When this assignment concept came along, I was excited to take these pictures to encapsulate the concept of prayer. It’s so simple, yet there are so many variations one can explore within the concept. And “simple” doesn’t necessarily mean “easy”, but there’s enough room in the assignment details that really anyone can photograph it!

Prayer Setup #1 

The benefit of this setup was the general angle—I liked the light streaming in from the window, the placement of the Bible and flowers, etc. But the challenge was that something felt off about the composition and proportion of her arms. 

It felt like having her hair included would give more context of a person behind the arms, but the elements of hands and hair were far enough apart they felt disconnected.

That’s when I moved to shooting more over the shoulder, but then I wasn’t as much a fan of the overall angle. 

So I decided it was time to switch things up.

If this was at a desk, I’d have positioned her on the other side. But I couldn’t. And this is when the creative idea came along to sit up on the counter!

Prayer Setup #2

I loved this angle. It still accomplished the ideas of including bright light from the window and flowers for extra life, but felt much more natural in the posing. And you’d never guess she’s nearly sitting on a kitchen sink!

During the video, I was shooting with the 24-105mm f/4 lens due to space constraints. But after we had already stopped recording and I recognized that this was now a place where I had more room to move around, I pulled out my all-time favorite lens—the 70-200mm f/2.8.

It’s interesting to see the subtle differences between the two lenses in these two, similar pictures below.

The first difference I noticed was the proportions. In the first picture, the hands clasped in prayer seem disproportionally large compared to the arms. The second picture feels more realistically proportional.

The other thing I realized was that the amount of direct light coming into the lens was different. The first photo has a little bit of lens flare (which I actually liked for the most part in this instance), but that affected the color of the shirt, to seem like a brighter blue. That flare is gone in the second photo.

Next, I zoomed out for another variation on the same angle. Again, notice the proportional balance that you can now perceive between the hands and the arms. This is a good example of how focal length makes a difference!

I know we had landed on a great spot, so I decided to go ahead and take some other angles. Other adjustments were made, too, like the flowers now needed to be raised up, so we grabbed a random container and stuck the flower jar on top of that to give it some height.

I asked her to turn sideways, but that ended up just feeling like a square frame to nothingness, as you can see below. 

So I had her turn a little bit more with her back towards me, and there we had some depth again!

This time I asked her to change her hand position from “hands clasped in prayer” to “hands folded in prayer”. From this angle, the folded hands would more clearly tell the story of “prayer”.

Prayer Setup #3

At this point, I decided to take some pictures of the Bible that did not include a person. This was more challenging than I anticipated! I tried including different journals and a pen to give the sense that this was an actively used spot. For the first pictures I wanted to use my real prayer journal, just for the fun of it!

Next, I pulled out a smaller journal I use for Bible study for a different look.

We could’ve taken a lot more photos here, but we had gotten a few different angles and it was time to move on.

Prayer Setup #4

That one spot I had stopped at earlier with the lamp and the gray wall was a place I wanted to return to. It just spoke of a quiet haven for time with the Lord in His Word and in prayer, so we went to get some photos there. 

Carolyn put on a darker sweater since I wanted this spot to feel more dark and like it was early morning or late at night.

Again, the “hands folded in prayer” just worked better at this angle! This was a simple and straightforward setup to photograph. 

For some variation, I used the back of a nearby couch to bring in some additional foreground blur.

Now It’s Your Turn!

The assignment is fairly simple—read the details here. Note that it’s ideal that you photograph with a guy instead of a girl for this particular assignment. I didn’t have that snippet of information when I took these pictures, but the same ideas apply.

Look for quality light, find a spot to take pictures, grab some props and ask a friend or sibling to model for you. Since these photos aren’t supposed to include faces, there’s no need to get a signed model release!

And tweak, tweak, tweak. Don’t give up until you’ve found an angle, a hand position, a composition, and everything else that you KNOW is working. It takes extra effort, but it’s worth it for the boost in quality!

And one last thing.

Don’t these pictures just call you to prayer?

As you photograph this assignment, I’d encourage you to use this time to ask God to help you grow in your walk with Him and these spiritual disciplines!

Maybe you struggle with having a consistent prayer life. For the longest time, I had no problem talking with God throughout the day, lifting things to Him as they came along and just continuing on in conversation with Him. But I struggled to maintain a more consistent “sit-down” time of prayer. A prayer journal my sisters gifted me helped enormously, so now when I sit down each morning I have things written down I know I can pray about, and a place to journal and write praises to the Lord as well. 

On the other hand, maybe you’re blossoming in your prayer time, but Bible study is more of a challenge. 

Or maybe memorizing Scripture is an area you could grow in.

Perhaps you know God well on a head-level, but desire to know Him better on a heart-level. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you,” James 4:8 tells us. Ask God to help you grow, and be ready to do what He tells you to do.

May this assignment be a time when you grow in areas more than just photography!