Portrait photographers know the importance of capturing the emotion of a specific moment in time that will result in an emotional response from the viewer when they see the image, but producing images that have the same type of response is critical to creating images with impact, no matter what the content is. If the image suggests a mood that viewers can “feel” when they see it, they will remember that image.
I have found that I have less success capturing mood images when I go in search of them. I always have a camera with me, a DSLR- not a phone camera, and the majority of the images I end up adding to my portfolio are ones that were not planned, but were captured because they produced an emotional response in me when I saw the visual in front of me. The response was strong enough to move me to capture the image, so it clearly elicited emotion.
I have included a slide show of images that were taken not on planned expeditions, but rather during travels across the Southeast related to my portrait photography work. They represent my point well. Each image is the result of me literally stopping my vehicle to get out and record the image that presented itself.
Other than black and white, I do very little post-capture image enhancement because, while that is an art in itself, I prefer the image to reflect what I saw that caused me to stop at that moment. I find that the finished image more closely resembles what I saw that inspired me to stop in the first place with fewer after the fact enhancements.
Keep a camera with you so that when you see something that makes you feel happy, sad, angry, etc… you can capture it and share that with others.
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