Photo questions

[Anonymous No.8098037]

I've seen this topic pop up a few times but I never really understood what it means so I thought I'd ask for clarification.

What does it mean when a photo "tells a story" and how do you shoot a picture that does so?

Does the picture serve as an example as I'm not too sure on the definition?

[Anonymous No.8098045]

Sorry, that's a really bad photo. Telling a story should be the icing on the cake.

[Anonymous No.8098049]

>>8098045
Is she talking to that bag like its a baby?


Don't worry bag its okay shhh

[Anonymous No.8098065]

This can count for storytelling whether you've played this game or not.

[Anonymous No.8098079]

>>8098065
I love this photo a lot but man, this guy does not make a good Vincent.

[Anonymous No.8098091]

>>8098065
Oh, that effect looks very cool!

[Anonymous No.8098102]

It means you get the idea the picture is portraying some other events than "character is posing for the camera". There is a story going on.

[Anonymous No.8098178]

>>8098102
Pretty much this, but there's a huge grey area when it comes to photos like these. >>8098045 Does just walking count as a pose? If the character was holding a baby like that it would tell a story, but it looks like they're holding a loaf of bread. Is grocery shopping a story? Just posing in-character in a similar setting isn't enough. Interacting with the setting or other characters in the picture helps tell a story better than just standing somewhere nice, I think.

[Anonymous No.8098184]

I'm looking at my stockpile of cosplay photos now and realizing just how few of them actually tell a story, and how many are just cosplayers standing in random places.

[Anonymous No.8098185]

[Anonymous No.8098186]

[Anonymous No.8098191]

[Anonymous No.8098197]

I'm thinking about it and maybe a photo tells a story when you can say more than 'characters are posing for the camera'. If you can see what the character is doing or trying to do and it goes beyond standing or sitting on something or shooting at something. For example:
>>8098186 is caught in a psychotic episode.
>>8098184 comforts her dying friend.
Something like that. Am I on the right track?

[Anonymous No.8098199]

[Anonymous No.8098200]

[Anonymous No.8098211]

>>8098037
>Her belly button is as big as her mouth

Fat people..

[Anonymous No.8098213]

>>8098184
That's because both cosplayers and photographers don't really bother to take story telling photos and prefer glamor shots. Mainly this is due to the fact that that the purpose of the glamor shoot is to show off how good looking the cosplayer. Not to mention those kind of shots show off the most detail in the costume

[Anonymous No.8098216]

>>8098197
>It means you get the idea the picture is portraying some other events than "character is posing for the camera". There is a story going on.

Yeah. To put it in plain terms the picture shows that something is going on besides the character getting their picture taken.

[Anonymous No.8098221]

>>8098213
This is why I buy Japanese cosplay photobooks in Japan. The bad cosplayers imo are only doing glamour poses, the good ones tell stories with their pictures with expressions, poses and appropriate settings. Some of them are also laid out like storybooks. Have you seen the amount of detail work some Asian cosplayers put into creating a photoset? Mindboggling, sometimes the sets are more elaborate than the costumes.

I've always detested glamour "look at this hot cosplayer posing" shots, sorry USA I don't really like the photography culture you have going on there.

[Anonymous No.8098251]

>>8098221
You got any scans of those picture books? I'd love to see some.

To be fair those are only the fame mongers. The other main reason why that cosplayers don't shoot for storytelling photography as they don't see to many examples of it and either accept glamor shots as the only genre out there. That and many of the more genuine cosplayers don't really take the time to organize off con photoshoots and settle for really good convention pictures of their cosplay.

Really though the current formula of what's a good photo stands at pretty individual + random pose + pretty background = great picture

[Anonymous No.8098261]

>>8098213
Is that a Mike Meekins cosplay? That's lovely.

[Anonymous No.8098281]

>>8098261
It is Meekins, probably one of the very few on the net.

[Anonymous No.8098327]

>>8098037
disgusting picture not related

[Anonymous No.8098754]

I always think the characters need to be looking at each other or at least not making eye contact with the camera. Like a movie screencap.

[Anonymous No.8098761]

Update Required is pretty good at it

[Anonymous No.8098764]

[Anonymous No.8098770]

[Anonymous No.8099304]

Emotions definitely play a part in it

[Anonymous No.8099425]

bump for moar

[Anonymous No.8099445]

behindinfinity.deviantart.com

I've been following them for years. Recently their big hero 6 cosplay has got them a lot of fame. But I feel like their photography tells a story rather than being just glamour shots

[Anonymous No.8099480]

>>8098754
>>8098045
bunnytuan is GOD at this sort of thing. commencing immediate dump.

[Anonymous No.8099482]

>>8099480

[Anonymous No.8099484]

>>8099482

[Anonymous No.8099486]

>>8099484

[Anonymous No.8099487]

>>8099445
Fuck yeah, Jin. When I was a huge weeb I was in love with her and Miguel's Naruto stuff, and the cosplay tutorials. Hands down one of the best cosplayers who has been quality from the start of their fame to now. Must be getting old though.

[Anonymous No.8099488]

>>8099486

[Anonymous No.8099531]

[Anonymous No.8100275]

>>8099487
Jin was one of the first amazing cosplayers I came in contact with when I just started out and her and her friends works are just so amazing. She also gets mad respect from me for being so down to earth all these years and insisting on treating it as a hobby.

Not to mention how talented she is in all things visual art related, drawing, composition, photo settings, for me she's a true artist.

[Anonymous No.8100291]

>>8098754
>>8098764
>>8099486
>>8099531
I like my cosplay photos like I like my fanart: with lots of character interaction if there's more than one character. Fanart with more than one character that only shows them floating in space or ignoring each other is ridiculously boring. Same goes for cosplay. Make eye contact. Make physical contact if it works for the characters. Shoot interesting angles. Fight each other. React to each other. Do something other than just posing next to each other. Acknowledge the other character in a way that makes sense, or is at least entertaining and relevant. (Con hall photos are somewhat exempt from this)

[Anonymous No.8100296]

>>8100291
My cosplay folders are pretty dated and the photos aren't always the greatest, but I find Ace Attorney cosplayers can be pretty great for character interaction photos.

[Anonymous No.8100349]

>>8100291
>(Con hall photos are somewhat exempt from this)

That is a good point. Hall shots are just snap and go so you really dont have time to plan something out as you're blocking traffic

[Anonymous No.8100656]

>>8098761
>>8098764
>>8098770
I hate to say it but I don't think these are very good. Having a bust shot and then a closeup doesn't automatically make a story. The ideas are there but the photos aren't well composed enough to make the story come across clearly. All three photosets have at least one photo with the same composition: chunk of someone's head in right side with the other person sitting to their left. So the photographer obviously favors one method and doesn't really try something new to make a more coherent set.
Example: in the FMA shot, he has Winry reaching off-screen but then she's not even present in the second photo. People who have seen the series would understand she's reaching for a wrench or oil, but to everyone else it's not clear what she's doing. If they had her actually working on the automail with a wrench in the first picture instead of just reaching, that would make the two pictures much more cohesive.
In the Spice and Wolf shot, you never even see Lawrence. If you've seen the series, you know Lawrence, but it's hard to tell a story about the relationship between two characters if you don't even see the face of one of the characters. Horo's hand is covering part of her face in the first photo, so that's just bad composition.
In the Naruto set, the first shot is cute. Not well composed because why is Sakura cut off at the edge of one frame and they have a bunch of needless forest on the other side? That would be a throwaway shot for most photographers. The second photo isn't clear. Is Sakura smiling because she enjoys learning, or is she smirking? It looks like she's smirking. I had to look at the photo three times to realize that out of focus blob is Tsunade's head. I can think of three shots off the top of my head that would have made more sense than just a portrait of Sakura smiling at an out of focus blob.

[Anonymous No.8100862]

[Anonymous No.8100868]

[Anonymous No.8100911]

If the cosplayer is doing something in the photo such as looking scared by an off screen foe or has a very specific pose would that photo tell a story?

[Anonymous No.8100933]

>>8100911
Not really. It's the same as aiming a weapon off-camera. Since no one can see who the opponent is, it's just posing with the character looking off-screen. If the character is somewhere creepy, like an abandoned building, that could possibly tell a story. But just standing in a field somewhere looking scared doesn't tell a story. Which character are you thinking of, anon?

[Anonymous No.8100960]

>>8100933
I'm just asking as I see shots like this of single cosplayers in convention halls and it looks like its more than a glamor shot as you can see something is going on and there's more to it than just a glamor shot

[Anonymous No.8100974]

>>8099480
Damn, this looks like a movie still

[Anonymous No.8100986]

>>8099445
I remember cgl talking mad shit about them/her for something and she defended herself and no one talked shit again.

[Anonymous No.8100993]

This story is retold at every con

[Anonymous No.8100998]

>>8098761
I like this. I can see it as a scene straight from the anime.

[Anonymous No.8101003]

>>8100986
Maybe because it wasn't cgl as a whole but only a few butthurt vendetta-chans

[Anonymous No.8101010]

>>8100933
>If the character is somewhere creepy, like an abandoned building, that could possibly tell a story.

Yeah, the background can make the story. Hard to do that at a con.

[Anonymous No.8103142]

Is this at all doable when there's only one person in the picture? Most of the solo images just look like one person posing. It seems like you need some kind of character interaction to make it work.

[Anonymous No.8103675]

[Anonymous No.8103681]

This is one person, but I think it still works. All the artwork in the background kinda sets up the scene...

[Anonymous No.8103686]

[Anonymous No.8103703]

>>8103142
See
>>8098178
>>8098186
>>8098191
>>8098197

[Anonymous No.8103776]

[Anonymous No.8103825]

[Anonymous No.8103844]

[Anonymous No.8103870]

[Anonymous No.8103871]

>>8103870

[Anonymous No.8103874]

>>8103871

[Anonymous No.8103878]

>>8103874

[Anonymous No.8103879]

>>8103878

[Anonymous No.8103881]

>>8103879

[Anonymous No.8103959]

[Anonymous No.8104002]

[Anonymous No.8104037]

I love these so much. I guess we dont see too many of these pictures is because they require effort and don't get as many likes

[Anonymous No.8104713]

[Anonymous No.8104715]

[Anonymous No.8104721]

[Anonymous No.8104726]

[Anonymous No.8104729]

[Anonymous No.8104731]

[Anonymous No.8104848]

[Anonymous No.8104851]

[Anonymous No.8105820]

[Anonymous No.8105890]

>>8103675
>>8103681
Always had a soft spot for Ib photos.

[Anonymous No.8105925]

>>8103681
Foreground*

[Anonymous No.8105938]

>>8105890
That one's just plain bad.

[Anonymous No.8106457]