Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Imagine a scene where a boy is holding flowers behind his back and a girl is in front of him trying to peek over his shoulder. When taking this photo, you can focus on her eyes to reveal the expression she's making, or you can focus on the flowers to reveal what all the fuss is about. If you have time, try it both ways. If you have even more time, focus on the calendar on the wall in the background that has one of the days circled in red, which could suggest that the viewer is seeing an anniversary celebration.

Panning is a creative technique that isolates your focal point in a way that shows motion. This technique is a great way to make your subject stand out and tell a story about motion or speed. Panning is achieved by setting your exposure to have a slow shutter speed and physically moving your lens with a subject that's in motion. If you move at the same speed and distance as the subject and in the same direction, you'll get a fairly sharp image of it while everything that wasn't moving comes out blurry.

In Figure 7–6,1 used the panning technique (which I tell you even more about in Chapter 16) to isolate the man riding the motor vehicle while every other element in the frame is affected by motion blur. In this image, I set my shutter speed to 1/30 second.

35mm, 1/30 sec, f/22, 50

Figure 7–6:Using the panning technique to focus on a point and reveal that it's in motion.

Traditionally, photographers control depth of field using two methods: aperture and focal length. Aperture controls the amount of light that's let in at a given time of exposure. The more light that's let in, the less depth of field you have. In Chapter 3,1 discuss how differences in focal length and your distance to the subject cause your depth of field to change due to magnification. The more magnification that occurs, the less depth of field you have in your composition.

Your focal length is determined by the size of your lens. In the 35mm digital SLR format, you have the following lens options:

Wide-angle lens:Any lens that's 35mm or less is considered a wide-angle lens. The wider the lens, the more depth of field it provides at a given aperture. In other words, using a wide-angle lens provides less magnification in your scene's elements and results in greater depth of field. In fact, it's often difficult to cause your background to go soft when shooting with a wide angle lens. To do so, you must get very close to your subject and have a great distance between it and the background. Typically a wide-angle lens is used when you want to reveal details about the scene and when a large depth of field works in your favor.

Compare Figure 7–7 to Figure 7–8 and notice how shooting with a wide-angle lens increases the amount of scene you see and the amount of detail in it. Figure 7–7 shows a wake boarder jumping off a ramp; the wide angle lens worked great to show how much distance he went after hitting the ramp and reaching his peak. A telephoto lens would have shown more detail in the wake boarder but would have eliminated the important details surrounding him. In a close-up shot, you'd have no idea how far he jumped or that he hit a ramp to get airborne.

Normal lens:A 50mm lens is considered to be a normal lens. This option is neither wide, nor telephoto, and it's great for representing scenes as closely to the way you see them when taking the photograph.

Long lens:Anything above 70mm starts to get into the telephoto classification. A 300mm lens is extremely telephoto while anything from 70mm to 135mm is referred to as a mild telephoto lens.

When shooting with a long or telephoto lens, you magnify the elements in your scene. Often photographers use a long lens to draw attention solely to the subject and eliminate any distracting background details. In Figure 7–8,1 used a 200mm lens (which coincidentally allowed me to stay farther from the fire, smoke, and ash) in order to focus on the fireman himself. Because the background is out of focus, it's easier to see the water drops that are coming from the fire hose in his hand.

28mm, 1/640 S9C.J/6.3, 160

Figure 7–7:Showing the details of the scene with a wide-angle lens.

Focal length has a major impact on depth of field, but it doesn't have to be the deciding factor on the issue. In situations when you have limited control over your camera position, you may choose your focal length based on your distance to a subject. If you have to use a long lens due to being far away, you don't necessarily have to have a shallow depth of field.

When you're forced to use a specific focal length to get the composition you want, you can control your depth of field by changing your aperture. A larger aperture (determined by a lower number, like f/4, as I explain in Chapter 3) produces a more shallow depth of field. On the contrary, a smaller aperture (represented by a higher number, like f/16) produces a greater depth of field.

Here's a list of combinations you have as options for controlling focal length and depth of field:

To show more of the scene and have a more shallow depth of field, use a wide-angle lens opened up all the way. (Increasing the size of the lens's aperture opening is referred to as opening up.) This combination is a good way to tell the story about the subject's environment while still focusing mainly on the subject.

To show less of the scene and have a greater depth of field, use a telephoto lens closed down all the way. (Decreasing the size of the lens's aperture is referred to as stopping down.) This combination is good for showing the most detail in your subject without losing all detail in the background.

To achieve maximum depth of field, use a wide-angle lens and a small aperture opening.

For the shallowest depth of field, use a long lens and a large aperture opening.

200mm, 1/160 sec, f/B, 320

Figure 7–8:Showing the details of the subject with a long lens.

Think of the elements in any scene you photograph in terms of a chain of command. Your subject or focal point is the General, and the other elements fall in rank based on how much importance you give them. These other elements are secondary focal points, and the amount of attention a viewer pays to them depends on the same variables that cause the viewer to pay attention to the subject.

For example, if your subject is large in the frame and is sharp, and another element is slightly smaller in the frame and is soft in focus, your viewer looks at the subject first and then moves on to the secondary focal point to see how it relates to the subject. If you add a third element that's even smaller and even more out of focus, it becomes the third object your viewer looks at.

Use leading lines (any line that directs the viewer's eye; see Chapter 1) to direct your viewer from one focal point to another and to ultimately lead them back to the subject itself. After all, your goal is to have people look at your photographs for as long as possible.

Figure 7–9 shows a photograph that has many elements that are all relevant to telling the story of the subject (the woman sitting on the bench). Including a light source like the campfire in your composition can cause competition with the subject, so be sure to make your subject stand out (see the earlier section "Making your focal point stand out" for ways to do this). In this case, the woman is in front of a very dark background that causes her to stand out. She's also positioned in a stronger area of the composition than the fire (you may look at the campfire first, but you'll spend more time looking at the woman). When I view the elements in this photograph, I begin at the fire, which leads me to the tent, which leads me to the woman. I then scan the picnic table, the firewood, the silhouetted trees, and the man approaching. Finally my eyes hover back to the subject.