Photographic composition is a combination of everything in an image. W Depending on how you compose a photograph, you may represent each separate element in your frame as what it literally is or as the basic lines, shapes, forms, and textures it includes. For instance, you can include in your composition a sofa that's obviously viewed as a sofa, or you can break it down to its shapes and lines or the colors and textures it contains.
In order to purposefully create compositions that have a clear message and that are visually impressive and influential, you need to understand the basic elements of design and what each is capable of. Understanding basic design helps you make compositional decisions that improve the way your photography looks and reads.
As a starting point, consider a stick figure: A stick figure with its arms angled upward seems happier than a stick figure with its arms angled downward. Even without any literal expressions or details, the message of joy is conveyed through lines and shapes. If a stick figure was standing at the beginning of two lines that gradually got closer until they finally connected at a point, you could get the idea that the stick figure was standing on a road and had a distance to travel. The lines and shapes in your scene create the foundation of your message. The relationships they have with each other make up the basis of your composition.
In this chapter, I examine the basic elements of design, such as points, lines, shapes, textures, and patterns. I show you how to use them in your photographic compositions to maximize the aesthetic and descriptive value of your images.
Grispinq the Point about Points
The most basic design element is known as & point, which is any spot or area where something exists in a photograph. A simple way to look at it is as a point of interest. Your eyes are drawn to the points in a photograph.
For instance, a white frame with a single red dot is a composition with one point, the red dot. If the frame had a second red dot, it too would represent a point in the composition. If you then added two intersecting lines in the frame, the area in which they intersected would represent a point.
Your subject can exist at a point if it's fairly small in your frame, but a large subject would most likely have multiple points of interest. In a close-up of a person's face, for example, her eyes, nose, and mouth are all points of interest.
The rule of thirds, which I discuss in Chapter 5, helps you determine where to position the key points of interest in your frame to give them the most visual impact. Figure 4–1 illustrates how the rule of thirds highlights the four strongest points in your frame, which are depicted as the larger dots. These stronger points are called primary points. The smaller dots represent the supporting elements, called secondary points.
Figure 4–1: A graph highlighting the four strongest points and the secondary points of interest in a frame.
Some photographers refer to the
four main points in a composition
as the golden points. Viewers
naturally consider anything on these points important, so use those points
wisely. Sometimes filling one or more of your strongest points with negative
space (blank space that doesn't contain any point of interest) strengthens the
other points compositionally.
Each element in Figure 4–2 has a particular size and position in the frame, which determines its importance and role in the message. Check out the graphed version of the image to see how each element relates to the others.
50mm, 1/250 sec, f/l 1,100
Figure 4–2: A photographic composition with various elements and a breakdown of how important each point is and its role in the composition.
Because Americans read from left to right, an American audience would most likely be drawn to the points on the left side of your frame. Even so, you determine the strongest point in your image by how you position the elements in your frame. In Chapter 1,1 tell you that the area with the most contrast will most likely be the first place a viewer looks in your frame. So, if you place that high-contrast area on one of your golden points, it most likely will be the strongest point in your image.
Anything can occupy a golden or secondary point and act as a point of interest. For example, consider the following:
I•»" Intersecting lines create a point at the area where they cross. v• Lines that meet at a point and don't intersect can create a vanishing point, like railroad tracks going off into the horizon.
Any area of high contrast draws attention and so constitutes a point.
Small shapes and forms can create points. An oak tree on top of a hill in the distance, the moon in the sky, freckles on a person's skin, or a bird on a wire could each represent a point.
Following Lines, Real and Imagined
You use lines in a composition to lead a viewer from one point of interest in an image to another. These lines often are literal, such as a telephone pole and the wires attached to it or the shadows the pole and wires create. An element that has the visual impact of a line or is made up of lines generally is considered a line as far as design goes.
However, you also can use implied lines, which aren't as easy to spot as literal lines but are equally important for creating excellent compositions. An implied line can be created by the edge of a shape, the joining of two edges (like where the wall meets the floor), the direction a person is looking or pointing, or directional light. If something causes you to follow a linear path through the scene, consider it an implied line.
Figure 4–3 shows an image with a strong sense of lines. If not for the lines in this scene, I wouldn't have even taken my camera out of the bag. This image includes a few different design elements, but notice how the lines have the strongest visual impact. They work together to guide your eyes through the frame so you explore all the different details.
The telephone pole and the wires coming from it represent literal lines. The pole itself has the strongest presence in the scene, so it's the first thing to draw your eyes in. It does so because it makes up the point of highest contrast, is positioned along the left third of the frame, and is the largest element in the scene from this vantage point. The pole leads your eyes up to the wires, and they lead you into the vanishing point on the horizon.
24mm, 1/250 sec, f/U, 400
Figure 4–3: It's easy to see how lines lead your eyes through the frame in this image.
If you start to pay attention to the implied lines in the scene, you notice that everything leads your eyes to that same vanishing point, including the following: The tree line (or the line created by the tops of the trees), the lines created where the road meets the brush, the textures in the dirt road, and the texture and patterns created by the clouds in the sky. (I tell you more about the last effect in the later section "Considering Pattern Types.")
In fact, Figure 4–3 tells a story by using lines. Everything points out how distant the road is. Only trees, telephone poles, brush, sky, and the dirt road appear in this image. The message would be quite different if the frame included a house or a person walking along the road. This image, in its most basic sense, is about the relationship of lines and distance. As you explore the frame, you're constantly led back (by lines) to the area that represents the farthest distance.