Additional Tutorials...
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/response
http://michaelares.com/2013/10/12/gestures-in-photography/
https://vimeo.com/116718991
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/response
http://michaelares.com/2013/10/12/gestures-in-photography/
https://vimeo.com/116718991
GESTURES
(from https://inancy.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/gesture/)
We are looking for exceptional images where the composition component – Gesture – is used to tell the to the image’s story and to create its mood, emotion, and purpose.

What is gesture? The English dictionary gives us two very useful definitions:
Henri-Cartier Bresson’s concept of Decisive Moment is about finding that moment when all the compositional elements line up, just right, to tell the most compelling and emotionally involving story. Simplified, this involved finding the peak of the action, but also finding the right relationships between object.
Jay Maisel teaches “gesture over graphic”. What he means is that if the action is happening, but there is still crap in the background, just take the image. An image with great story-telling gesture with crap in the background is better than a perfectly clean image with no story. (Yes, we should try to optimize both).
For a more subtle understanding of gesture, study the work of Sam Abell. Sam Abell talks about micro and macro composition, but he too is waiting for the gesture and waiting for all the gestures to line up just right. A good example is this video of Sam Abell produced by the National Geographic where he talks about his book The Life of a Photograph.
- A movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning
- An action performed to covey one’s feelings or intentions
Henri-Cartier Bresson’s concept of Decisive Moment is about finding that moment when all the compositional elements line up, just right, to tell the most compelling and emotionally involving story. Simplified, this involved finding the peak of the action, but also finding the right relationships between object.
Jay Maisel teaches “gesture over graphic”. What he means is that if the action is happening, but there is still crap in the background, just take the image. An image with great story-telling gesture with crap in the background is better than a perfectly clean image with no story. (Yes, we should try to optimize both).
For a more subtle understanding of gesture, study the work of Sam Abell. Sam Abell talks about micro and macro composition, but he too is waiting for the gesture and waiting for all the gestures to line up just right. A good example is this video of Sam Abell produced by the National Geographic where he talks about his book The Life of a Photograph.
Gesture is emotionally involving.
As I think about gesture, I think about passive and active gestures. Passive gestures are waiting or preparatory gestures, coming often before and after the story. You want to capture the active gestures. Here are a couple of examples:
Another example
Not all gestures are created equal
Not all gestures are created equal. There are a lot of pictures with pointless gesture. The gesture must tell the story.
Here is another gesture, the universal sign for figuring out what time it is. Is he late? Is he waiting for someone? The context of the train station adds to the story.
Gesture is not a grab-shot
A judge once commented on one of my photographs with the phrase: “What a great grab shot”. It was intended to be a compliment but it also exposed some naivety about street and documentary photography in general. While it is true that in this style of photography you are dependent on the chance action that happens in front of you, hardly ever do you get your shot simply by seeing something, raising the camera, and taking the “grab shot”. To the contrary, those are more typically the shots you miss, not the shots you get. Once you see the action, it is too late.
Capturing good gesture, like photographing birds, requires that you observe and prepare. Sometimes your image will materialize and sometimes they will not.
Tips for capturing gesture
Capturing good gesture, like photographing birds, requires that you observe and prepare. Sometimes your image will materialize and sometimes they will not.
Tips for capturing gesture
Prepare
Take many images
Evaluate your results with the following questions
Happy Shooting!
- Set your background
- Set your exposure (and possibly your focus)
- Get comfortable with the subject and setting
Take many images
- Take as many as 20 or 30 images of the same person
- Explore different angles
- Practice your timing
Evaluate your results with the following questions
- Is something happening?
- Is there emotion?
- What is the story?
- Have you caught the action at its peak?
- Is there anticipation?
- Is there mystery?
Happy Shooting!