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Gallery: what makes a photo dramatic?

January 14, 2024 / 75 Comments

Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.

George Eastman

If it is true that light is the key to photography, surely it is especially the case that it is key to drama in photography. The most dramatic photos are often those with the most interesting light, and with strong contrasts between light and dark.

The golden hour (soon after sunrise and before sunset) is frequently (and rightly) cited as the perfect time to take photos. The light is softer, and the warm colours create an appealing atmosphere. But sometimes the harsher light in the middle of the day can create interesting shadows, especially for some subjects. Landscapes tend to look flat in such light, but buildings can look very dramatic, as can portraits (particularly black and white).

For this week’s Lens Artists challenge Patti asks us to explore what makes a photo dramatic. In my selection below I’ve echoed some of her suggestions such as skies and silhouettes, and also added a few of my own ideas. I’ve not included any buildings however, as my recent Seeing buildings in black and white post offered plenty of dramatic examples.

Disclaimer: some of these shots have been edited to increase the drama, e.g. boosting the contrast, and yes, some have been shared previously but fitted this theme too well for me to omit them!

Dramatic skies

This is one subject for which the golden hour can offer drama, if there are spectacular cloudscapes for instance. And a reflection, as in my first example below, can make the shot even more dramatic, as you get two skies for the price of one!

Dramatic sky reflected in still water

View from a mokoro (a traditional boat), Okavango Delta, Botswana

Clouds from above

Evening clouds on our recent flight from Madagascar to Addis Ababa

Dark clouds and glimpse of sun

Storm approaching, Grants, New Mexico (taken from our motel window)

Dramatic silhouettes

A silhouette takes the idea of contrast to the extreme, with the dark areas of the photo completely black, and the lighter ones providing the contrasting backdrop. And again, the golden hour, sunrises and sunsets provide some of the best opportunities for these.

Silhouetted elephant drinking in a river

Elephant and mahout in the Narayani River, Chitwan NP, Nepal

Sunset with trees in foreground and birds flying

Phnom Penh sunset, Cambodia

Pink sky with silhouetted trees and buildings

Sunrise at Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Dramatic subjects

So far I’ve talked about lighting, but I wanted to also include some photos in which the subject matter provides the drama. Often these are action shots, but they can also include dramatic landscapes such as mountain ranges (as in my feature image of the Torres del Paine in Chile) and waterfalls, or extreme weather. Of course these can overlap, as my images show.

Large waterfall with people on a rocky promontory

Sightseers at Gullfoss, Iceland, in pouring rain

Mountain ridges with dark clouds

Snow storm over the Grand Canyon from the North Rim

[scanned from an old slide and edited with Topaz AI to remove noise]

Swirling mists and orange sun

The sun seen through the spray of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

People lined up along tilting window in a skyscraper

Tourists enjoying (most of them!) the Tilt experience, 360 Chicago at 875 North Michigan Avenue

Woman surfing

Surfer, Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Whale's tail with island in distance

Humpback whale near Caño Island, Costa Rica

This shot demonstrates how you can cheat a bit and add drama through editing! This shot already looked quite dramatic, but I used Luminar Neo to add the sunrays and boosted the contrast in Photoshop.

Dramatic portraits

There’s no getting away from the fact that older faces make for more dramatic portraits, especially in black and white. Their features have more contrasts and seem to tell the story of their lives.

Man with a curling moustache wearing a turban

Security guard posing for me at a Jain temple in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

Another posed shot, taken in the produce market in Salalah, Oman

Elderly man with cloth hat
Lady in a hat and sunglasses

A candid shot taken in a café in the Plaza de Armas, Santiago, Chile

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