Looking for Layers

When critiquing my portfolio recently, a photo editor commented that I should try to create more “layers” in my images. “Engage yourself, and by extension your viewer, in the scene,” he advised. He showed me some images that had run in his magazine and pointed out the specific differences between them and my more staid, distant shots.

I left that meeting feeling excited. The advice was excellent … although, I soon discovered, not the easiest to follow. Creating images with layers is challenging – it requires keen mental alertness and presence, the ability to see beyond the obvious, and a periodic stroke of good luck and timing.

Last night my camera and I attended a Vaudeville/Burlesque show. I started firing away from the start. The performers’ costumes and antics were sensational; it was hard to resist focusing on them.

But, I realized part way through the evening, the audience was contributing as much to the experience as the performers. To really bring the hilarious, energetic atmosphere of the show through in my images, I was going to have to change my perspective.

So I left my seat, moved over to the side of the stage, crouched down on the ground and aimed my camera back toward the crowd.

This shot was one of those I managed to create. It isn’t great. I could have employed other tactics that would have yielded better results – I should have fired my shutter continuously, and fast. I could have added flash for more drama. (I experimented with the latter, but the results were garish – attributable, I am certain, to the fact that I haven’t yet internalized the methods for using my external flash in tricky lighting situations). Nonetheless, this image and others did achieve the multi-layered composition I was aiming for.

Straight-on photographs, as I am now beginning to grasp, are relatively easy to create. Sometimes, even often, they work. But the approach of consciously trying to find layers in a scene is already improving my ability to envision and produce images that look and feel dynamic and that, as a result, stand out.

Now, how to make engaging images that also generate income? That is much more daunting. But I’m working on it…

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Tags: Burlesque, Photo, Photography, Tips, Vaudeville