Yesterday, we enjoyed the peace and serenity of a dock at sunset. Today, we head into the Czech mountains and look at how a detail shot helps convey the story.
As part of the Family Camp, we had an all-camp hike that took us through some forest, over creeks, through mud, up a few hills, over some boulders, and eventually to the top of an overlook that draws you into the entire valley.
As I was photographing some people sitting on the near-by rocks, and across the way, Mercury, came and sat down on this rock next to me. I took a picture of him and a few other people, and then he set his hand on the rock and I took this picture. He looked at me quizzically and asked why I was taking a picture of his hand. To which I quickly replied, it will help tell the story, and it will show up in some video somewhere.
This picture conveys a few story elements while allowing the detail to ring true.
- Color and Texture – the rock is placed prominently in the foreground and shows the striations of color while showcasing the grainy texture.
- Fingers – Mercury's fingers are naturally placed upon the rock versus posed. The gentle raising of the middle finger while the pinky is tucked underneath the fourth finger displays the lack of posing.
- Height & Depth – through the blurred background, the viewer is given a sense of how high we are – using the other large boulder and the valley in the distance. Additionally, the valley adds the perspective of depth to the picture giving the feeling that we are a long ways away from any civilization.
As I stated to Mercury, this shot (along with others) made its way into the camp video highlighting the activities of the second half of the week. I have included the video here to illustrate how I incorporated this particular shot into my story.
[tentblogger-vimeo 26440535]
Well…that's it for today. I hope you picked up a few ideas about how to incorporate detail shots into your storytelling. Tomorrow, we head back to Pskov for a unique look inside the Orthodox Church grounds.
What other types of pictures or video do incorporate into your storytelling? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
[This post is part of my Top 25 Summer Trip Pics series.]
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