So what makes a good photograph?

There are some pretty stunning engagement photos of Joanna Goddard and her fiance Alex posted on A Cup of Jo. Clearly Joanna and Alex are a good-looking couple. Yet I'm drawn to this one. It's funny and kind of quirky. Especially knowing its context within the whole engagement photo series thingy.

Taking a good picture used to mean dressing up, saying "cheese" and not blinking. Thank goodness there's been a definite departure from that way of thinking.

So what makes a photograph good? A few things immediately come to mind. Composition. Light. Ability to evoke feeling in viewer. Maybe color. Let's contrast and compare for a minute-ummm, excuse me [bashful smile] my art history major is showing-the other photos in Joanna's series with these ones.

Remarkably similar. Pinkish red balloons. Two triptychs and six stills. Tonal quality of these two:




Where are there differences? For sure the mood. Love. Dreamy. Whimsy. Romantic. Qualities seen in engagement pics, but not really in my display. More play with shadow in Absolutely Not Martha's. More juxtaposition of light and dark too. And no couples in my series. Couplehood is subject matter in all but one of Joanna's.

So there it is. Various art elements skillfully used by genius photographers to create images that communicate effectively to their viewer. Whaaaat?!