If you鈥檙e a follower of the 64体育Content Team on twitter or have read some of our previous blogs you may have heard us mention that images taken from alternative perspectives are a continuing trend in stock photography.
In this blog we鈥檒l look at some simple ways you can use different perspectives to make your images stand out from the crowd, draw the attention of image buyers and to convey different messages within your imagery.
Get high up
Shooting from high up can provide interesting viewpoints and this can be in a variety of areas of photography depending on where you specialise. We鈥檝e been noticing trends in flat lay which have continued to be popular since their emergence on Instagram in 2015. If you follow us on twitter you may have seen us mention that we are also receiving requests for cityscapes and drone imagery. This type of imagery benefits from its high viewpoint above the subject and allows you to maximise the impact and convey a sense of scale to the viewer.
Getting higher than your subject when shooting can give off different messages depending on the subject. By photographing a Cityscape taken from tall building or a forest scene from high in the tree tops. This type of location will provide you with a birds eye view of your subject and give off the sense of scale and the expanse of the environment that surrounds it.
Obviously how you take these images is down to you and is dependent on the available access you have. You may need to check permissions to access some views of iconic skylines unless you are fortunate enough to live a tower/apartment block. You could also use a drone but again make sure you have any permissions needed to use these in your area as there may be restrictions. We’ve outlined a few of these in a previous blog.
If you change the subject to lifestyle you’ll affect how the subject is perceived. This is especially true when considering images containing people. Using a higher view allows you to give the impression that the subject being looked down on is small and less powerful, but may also give the sense that they are more introverted or withdrawn. An example of this would be an image of a mother looking down to her child. Where the child appears more vulnerable in relation to the mother who is placed in a more dominant or protective position. This can have added impact in lifestyle images when taken from a point of view (another style of imagery we鈥檙e being asked for).
Get low down.
In complete contrast, another perspective would be to shoot from low down or below your subject. This can be as simple as shooting from the hip or kneeling down. You could take this to the extreme by shooting from a prone, laid down position or place your camera on the ground and shoot straight up.
When paired with lifestyle photography. This angle makes the viewer feel as though the subject is in control of a situation, providing a sense of confidence. It can also give added impact and a sense of drama to your images when paired with moving subjects.
In other fields of photography such as landscapes and cityscapes, you can take this to the extreme. Capturing lower angles where you take images of your subject directly facing up give the viewer a sense of just how small they are in comparison to the world around them.
Eye level and Point of view
Taking your images from eye level is the simplest way to connect the viewer to the scene you are portraying. This provides the least amount of distortion to your subject, when compared to shooting from above or below. These extreme angles will foreshorten your subject and emphasise certain features in the case of photographing people.
Tie this with the added element of photographing in a POV (Point of View) style and your imagery will gain an extra element of immersion. You’ll be giving the impression to your viewer that they are seeing the scene from the first-person perspective. Include arms or legs within the image to give the impression the viewer is reaching into the scene.
We鈥檝e been receiving more and more requests for POV imagery particularly surrounding lifestyle subjects. This stems from the growth in use of adventure cams in recent years and was an image trend in the stock world in 2017 which we expect to continue.
While I鈥檝e only touched on three of the main ways you can draw your viewers in to your imagery, there are a whole host of twists you can add to your photography. You could consider pairing a high angle with a wide lens or a low angle with a long lens to create a blurry foreground for your subject.
Do you experiment with different perspectives when you shoot? We鈥檇 love to hear what techniques you use to add that extra element to your photographs in the comments below.