Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

When including secondary focal points, keep in mind your intended message. If an element seems to compete with the subject in a way that takes away from the message you're trying to convey, you may want to remove it from your composition.

Say, for example, that you're taking a portrait of someone on the beach and another person in the background is wearing a bright red hat. If the hat is the only element in the scene that has such a bold color, you may want to avoid including it in your composition. The distracting element will take away from your subject and won't necessarily add anything to the message.

24mm, 7/5 sec, f/5.6, 320

Figure 7–9:An example of a composition with secondary focal points.

Some techniques to keep in mind for removing a distracting element from your composition include the following:

Crop it out so it isn't included in your frame. You can do so by simply rotating your camera or zooming in until the element goes outside the edge of the frame or by physically moving closer to the subject.

Use a shallow depth of field to allow the distracting element to become blurry.

Block it with the subject or another element by changing your position. Physically remove it if you have the option.

Allow it to be in the shadows so it isn't obviously visible (assuming you have control over the light or have time to wait for the light to change).

Take it out later in postproduction. (Check out Chapter 18 for details.)

In This Chapter

Understanding the meaning of perspective

Trying out techniques that help capture a solid photo of a scene

Breaking away from traditional composition

Y ou can take the Ansel Adams tour of Yosemite National Park and set ^ your tripod in the same exact spot that the great photographer once did while shooting one of his classic landscapes, and odds are that your perspective will still be slightly different than his was. This variation could be because of a minor difference in the vertical or horizontal placement of the camera or because of the change in elements in the scene through time. The possibility of two photographers accidentally creating images with the same exact perspective is very unlikely.

Each photographer has a unique perspective that he can alter and adjust. Discovering your own perspective and evaluating that of others helps you take photos that look like you want them to and sets you apart from other photographers. In this chapter, I explain techniques you can use to create depth in photos, draw attention to your intended subject, tell a story with a photo, and explore less common perspectives.

In photography, perspective is where and how you place your camera in relationship to your subject and the elements of a scene. When you determine your perspective, take into account where all the elements of a scene are in relation to each other at the time you take the picture. Every situation is different, so you must determine the level of significance to be given to your subject and the surrounding elements. Here are a few options and examples:

Placing your camera low and filling most of the frame with a particular subject usually helps to make the subject appear to be a hero of some sort.Look at iconic images of presidents of the United States or Che Guevara to see what I mean.

Shooting from a high angle and including many elements in the frame could dull the significance of your subject and draw more attention to the other elements.Consider the famous photograph of

the man standing in front of the tanks in the protest on Tiananmen Square. In that image, the tanks are as important as the man is to telling the story.

The choices you make with regard to perspective play a major role in defining your photographic style. When a photographer develops a style, anyone familiar with that signature look can recognize the photographer's images. Style develops over time and always has room to evolve. Although you may choose to do things a certain way to maintain your look, you need to understand all your options for manipulating perspective so you're prepared for any situation you may come across.

As a photographer, you have a job to do whether you're shooting for fun, being paid to cover an event, creating an editorial fashion story, or making a fine-art masterpiece. Your job is to take photos you're pleased with. Training yourself to automatically recognize the subjects and elements in a scene, to understand their relationship to you and to each other, and to know how your decisions affect those relationships frees your mind to concentrate on other techniques like focusing and adjusting your exposure.

A photograph tells you something about its subject. This message can be subtle or literal or somewhere in between, but the message is going to be there. The main subject in an image has relationships with whatever other elements exist in the frame, and your job is to present a clear message based on those relationships.

Take a look at Figure 8–1 and notice the differences between the two depictions of tuna tartar. In both photographs, the tuna tartar stands out as the subject because of its focus and position in the frame; however, the message is different in each case.

loth photos: 50mm, 1/4sec,f/5.6, 100

Figure 8–1:Changing the angle of view and distance from your subject can have a major effect on how people read an image.

The left-hand image in Figure 8–1 tells the story of the entire setting. It's clear that the tuna dish is served in a restaurant environment and is good with red wine. The relationships it has with the other elements in the photo tell you these things. For instance, the red wine is in the background on the same table as the dish. The photo shows a setting for only one person, so the wine has to be for the person who's having the tuna. The folded white napkin and white tablecloth tell you that the dish is in a restaurant.

The image on the right tells a much different story even though I took it with the same setting just moments after the shot on the left. Because you see the dish from a lower angle and because the camera is closer to the subject, the tuna tartar looks more like a product than part of a meal. The forks, napkin, and chair are no longer in the image; all were eliminated by the change of angle. You still see the wine glass and carafe, but they're blurry because I changed the distance between the subject and camera. Because they're so far out of focus, they don't convey a strong message. Instead they provide an interestingly shaped frame around the subject along with the garnish on the plate. (The section "Moving the subject or yourself" tells you more about manipulating depth of field using distance.)

By changing the height and angle of the camera, I changed the message of the image without changing any other aspects of the photography. You can easily control your message when you understand the relationships among the objects in front of you and have the know-how to manipulate them.

Even though it may not always feel like it, you have an infinite number of choices regarding perspective when taking pictures. Consider the following:

You're free to move around.The slightest movement in any direction affects your angle relative to the subject and the other elements in a scene. Even when your ability to move is restricted, you have some options for getting the best angle possible.