Though we differ in the way we look and things we believe in, there’s something we all share: emotion. Human emotion is innate in all of us; it’s something we’re born with and something we die with. Happiness, sadness, love, hatred, worries, and indifference – these are things that constantly occur in our daily lives.
Today we share with you 40 powerful depictions of the human emotion. In these photos you’ll see celebrations, sadness in defeat, raw anger, and everything else in between that makes us what we are… human.
Captivating Photos that Depict Human Emotion
Milda
Charline
Paulina
Michelle Black
Loise Lane
Antonio Gabriele
Painting in shadows
gun
Salomé G.
Brett Walker
Eric Lafforgue
Sandra Torralba
Nirrimi Joy
kelly c
Brett Walker
P.S. Zollo
Martin Gommel
Ricardo Liberato
Jelena Balic
Calvin
Salomé G.
Simeon
Catherine
Dar’ya Sipyeykina
Leroy Skalstad
r
Nick
Leroy Skalstad
Eric Lafforgue
kelly c
Eric Lafforgue
P.S. Zollo
Antonio Gabriele
Piers Nye
mahardhika
Oksana
taykut
Gulsah
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Jacob Gube Jacob Gube is the Founder and Chief Editor of Six Revisions, a web publication for web developers and designers, and the Deputy Editor of Design Instruct, a web magazine for designers and digital artists. He has over seven years of experience as professional web developer and web designer and has written a book on JavaScript.
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Matt Litherland
April 14th, 2009 3:21 amOoo Comment N0.1!
some really nice photos here! Keep up the good work!
Brad
April 14th, 2009 3:23 amI don’t know how you do it. resource after resource – just awesome. Thanks guys!
Brad
April 14th, 2009 3:24 amI don’t know how you guys do it. Resource after awesome resource. Thanks guys!
Mayank Singhal
April 14th, 2009 3:34 amawesome!:)
Quakeulf >:3
April 14th, 2009 3:54 amGIRUGAMESH is my favourite. :3
A.B.C. Photography
April 14th, 2009 4:22 amI can add one more :-)
swapnil
April 14th, 2009 4:25 amMaximum pics in dis category are mindblowing.. bt sm are not that good
Awesh
April 14th, 2009 4:25 amawesome!… amazing collection…
Ravi
April 14th, 2009 4:25 amBrett Walker and Catherine are fav’d here. Actually interesting to see such an article because the expression of human emotion on work seen today can be of high value.
John
April 14th, 2009 4:30 amCool pictures, but honestly a little too artsy. I’d rather see some simple, raw, unpolished pictures of emotion. I think that would get the point across better.
cfimages
April 14th, 2009 4:54 amGreat images.
Paolo
April 14th, 2009 4:58 amGreat collection
Ken Barnes
April 14th, 2009 4:59 amI agree with John. A lot of these are quite the opposite of the point of the piece, and don’t show ANY emotion. Antonio Gabriele’s image is almost comedic in its clumsy use of composition, and shows a lack of emotion from both the subject and the artist that is quite extraordinary.
FreelancerCrowd
April 14th, 2009 5:12 amGreat photos
Lucky 11 Studios
April 14th, 2009 5:47 amDecent. But honestly, there are some really cheesy shots in this list. Like CHEESE-wait for it- EEEEYYYYY.
But overall, you guys do some great work.
Dima
April 14th, 2009 5:49 amотличная подборка!
PrachiKamalia
April 14th, 2009 5:51 amI just couldn’t help myself from saying “WOW”. Photographers are true innovators!
Dave
April 14th, 2009 6:05 amVast majority of these photos are amazing. I don’t know a great deal about photography but I paused to look a few of these photos for quite a while. Thanks
Caroline
April 14th, 2009 6:14 amTo be honest – it’s just a collection of images! The standard of Smashing! articles is really dropping!
bs.kishore
April 14th, 2009 6:18 amA good collection on the whole,..but aren’t some professional model jobs ? It’s unprepared
raw images that would expose the real human in us.
Bill
April 14th, 2009 6:59 amI also agree with John. Many of these images don’t ring true.
bill adam
April 14th, 2009 7:03 amreally nice view to say emotions
Daz
April 14th, 2009 7:29 ambah, smashing mag creeping ever further downhill.
This used to be a web design blog, not a glorified flickr group.
1/10, these wouldn’t help a bit with any of my current or previous web projects.
snnaqvi
April 14th, 2009 7:47 amGreat collection.
BK
April 14th, 2009 7:52 amBoring.
PomCompot
April 14th, 2009 7:58 amWhat’s the point ? Yes, photo is cool, but if I want such a collection, I went on Flickr. Please, stop those useless listings and keep on less but better articles like recent ones. You’re so accurate on subjects that really relate to web design.
steve
April 14th, 2009 8:16 amThis site is not all about web design dude, photography is a great skill and a huge part of any kind of design, im sure you hate Typography too? Maybe “they are so accurate” because thats ALL you know about.
Keep it up smashing
gamma-normids
April 14th, 2009 8:36 amI like this kind of articles. I really don’t know about thos who complain, but watching some pretty images before working really gives some inspiration. As my Art teacher said, “you always need to see pretty stuff. Always”. Perhaps you only want to watch web designs because that’s more easy to get “inspired” by them? Look inspiration everywhere, people.
BTW, the “old people” photos are my favourite. All of them. There is something about their eyes, like they know every secret of the world. They probably do.
andrew
April 14th, 2009 9:11 amutterly beautiful….I want to buy prints!!!
andrew
April 14th, 2009 9:13 amyou guys HAVE TO TURN THIS INTO A SCREEN SAVER!
Evan
April 14th, 2009 11:33 amGreat idea for a post but I also agree with John. Simple, real, honest pictures of human emotion mean more to me.
To the haters of SM, chill out or make your own blog that does a better job. The photogaphy and typography posts are not inherently “useless” just because they didn’t give you free icons or baby you through ajax…
Antje
April 14th, 2009 11:41 amSeems black and white is a tool of choice. As in the past with non digital manipulated photography.
Aaron
April 14th, 2009 12:37 pmNice.
Jessica
April 14th, 2009 12:41 pmBoring. Since when has this become a photography site?? At least relate it web design some how.
chris
April 14th, 2009 1:28 pmI agree with most of the other comments made, the photos aren’t really breathtaking. The just good photos, i don’t see true emotion i can see some make a face that looks angry or sad but i don’t feel that. The images are a let down after reading the title.
Jordan Dossett
April 14th, 2009 1:40 pmSome of these were really great and some really did not belong in the list at all as their quality in contrast to the others just did not compare. Overall I have to say though these were mind blowing and some of them are very much so photo journalistic quality!!! ~ Jordan Dossett.
e
April 14th, 2009 2:47 pmI was captivated by the photo of the grandfather or father holding his son; they have the same expression and look alike, it brought me into their world.
I take shots of nature, but I would like to graduate to humans soon
keep up the good work!
Disposable_Hero
April 14th, 2009 3:09 pmNice images! Posts like this make me want to get out my camera and play around with it a bit.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I got the impression that Smashing Magazine is a DESIGN site, not strictly devoted to the web. Therefore, photography inspiration has its place here just as much as a showcase of websites. Not to mention photography can be a large part of web design. Where do you think all those stock images you use came from?
Nathan
April 14th, 2009 3:35 pmI again agree with the sentiments of John, however for all those whining that they thought this was a web design blog and who seem to be offended that this article has been added, why click on the link to this page???
Its like saying oh look Football is on Channel 3 I think I’ll turn over and watch it although I have no interest in it and them complain how I didn’t enjoy it….get a life.
Caroline Schnapp
April 14th, 2009 3:40 pmDave (post 36), eat my pussy.
Many of the pictures are ‘pretty’, but I’ve not seen many that convey real emotion, however subtle, except the one used in the teaser (Catherine), the ones by Eric Lafforgue… and some toward the end, but then these ‘tearful’ ones felt exploitative and just didn’t touch me.
Abdel Faiz
April 14th, 2009 4:06 pmhere is the right link to the “angry stanic” portrait :
Angry Satanic by Salomé G..
Great collection though :-)
Ken the tech
April 14th, 2009 4:22 pmsome pictures are really good. Nice colection :)
Anish Bhattarai
April 14th, 2009 5:55 pmNice collection
John
April 14th, 2009 7:14 pmDave (post 36) and Caroline (post 42).
Get a room
kanchan
April 14th, 2009 7:17 pmNice collection
Trevor H
April 14th, 2009 7:28 pmLMFAO @ John (post 45). You damn well beat me to it haha.
If people have a problem with the photography posts… what the hell is wrong with skipping them. Read your damn web design articles and continue to remain ignorant. I for one will take full advantage of whatever articles Smashing has to offer me.
blackk
April 14th, 2009 8:20 pmgood~~~
Ganesh
April 14th, 2009 9:25 pmcatherine photo is very touchy !!
Ganesh
CEO Eatables.in
Hyd INDIA
Igor Klajo
April 14th, 2009 10:07 pmFantastic collection. My favorite from here is gun ( No.8 )… I always hope to see some pictures of Réka Valkai in such collenctions/troundups like her http://justelse.deviantart.com/art/The-Story-93167159 … I just love that photo. I only can hope that more and more people will stumble upon her work.
Roger Banks
April 14th, 2009 10:10 pmabsolutelyy beautiful..the pics are so captivating n realistic..emotions r soo real..thnks for sharing..!
Sagar Rajput
April 14th, 2009 10:27 pmGood Collection..
deadlyromeo
April 14th, 2009 11:15 pmemotive, beautiful, classic… luv it !
Dimis
April 14th, 2009 11:40 pmI also agree with John. Most of them seem fake.
Jelena Balic’s and Calvin’s photos don’t express anything for me. (and many more)
Well only one thing…. fake.
I’m really disappointed with most of your image collections.
Just try to explain why a photo is great and see the response from us, to start a debate and at the end you’ll see why this collection sucks.
Enk.
April 14th, 2009 11:53 pmVery cool Post, Awesome Emotions and expressions. Really lovely ! :)
I mostly loved Paulina, Painting in shadows,Catherine and r. Really good ones. :)
aankun
April 15th, 2009 12:42 amsplendid, absolutely splendid…
Robert ( InToGraphics @ the forum )
April 15th, 2009 1:01 amWhen I bumped into the http://www.jeremycowart.com/ website somewhere in 2004, I was convinced I had found the best photographer in the world. In a way, he still is to me, because I still pass by a couple of times a week.
But the net proved me wrong. Articles likes this remind me that that there is so much other (yet to be discovered by me) talent out there.
Thanks for this.
Robert
LinArt
April 15th, 2009 1:33 amVery very very NICE!!!
Furqan
April 15th, 2009 1:36 amAmazing……………………
Cozzyzinn
October 6th, 2011 8:59 amIts really nic…pic. I like this, its really awesome.
blake
April 15th, 2009 2:37 amunderwhelming mostly… more posts like the amazing brochures and leaflets, less of the lazy crossposts from flickr.
Cristhian Bedon
April 15th, 2009 4:12 amPhotography at its best.
Simon Day
April 15th, 2009 4:24 amYou can draw on inspiration from anywhere so the relevance of this post is still there.
A couple of photos had lovely contrasts in color that I will be experimenting with on websites so I got something from it ;-)
gNcWebmaster
April 15th, 2009 4:26 amhmm very realistic photos. Caterine is very beautiful photo. Thanks for all photos
Rajehs Kumar Chekuri
April 15th, 2009 4:36 amnice pics…….
nice blog……..
Tom Bradshaw
April 15th, 2009 4:37 amGreat selection of photos, quality photography is something often overlooked for websites, take time over composition, lighting, contrast etc. I agree some wouldn’t look out of place on a stock photo site.
I really like the colours in Catherine’s image, though smoking on a train line is just asking for trouble
sammu
April 15th, 2009 4:49 ameh very nice indeed.
Lee
April 15th, 2009 5:02 amNice collection of images! Thank you for stepping out of the one-dimensional mindset of web design and bringing inspiration from other areas of design. Keep up the good work!
Nathan
April 15th, 2009 5:18 amMost of these have nothing to do with emotion … they’re just pictures of people … some of them average at best.
Try harder please :)
Wayfaring Wanderer
April 15th, 2009 5:23 amThis makes me want to take portraits as I hardly ever do.
Nathan
April 15th, 2009 5:28 am@Cristhian Bedon (April 15th, 2009, 4:12 am)
I’m afraid you couldn’t be more wrong. This is average flikr material, not photography at its best, by any standard. Its a quick easy post; and although as a web designer I do find any artistic material of use; this isn’t a great collection, and if on any other site would be ignored completely.
Personally I find the coding articles of less use, as I’m a web designer, not a web developer. Inspirational articles are great, but this is not inspirational I’m afraid; perhaps for a teenage ameteur who followed a digg link, but not to professional designer.
Nathan
April 15th, 2009 5:31 am@Lee
Web design is far from one-dimensional … clearly you know nothing of the subject. Also, while I’m here, photography is not a form of design … its an art; semantics I know … but worth pointing out.
Jill
April 15th, 2009 5:33 amSome photos here are decent, but many are quite the opposite of this post’s topic. Antonio Gabriele’s “photo” looks like a botched collage created in MS Paint. Yuck.
Allen
April 15th, 2009 5:43 amJust to follow up on those that say some of pics show no emotion… technically “indifferent” is an emotion… “ennui” as well :)
(but yeah some of these are nice photos, but I dont really think “emotions” when viewing them)
((and this opinion is from a photographer with his own photography company, degrees in photography and art history, and has worked in photography museums and galleries. But again… this is my opinion on the photos, ))
Chris
April 15th, 2009 5:46 amMost of these look really posed – not about showing true emotion at all.
I’d love to see a post that shows how photographic content – particularly emotions – contribute to an overall design.
Matt
April 15th, 2009 6:35 amThese are fantastic!
ganjipally
April 15th, 2009 6:51 amI want to start my photography after watching this gallery, its just excellent !!
Terry
April 15th, 2009 2:09 pmThat’s awesome, great photos…
Danish Refai
April 15th, 2009 5:08 pmThis is awesome !! great pics !!!
I’m actually inspired to do some photography !!!!
Smashing it again !
XShot
April 15th, 2009 5:32 pmStunning pictures!
Keep sharing with us.Thank you.
Vivek sonavane
April 16th, 2009 1:15 amAwesome collection…
I am just out of my words….
Keep the good work going and capturing people’s emotions
Sivaprasath Selvaraj
April 16th, 2009 9:52 pmThis is awesome. great pics.
I’m actually inspired to do some photography.
Keep sharing with us.Thank you.
melanie
April 16th, 2009 10:53 pmthis is empty.
Bunty_007
April 17th, 2009 5:02 amTHIS IS WHY I COME ON THIS SITE EVERYDAY
sheeraz
April 17th, 2009 7:41 amvery cute and nice capture that should’nt be missed in this post
http://www.flickr.com/photos/teppser/3427582454/in/photostream/
addey
April 17th, 2009 8:56 amamazing shots…truly inspiring..thanks for sharing!
Joris_Lucius
April 19th, 2009 4:28 amYour best photo collection ever. Thank you very much for this emotional post
John Brown
April 20th, 2009 9:12 amThese are very fantastic!
Barbara Nicholls
April 20th, 2009 10:49 amWow, these are truly amazing.
Sam
April 21st, 2009 5:52 amWow! Definitely bookmarking this page!
These portraits are so genuine and strong. Love the variety. Way to capture the vastness of emotion!
Siouxie Boshoff
April 21st, 2009 9:06 amWow. Breathtaking. I could feel the emotion in some f them. Thank you for sharing these!
greg
April 21st, 2009 8:57 pmTo LIFE!
Andrea
April 21st, 2009 11:52 pmMost of these seemed like they were trying way too hard. “Models Attempting to Look Deep” would have been a more apt title.
Ionut Popa
April 22nd, 2009 4:55 amwhat about this one? http://www.flickr.com/photos/ionutzp/3464250844/
Ignatz Horowitz
April 22nd, 2009 5:41 amSome were good, some shouldn’t have been posted…but at least there were no god-awful cartoonish “HDR” wannabes. This site could do better if more effort was put into it.
Alipta Ballav
April 24th, 2009 12:57 amPhotograps are good. But lacks expression. There is a bit of conciousness amongst all the characters shown here. Don’t make them concious when u click the button.
oliver simpson
April 24th, 2009 3:37 amTo me it’s just a collection of images. Generic ‘human emotions’ have the inverse (desired) effect of making me feel emotionally bland/ placid. Makes some people happy tho
Gustavo
April 25th, 2009 7:13 pm40 Captivating Photos?? There are only 38…. where are the other 2 ?
Satsangi N P
May 27th, 2009 11:11 pmBEAUTIFULL EMOTIONS
sampath kumar ch
January 14th, 2010 10:07 pmnice clicks dude!
hks
January 28th, 2010 8:12 amIf the human emotion is generic amateur model poses, then I suppose they are.
HaydenFenton
February 18th, 2010 12:11 pmthese are some legit photos yo…i really dig the homeboi
FUR SURE!