Tom Clark: Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

Chapter 3 tells you more about lenses.

Your perspective is determined by your camera position in relation to the elements of your scene. It's how you see your subject and everything else in your frame. In a three-dimensional world, the way you see things changes when you move up, down, and side to side. Changing your perspective enables you to position everything in your frame in the way you see most visually pleasing or appropriate for your message.

The elements in a scene and the relationship of those elements to each other within the frame determine the message that a photograph conveys.

If you're on a road trip with your family and come across a national landmark, you'll probably take a photograph to prove you were there. The message of that photograph is "Hey, look at us; we were there." In this situation, your perspective is critical for revealing and manipulating the relationships of a scene's elements in your frame.

Say you get everybody out of the station wagon to have a look at the Grand Canyon. While your family is looking over the edge, you ask them to turn around for a picture. You have three elements to consider, the subject (your family), the background (the Grand Canyon), and the foreground (the parking lot). Your perspective is going to determine how much of each of these is going to be included in the composition and what relationships they have with each other. I describe the details of perspective in Chapter 8; however, the following list introduces you to some of your options in the Grand Canyon situation:

" Step close to your family.This perspective shows more detail of who they are and less detail of the environment around them.

•Back away from the family.By backing up, you make your family smaller in the frame and show more of their surroundings.

•Use a wide-angle lens.With this lens, you can include as much of the scene as possible — your family, the background, the station wagon, and even some other tourists in the area.

" Use a long lens.When you use this type of lens, you can crop in specifically on the family and their immediate surroundings.

" Choose a high angle. Ifyou choose to shoot from a high angle — maybe by standing on top of the station wagon — you show the family and a view that looks down into the canyon.

Figure 1–3 shows a scene that I photographed with two separate perspectives. Each image in the example reveals different aspects of the environment. The perspective on the left approaches the subject from far away and has an emphasis on the surrounding environment, thus distributing compositional importance to all the elements in the scene. The perspective on the right approaches the subject from a nearer vantage point and distributes more importance to the subject. This perspective is more descriptive with regard to the subject and is great for isolating the star of your photograph.

24mm, 1/200 sec, f/4, 100

70mm, 1/250 sec, f/6.3, 100

Figure 1–3:Because of the differing perspectives, the messages in these images also are different.

Your composition for a particular scene is basically a recipe. You consider certain factors automatically — what you focus on, how wide your angle of view is, and which perspective best represents the scene, to name a few. But other variables are unique to each situation, such as how many subjects to include, what mood the scene's color scheme and lighting create, whether your subject is still or in motion, and so on.

In order to best determine these variables, you simply have to practice and build your skills. Most photographers go through phases as they build their compositional skill level. Doing so enables you to really master one area before moving on to the next. You can pay special attention to any specific compositional element, but here's the order I suggest:

1. Keep an eye on your focal point.

By using the techniques in this book and your camera's owner's manual, ensure that your subject is always your focal point. Don't settle for results in which your subject is blurry (unless you're using your artistic

license to do so, which is discussed in Chapter 12).

2. Concentrate on creating compositions that have depth.

To create depth, include foreground elements, a subject, and a background. Your subject is in focus (you mastered that in the first step), and you have foreground and background elements to create a supporting scene that enables viewers to work their way through the image.

Figure 1–4 shows an image with foreground, middle ground, and background elements. Your eyes are drawn into a photograph that displays this technique.

3. Pay attention to color in your scene.

Color plays a major role in determining how people feel about images. Being in tune with color is essential to relaying messages in a photograph. Pay attention to color in your scenes, and you'll eventually notice it without trying. Look for scenes that predominantly reveal a single color, or seek out scenes with complimentary color elements.

24mm, 75 sec, f/5.6, BOO

Figure 1–4:Depth helps to draw a viewer's eyes into a photograph.

In other words, find a scene in which the colors contrast by existing on opposite sides of the color wheel. I talk about color in more detail in Chapter 6.

4. Start paying attention to the design elements you find in Chapter 4, including the following:

Lines:Elements that lead a viewer's eyes from one area of the composition to another

• Shapes and forms:Elements that take up a specific space in the frame in a particular way

• Scale:The size and weight relationships of photographic elements

• Patterns:The repeating elements and mirror images

You have many elements to consider when you compose an image. You don't have to include each one in every image, but do consider them. You'll eventually develop the ability to analyze a scene and determine which elements are appropriate for telling the story of the scene through your eyes. The elements that you use to create an image should be only the ones that are necessary to support your message.

In This Chapter

^ Understanding the mechanics of sight

^ Taking a look at how a camera "sees" a scene

^ Techniques to improve your compositional creativity

J\jo doubt you've come across photographs that have caught your W W attention and caused you to stop and stare. Images like these can have a haunting quality that draws you in and brings you to a certain place. They can alter your mood or clarify your thoughts. The ultimate goal of a photographer is to create these types of images — the ones that speak to people.

The ability to combine a subject that's relevant to your intended message, a mood that drives the message, and an image that's overall aesthetically pleasing makes you a better photographer. Composition is the key to unlocking this ability. So, in this chapter, I show you how to develop your photographic eye and recognize (and later apply) effective compositions when you see them.

You know something good when you see it, so how do you translate that same effectiveness onto your digital sensor to share with other people? You start by observing your surroundings with a watchful eye and a sharp memory. When something looks good or interesting to you, take some time to ask why you're drawn to it. If you can figure out what attracts you to a particular scene, you may have a chance to translate that attractiveness through one your own photographs.