Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Commercial photography often tries to sell an idea, a sense, or an emotion in order to sell a product or the reputation of a person. Fine art also sells ideas, senses, and emotions but without trying to sell the specific product or person. It's more universal and open for interpretation. The message is sold to you simply to make you experience it. An artist likes to get a reaction from viewers and doesn't need a reason or a product to support his message. An example of a fine art message could be that the human form is powerful and sensitive at the same time.

The first step to creating fine art is finding subject matter that's interesting to you. If it catches your eye in real life, you should be able to compose a beautiful image of it as fine art. Also important is composition. Successful composition in fine art photography has a sense of poetry: The shapes, lines, tones, and lighting work together to provide an image that needs no explanation. Viewers easily can feel something when looking at a well-composed image; it will cause viewers to study it longer and get a better understanding of its intended message.

Figure 17-1 shows a photograph of a common scene from the side of a mountain. The purpose of this image is to give viewers something nice to look at. It provides a warm and comforting sentiment that most people can relate to.

When creating art you don't always have to go out of your way to be completely original. Taking a common theme and executing it extremely well can sometimes provide the most satisfaction to the artist and the viewer. As Henry John Heinz, the founder of Heinz Ketchup, said, "To do a common thing uncommonly well brings success."

If you do an image search online for fine art photography, you'll come across many examples of dramatic and ultraexpressive portraits, studies of the human figure, sublime landscapes, patterns in nature, still-life images of flowers, images of strangers in public areas, and scenes of weathered and abandoned structures. Anything you're interested in can be the subject of a fine art photograph.

In the following sections, I provide information on how to light your subject in a fine art photo and how to make the best of any scene or situation.

28mm, VWsec, mi, SO

Figure 17-1:The sunset may be the most common artistic theme but not without good reason.

When deciding how to light a subject in fine art, consider what's most important to the particular subject's essence. Shape, form, and texture should determine the direction and quality of light you use. (For more about lighting, see Chapter 10.) Here are a few points to keep in mind:

Soft light coming from the side helps accentuate a subject's form. Hard light coming from the side helps accentuate texture.

Light coming from the front minimizes the amount of form and texture a photograph reveals.

Backlighting your subject helps to maximize the emphasis on a subject's shape by creating a silhouette.

The desired dramatic impact you want determines how much contrast you make in your composition. For example, you'll most likely photograph a subject that's beautiful and surreal with very little contrast. Doing so helps to

create a dreamlike essence. Conversely, you'll likely photograph a mysterious and dramatic subject with very high contrast so you reveal only the details that you want viewers to see.

Figure 17-2 shows a surfer in a tropical environment. The subject is lit in a way that makes him stand out from the other elements in the scene, but his face is hidden by shadow. This shadow is created by the direction and intensity of the key light. The soft quality of the light helps create a melancholy mood, and the high contrast creates mystery. The purpose of this image isn't to show the man's identity like a portrait would but to look pleasing and to convey a message, idea, or feeling.

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Figure 17-2:Fine art often can conceal specific details (like the face) and reveal an idea ratherthan an identity.

Have you ever shown up somewhere and had your friends tell you the scene or situation was better the last time they were there? Like when surfers say, "You should have been here last week when the waves were overhead!" As a photographer, know that what happened last week doesn't matter. You're here now and have to make the best out of what you have. A surfer may be bummed when the waves are puny, but if he's smart he'll find another way to entertain himself. Similarly, a good artist can find aesthetic qualities in any situation.

Being present and paying attention to your surroundings ensures that you capture great moments as they happen. Many beautiful fine art images have been created on the spot and without planning. A surprise for you is a surprise for your viewers. If you see something that inspires you to create a work of art but you feel that the lighting isn't ideal or that some element is missing or not quite right at the moment, come back to it with an open mind. Use the spontaneous inspiration to plan a perfected image.

If the weather isn't right or the time of day isn't ideal for shooting the beautiful landscape that surrounds you, pay attention to the details instead. Perhaps you're focused on the wrong things, so you're missing something that's happening right before your eyes. Rather than creating only premeditated artwork, open your mind to let in ideas as you experience them. By doing so, you eliminate your desire to copy works that you have seen from other artists and ensure that you make something that's yours.

When photographing the tree in Figure 17-3,1 was slightly discouraged at first. It was the middle of the day and the sun was high in the sky. As a result, I figured it was an uninteresting time to photograph. (I prefer to shoot landscapes early in the morning and late in the afternoon.) Regardless, I liked the way the scene looked and couldn't stick around for the light to change, so I set up my camera for the shot. As I was shooting, the clouds rolled in to create a great, wave-like shape. Because the sun was up high in the sky and was lighting my scene, I was able to capture an image with very dark skies. All of the sudden I was extremely happy with the composition I had in front of me. Things just sort of worked out to my advantage.

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Figure 17-3:Being present where you are isthefirst step to being able to make something out of any situation.

Abstract art is a 20th-century style that uses nonrepresentational lines, colors, and shapes to convey a message. The subject and elements always are unrecognizable. If you can identify the subject of a photo as a person, or a flower, or any physical being, the work doesn't fall in the abstract category. Likely abstract themes consist of emotions, ideas, time, movement, and space.

Abstract art is possibly the most challenging art form to create successfully. You really have to be able to see beyond the physical. Because your subject isn't something people can literally relate to, they rely on your compositional elements to get your message.

Because compositional elements are so vital to an effective abstract piece, in this section, I discuss those elements you need to keep in mind as you're setting up for a photo.

People relate different emotions to different colors. A photograph that's simply of the color red gives a different feeling than one that's blue. (Refer to Chapter 6 for some ideas on which emotions are related to which colors.) Different combinations of colors in one frame also affect your message differently. As a result, you need to carefully consider these effects when you compose an abstract photograph.