Stop Making Interesting Photos!

“Interesting” may be the most over-used word in photography. How often have you heard something along the lines of “I saw this and it looked interesting so I decided to photograph it.”? And then you look at the photo and wonder, “What am I supposed to be looking at?”  It’s like we’re being forced to play “Where’s Waldo?“

If you ask about what they found “interesting” they mumble that it caught their attention. Further probing questions as to why just lead to more vague responses. While this perceived bit of “interesting” may mean something to photographer it generally doesn’t mean a lot to the viewer. So how do we go beyond “interesting” to something that is engaging for both the photographer and the viewer? How do we help others see what caught our attention without having to try to explain it to them?

The Problem With “Interesting”

I believe the problem is that “interesting” is not a word that works well all by itself. It’s too vague and everyone has a different interpretation of it.  We make images of lots of things such as:

• Objects – People, places and things
• Character – Textures, patterns, shadow/light, composition
• Emotional – Mood, drama, emotional scenes

But interesting by itself – no so much. If you pair it with one of the above we now know what you are trying to show us. An interesting building, face, patterns – that’s something we can understand. By itself, interesting is never the subject.

Photography great, Ansel Adams, is credited with saying “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” That’s our job as photographers. We have to make the photo in a way people will know what the subject is and what we are trying to make them see and feel. How can you possibly do this if you don’t know it yourself? As author Lewis Carroll said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” If the best we can say is that it was interesting, anything we will do will get us somewhere but others may end up somewhere else.

The decisions we make on composition, which areas to highlight or downplay, how to use depth of field to focus attention, etc. are all tools we use in making a photo. If we are going to put them to good use we have to have a clear vision of our intended subject and outcome. We wouldn’t expect a carpenter to build a house by just nailing things together in hopes that you’d end up with a nice building. The same is true with our photographs.

How Do We Refine Our View of Interesting?

So, what happens when you find a scene you like but you can’t describe why? It’s the “I just like it.” scenario. But all is not lost. Here is a way to find specifically what it is you like about the scene; what is that grabs your attention.

1. Relax. Take a deep breath.
2. Close your eyes, still your thoughts and empty your mind (some of us are perpetually in this state – just sayin’).
3. Count to 10 and open your eyes.
4. Immediately say out loud (or at least to yourself) what you notice. It’s what your eye goes to first. It could be the light and shadow play, the contrasts, patterns, textures, a face, leading lines etc.

Chances are the thing that caught your attention first are what you should be focusing your attention on. It’s probably the subject you’ve been trying to identify. Now that you have your subject, you can utilize your post-processing skills to bring out what you saw.

Sometimes whatever first catches your attention isn’t at all what interested you. A bright red car next to a beautiful scene may be where your eye is first drawn to. You’ve identified a distracting element and now know you need to compose your shot to exclude it to keep the focus on the subject of interest.

After you’ve done this exercise a few times you’ll probably discover that it’s become second nature and you’ve learned to automatically identify your subject.

But What About When The Entire Scene Is My Subject?

The ultimate goal is to be shooting with intent on a specific subject. That way you can now “make” the photograph about that subject rather than just the ambiguity of “interesting”.

And yes, that includes things like landscape photography where the entire scene is the subject. Of all the possible scenes you could photograph why does one in particular grab your attention. It will be things like natural leading lines, light and shadow, color and shapes. Once you recognize this you can identify which specific scene out of the myriad choices is the right one to be your subject. You also now know how to compose and edit the scene to make a great photo.

Don’t settle for just the vague concept of “interesting”.  Slow down and keep probing until you know what exactly it is that makes it interesting and focus on that. Now you have the subject and can “make” your photo about that. If you do it right, people will find it, well, “interesting”.

Do you take photos of the “interesting” or of a particular subject? Please comment in the comment box below.