A reader-pleaser

Posted by Gordon King on Jan 5, 2012 | 2 comments

It’s always interesting to get reader reaction to a photo.

Earlier this week I needed a standalone photo for our front page the next morning. I had been cruising Yakima for several hours with no luck and I was running out of time. I needed a photo before our 3:30 news budget meeting (where we decide what stories and photos will go in the next day’s paper).

Out of time and options I headed to a local park where I know there always lots of ducks and often people feeding the ducks. I figured I could do a photo of the duck feeding.  I’ve done this photo before but on that day I was getting a little bit desperate and just needed something . There were plenty of ducks but no people upon my arrival.

So I tried something a little different. Armed with a 400 mm lens, this is the photo I shot and the photo which led our front page the following morning:

Sure, it’s a simple shot of a duck landing. But when you study the photo a bit you’ll notice several  elements which do add up to something more than an incoming duck photo.

It’s a dynamic photo – the wings are blurred, showing action and movement. Also, the duck isn’t landing quite straight, he’s coming in at a bit of angle, adding to the dynamic nature of the photo.

The duck’s eyes appear to show focus and determination which lends an emotional element to the photo.

I cropped the photo in from the right a little bit to get the duck off center and to give him a little more “room” on the left to land. I left the room on the left rather than the right since he’s headed toward the left.

Because I shot this with a 400mm lens at fairly close range with a wide aperture, the background is nice and clean. The duck really “pops” from the background.

Add all this up and you get a photo with a lot of impact and reader appeal. And when you get down to it, we’re here to please the reader. Inform them, of course. But sometimes please them as well.

–Gordon King