Hi Mark, thank you for sharing your experience. In addition, I appreciate that you don"t use stupid intros and also don"t apply distracting background music.You are a true professional.
As a former photojournalist, this is the way we covered an event. An overall shot, then a series of close ups showing individual parts of the event. For some reason, I quit doing this for a long time but in the last few years I have started doing it in my landscape work.
What a perfect way to describe and teach "the story" of photography! Thank you. This was the best example I've ever seen about storytelling with photography.
Oh, how I love this location. We had nothing but blue skies, but I have to pat myself on the back. I was able to capture images that told the story, as you recommended. One of my faves is a grouping on 3 boats.
When I saw one of your older videos, where you already talk about that story board thing, that was kind of an eye opener. I use this now all the time. It's great!
Visual Story telling is an essential requirement of all kinds of visual arts. The more one tells a story in a single frame, the value of that artist & artwork increase.This does not mean that anyone narrating a story with more frames is an inferior one but it is required by certain narrative forms of artistic expressions like feature films & documentaries or cartoons. The essential ingredient for finding, creating & expressing through multiple frames is a simple but efficient skill called 'Observation'. Then the question comes as to 'What' to observe and what not to...! Enjoyed your this episode..! Thanks.😊
Loved hearing about your thought process of making and getting the most out of a shoot, telling a better story about it, and even better, making the most of your time at a beautiful location. By getting 3 magnificent shots here just captivates your's and others attention so well.
I love this statement.: Photography is Visual Storytelling This will change how I look at every scene and shot moving forward. Mark, Thank-You Very Much
Great stuff, Mark! I've had a hard time understanding story telling through still photography, and I've been a hobbyist for over 40 years, and you've enlightened me on the subject! Thanks so much for your excellent presentation.
Excellent explanation of a complex subject. As a newer photographer, I’ve watched hundreds of videos on purpose and composition and got lost in the words. You’ve explained how and why in one video. Priceless.❤️
Wow Mark, light bulb moment, thank you for taking the trouble to share this mindset/workflow. I've been missing the point for years now LOL, gonna be taking that 17-40mm out the bag again for my first shot. I've been carrying it round for years and I guess haven't used it for at least 2 years. Going on a shoot a week on saturday and will be using your wisdom from the get go. All the best Russ
Mark, your videos bring more thought to my own work than most other channels I subscribe to. The way you immerse the viewer in the topic always gives me pause as to how I can be better at my own craft. Thank you for all that you put into these videos, I love this.. Tim
Excellent as always. I will now start wide as always, work to mid-range, and finally a long lens to capture the full essence of the story. Great reminder.
Thanks a lot for this video. I've been stuck in my photography for a long time and this might be exactly the tip I needed. I'm new to you channel but I will definitely be staying. Thanks again! 😃
I've used this storyboarding idea for some time now, and it was one of your previous videos that got me started using this process. For my photography, it has been transformative. Thank you for this and all of your content.
Great video Mark, and remarkable timing. I have just got back home after a morning sunrise shoot here in Australia. I have probably 30 frames of the same image to go through tonight with the hope of one keeper. When I walked away from the scene this morning I knew there was probably something I was missing and now I get it. Can’t wait to go back out soon with a different mindset.
This is a great topic/video. Not many people talk about getting the most out of a shoot like this and utilizing a storyboard approach. Also super impressed that you edited on a plane and recorded this RUclips video the day after travel. Superstar! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Great video. The best way to tell a story better than have a series of unconnected images that present a disconjunct mess. A few yrs ago I watched a video where the person ran with the theme of rock concept album. The opening theme, the middle tracks, the anthum and then the end track which draws everything together. It is like the old addage that the journey is every bit as important as the destination
Maybe also add a close up or macro of a flower or similar in front of the lake. Sometimes there's a resistance to changing lenses when out in the field taking pictures, which is why I kept my a7R3 instead of trading it in when I bought my a7R5. It's easier to grab the second camera and lens instead of changing lenses on one camera.
good tips. long telephoto images is one of the most under-pursued type of landscape photography IMO. It's so often I see people walk up to a popular location like the Maroon Bells, slap on the 16-35, get the morning light, then go home. There's a lot of powerful compositions that can be found using a 70-200 (or longer)
Great video. Sometimes you have to see big and focus small. There are elements within the scene that are, by themselves just as or more inspiring to look at. Understanding how we focus, with our eyes, helps us to see an inner beauty within many scenes. Thanks again
Great tip. I recently started using this approach. Particularly with my 24-200 lens it is quite easy to quickly carve out the intimate details of the broader scene.
Absolutely fantastic images! Capturing the full scene and multiple frames is something I tried in my most recent trip as well, and I must say I was surprised at how many additional photos became keepers.
Wow I've never thought about it this way!! Also amazing photos! Really cool how you kept the edit so close to how it actually looked like! That's how you know you're a good photographer!!
I've been in the practice of making multiple photos at the same location for many years now. It can be not just using different focal lengths, but also different areas of the same general location that can be used to tell the story. It never made sense to me when people talk about one photograph telling a story. For me, storytelling requires multiple photos.
Super tutorial Mark!!! I'm going to start doing this. Especially since I do 90% wildlife photography, and am learning to improve my landscape photography. This also makes a LS outing far more interesting, for each location! Excellent!
Regarding storyboarding, when I'm doing street photos with my 50mm I find myself thinking about an old book I read as a child called 'How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way'. Composition in comics is fun, clean and dynamic, so it fits well.
It would be helpful if you could share what lens, f stop, shutter speed, & ISO for us beginners. I really loved this video and am excited to start implementing this in my photography.
Very nice, It's funny and I'm sure you learn this all the time from other photographers.... It's great even if you are a working photographer, to think outside the box... We can always learn and see different perspectives from other photographers. Thank you for the quick insight and lesson ❤️
Great tip. As a matter of fact, I tried to do this last week when I was in the Smokies. Lots of times I don't think about this until I'm processing, then I spot something in a wider shot I'd like to crop into. Trying to be more aware of it when I'm shooting now.
Hello Mark, I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Great sample photos that speak for themselves. You make it so obvious why the "story" isi better than the single image. - I also enjoyed it because it strenthens the concept that we have been using in our PhotoClub: We don't show single photos at our exhibitions, we show "series" of 3 or 4, sometimes 5 photos that have certain elements in common and that make the series more valuable than any one of them. Talking about value: I enjoyed many of your videos that are often dealing with editing techniques or processes. But I do encourage you to share more contributions that do not (only) focus on technical stuff, but on the artistic and creative side, like you did here with the "storyboard".
Great video Mark , I like the way you work a shoot . Looking for elements in the sense to tell a story from different perspectives using different lenses.
This is a great tip! I currently only have a 28-75mm, but this suggestion may impact future lens choices because this makes a lot of sense and seems like it would be very fulfilling to see the photos come together as a story. I'm in the path of the total eclipse next spring and this has me thinking of how to tell that story with a series of photos. Here's hoping for a clear day!
I've almost the same lens only. I get the point of a wide and tele lenses and i know maybe I should get those in time but it bothers me having to change lenses out there to follow this approach
I love this idea! You've touched on it before but I'm glad you went more in depth with it. When I go for sunrise, I have my 24-70 on one camera and the 70-200 with the 2.0 TC on with the other camera. Fantastic work Mark!!!
I’m wondering how you would present this story in print format. I like printing my better photos, but don’t know how you would go about presenting the prints.
This is a great idea, but the technique suggests that all three images need to be shown together in order to convey "the story". Do you attempt to show all the images involved in creating a story together?
Great storytelling, Mark. Lovely photos. Good advice. I was wondering, however, about how you put the white boarders around your photos? Perhaps you could do a video in the near future showing us how you do that. Thanks.
Hi! If you use Photoshop, head to the Image header then scroll down to Canvas Size and from there you can pick/adjust the width and height for your canvas... and the colour too. Hope this helps you!
Great video! I was just wondering how you approach allocating your time, especially when there is a finite amount of time for sunrise/sunset. When do you decide that "okay I've got my wide shot, let's move on"? How do you balance between getting the"optimum conditions for a single shot vs being able to get good enough conditions for a small series?
Hi Mark, after the wide shot, the zoomed in shot appeared in the beginning to be out of proportion, rather asymmetrical, but I guess this is influenced by the wide shot. Was it a windless morning? Because the close up with the boat came out extremely well. Many times I tried to shoot a long exposure of boats in the water. Everything came out as desired, except the boats appeared to be “ghost-boats”😊. Even a slight breeze ruins such a shot. I guess, I am a little lazy with post-production & merging of 2 shots was too much of a ”work” for me😏! All your 3 shots brought out 3 different characters acting on this huge stage.
Echoing the kudos and appreciation for your efforts here. I also have two additional applications to pile on. First, in architectural practice we need to tell a relatively exhaustive story of how our building designs will be assembled. And we always start with the large view: the site plan, overall floor plans, elevations, building sections and make our way into the details. We have two audiences: owners and builders, each with different needs. But I found your presentation here to resonate in a way a couple years of YT videos hadn’t quite delivered. What I have found on YT is the second case: the 9-shot framework for scenes in video production: 2 establishing, 2 wide, 2 medium, 2 closeup and 1 odd angle. ruclips.net/video/2N4hEbcX2N8/видео.html I’m still asking a lot of questions about how this works and what both the world and I want from photography. But as a student of storytelling in a variety of contexts I find your broaching of this subject without pretension quite refreshing.
For a long time all you saw in landscape photos on instagram were sunrise and sunset shots and I beleive it was very overdone. I prefer your last 3 shots in particular the closer versions and I often do this on landscape photos deliberately not including the sky.
Hi Mark, thank you for sharing your experience. In addition, I appreciate that you don"t use stupid intros and also don"t apply distracting background music.You are a true professional.
As a former photojournalist, this is the way we covered an event. An overall shot, then a series of close ups showing individual parts of the event. For some reason, I quit doing this for a long time but in the last few years I have started doing it in my landscape work.
It's always worthwhile carving out a bit of time Mark...
What a perfect way to describe and teach "the story" of photography! Thank you. This was the best example I've ever seen about storytelling with photography.
Oh, how I love this location. We had nothing but blue skies, but I have to pat myself on the back. I was able to capture images that told the story, as you recommended. One of my faves is a grouping on 3 boats.
One of the best examples of wide shots setting the stage is in the movie "Legends Of The Fall"
When I saw one of your older videos, where you already talk about that story board thing, that was kind of an eye opener. I use this now all the time. It's great!
Really like the thinking process behind your storyboard idea. I like to go one step further and photograph small things around my feet
I used to do this, I don’t know why I stopped. Thank you for reminding me!
Visual Story telling is an essential requirement of all kinds of visual arts. The more one tells a story in a single frame, the value of that artist & artwork increase.This does not mean that anyone narrating a story with more frames is an inferior one but it is required by certain narrative forms of artistic expressions like feature films & documentaries or cartoons.
The essential ingredient for finding, creating & expressing through multiple frames is a simple but efficient skill called 'Observation'. Then the question comes as to 'What' to observe and what not to...!
Enjoyed your this episode..! Thanks.😊
The first one is called the establishing shot in film and video.
Loved hearing about your thought process of making and getting the most out of a shoot, telling a better story about it, and even better, making the most of your time at a beautiful location. By getting 3 magnificent shots here just captivates your's and others attention so well.
I love this statement.: Photography is Visual Storytelling
This will change how I look at every scene and shot moving forward.
Mark, Thank-You Very Much
Excellent point. You may never show all the images in a gallery or a book, but with all three “in the can”, doing so is always an option.
I like the process here of story telling. It opens up some new ideas for me.
rowboats...😊
Right...not canoes...LOL
Excellent video about storytelling through photography 📸❗️
Thanks Mark. I wish I was there with you on this trip.
Mark that is absolutely some of the best tips and information I have heard on my short journey into my photography. I shall use this a lot. Thank you.
Great stuff, Mark! I've had a hard time understanding story telling through still photography, and I've been a hobbyist for over 40 years, and you've enlightened me on the subject! Thanks so much for your excellent presentation.
Great analogy, Mark!
Excellent explanation of a complex subject. As a newer photographer, I’ve watched hundreds of videos on purpose and composition and got lost in the words. You’ve explained how and why in one video. Priceless.❤️
Wow Mark, light bulb moment, thank you for taking the trouble to share this mindset/workflow. I've been missing the point for years now LOL, gonna be taking that 17-40mm out the bag again for my first shot. I've been carrying it round for years and I guess haven't used it for at least 2 years. Going on a shoot a week on saturday and will be using your wisdom from the get go. All the best Russ
Mark, your videos bring more thought to my own work than most other channels I subscribe to.
The way you immerse the viewer in the topic always gives me pause as to how I can be better at my own craft.
Thank you for all that you put into these videos, I love this..
Tim
Great advice! Thanks for taking me along!
What a great tip. I’m always getting caught up in the “Big Picture.” I’ll be doing this on my next outing. Cheers
Excellent as always. I will now start wide as always, work to mid-range, and finally a long lens to capture the full essence of the story. Great reminder.
Great advice Mark! Very good, thank you.
Thanks a lot for this video. I've been stuck in my photography for a long time and this might be exactly the tip I needed. I'm new to you channel but I will definitely be staying. Thanks again! 😃
On that photo I would also take a photo of the reflection in focus. This can be used twice one for normal other to be pieced together with top focused
I'm new to photography and your videos have been helping me with get things in order. keep it going. Thank you
A primo idea for travel photography.
Love it, thanks Mark!
very good idea, I am off to try it in the mountains this weekend!
I love your enthusiasm.
Mark, thanks for sharing such a great idea! I’m going to incorporate the idea immediately! Thanks!
Well done - i think you cracked it. Cheers.
Great video Mark and beautiful photos
Thanks so much!
I've used this storyboarding idea for some time now, and it was one of your previous videos that got me started using this process. For my photography, it has been transformative. Thank you for this and all of your content.
Great advice! I can’t wait to try this idea!
Yes & yes & yes that is what I love to do but always changing my lenses. Lol
Really love this idea. The story with the supporting characters. Thank you for sharing this technique
Great video Mark, and remarkable timing.
I have just got back home after a morning sunrise shoot here in Australia. I have probably 30 frames of the same image to go through tonight with the hope of one keeper. When I walked away from the scene this morning I knew there was probably something I was missing and now I get it. Can’t wait to go back out soon with a different mindset.
Gives your story more depth.👍Cheers for the session. From New Zealand.
This is a great topic/video. Not many people talk about getting the most out of a shoot like this and utilizing a storyboard approach. Also super impressed that you edited on a plane and recorded this RUclips video the day after travel. Superstar! Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Glad you enjoyed it! The show must go on!
Love this. Thank you!
Nice one. Great tip, thank you.
So timely. I’m at a photo workshop tomorrow. I’m going to try my best to implement this technique. Thanks.
An excellent post.
Great video! I enjoyed seeing your photos from the Dolomites that you posted on Facebook!
Great video. The best way to tell a story better than have a series of unconnected images that present a disconjunct mess. A few yrs ago I watched a video where the person ran with the theme of rock concept album. The opening theme, the middle tracks, the anthum and then the end track which draws everything together. It is like the old addage that the journey is every bit as important as the destination
Maybe also add a close up or macro of a flower or similar in front of the lake.
Sometimes there's a resistance to changing lenses when out in the field taking pictures, which is why I kept my a7R3 instead of trading it in when I bought my a7R5. It's easier to grab the second camera and lens instead of changing lenses on one camera.
Thank you for your great job and videos
Thank you for sharing.. Will try this tips soon
good tips. long telephoto images is one of the most under-pursued type of landscape photography IMO. It's so often I see people walk up to a popular location like the Maroon Bells, slap on the 16-35, get the morning light, then go home. There's a lot of powerful compositions that can be found using a 70-200 (or longer)
Thanks for sharing.
What an inspiring video. You gave me a great idea. Thank you Mark
Love hearing this!
Great video. Sometimes you have to see big and focus small. There are elements within the scene that are, by themselves just as or more inspiring to look at. Understanding how we focus, with our eyes, helps us to see an inner beauty within many scenes. Thanks again
Great tip. I recently started using this approach. Particularly with my 24-200 lens it is quite easy to quickly carve out the intimate details of the broader scene.
Absolutely fantastic images! Capturing the full scene and multiple frames is something I tried in my most recent trip as well, and I must say I was surprised at how many additional photos became keepers.
Great tip. I don't recall ever taking this approach but I will going forward. Thanks for sharing
Wow I've never thought about it this way!! Also amazing photos! Really cool how you kept the edit so close to how it actually looked like! That's how you know you're a good photographer!!
I love this idea! DEFINITELY relate to "taking a million pictures of the same composition"
Glad to hear this!
An aspect of photography that I often overlook. Thanks Mark.
Happy to do it Greg!
I've been in the practice of making multiple photos at the same location for many years now. It can be not just using different focal lengths, but also different areas of the same general location that can be used to tell the story. It never made sense to me when people talk about one photograph telling a story. For me, storytelling requires multiple photos.
Super tutorial Mark!!! I'm going to start doing this. Especially since I do 90% wildlife photography, and am learning to improve my landscape photography. This also makes a LS outing far more interesting, for each location! Excellent!
Regarding storyboarding, when I'm doing street photos with my 50mm I find myself thinking about an old book I read as a child called 'How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way'. Composition in comics is fun, clean and dynamic, so it fits well.
Hi, great idea to make a story boards, is something I am going to try and use to improve my photography thanks
It would be helpful if you could share what lens, f stop, shutter speed, & ISO for us beginners. I really loved this video and am excited to start implementing this in my photography.
Very nice, It's funny and I'm sure you learn this all the time from other photographers.... It's great even if you are a working photographer, to think outside the box... We can always learn and see different perspectives from other photographers. Thank you for the quick insight and lesson ❤️
Glad to do it!
Great tip. As a matter of fact, I tried to do this last week when I was in the Smokies. Lots of times I don't think about this until I'm processing, then I spot something in a wider shot I'd like to crop into. Trying to be more aware of it when I'm shooting now.
Excellent subject and your video is terrific. Question, how would you have done a storyboard on the first photo with the spectacular colors?
Thanks so much for the new idea, Mark. You're a great teacher and I learn a lot from watching your videos.
Many thanks!
Thank you. Excellent thoughts that I will put into practice.
Hello Mark, I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Great sample photos that speak for themselves. You make it so obvious why the "story" isi better than the single image. - I also enjoyed it because it strenthens the concept that we have been using in our PhotoClub: We don't show single photos at our exhibitions, we show "series" of 3 or 4, sometimes 5 photos that have certain elements in common and that make the series more valuable than any one of them.
Talking about value: I enjoyed many of your videos that are often dealing with editing techniques or processes.
But I do encourage you to share more contributions that do not (only) focus on technical stuff, but on the artistic and creative side, like you did here with the "storyboard".
Thank you for another great video and photography tips that are invaluables!
Great to hear you enjoyed it!
Great video Mark , I like the way you work a shoot . Looking for elements in the sense to tell a story from different perspectives using different lenses.
Thanks Greg!
This is a great tip! I currently only have a 28-75mm, but this suggestion may impact future lens choices because this makes a lot of sense and seems like it would be very fulfilling to see the photos come together as a story. I'm in the path of the total eclipse next spring and this has me thinking of how to tell that story with a series of photos. Here's hoping for a clear day!
I've almost the same lens only. I get the point of a wide and tele lenses and i know maybe I should get those in time but it bothers me having to change lenses out there to follow this approach
That is genius
I love this idea! You've touched on it before but I'm glad you went more in depth with it. When I go for sunrise, I have my 24-70 on one camera and the 70-200 with the 2.0 TC on with the other camera. Fantastic work Mark!!!
I’m wondering how you would present this story in print format. I like printing my better photos, but don’t know how you would go about presenting the prints.
This is a great idea, but the technique suggests that all three images need to be shown together in order to convey "the story". Do you attempt to show all the images involved in creating a story together?
are there any rules on how to display these pictures on your living room wall
Good advice, Mark.
Thank ya!
this is an excellent video
Great storytelling, Mark. Lovely photos. Good advice. I was wondering, however, about how you put the white boarders around your photos? Perhaps you could do a video in the near future showing us how you do that. Thanks.
Hi! If you use Photoshop, head to the Image header then scroll down to Canvas Size and from there you can pick/adjust the width and height for your canvas... and the colour too. Hope this helps you!
Thank you. @@j.m.gratton6000
Happy to help !@@irabrucelevine
I dont think of a story while I'm shooting, but after: I can see that some images work together
Another magnificent video! Thank you for sharing your insight and experiences with us. You've helped me become a more thoughtful photographer.
Thanks so much!
Great video! I was just wondering how you approach allocating your time, especially when there is a finite amount of time for sunrise/sunset. When do you decide that "okay I've got my wide shot, let's move on"? How do you balance between getting the"optimum conditions for a single shot vs being able to get good enough conditions for a small series?
Great video 🙏
What is the best month of the year to go to the Dolomites in your opinion?
Thanks
End of October
Thanks so much!
Great Presentation Mark. I enjoyed it. I did keep looking for the canoes and only found row boats, did I miss something? 😊
Hi Mark, after the wide shot, the zoomed in shot appeared in the beginning to be out of proportion, rather asymmetrical, but I guess this is influenced by the wide shot. Was it a windless morning? Because the close up with the boat came out extremely well. Many times I tried to shoot a long exposure of boats in the water. Everything came out as desired, except the boats appeared to be “ghost-boats”😊. Even a slight breeze ruins such a shot. I guess, I am a little lazy with post-production & merging of 2 shots was too much of a ”work” for me😏!
All your 3 shots brought out 3 different characters acting on this huge stage.
How did you get the white border in the develop module? Or did you this in the print module and it appears there too?
This is done in PS
Is the white border around the images a LR setting or did you do it in PS?
I do that in PS
Danny ⁉Did I miss the memo.❓😜 Good advice. Carry on. 👍🥂
LOL!!
Hi Mark, can i achieve the success with a bridge camera?
Echoing the kudos and appreciation for your efforts here.
I also have two additional applications to pile on. First, in architectural practice we need to tell a relatively exhaustive story of how our building designs will be assembled. And we always start with the large view: the site plan, overall floor plans, elevations, building sections and make our way into the details. We have two audiences: owners and builders, each with different needs. But I found your presentation here to resonate in a way a couple years of YT videos hadn’t quite delivered.
What I have found on YT is the second case: the 9-shot framework for scenes in video production: 2 establishing, 2 wide, 2 medium, 2 closeup and 1 odd angle. ruclips.net/video/2N4hEbcX2N8/видео.html
I’m still asking a lot of questions about how this works and what both the world and I want from photography. But as a student of storytelling in a variety of contexts I find your broaching of this subject without pretension quite refreshing.
Great images but I’ve never been one to believe photographs tell story’s. Photographs capture a subject in time.
Visual story telling - the earliest forms of telling stories
For a long time all you saw in landscape photos on instagram were sunrise and sunset shots and I beleive it was very overdone. I prefer your last 3 shots in particular the closer versions and I often do this on landscape photos deliberately not including the sky.
Instead of 1 and done, look for other photos while on site to further explore the site.