What Makes A Great Photo?

 

This is the most obvious question ever for non-photographers, but for some reason we need things spelled out.

Note: You may find it odd that I fail to mention lighting in this article.  I'm sort of assuming good lighting and judging it under the 'color' category since the lighting determines the color of most photos.

The 5 Elements Of A Great Photo

I think there are 5 things that make a great photo: Subject, Perspective, Composition, Color, and Context.  But it's not as if every great photo needs all of these things.  An amazing subject can still make for a great photo despite having none of the other things.  

I like to picture it as a cup.  A full cup means a great photo and you can fill it with any of the ingredients listed above.  I'll try to illustrate and explain this below...

Photo 1: We have a beautiful woman surrounded by great colors that complement her skin.  The perspective is kind of cool from above and the composition is really cool as the plant not only curves in front, but also curves around the woman's face.  

Photo 2: This is a cool view of many buildings emitting vibrant neon colors.  There's nothing special about the composition and unless you live in this city you don't likely care too much about the subject or context of the building, but a very pleasing photo to look at nonetheless.  For me this photo is equally great as the first one.

Photo 3: On second thought, this photo is probably 90% context and 10% subject unlike I illustrated above.  A photo of a regular man in this pose would likely not be interesting at all to anybody, but the fact that it's Einstein is funny and interesting to everybody.

Photo 4: It's not everyday we get to see our world from above like this, so this photo adds great value to the viewer by giving us this perspective.  Plus the road winding through the middle is very nice.  The trees are lit nicely and the overall feel of the colors is nice, but not too important to the photo.

Now that we've gone through a few photos, I hope to elaborate more on each element and give some tips based on my experiences.

Subject:  What and who you shoot is important —Who would have thought?

This sounds like the most obvious thing ever, but you'd be surprised at just how caught up you can get as a photographer worrying about gear, editing, and other technical nonsense.  But you have to remember that as a photographer it's your job to be somebody else's eye.  

You should use that eye to look at things, people, and places they can't see.  It's as simple as that.

This means going to weird places, getting special access to people, or finding special things.  Photography is the adult version of show and tell.

A photographer who understands this more than anybody I know is Ed Mosiac.

Perspective: Expand my view.

Perspective in life changes your thinking.  The same is true for photos.  A unique or different perspective will allow your viewer to appreciate something they took for granted, realize the vast size of something, or change their opinion about a topic.

I think that Elaine Li does an amazing job of finding great perspective for her photos.

Composition: The game of frames.

The way you frame your photo the same way you frame your arguments —clear and interesting.  The way you frame determines what people focus on.  You can also use framing to create new realities or play tricks on people.

Street photographers are excellent at this.  If you need a good example check out Nick Turpin.

Color: Do what candy did to fruit.

Finding good color outside of a studio setting can be pretty difficult, which is why photographers often just ignore it and hope for the best.  I've found that the best way to get good color in outdoor photos is to shoot at night, in bad weather, or during the golden hours.

People enjoy getting very technical about color because it's a great way to sound smart and creative at the same time.  Personally I don't think photographers need to be concerned with color beyond thinking about what is naturally appealing to us.  

And if you want to know this just keep in mind the 9 color rules.  You can review and experiment with them on the Adobe color wheel.

I often enjoy the colors found in Liam Wong's work.

Context: Why should I care?

One of the things social media has really made clear is that who took the photo is often more important than what's in the photo.  At the same time, a bad photo of somebody famous will be more meaningful than a good photo of a regular person.

This kind of ties back into the idea of an interesting subject.  What value are you adding by showing this photo to people?   What larger thing does the photo connect them to?

Context also plays a role into the bigger story.  If you're providing consistent photos as part of as journey then people will obviously care more.

You should ask the same questions others will ask when judging your work.  Who are you?  What are you up to?  Why should anyone care?