ERIC KIM

Mood in Photography

Dear friend,

Some more photo philosophizing: what we are trying to do as photographers is to communicate our life experiences, our perspective, and to transmit the emotion and mood we feel to the viewer!

DOWNLOAD PDF: TOKYO CHROMA 2017 >

So how do we convey mood in photos? Often, the aesthetic — how do the photos look? How does color affect my emotions?

For example here are photos I shot in Tokyo, 2017, RICOH GR II in high contrast color (positive film) preset in JPEG.

For the mood, I wanted to convey:

  1. A feeling of anxiety and stress, and grittiness through color.
  2. A combination of street scenes with people, and some urban landscapes, as well as textures, details, or colors for the sake of it.
  3. Using a flash to accentuate the dynamism of the city:

Painting mood into your photos

To imbue your photos with your emotions, mood— shoot with your soul! Don’t censor yourself. Shoot directly, and afterwards choose (select/edit) your photos which conveys your own personal mood!