Great People Pics: How to Create Unique Photos of People
Unique photos in Antarctica result from a physical approach to people pics.
Striving to create authentic and unique photos is the most essential component to making great people pics. Over the years I’ve discovered really interesting ways to do just that.
Great people pics tell the story of your life and preserve memories of those you love most. Truly unique photos result from great composition, timing, and a more physical approach to the photos you make. Likewise, innovative results flow from people pics that explore notions of absence and presence.
Let’s uncover some simple, fun and interesting ways to make unique photos that speak to our relationship with the landscape, both natural and constructed.
The ideas and techniques explored will help you on your own journey to make more authentic and meaning-rich photos.
“There are two ways by which our photos speak to us of people: through their absence and through their presence.”
How to Create Fantastic Outdoor People Pics
One of the best ways to create fantastic outdoor people pics is by depicting people in a landscape in which they seem to belong.
It’s a great way to explore the notion of presence in people based photography.
Take a look at the above photo of Terry, the barman, from a photography tour I co ran on an Aurora Expeditions cruise to Antarctica.
Notice how his red jacket and blue trousers reference similar colors in the distant research station buildings, as well as in the clouds and waters around Paradise Harbour.
This commonality of colors helps provide the sense that Terry looks, very much, at home in this wild and beautiful location.
Terry was a great guy and it was a pleasure for me to take his photo on top of a hill overlooking the magnificent Paradise Harbour in Antarctica.
I chose to photograph Terry with a wide-angle lens, because I wanted to include a significant amount of the surrounding environment in the composition.
The narrow angle of view, associated with a telephoto lens, just wouldn't have worked for this particular image.
Tele lenses are great for isolating a subject from their environment and for drawing people’s faces, particularly those with fatter faces or longer noses, in a more flattering manner.
But this photo is all about placing Terry within the environment of Paradise Harbour. That’s why a wide-angle focal length was the correct choice.
The ability of a wide-angle lens to include more information and, thereby, tell a more comprehensive story, in a single picture, made all the difference.
Arguably, the best way to use a wide angle lens to make really great people pics is the environmental portrait.
Here’s a link to a very informative and popular post I wrote on the topic titled, Fantastic Environmental Portraits: How to Master People Pics.
The post features photos I made in India, and I really think you’ll enjoy it.
Group portrait of people in the landscape at Eqi Glacier in Greenland.
How to Illustrate the Presence Of People In The Landscape
The easiest way to illustrate the presence of people in the landscape is to position them front and centre in the photo.
Notice how the landscape, though magnificent, is very much playing second fiddle to the group of friends in this people pic on the edge of the wilderness in Greenland.
The surroundings do help to tell the story of the close bonds between these friends, at a particular time and place in their lives.
However, when viewed from our accommodation near Eqi Glacier the waters, glacier, mountains and sky are really just background elements in this photo.
The relationship between the subjects and the background, in this photo, is no where near as strong as that suggested in the environmental portrait I made of Terry, the Barman, at Port Lockroy, in Antarctica, at the very top of this post.
But that’s because this picture is much more about a group of friends, who happen to be in Greenland, than it is about the relationship they have with the environment in which they’re depicted.
That’s not to dismiss the environment in this picture, it’s just a different kind of people pic to the one of Terry, the Barman.
Now take a look at where I’ve positioned the group of friends within the composition.
They fill almost all of the bottom section of the picture and, as such, appear quite separate from the landscape behind them.
What connects these people to the landscape is the outdoor clothing they’re wearing and, in most cases, the wind in their hair.
Tips for Interesting Outdoor Portrait Photos
It was fun to make this quite unique photo of friends, under the midnight sun, in front of the magnificent Eqi Glacier in Western Greenland.
One of the things that’s unusual about this photo is that I’ve been able to eliminate much of the middle ground from the composition.
The most common ways of doing this are as follows:
Use a powerful telephoto lens to reduce the perception of distance between the foreground and background within the scene.
Photograph from a very low angle of view, thereby excluding much of the mid ground from the composition.
Fill the frame, left to right, with primary subjects so as to exclude much of the middle ground from the composition.
As you can see, I made use of the second and third technique from this list when composing this particular people pic.
In addition, I had one more trick up my sleeve. The group and I climbed onto the roof of a building to make this photo.
If I’d been able to stand even higher, and photograph downwards onto the group, I would have opened up the image by including more of the middle ground in the composition.
No doubt, a more definitive foreground, mid ground and background would have produced a more three dimensional image.
But the wind, and the shape of the roof on which the photo was taken, made that impossible.
What’s more, by photographing at such a dramatic downwards angle, it would be hard to see their faces.
That wouldn't be ideal. After all, it’s a group portrait and, therefore, the identity of the individuals is important.
As it was, I had to do quite a bit of work in post processing to lighten their faces.
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They were a really great bunch of people, and the location was truly spectacular. Unfortunately, when the time came to make the photo, the light was bleak and totally uninspiring.
That’s the primary reason why I concentrated on the close-knit relationships between this group of friends, rather than their connection with the surrounding environment.
Despite the difficulties of working on top of a roof, under low light and windy conditions, it was important to create a cohesive and harmonious result.
It seemed obvious to me that the success of this photo would be dependent upon a great composition.
I did my best to achieve that goal by organizing these friends into groups, based around notions of balance and order.
Actually, It's often easier to compose group photos around uneven (e.g., three, five, seven), rather than even numbers of people.
However, in this case, even though our group contained six people, I was able to bring a sense of order to the photo by placing these young folk into two, subtle sub groupings.
Of the six friends, two are female. So I placed each of the girls between two guys, so as to produce a more balanced and cohesive composition.
You could say that the guys are framing each of the girls and that the group of six has been, subtly, broken into two sub groups comprised of three people.
Three is, of course, an uneven number and easier to arrange people into than, say, a group of four.
The fact that the group of three on the left of the frame is less symmetrical than the group on the right is probably a good thing.
By encouraging two of these friends to move closer to each other, I was able to create a more candid and intimate moment within the larger group.
These kinds of intuitive movements, whether directed or not, add authenticity to the people pics we make and the memories those photos preserve.
The photo was created, after a few celebratory drinks, under gloomy conditions during the wee hours of the morning.
I remember it being a tricky photo to make, which only makes the final result more pleasing.
I’m very glad I took the trouble to climb up onto the roof and make the image, and that I’ve been able to share it with you here.
Most of all, I’m happy to have made it for this group of young Danish friends. They really were a great bunch of people and I hope, one day, to be able to meet up with them again.
I felt that was of critical importance, as I wanted the photo to tell the story of their time together in Greenland, and help to preserve that memory for many years to come.
One thing we know is that our world is changing.
Climate change is adversely affecting weather patterns and, as a consequence, natural environments are threatened across our planet.
The Eqi Glacier, as a case in point, is undergoing irrevocable change.
It’s important to understand that the most unique photos we create are a kind of time capsule.
Indeed, our photos preserve fragments of our lives that, over time, serve as powerful visual memories of the world as it was, before the fall.
Useful Outdoor Photoshoot Ideas for People Pics
There’s so many ways to make creative and unique photos of people.
More often than not, creativity comes out of the need to provide real life solutions to the range of technical, composition related or aesthetic problems that arise when making people pics.
You're motivated to make beautiful, life-affirming photos, but the circumstances you find yourself in simply don't allow you to do so.
Your only solution is to find a way out of your currently dilemma. My own experience tells me that creativity is the best way forward.
But don't fool yourself into thinking that creativity can only be achieved through exotic lens choices, the introduction of artificial light sources or bumbling around for a solution in Photoshop.
Working outdoors can be challenging and may require, one or more, innovative ideas to resolve the technical and creative dilemmas you’re currently facing.
And it’s by taking a more engaged and highly focused approach, to the problems at hand, that will result in more visually interesting and unique photos.
It's my experience that, more often than not, the easiest to action solutions come about by taking a more physical approach to how you make photos.
Here’s how I’d go about doing so.
Move yourself and/or the subject, in the search for better lighting.
Move yourself and/or the subject, in the search for a more interesting and/or less distracting background.
Photograph from a higher or lower than normal angle of view, to create a more visually dynamic image.
The great advantage of following my advice, and taking a more physical approach to your people pics, is that you'll be able to find the answer to your problems, almost immediately.
Immediate feedback, via your camera’s viewfinder or rear LCD screen, is certainly one of the great advantages offered to today’s photographers worked with digital cameras.
With your most immediate problem solved, you can move forward with greater confidence as you continue to create more visually creative and unique photos.
And have no doubt, the people you're photographing will pick up on your enthusiasm and respond in kind, opening up opportunities for the creation of even more engaging and interactive people pics.
People pic of three men moving through gate, the Forbidden City, Beijing.
How to Make Photos Of People Moving Through Space
You can photograph people where the landscape, whether natural, urban or architectural, becomes an interesting space, even a portal, through which your subjects move.
It’s a concept that works particularly well in sports, architectural and street photography, and may well result in your most unique photos of people.
I remember photographing this candid image of three men, moving through a gateway, within the grounds of the Forbidden City in Beijing, China.
I had noticed these guys, moments earlier, on the other side of the gateway. I ducked back, so as to make this photo of them passing through the China Red colored gateway.
It's interesting to see the relationships between these guys, with one man helping another and with their face masks either absent, partly unrolled or largely covering their faces.
The fact that the small sign in the background says, "Mind Your Step" is an extra element that might appeal to folks interested in irony and slightly quirky images.
Actually, the notion of telling a story is often misunderstood in documentary photography.
Certainly, there are great people pics that contain lots of information relevant to the characters and events depicted, or the message or theme explored.
But, sometimes, a message as simple as “Mind Your Step”, whether instructional or humorous, can be impactful enough to tell a story in a successful photo.
Needless to say, the success of this photo is largely dependent upon good timing.
It’s an example of what french photojournalist, Henri Cartier-Bresson, famously referred to as the Decisive Moment.
With no guarantees offered, it's simply a matter of putting yourself into a good position so that, if things work out the way you hope, you'll be able to document an interesting moment in time.
I had to scoot back in the direction I’d come from to make this photo.
That makes it a good example of how taking a slightly more physical approach to the photos you make can turn a pretty mundane scene into an interesting and unique photo.
Unique photo exploring absence of people in the landscape, Port Lockroy, Antarctica.
How to Show the Absence Of People In The Landscape
Why are the notions of absence and presence important when photographing people?
The way you think about photography has a significant impact on the way you approach the photos you make and, as a result, the quality of the memories you create.
Over time I've discovered that, by thinking somewhat out of the box, I've been able to create more unique people based photos.
As a result, I’m well along the way to building a more personal, authentic body of work that tells the story of my life through the photos I’ve created.
The notion of absence can speak to our relationship with the natural landscape. It’s a fascinating idea which I’d like to discuss further.
There are no people visible in the above photo.
I think we can agree on that.
Yet the surroundings speak to us of the necessity of this shelter to house the brave and intrepid research scientists who live, for much of the year, at Port Lockroy in Antarctica.
The purpose of the shelter is clear. It's there to protect its occupants from brutal Antarctic weather.
It follows, therefore, that you can make a photo about people and the way they live their life without actually showing them in the photo.
Likewise, you can make an image that explores the notion of our relationship with the environment through an absence of people.
Just think of the remains of a family home, in the middle of a forested area, after the devastating effects of a bushfire.
To be clear, you can, absolutely, tell a powerful story about people without actually including anyone in the photo.
This type of approach speaks, not so much about an individual, but about the human condition and just how poignant and meaning rich these images can be.
I hope you agree that the idea of absence, when exploring the notion of people in landscape photos, is a very interesting concept that’s worth exploring in your own photography.
Perhaps it’s the very concept you need to embrace to be able to produce more unique photos in the future.
How To Make Unique Photo Compositions
Let’s take a close look at the composition that underpins this photo of a shelter in Port Lockroy, Antarctica.
The composition isn’t so much based around a building, in a snow covered landscape, but around the following elements of composition.
Tone
Shape
Texture
The tubular shape of the dome-like shelter, together with the texture of the building and the surrounding snow are important elements of composition in this image.
Add to that the relatively high dynamic range, between light and dark tones throughout the scene.
Notice how the dynamic range actually adds to the sense of drama that’s suggested by this rigid construction, placed in the harsh and wild Antarctic environment.
Can you see how the tonality, present in the areas of foreground snow, are tied in with similar areas of brightness throughout the image?
In particular, look to the building's door and window frames, and also to the clouds.
As you can see, by connecting foreground, mid ground and background elements within the frame, a great composition can be achieved.
It's a great way to enhance the sense of three dimensional space within, what is otherwise, the restrictive bounds of a two dimensional photograph.
Unique photo of a tiny snowman, under a shelter, Huangshan Mountain, China.
Real People Made this Snowman
Similarly, let’s examine this photo of a tiny snowman on Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in China.
Notice how the textured areas in the snow connect, with areas of similar tonality in the background trees, in this image of a tiny snowman.
I loved this little snowman and photographed it moments after two local Chinese tourists had created it.
The image speaks to us of human interaction with the environment, without actually showing any actual people in the photo.
It's another example of how to make unique photos, illustrating the notion of absence, to tell a story about people and how they interact with the landscape.
Unique photo showing an absence of people in Eidi, Faroe Islands.
A Unique Approach To People Photography
Whether your photos usually feature people, architecure or landscapes they are, in a way, all about people.
Take this photo of the picturesque village of Eidi, on the island of Eysturoy in the fabulous Faroe Islands.
It looks like quite a stable and prosperous village, perched above an inlet that leads to the sea.
Despite the lovely houses, well-tendered football pitch and the ubiquitous Faroe Islands church, there’s a definite absence of people in this picture.
Is the village of Eidi actually a ghost town?
While people are absent from this particular image, it’s clear that the photo is all about how the people of Eidi live their life in this remote and sublimely beautiful part of the world.
And let’s not forget the cemetery. A close examination of those gravestones would speak to the history of the town and those who once lived there.
While they may not always feature people directly, many photos indirectly refer to the pursuits, ambitions and concerns of the people who actually live, work or pass through the landscape depicted.
The same can also be said about me, the photographer who created this image, and, when it comes to universally shared concerns, for the audience who views the photo.
Likewise, photos speak to what we've done in our lives, and, for better or for worse, what we leave behind: our legacy.
Here's a post I wrote celebrating British Antarctic explorer Dave Burkitt and the important legacy he's created during his long and adventurous life.
Photography, by it's very nature, documents and preserves important memories for generations to come.
Having said that, I think it's important for each of us to look at our creative journey, thus far, and ponder the following questions:
Are you doing enough to contribute to this grand endeavor?
How unique are the people pics you routinely create?
What creative projects can you undertake to make more unique photos, and to tell the story of our own life and who and what you most care about?
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it for you. If so, please feel free to share it widely and wildly.
