot ‘decisive moment’ street photographs. He stood out this way.
Alex Webb (who started off shooting black and white like Henri-Cartier-Bresson) ended up standing out by taking on color photography, and started to shoot complex, multi-layered images. This helped him stand out, in a sea of black-and-white photographers.
Japanese photographer, Daido Moriyama, stood out from his peers (who all shot low-grain, sharp photos with Leica cameras) by using a cheap, point-and-shoot film camera, while making his images blurry, out-of-focus, high-contrast, and grainy. When he started shooting with this high-contrast black and white aesthetic, everyone hated it. Now it is an accepted aesthetic. Daido borrowed this aesthetic from William Klein, who popularized shooting these edgy, wide-angle, blurry, grainy black and white street photos.
Do the Opposite | For example, William Eggleston stood out by shooting color, when shooting color was only for amateurs. Not only that, but when everyone was photographing these beautiful ‘fine art’ type of images, Eggleston only photographed mundane and common-place things like food inside his refrigerator.
Aik Beng Chia stood out by shooting with an iPhone camera, when everyone else was shooting with high-end digital cameras. Other digital photographers started to stand out when everyone started to shoot film. You want to stand out by not following the crowd.
Put Yourself Out There | By regularly sharing your work, your life, and engaging with your online and in person community, you’re putting yourself out there in an authentic way that people want to connect with.
Create a Personal Project | Instead of aiming for one stand-out image, work on a series of images. That series becomes more intimate and something that only you can create. Often those personal projects can turn out to be what you’re known for doing.
Keep Going | As you continue shooting and sharing your work, you can hit a wall where you start to feel a decline in your motivation. Don’t let that truly stop you; you’ll be forgotten. There’s always someone out there willing to do the work, keep yourself in the game!
Remember Your ‘Why’ | Whether it’s to make a career, document your life, educate, stand out, or just to connect in the photography community, always remember the purpose behind why you started in the first place. When you do lose motivation, go back to your ‘why’.
Watch me edit | LOW LIGHT
