Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Keep your subjects fairly close to one another.They're more likely to be a similar distance from the camera that way, helping to keep everyone in focus.

Use a V-shaped pose to avoid a group that spreads out too wide in a straight line.To create this setup, have each person face the camera at a slight angle and position people slightly in front of or behind each other.

Work with levels.Positioning someone directly in front of another person only works if your subjects are on different height levels. For example, you can position part of a group on the floor in front of the rest of the group sitting on a sofa. If more people are in your group, you can ask them to stand behind the people on the sofa for an added height level. By having multiple rows of people on different levels, you keep the group contained to a smaller area.

Make sure each person in the group has her own place in the scene.

More specifically, pay attention to how each individual is placed in front of the background. In Chapter 8,1 discuss finding a perspective in which your subject fits appropriately into the background and can be clearly seen.

In Figure 13-5, each person in the photograph has his or her own space in the frame and is placed comfortably in front of the background.

Pay attention to how the subjects interact with each other and the supporting elements of the scene.

Nobody's face should ever intersect with anyone else's, and each person should be represented in a clear and pleasant fashion. The shape of each person's head should be clearly identifiable. Also be sure to avoid merging lines, which I discuss in Chapter 9.

50mm, 1/125 sec, f/2.8,200

Figure 13-5:Good composition applies to everyone in a group photograph.

In fashion photography, the main goal is to sell clothing, so you have to make the wardrobe look great. But, of course, that effort would be in vain if the model didn't look so hot. When you're shooting fashion, your client wants the model to look good in the photographs because that model represents what the wardrobe is supposed to look like on the people who are viewing the images. If the model looks bad, viewers may make a negative association to the clothing.

Portraiture and fashion photography aren't the only reasons you may photograph people. For a school project, for example, a teacher had my class photograph a portrait of a loved one. The catch was that the person couldn't be in the shot. The goal was to show the essence of a person without showing that person. By placing objects in the scene and creating a mood through light, tonality, color, and perspective, we were expected to reveal the essence of someone. If you reverse that scenario, a person also can be usedto revealthe essence of something else.

This type of photography is referred to as conceptual photography. It's the art of creating a deeper meaning in an image by using symbolism. It's fun to create, but you run the risk of looking like the pretentious artist type by assuming that people want to read into your images beyond their initial aesthetic and literal qualities. Plus some conceptual photographs are more literal and easier to understand than others. To be successful in producing conceptual imagery, you may want to research Sigmund Freud's book The Interpretation of Dreams to gain a thorough understanding of symbolism. Whatever you do, remember what great composition is, even when you're including symbolism in your images. Photographers often get so caught up in the concept of their work that they tend to forget about creating images that look amazing.

Fashion photographers often shoot from a low angle in relation to the subject. Doing so emphasizes the clothing and emulates the look of the runway. But when you shoot from a low angle, you invite viewers to look up the model's nostrils and under her chin. Fashion photographers often direct a model to put her chin down to eliminate this problem. Most models are thin and have strong chins, so when they put their chins down their face maintains an appealing shape. However, each subject is different. So if you're not pleased with the way someone looks from a low angle with her chin down, she won't be either. In that case, find a different angle that better suits your model.

The message in fashion photography usually depends on the wardrobe and the intended market. You use different lighting styles, locations, and concepts based on what you're shooting. A clothing line that's designed to be sold in surf shops to teenage girls most likely will have natural, soft light that makes the models look beautiful, and your location and concept could represent a carefree environment. You may want to capture candid moments of your models laughing and holding hands or rolling in the sand. On the contrary, you'd likely photograph a line of elegant evening attire with dramatic lighting in the studio or in a ritzy hotel. (See Chapter 10 for more on lighting.)

In fashion photography, you can shoot clean portrait-like images of models, or you can opt for action-lifestyle images. Either way, you're selling the clothes. One method sells them by putting them on display, and the other method sells them by showing how they make someone feel. Both methods work and can be justified in most scenarios. As long as the photography and the compositions are great, the images work.

Figures 13-6 and 13-7 show two examples of fashion photography. One shows clothing that's designed for a special occasion (referred to as high fashion). The other shows casual, everyday clothing that's supposed to emulate a recognizable moment in viewers' lives. This type of photography is called lifestyle fashion. In Figure 13-6,1 photographed the model wearing an elegant blue dress. The dress itself is more of a work of art than a functional piece, so I composed the image as if she were presenting the dress to viewers.

50mm, 1/500 sec, f/3.5, 100

Figure 13-6:This dress is artistic and dramatic, so the photograph was composed to be artistic and dramatic as well.

When you shoot high-fashion pieces (like the blue dress in Figure 13-6) you can create compositions that are all about the clothes. Have your model pose in dramatic ways to emphasize the wardrobe. Unlike lifestyle fashion, high fashion usually is detached from real life, so drama is appropriate and expected.

I created Figure 13-7 to highlight functional, everyday attire. I photographed the model in a more casual and realistic composition based on my message to highlight a recognizable moment in everyday life. His pose is natural and his expression is inviting. The lighting is less dramatic and the background is commonplace. You're more likely to see someone sitting like this in real life than to see someone posing like the model in Figure 13-6.

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28mm, 1/160 sec, f/6.3, 200

Figure 13-7:This wardrobe is designed for everyday living and is represented in a casual composition.

In This Chapter

Considering composition in nature photography

Photographing wildlife

Respecting nature and protecting yourself and your equipment

Experimenting with photography in a forest setting

Nature provides settings that offer limitless opportunities for creating beautiful, peaceful, meaningful, sublime, surreal, or tragic photographs. Putting yourself in situations that are relevant to the photo you want to capture assures that you're there when the moon rises over the mountains, the forest fills with morning mist, the storm begins to form in the distance, or the eggs hatch and the baby turtles begin to race toward the sea.