Welcome back to From Brand Image.
What we're going to do now is we're going to look at the language of image making.
So what exactly does that mean?
Images, we can describe images using lots of different terms.
And we're going to go through those terms and we're going to see lots
of examples of those terms.
Now you might say, why is it that I need to know
all these photographic terms in order to be
able to create my creative pitch and sell concepts and ideas to my clients?
The answer is very simple.
What we want to be able to do is we want to be able to visionate.
In other words, it's you know,
rather than just envision or have a vision,
visionating means that we are actually taking from the brand and then creating this idea,
this concept that we have with all of its different factors.
What we need to be able to do is to then communicate that very clearly to
our client so that our client understands exactly what it is that we are proposing to do.
And next, we need to be able to communicate that to a photographer,
to a director, in order for them to be able to execute the project that we have in mind.
So this is the process that we want to be able to go through,
so all the language that we're going to learn right now is going to help you do that.
So let's look at these different aspects.
The first and most important thing is the focal lengths of lenses.
Now why do you need to know the focal lengths of lenses?
The reason is very simple,
when we have a vision of an image,
or even a shot for a video,
we need to know what information we want to have in
that shot and what information we want out of that shot.
So when we talk about composition focal lengths of lenses its extremely important.
And I'm going to show you why. Take a look at this particular image.
Now what we see here is that wide angle lenses,
what we call wide angle lenses.
And if you look over here what you'll see is that an 18 millimeter lens;
the smaller the number of the lens,
the wider the angle.
Remember, the longer the lens, in other words,
the higher the number,
the closer we go to our subject.
So what happens is with a wide angle lens,
when we talk about a wide angle shot,
we're going to include all the ambient information that can be found in the space.
And then as we move progressively towards telephoto lens,
like a 120 millimeter or a 200 millimeter etc.,
what happens is that we are focusing in more and more onto our subject.
So when we think about images,
we need to think: how do I want the image to be?
Do I want to have all of the information
about the environment that the person is in or do
I want to just focus in very tightly on my subject?
So let's look at some examples of focal length lenses.
Now you look at this and you say,
well what focal length might this be?
What we see is that we're very close to
the subjects and yet we have all of this information.
So this is a wide angle shot,
and you can imagine how different this shot would be if it were not wide angle.
If it were, for example,
with a telephoto lens where we were zoomed in on a very tight area,
we would lose all this information in the sense of
the story that this image is giving us.
Here's another example of wide angle.
So we see that we can see very far away the climber that's above us.
But by using a wide angle lens,
we include this whole story and we see that what this particular story is actually about
is the fact that the other climber is supporting the climber who is above.
So by including that information,
we are more able to tell the story.
Now look at this image which is also wide angle.
Look at the force that the car has given.
It creates almost this sort of bold,
this effect on the car by using a wide angle lens.
So one of the things that wide angle lenses do is
that they distort somewhat the proportions.
So the front of the car looks huge in comparison with the back of the car.
Now one of the things we need to be careful is that when
we use wide angle lenses with people,
they kind of create a humorous effect.
They're sort of comical.
And so if we get right in towards our subject and we use this wide angle lens,
what we see is that it creates a sort of funny aspect.
So usually wide angle lenses are not shot are not used for shooting
beauty photography because they make people look funny.
So what we see here is that we're getting now to a tighter shot.
So we're no longer in wide angle,
we're now in that sort of mid range: 50 millimeter,
maybe 80, 85 millimeter lenses.
We begin to zoom in on our subject.
So this photo we see immediately is less about
the environment that she's in than it is about her.
And the other thing that happens is that when you use
longer lenses and you begin to zoom in,
the background starts to go out of focus.
So it really takes our attention to the subject matter.
And as we go tighter and tighter,
what we see is that the photo of the image becomes more and more intimate.
It becomes more about the emotion and much less about the space that the person is in.
And even tighter, we have even more of that effect.
Now let's move to the next term.
The next thing we do is we can use lines in telling our stories.
Now how do we use lines in telling stories?
By placing lines in the story,
we are telling our viewer where to look.
So the image immediately tells us that we are
looking off into the distance simply by placing the line in the image.
And here, the lines of the building are focusing all
of our attention up into that center area.
So all of those lines,
it's interesting because the photo is really less about the buildings
and more about the effect that this all has.
So if we look at this next example what we see is that
the lines in this image are taking our eye through the image.
So essentially what we're doing is we're telling the viewer where to look.
So this is not as much a story about pipes and
bars as it is about the form that the lines create.
Now let's look at shapes.
Shapes do exactly the same thing.
When we repeat shapes over and over,
for example, it becomes a story about the shapes.
It's not so much a story about pieces of wood as it is about
the effect that all of these shapes have on our eyes and the feeling that that gives us.
Let's look at another example.
You see this roller coaster ride of metal.
And so what happens is these lines,
these shapes what they're doing is they're telling our eye to move through the image.
Again popsicle sticks.
This is not as much a story about popsicle sticks it is as it is about
the form that they create by repeating those shapes over and over.
Now let's move to forms.
Now what's the difference between shapes and forms?
Forms are things that imitate shapes that we recognize.
So it's not actually the thing itself but like a representation of the thing.
So here we see a woman,
but it's not actually a woman it's a shadow of a woman.
And so it evokes that response of,
we recognize what this form is supposed to be.
Again we can use repeating forms.
Like in this Kenzo ad we can see that the form
the body of the woman mirrors the shape of the bottle.
So we're using sort of repeating forms again to tell a story.
So let's look now at this image of sand.
Now what we see here is that this is not so much a story about the sand as it
is about the form that the sand creates and this feeling of waves.
All right. Let's look at textures.
Now textures have an interesting role to play.
Usually we play with textures in the backgrounds of our images.
And so immediately this craggy rock surface
gives us that very edgy, almost dangerous feel.
Like it's going to cut us if we touch it.
So the texture creates that impression.
Whereas if we use a texture of leaves,
what we find is that it gives us that sort of very soft,
very warm feeling which is exactly the opposite of what the rocks communicate.
Again this texture of the grass and also the color that
the warmth of the colors gives this that sort of nice, soothing, intimate feeling.
Now patterns, when we use patterns what we do is we're essentially
taking one particular item and repeating it over and over.
And so what happens is that instead of this being the bottom of a swimming pool,
it becomes this sort of mosaic,
this colorful mosaic background.
And what it does is it helps to make the pineapple leap out of the photo.
So it creates this sort of background to help the pineapple stand out.
So again, patterns.
By using these lines of the lamps,
what we're doing is we're telling the viewer to follow this pattern through the photo.
So it's communicating that to us.
It's telling us where to look.
And this last photo is,
I think, an incredible photo. Very beautiful.
What happens is this is not so much about the actual location as it
is about the pattern that the sandstone creates for our eyes to see.
So we'll be back in the next video and we'll look at some more
of these photographic techniques. I'll see you there.
