Week 1 | Challenge 2: Telling Stories using Macro or Detail Photos

yellowpeep · Jul 23, 2014

Hi All!
I hope you're having fun playing along with the first week of our We Are Storytellers event at the Lilypad. We've given you some practice learning how to use a series of photos to tell a story, creative cropping and mastering your camera phone. Now, for our second challenge this week, we are focusing on using photos of details or macros to tell a story. I jumped at the chance to host this challenge because as a photographer I'm constantly seeking out details in both momentous and everyday events in my life. If you can collect the right details, they can tell a story without a single word being written. Here are some examples (when I gathered these, I realized that as a photographer, I personally have a strong pull toward images of hands to tell stories. For this challenge, you can use any subject you like, as long as it's a detail and tells a story.):

Some tips for gathering the best detail or macro photos:
1. Use a macro lens and/or the macro setting on your camera. The fixed focus will force you to look for smaller representations of the big story. (For more information about macro settings, visit these two blog posts here and here.) Also, see Amanda's example below for a clever macro attachment for your camera phone!
2. Crop a smaller portion of a bigger image. Who says your image has to be a macro to begin with? Here's an example of a cropped macro from Julie (mrs2a50) where she had to crop out a beach bag and other distractions:

3. When scrapping with macro images, you may want to choose templates that allow the photos to be fairly large. You're already starting with a smallish image so you will probably want to present it in a big way so as not to diminish the statement you're making with it. Here are some great examples of templates with capacity for large images:

Amy Martin's "Full On" series:

Paislee Press' Pictures and Words series:

Just Jaimee's Storyteller Pocket Page series:

Sahlin Studios' Year of Templates series:

Here's a layout I created using images I took during our last vacation (plus, Valorie Wibben's Topography no. 24 template and Laurie Ann's Sea Breeze kit). To be clear: I used my iPhone's regular old camera for these beach photos-- nothing special. You don't need a ton of gear or special settings to get great images of details.

Here's your challenge:
* Take (or use) one or more macro/detail photos that tell a story. They can be deconstructed pieces of a larger photo, or selected highlights, for example.
* Scrap them in a layout that has at least 50% of any TLP products. Journaling is optional since the photos should be the primary storyteller.
* Post your layout in this thread and in our gallery.

The deadline for this challenge is September 1st at 11 pm EDT.
The Pollys will choose one layout as our Storyteller Standout from this challenge for a $10 prize.
One random layout will receive a $5 participation prize.

Need inspiration? Here are some fab layouts from the Pollys…

Here's a layout from Suzanne (Sucali) using Apple Orchard by Sahlin Studio, Fresh by One Little Bird and Sahlin Studio & Spring Carnival by Amy Martin:

Here's a layout by Amanda (Gracielou) using our new "We Are Storytellers" collab from the Lilypad. She said she used a lens attachment from Photojojo with her camera phone to take these beautiful flower photos (here's where you can get the attachment):

Here is a layout from Farrah (FarrahJobling) using Sahlin Studio's I'll Love You Forever kit and Baby Tags:

Okay, grab your macro lens or put your camera on a macro setting and give this challenge a go. You'll be surprised at how well you can create the big picture by using a few small parts of it!