The Concept Exercise

© Livingstonat...

Concept photography is much harder than object photography. Or at least it is for me. It is easy for me to see a hot dog or some exotic salt and think WOW! That, I should shoot right now, and go get my camera (if it isn’t sitting right next to me.)

On the other hand…when I really need to work my brain and my skills, I try the concept exercise.

The concept exercise is a great one to get you thinking from another part of your brain and to expand your portfolio.

Go down the list and pick one of the concept categories, say, Abstract-teamwork. (This is one of the easier ones for me.) and start thinking/looking for things that demonstrate teamwork. Today for me it was the people all trying to make sure the hot air balloon stayed where it belonged and the girl and her horse at the jumping event. (At this point they are in the queue waiting approval.)

So here is what you have to work with.

Background, blurs, colors, competition, craftsmanship, danger, exploration, fun, help, love, luxury, peace, planetarium, power, purity, religion, seasonal and holiday, security, sports, stress, success, teamwork, textures, unique.

Of course, often you can work more than one concept into the same photograph. For instance today, the team working on the balloon was working with an exceptionally colorful balloon and the horse and rider were also a sport!

Often purity and religion go together, as well as danger and exploration, luxury and power and sports and blur.

Grab a piece of paper and a pen, make a decision and start writing down some ideas. Don’t forget to include the possibility of editorial use for luxury images with logos. Obviously, this is an editorial shot because it is boldly logoed but it is one of my favorites.

© Livingstonat...

The thing about concept images is, often the designer doesn't quite know what they want until they see it, so your image is more fluid and surprising for them.

Now go have some fun!

Photo credits: Ginger Sanders.