I shoot for a major photo stock agency. My agency will not sell an image with a person in it without me having and supplying a signed model release from that person (unless it is used for editorial use only). Well it is just not always possible to get these model releases taken care of. At times I am using a telephone lens and there is just no way I can get to the "model." It is also a big hassle. Now I have to carry a model release and a pen in my pack. Then I have to make notes as to which model goes with which image. Then I have to scan it in and submit it to the agency. As you can probably gather from my tone, as a result of all of this, I just almost never photography people in my images.

          This is a great pitty because people add so much to an image.

• People help to provide a sense of scale

• People can add emotion and mood

• People can communicate so many things (triump, not giving up, being challenged, perserverance, joy, peace, etc.)

• People in the scene can help you to imagine the experience and in a vicarious way to be there and wonder about being there

Would this image be anything without the person in it? It is the person that makes the image. He helps talk about the wind, the blowing sand, and the struggle of scaling a sand dune. He speaks of human endeavour. He tells us how high this dune is.

          In an image like this his placement in the image is important compositionally. Here are a few suggestions on placing people in your images:

• It is usually better to have them move into the image rather than moving out of it (direction of movement)

• It is better to have people look into the image rather than out of the image

• Follow regular compositional guidelines (I have placed him on the rule of thirds)

• Know when to break compositional guidelines and when it will work (if he or she is running away from danger it is perfectly fine to have the model running out of the image; we will all pray that he or she makes it)

• Try to capture action, emotion, or drama, or a sense of imense scale. In other words, just having a person in the image for the sake of having one in the image may not add much to the image photographically. The person's presence needs to add value and interest to the image.

• Try to tell a story

• If there are multiple people in the image do your best to include an odd number of people (unless there are many people in the image)

So let me talk to myself - photograph more people in landscape images!