2010 National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, Monday Aug. 2, 2010. Photo by Jim Brown

When we read a story, its the detail that brings a story alive. The visual comparison is the closeup photograph. Closeups are indispensable to multiple picture stories with or without sound. An overall picture sets the scene. The medium shot introduces us to the characters but it is the detail shot that really tells us what is happening.

Closeups are the macro details of pictures. We are fortunate in that almost all lens used today have a macro setting that allows you to focus really close to the subject. So too do cell phones. So as Nike says, just do it.

Many people are shy about invading other peoples person space and as a result are reluctant to get in close enough to make good detail pictures. You are the storyteller attempting to tell the story of the person you are photographing. Generally, people are very cooperative. Get where you need to be to tell the best possible story.

If hands are doing something, you have an excellent opportunity for a closeup. Don’t forget facial expressions. If the hands are doing something, the face is concentrating. When my uncle Scott was young he wanted a whittling knife. My granddad played a joke on him because Scott couldn’t do anything with sticking out his tongue as he was concentrating. Granddad told Scott, “If you can whittle the end off this stick, I’ll give you the knife.” Scott started to whittle and the tongue came out. What an opportunity for a detail shot. Not of the tongue but of the face with the tongue out in concentration.