Don't be Spooked this Halloween...4 Photo Phobias NOT to be afraid of

During the Halloween season, there's lots of talk of the things that scare us.  But when it comes to yearbook photography, we need to overcome our fears and hesitations to be able to let our creativity shine through and fill our pages with fabulous photos.  So instead of ghosts and goblins, let's talk about four photo phobias that we should not be afraid of.

1. Ommetaphobia (fear of eyes)

Get in their space and get in their face.  Nothing tells a story more than emotion, and nothing shows emotion more than a person's eyes. Getting into someone's confined space by using a zoom lens or by getting the courage to walk up and talk to them will allow you to capture and convey their true personality. Practice by taking close-ups of your closest friends, and then branch out to classmates until you feel more comfortable with people you don't even know.  If they ask, tell them you're doing a story on eyes for the yearbook!

2. Enochlophobia (fear of crowds)

Conquer the hallway hysteria.  As a yearbook staffer, it's up to you to own your hallways.  While the professional photography studio might capture much of your sports action at games and many of your special events, it's the job of the student photojournalist to document the day to day hallway happenings in the school, and what’s going on in the crowd at those games and events.  Make sure to have your camera with you at all times to get comfortable capturing people in candid moments. Try picking a spot with an interesting background and a lot of foot traffic, and sit there for an entire period waiting for the action to come to you.  You can even experiment with slow shutter speeds to convey the activity of the students around you.

3. Nyctophobia (fear of the dark)

Don’t be afraid to take or experiment with photos in low light situations. 

Use your flash,  ambient light, stage lights, street lights, cell phone light, 

or anything you can find to add a creative touch.  Have a flashlight or glow stick?  Use it with a longer shutter speed for some cool effects.  Try using silhouettes or shadows to your advantage.  Highlight key focal points with whatever light you have to create drama, suspense, or mystery.

4. Catoptrophobia (fear of mirrors)

Here's something to reflect upon.  Mirrors, puddles, sunglasses, windows, and brass

instruments can all be used to capture people and places in a new and interesting way. Afraid to point the camera directly at your subject?  Photograph them by shooting their reflection in the glass or a mirror.  Looking to create repetition of patterns and colors? 

Place your camera on the ground in front of a small puddle.  Want to capture a person's face close-up while also seeing what's going on around them? Carry around a pair of reflective sunglasses to put on your subject in various situations. 

The Highs and Lows of Yearbook Photography

When we talk about the highs of taking yearbook photos, we're not referring to the excited looks on peoples faces when they open the yearbook, or the thanks you get for the dedication you've put into creating a beautiful publication that will make their school memories last a lifetime.  And when we talk about the lows, it's not the long hours working on layouts or the complaints that someone's name was spelled incorrectly.  What we're really talking about is the many ways the same old subject can be captured from a multitude of angles to add interest and intrigue to your layouts.

Changing your perspective is one of the easiest ways to create a more compelling photo.  Simply moving yourself and your camera higher or lower can take your viewer to a place from which they've never seen the subject before.  Practice by thinking about taking each each subject and photo as a 5 part or 5 shot series...

Shot 1. Eye to Eye.  Place your lens at exactly eye level with your subject or straight on to the action of what the subject is doing.  For example if your subject is an artist sketching on a pad of paper, or a science student working on an experiment, your camera should be at the level of the person's eyes, or the level of the project they're working on. This can be accomplished by simply bending down or squatting lower when taking the photo so you're not looking down on what you're capturing. This allows you to really draw the viewer into the scene and establish a connection between the subject and the viewer so they feel a part of the action you're capturing. 

Eye Level

Eye Level

Shot 2. A Step Above.  Hop onto a chair or a table (or anything that gets you slightly higher than your subject) and shoot down on the scene from above.  This slightly higher view gives the viewer more of a feeling of being a spectator as opposed to a participant in the scene.  It can also allow the viewer to see more of what's going on than the eye to eye view.  Let's take the same example of the artist or science student.  Now, even from just a slightly higher angle, you can see not only the student and the pencil or test tube, but also the drawing itself or maybe some supplies on the desk.  This angle can tell a broader story of the the entire scene instead of the intimate story of the people themselves.

  

A Step Above

A Step Above

A Step Above

Shot 3.  A Step Below.  Try taking a knee, sitting on the floor, or just bending over so you're at least slightly lower than your subject looking up at their face or at what their doing.  This angle can add a larger than life feel or even add a sense of being overwhelmed by the surroundings.  It can also help to eliminate distracting backgrounds.  Take for example the photo above of the two students working at the computer.  At the original higher angle, you've included bulletin boards, paper trays, doorways, etc.  Now look at the same scene in the photo below, taken from a kneeling position by the edge of the desk.  Suddenly the story becomes about the two students working together instead of the entire classroom.  As another example; imagine someone coming towards you walking a group of small dogs.  If you're standing on the street taking a photo at eye level with the dog walker, you're telling the story of the dog walker with mostly the tops of the dogs' heads and not much connection between the person and the dogs (other than the leash).  Now imagine lying prone on the sidewalk so the dogs are approaching with their faces above the lens of the camera with the walker looking down on you from behind them.  You create a connection between with the dogs, the walker, and the viewer that tells a whole different story.

A Step Below

A Step Below

Shot 4.  Satellite View.  Find a way to get directly above your subject looking directly down upon it.  This view from above will typically give the person looking at your photo a perspective that they've never seen before, and make them think "How did they get that shot?"  This is best from balconies, stairwells, or even the roof of your school (with supervision and permission from your administration of course).  And now made even more accessible with the use of drone cameras like we're using at Lors.  Nothing tells a larger story of your school than a photo from above.  Can't get that high up?  Not a problem...just put your subject down low.  Try arranging some friends on their backs on the floor, all in different directions but with their heads close together.  Maybe one reading a book, one on a laptop, and one on a phone.  Now stand up on a table or ladder (with someone holding you for balance and support) and photograph straight down at them with a wide angle lens.  From only a small height, you can create the same effect as shooting down from the ceiling.

Satellite View

Satellite View

Shot 5.  Worm's Eye View.  The complete opposite of satellite view, this is where you get down and dirty.  Lay on your back and shoot the activity directly above you.  This can be groups of people huddled around looking down at the camera, a photo from the bottom of a stairwell looking up at you subject who's looking straight down from above, or even from the ground at a ropes course or other climbing apparatus.  You can even try placing your camera on self timer and putting it inside something where someone is working directly above it.

Worm's Eye View

Worm's Eye View

The key to multiple angles is variety and options.  Every angle tells a different story, and the question you have to ask yourself is...How will my story be told?  So take your photos and layouts to new heights by taking your camera to new highs and new lows.

Unity and Diversity...Expand your Focus

Like a telephoto lens, too often we get in the habit of so narrowly focusing on our own core group of friends, our own clubs and organizations, or our own interests and ideas, that we miss the big picture of what unites us and brings us all together.  That goes for how we interact in everyday life, and how we capture and document that life each and every day at school. 

Yearbook isn't just about certain groups of friends, or the athletic teams, or the students who always find their way in front of the camera; it's about the memories of your entire school sharing both common and unique experiences.  As photojournalists (both studio photographers and student yearbook staff photographers), we must remind ourselves to zoom out and take a wide angle view of our surroundings.  Make sure to capture the things that bring your student body together, and to represent ALL student groups and organizations equally with your photos and layouts. Here are some ideas how...

1. Create layouts for things that unify your students, your school, and your community.  Not just sporting events, but school picnics, fundraisers, benefits, color runs, spirit week, homecoming, etc.  Don't have any school-wide events that bring everyone together?  Plan one!  Instead of your typical "Buddy Photos", how about the first annual yearbook sponsored Meet and Greet Photo Booth, where students are randomly paired with other students they don't know for a fun photo that goes in the yearbook? Have them bring props that demonstrate their interests.  They could even trade them with the other person for the picture.

2. Get a list of all clubs and organizations early in the year so you can make sure they're all included.  Then reach out to each club advisor, or any students in the club, and ask about a schedule of any big events or meetings they might have throughout the year.  Assign a staff photographer, or ask someone in the club to take pictures at one or more of those events so you'll have plenty of candid photos to include in an individual layout for that organization, or in pages throughout the book.

3. Solicit the help of all students to submit photos for the yearbook, and don't discard photos or layout ideas just because it's not something you're interested in.   Maybe have a photo contest with a school unity theme, and give away a free yearbook for the winner.

4. Finally (and this is a hard one), ask yourself the question...How diverse and inclusive is my yearbook staff?  That can mean many things...ethnic diversity, gender diversity, economic diversity, social diversity, diversity of ideas, and even grade level diversity.  If different groups are not represented on your yearbook staff, then it's possible the yearbook won't be representative of those different groups.  If that's the case, make an effort to search out the ideas and opinions of others who aren't on yearbook so everyone is involved.

So put on that wide angle lens and capture a year for ALL to remember!