File:Article - Adding Intimacy to an Image (16237157931).jpg

One of the most underrated and overlooked areas when photographing people, especially women, is the need for intimacy. To really draw the viewer into the frame, you need to engage their senses and give them a proximity that is only found when experiencing something in real life. The sense of smell, the feeling of touch, these are all elements which are lacking in photography and it is often hard to make the viewer feel as if they are part of the image. But this is something that is an incredibly important factor in photography and, like I said, one that is often overlooked.

So many images are taken of people from a comfortable distance, say six feet away and more. This allows us to not have to crop anything off of the model and allows for easier composition. But what this loses is any real connection with the person in the photography. You all know how different you feel when you can smell someone, when you can hear them breathing or when you are close enough to someone that you can reach out your hand and place it on their shoulder. You feel like they are part of your world, and more importantly, you part of theirs. This is so important in photography, as an image is nothing more than a view of something, you have no real connection to it or sense of involvement. Its why leading lines are so important with landscape photography, as it allows the viewer a route into the image. A pathway, leading towards the central point of interest such as a house, or a church, gives the viewer a feeling of being there, like they can travel to the point of interest in the image. But we don't really have such a similar way of involving the viewer when it comes to images of people. Thats where proximity comes in.