Practical Artistry: Light & Exposure for Digital Photographers

66 Working with Aperture

Aperture and Narrative

Aperture and Narrative

While the story may not be immediately obvious, all

photographs do tell one. The narrative component of a

photograph is usually the most emotionally important

part of an image. Even if the viewer of the photograph

is not conscious of the story the photo tells, it is the

story the viewer responds to viscerally.

Since narrative is so important to the success of an

image, it is worth every photographer’s while to think

about the story a photo tells. What is going on in the

photo? What came before the photo? What will come

afterwards? Will a casual observer who wasn’t at the

scene see the same story that you do? What can you do

to introduce compelling or interesting narrative into a

photo? Don’t be scared of questions: often the narra

-

t

ive itself consists of more questions than answers.

Of course, many things influence the role of narrative in

your photos, including your choice of subject matter and

composition. Aperture choice also plays a big role in the

effectiveness of the narrative structure behind a photo.

The choice of a small aperture (and high depth of

field) can bring disparate elements of a photo together

to create a unified story, particularly in a wide-angle

composition.

On

the other hand, a large aperture (and low depth

of field) isolates, and makes more important, the ele-

m

ents that ...