When two is better than one

The power of Diptychs

Gin and Tonic. Fred and Ginger. Batman and Robin. All perfectly good on their own, but unstoppable as part of a duo. Some things just work better in pairs, and I’m a huge fan of the little bit of magic that can happen when you display two carefully chosen images side by side.

Diptych is a word of Greek origin and literally means an object with two flat plates which together form a pair.

A Diptych can be a really expressive way of telling a story, evoking an emotion and creating a meaning that wasn’t singing out as loudly when the individual images were on their own. If you get it right, they are so much stronger and more expressive than a single shot, each brings the other into clearer focus and they both end up shining brighter.

The two images you choose ideally need to relate to each other in some way, so that they complement each other rather than fight for space on the page. I love steak and I love custard, but I’m never ordering the Steak and Custard Surprise.

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©Kirstie Young

The two shots that you choose don’t necessarily need to be from the same shoot, you can use the opportunity to look back through some of your old work, like rifling in the back of your wardrobe for that “Choose Life” T-shirt and dusting off those pixie boots to see if you still like them..

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A Few Ideas for Creating Diptychs

• A good place to start is in choosing a wide vs close shot. It’s the visual equivalent of seeing something out the corner of your eye, and then squinting and leaning forward for a closer look.

©Kirstie Young

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• Another favourite is to show the food raw, and then cooked

• Or in different stages of prep

©Kirstie Young

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• Try choosing two different angles of the same scenario

©Kirstie Young

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• Using Diptychs to create food stories when you travel can be a great tool to immerse the viewer on that journey, like the one below from a trip I took in January to a Truffle & Wine festival in Sarlat, France

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I’m taking another trip to France next year, this time with the very talented food writer, cook and Veg grower

Kathy Slack

for a 4-night food and photography break and excitingly you are all invited!

If you would like to hear more do come along to our Zoom Q&A on Monday 4^th Nov 6:30pm (UK time)

I hope this has been useful, and do message me with any questions, I’m always happy to help.

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