I’ve been asked this question many times and to be perfectly honest I think a good image surpasses the basic techniques like composition, lighting, contrast, colour, etc. Sure, every photographer and aspiring ones, need to know all this. Instructional photo books flood the market with these basics. So what makes a good image? I think it’s one that captures your attention long enough, maybe transporting you to another time, evoking a certain memory or emotion, provoking a thought, etc. The market is flooded with a slew of images, especially since the advent of the digital camera but think of which image you’ve seen that holds your attention for more than 5 seconds. We browse through hundreds of images but what causes you to stop at the particular image? Study that and you may well know the answer to the question.

I have this fascination with images made in the early 1900s. I can just stare at old images, trying to relive the period it was taken in, imagining myself in that scene. I just had a similar experience in the toilet of Grand Copthorne on Saturday. While peeing, I was staring at images of Singapore in early 1900s. No date was given but talk about entertainment while relieving yourself!

Back in the days of Cartier-Bresson, Eugene Atget, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and other famed photographers, a good image was one which captured a slice of time, ‘the decisive moment’, social issues. We see these iconic images every now and then which may not pass our modern definition of a good image in terms of the basic techniques mentioned earlier. So it’s the purpose of photographing that makes a good image, what goes through your mind, what do you want to say with your images. Stopping at the basic techniques just provide a pretty image, visual satisfaction. Don’t stop there, carry on.

So back to the modern day where rules of composition, lighting, patterns, colour, contrast, etc are presented as essential, I learn to push that boundary. Who says you can’t shoot an image in this particular way or that? The images on top are all shot against the sun which breaks the ‘preferred’ rule of shooting with the sun behind the photographer or at the side of the subject. Who says I can’t shoot against the sun? I like the dramatic lighting shooting this way presents. I don’t quite care about flare…I make it a part of the image. I keep honing the skill of getting the exposure perfect such that the subject comes out the way I want it to, whether as a silhouette or well lit, with the background completely washed out.

The important thing is to shoot the image that excites you. Use the techniques (or break it) and get images that hold people’s attention longer, make them think, make them cry. I had someone cry when she saw the picture of her and her fiance. Good thing it wasn’t because it was bad..but it just evoked so much emotion from her.

Your skill is required to deliver the output, it’s a link between your mind’s eye and the viewer’s eye. Keep shooting to get it right. Learn from other photographers, study film directors’ work, look out for interesting ads when out shopping. Every photographer is constantly absorbing visual input and you should too.

4 Responses to “What makes a good image?”

1. clarissa says:

   18/05/2009 at 11:52 pm

   Hello Eulee, I like your post more and more.
   interesting and full of information.
   keep it up, see you real soon.
2. eulee says:

   19/05/2009 at 12:12 am

   Hey, good to know it’s of help will keep posting
3. couchpotato says:

   27/05/2009 at 12:48 pm

   Wow, great tips for beginners (and dummies like me) who do not really understand the technicalities

   Makes things so uncomplicated and fun! Keep it up.
4. eulee says:

   27/05/2009 at 1:49 pm

   Well..photography IS fun! Don’t let the technicalities complicate matters