These are images from a session I took last month but they illustrate what I would like to touch on today very nicely.  I wanted to show how a few little tricks can transform a snapshot into a moment captured.  I’m going to start out by showing you my final image (above) and then I will show you the original capture straight out of the camera.

This image of a new Dad touching his baby girl’s tiny hand has been described by several people as “sweet” or “precious”, which is exactly the emotion I was hoping for when I took this photograph.  The way the image is cropped directs the viewer’s eye to the baby’s hand and really emphasizes how tiny it is in relation to her Daddy’s fingers.  I also chose to make this timeless image black and white so that the entire focus is on the subject and the viewer does not get distracted by any bright colors the image may have.  The image below is of the original capture.

Not quite the same feeling when looking at this one eh?  It is a cute picture of Miss Presley but it does not really give off the same kind of warm, fuzzy feeling that the first image did.  During this session we were taking a few minutes off to give Miss Presley a little break and give me a moment to adjust my settings.  When I saw her Dad trying to comfort her by holding her hand I quickly snapped the image and took the time to crop it the way I wanted it to be later while editing.  Bottom line is do your best to remember the value of close ups while taking your photographs and if you have to take a quick shot (like I did here) in order to capture the moment just remember to take the time later to crop it down to enhance the image’s emotion.  I do not think that my original photo invokes nearly the same kind of feeling as the final product.  Creative photography is not just clicking pretty images, it is about creating emotion.