2 Strike Some Intrigue: Using Compositional Elements
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In choosing the right spot, you define the perspective, the background, and the objects you wish to frame in the picture. To arrange them in order that they possess striking visual impact, a timeless set of compositional rules exist, one with which you should make yourself familiar. Whether you’re an amateur photographer just starting out or an advanced photographer who needs a refresher, experimenting with compositional rules will always endow your photos with time-tested truths when it comes to aesthetics. This book will quickly cover three of these useful compositional rules. As your skill-set grows, you will experiment with increasingly complex compositions, and you can decide to which of the rules you, yourself, are visually attracted. Our personal visual perception defines certain aspects as aesthetic or beautiful, but as stated in chapter 1, an objective universal idea of beauty and ideal aesthetics does come into play. These principles have been remarkably constant over time, which tells us something about humanity: our taste is consistent when it comes to proportion and composition. The painters of the 15th and 16th century used the same basic compositional tactics, as you may use in your photography today. Golden Ratio The Golden Ratio goes back even further than the Renaissance. The ancient Greeks studied this ratio, because it appeared often in geometry and in nature, so often that they were fascinated by it. The Parthenon’s façade is littered with golden rectangles, and the proportions of many Greek statues, dating back to 400 BC, embody the Golden Ratio as well. But what is this ratio and how can you apply it to photography? Let’s imagine we want to capture the endlessness of the sea in a picture. The day is a nice one for photography, with a glorious cloud and sun constellation in the sky. As an amateur photographer, your first reflex might be to line up the horizon across the middle, dividing the picture evenly be-tween sky and sea. But what happens if you do not divide evenly, if you show more sea or more sky, moving the horizon up or down just a tad? When you do this, the picture becomes more dynamic. If you play a little with framing the horizon, you will land on a spot where the picture feels perfect. Chances are this perfect position will place your horizon spot-on the Golden Ratio. That sweet spot lies around 4/10 from either the top or the bottom of the image, as well as from the left and right. When taking pictures, you’re not about to pull out a ruler and calculator to measure and compute figures, so simply eyeball the ratio by about a third, and then correct slightly according to feeling. In the following picture, this boy from Mozambique is carrying tobacco leaves. His head lies close to the Golden Ratio of the rectangular frame, vertically and horizontally. Using the right hand horizontal, the weight of the picture is tilted towards the direction the boy is walking, emphasizing his movement.
Symmetry The concept of symmetry applies not only to visual art, but to math and the sciences and can be defined in a number of ways. For the purpose of photography, intuition plays a key role in defining symmetry. As we look in our camera lens, we may line up an image so that two sides of an object or a picture look the same. This is symmetry. Visually, the power of symmetry does not lie in whether this mirroring is horizontal, vertical or diagonal. Nor does the symmetry need to be an exact mirror image in order to pull off the desired effect. For instance, more often than not, fashion models have generally symmetrical faces – as this is what we consider ideal or beautiful – , but still the two halves of the faces differ. In photography, if the eye recognizes symmetry, this is sufficient in the creation of a compelling photograph. Exactitude and precision is unnecessary. An example of symmetry in a typical landscape photograph is the reflection of a tree in the water. A tree alongside a river would be rather boring on its own. With the addition of a symmetrical reflection, the photo becomes exponentially more intriguing. You can also use symmetry to frame a picture. For instance, to place your model or focal point between two similar houses, identical windows, or trees, you create an interesting dynamic and draw the viewer’s attention to that person or focal point. There are unlimited possibilities when it comes to using symmetry in composition. The human eye reacts strongly to symmetry in all forms. And this is what you want as a photographer – a strong reaction from your audience – because this indicates that you’ve communicated your story. The picture bellow was taken in Namibia. The photo’s visual strength is driven by the symmetrical reflection of the boys in the water.
Diagonals In geometry, a diagonal is a line between two non-consecutive angles of an object. In photography, your diagonal is an imaginary line across the picture from a lower corner to the opposite upper corner. Using diagonals to drive your photo’s visual dynamics can result in incredible dramatic effects. The diagonal guides the eye across the en-tire picture. When this diagonal intersects with other lines, tension is created. The diagonal need not be a literal line; it can be the arrangement of objects crossing the frame from one of the upper corners to the opposite lower corner. Re-turning to the concept of “choosing the right spot,” consider this when you’re shooting a diagonal composition. For example, you can take a portrait of four people straight on, or you can position yourself above (on a ladder, for instance) and tilt the camera so that your models align along a diagonal. In doing so, the picture will be more compelling. It may not always be possible to arrange a diagonal composition that lines up from corner to corner. In geometry, any sloping line is considered a diagonal. The same goes for photography – any sloping line will provide a strong visual effect. The picture bellow was taken on a street in Milano, Italy. The setting is completely common and unspectacular, but the diagonal of the tables gives the visual an edge.
Finally, you can combine these compositional elements to create innumerable variations. For instance, combine the Golden Ratio with the diagonal by lining up a diagonal, not from the corners, but from the lower Golden Ratio to the upper one. Or combine the diagonal and symmetry by creating a symmetrical composition along a sloping line. The possibilities are endless; they only cease where your imagination and creativity does. These three composition elements are just the beginning, but they will grant you an infinitely stronger set of tools when composing your pictures. The world famous French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson had his very own, beautiful definition of the perfect composition of a picture: „To take photographs means to recognize, simultaneously and within a fraction of a second, both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis.“