Did you know that people like to live vicariously through human subjects in photos?
Adding a human element will create more emotion to an image. It makes them feel like they are experiencing the location themselves.
How do you accomplish this? By posing the subject in such a way that they either become anonymous or a focal point in the image.
The human element also gives a better sense of scale. By placing your subject in the distance, you can get a better sense of just how big those mountains really are, how tall a waterfall really is, or how much of the sky the aurora is taking up. This photo is an example of why photographing “tiny” people in large landscapes does well.
Adding a human element to photos helps tell a story. Images seem to be more powerful when people are included in them.
You can completely change the storyline of a particular photo depending on what type of human element you decide to incorporate—large and a focal point, or small and blend them into the landscape.
Why don’t you join us on one of our workshops? We lead trips all over the world and would love to share some of our favorite locations with you.
