10 Themes of Story Telling

This image explorers the theme of mood. A mood can be anything that can make you feel a certain way. This image creates a mood of peacefulness and serenity. This is created though the calming clouds that merge in with the morning fog close to the center of the bridge. To create this image, the photographer most likely went on location to the Golden Gate bridge during "magic hour" because the lighting from the horizon, as well as throughout the entire image, looks natural. The lighting is the most dominant feature of this shot. This was most likely achieved this by shooting the image at three different exposures (over, normal, and under) and then combined together in an editing program; therefore, it is an HDR image. To shoot this, the photographer used a wide angle lens and most likely a tripod to take three different images (for the exposure) without having to deal with any ghosting.  It is also possible that the photographer used a glow effect to enhance the image even further. The photographer also framed the image in a way that it would follow the rule of thirds because the very first thing the eye goes to is the bridge.

This photo covers the theme of a goal. A goal can be anything someone is desperately trying to achieve. In this shot, the goal seems to be to win a race. To create this shot, the photographer most likely used something close to a normal lens. Although it might seem that the background is not in focus, the photographer possibly used deep focus. The illusion of the background being out of focus was created by using and low shutter speed (but not too low) shutter speed while moving with the cyclists. That way, anything that is still appears to be out of focus or stretched. This effect helps the viewer focus more on the people riding the bike (especially the expressions) rather than the distractions around them. The facial expressions help immensely to show that this is a competition. The viewer can see the ambition on the face of one of the subjects. Also, the bicycles in this image act as a motion vector, indicating that the action is moving forward, further indicating that they need to reach a certain goal. The lighting in this shot seems natural, but the shot seems a bit overexposed which could have been done for artistic purposes because it doesn't take away from anything in the shot; instead, it highlights the riders.

This image explores the theme of a backstory. Backstory is a history of a photo or film that creates a better understanding of the narrative. This is image, the backstory reveals that the murderer of the girl's mother was really the man she is going to for security. To make this image effective, the photographer used selective color; the photographer made all of the image black and white and left the blood red. This makes the viewer focus more on the blood first rather than the people around it. Although the blood is terribly fake (since it was done in editing), it still has the same effect as it would if it was real. The photographer used the rule of thirds and focused out attention on the knife, the blood on the man's shirt, and the little girl's expression.

This photo dives into the theme of a character. A character could be someone or something. Anything with human-like traits could be character. In this shot, the dog is clearly a character. The dogs tells a story through the emotion we can see in its eyes. The American flag could indicate possibly the death of its owner in the military. In this shot, the photographer lines up the dog's eyes to follow the rule of thirds to make the viewer focus on the eyes first. The second most obvious thing is the American flag, which could indicate that those two things have something in common. Some color in the shot has also been taken away to further symbolize the loss of life. If natural light was not used in this shot, then it is most likely that a softbox was used because there is hardly any falloff.

This image uses the theme of an obstacle. An obstacle could be anyone or anything standing in the way of the character. From this shot we can tell that a disability is the challenge standing in the way of a person who needs to use that chair to go down the stairs. The photographer uses selective focus to put the viewer's attention on the the chair and only part of the stars indicating that getting all the way down the stairs is an impossible task. The lighting from this shot comes from the window located at the top left of the shot, the door at the bottom, and most likely a flash facing the chair. The photographer also used the rule of thirds by placing the chair in a place where it hits the lines of the grid and is most appealing to the eye.

This image illustrates the theme of a relationship. A relationship is a bond between anyone or anything. Although this image looks like a basic snapshot, it tells a story of a relationship. What looks like to be a homeless man is using his own blanket to keep his sleeping dog warm in his lap. This is a great example of how great content can overshadow an average looking image. There is nothing special about this image; the photographer didn't focus on the rule of thirds, there is no selective focus, there is no artificial light, even the colors have not been altered with. Just the simple deep focus of the image showing the man and his dog so close together makes it such a great image that the other factors are just not considered.

This image is an example of the theme of setting. A setting can be any location or environment. In this case, the setting is of a beach. This indicates that, in a film, anything that comes after it must have something to do with the beach. In this shot, the photographer used a tilt-shift lens to create a fake miniature effect that causes the everyone in focus to look like a miniature. The image is turned black and white probably because it looked blandly overexposed in color. The photographer also paid attention to the pattern of the umbrellas and tried to line them up in a creative and appealing way. The rule of thirds does not really apply to this image because almost everything that is in focus is located directly in the center of the photo.

The unknown can be anything unexpected or a twist in the story. In this image, the great yellow light is the unknown. From the evidence give, it can be predicted that that light is the entrance to the after life. This can be concluded because we can see an elderly male walking alone towards the light. The green leaves and no dead plants in the shot also indicates the beginning of new life. but again, it is not fully clear. This shot uses a normal lens and includes a foreground object (bushes) that are out of focus and everything after it is all clear. The only thing that follows the rule of thirds is the light, which is placed on the upper quadrant of the photo. The only artificial light that can be seen is the light the man is following, if it is not really the sun itself.

Time is a theme that represents time of day or time period within history. This image illustrates how time ends for everyone. Death is the sad part of life that cannot be escaped. Everyone's time will come and we have to learn to live with it and accept it. This image is a great representation of that. In this shot, the photographer uses selective focus to get rid of all distracting objects. The lens looks like a macro lens. The photographer doesn't exactly use the rule of thirds in this picture because the image works the way it is. The photo is taken from a higher angle to show that the butterfly is weak and is dead or dying. The lighting in the image looks to be mostly natural, but there could have been a soft light coming form the left side of the photo.