Dear friend,
I want to share some thoughts on how to create mood in your photos:
You can see, use, download, remix, and view all the photos on Google Drive.
1. How do you feel?
![](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/eric-kim-street-photography-storyboard-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530)
First of all, think of the mood you want to convey.
At the moment, I am currently feeling a bit nostalgic about the past. I am feeling peaceful, calm, and tranquil. I am content in life. I am embracing minimalism as much as I can, while listening to hip hop instrumentals.
A lot of conveying a certain mood in your photography is through how you put your photos together. You want to only show photos that has a certain mood or emotion. You want to have a consistency of images.
The cliche is that nostalgic photos are black and white. They certainly are for me.
![eric kim street photography - tokyo-0000324 - mood](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/eric-kim-street-photography-tokyo-0000324-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530)
In 2015-2016, I was shooting more color — because life felt more vivid, more exciting, and more upbeat. But as of 2016-2017, I feel more reflective, and moody.
So in this series, I only included monochrome images, all from my entire history of photography (2009-2017). I only selected minimalist photos, which conveyed a sense of space, of emptiness, yet had a sense of longing and soul.
Think of all the emotions out there. Try to put together an edit of images that conveys how you feel.
2. Listen to music
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/307816481″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
I am currently addicted to listening to hip hop instrumentals. I got inspired to put together a mix of my favorite hip hop songs, and tried to put together images that paired how I felt.
I know some photographers like to listen to music while they shoot. I know some photographers who like to listen to music while they edit and post-process their photos. I know some photographers who like to put together images, based on a certain soundtrack.
So if you want to better convey a certain mood in your photography, listen to a certain playlist, soundtrack, or album that you feel inspiration from. Then put together images that fit that soundtrack.
3. Don’t use your brain
The last tip about creating a certain mood in your photography project is to not think too much. Think about how your photos make you feel — rather than how your photos look.
In photography, we are too obsessed about composition, form, shapes, and putting together some ‘coherent’ narrative.
For me, I like to harness spontaneity. I like to follow my gut. I don’t like to use my brain too much when putting together a photo series.
The less you use your brain, the more you can use your emotions and soul to put together a body of work which reflects your inner-mood.
Create your own mood
If you’re inspired to show a certain mood, think about what mood you want to convey (joy, happiness, uplifting feelings, sadness, solitude, nostalgia, or despair). Put together a series of images which touches you, and share it on social media with the hashtag #mood
Here is currently my mood:
Find more inspiration
![eric kim portrait hanoi cindy](https://i0.wp.com/erickimphotography.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/eric-kim-photography-hanoi-0005434-1-800x530.jpg?resize=800%2C530)
Re-inspire yourself to shoot: