ACTIVE FRAMES PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION + ELEMENT OF DESIGN

Transcription

1 ACTIVE FRAMES PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION + ELEMENT OF DESIGN THE EYE SHOULD LEARN TO LISTEN BEFORE IT LOOKS. - ROBERT FRANK CONSULTING THE RULES OF COMPOSITION BEFORE TAKING A PHOTOGRAPH IS LIKE CONSULTING THE LAWS OF GRAVITY BEFORE GOING FOR A WALK. - EDWARD WESTON I JUST WALK AROUND, OBSERVING THE SUBJECT FROM VARIOUS ANGLES UNTIL THE PICTURE ELEMENTS ARRANGE THEMSELVES INTO A COMPOSITION THAT PLEASES MY EYE. - ANDRE KERTESZ

2 ACTIVE FRAMES PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPOSITION + ELEMENT OF DESIGN THE EYE SHOULD LEARN TO LISTEN BEFORE IT LOOKS. - ROBERT FRANK CONSULTING THE RULES OF COMPOSITION BEFORE TAKING A PHOTOGRAPH IS LIKE CONSULTING THE LAWS OF GRAVITY BEFORE GOING FOR A WALK. - EDWARD WESTON I JUST WALK AROUND, OBSERVING THE SUBJECT FROM VARIOUS ANGLES UNTIL THE PICTURE ELEMENTS ARRANGE THEMSELVES INTO A COMPOSITION THAT PLEASES MY EYE. - ANDRE KERTESZ

3 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

4 Center or Point of Interest

5 Center or Point of Interest

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7 Putting four edges around a collection of information or facts transforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it s something else a new world is created Gary Winogrand

8 ELLIOT ERWITT

9 LEE FRIEDLANDER

10 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

11 AVOID MERGERS Photographs collapse 3d space into 2d space Photographs create compositional relationships we might not recognize while in the act of photographing Mergers-awkward combinations of lines/ shapes/subjects as a result of collapsing 3d space to a 2d image Strategies to avoid mergers: Photographer moves Subject moves Background moves

12 Examples of Mergers

13 MERGERS

14 Playing with Mergers

15 Elliot Erwitt

16 Playing with Mergers

17 Playing with Mergers

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19 "Probably one of the worst things that happened to photography is that cameras have viewfinders." - John Baldessari

20 Mergers: things to watch for Background objects can merge with the primary foreground subject. (For example, a power pole can "grow" out of your uncle's head.) Strong colors or similar colors of objects behind or near the main subject can merge with the subject. A white hat might merge with a light background and all but disappear. Remember, mergers are often removed by simply moving the camera or subject

21 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

22 BALANCE Symmetrical balance Two matching subjects in size or shape Symmetrical balance distributes visual elements evenly in an image. Asymmetrical balance A heavier presence balanced against a lighter presence

23 SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

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26 DIANE ARBUS

27 Roy DeCarava

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29

30 Asymmetrical Balance

31 ANDRE KERTESZ

32 Asymmetrical Balance

33 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

34 Keep it simple: an empty frame

35 Keep it simple: an empty frame (in this case empty is complicated)

36 Keep it simple: an empty frame

37 Keep it simple: an empty frame

38 Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

39 Keep it Simple - Shallow Depth of Field

40 Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

41 Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

42 Elliot Erwitt, NYC 1950

43 Elliot Erwitt, Ernst Hass 1955

44 Matthew Tischler

45 DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - Walker Evans

46 Martin Parr

47 Martin Parr

48 Martin Parr

49 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

50 Frame within a frame

51 Frame within a frame

52 Robert Frank, Butte, Montana

53 Robert Frank, New Orleans, 1955

54 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

55 SUBJECT PLACEMENT

56 Rule of Thirds Use the rule of thirds to help with Horizon line placement Strong lines placement Single subject placement Main subject/secondary subject placement

57 Rule of Thirds

58 Rule of Thirds

59 Rule of Thirds

60 Rule of Thirds

61 Rule of Thirds

62 Rule of Thirds

63 Rule of Thirds

64 Rule of Thirds

65 Rule of Thirds

66 The Golden Ratio / Fibonocci Spiral

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68 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

69 Use Strong Lines

70 This recognition, in real life, of a rhythm of surfaces, lines, and values is for me the essence of photography; composition should be a constant of preoccupation, being a simultaneous coalition an organic coordination of visual elements. - Henri Cartier-Bresson

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72 use strong lines

73 use strong lines

74 use strong lines

75 use strong lines Always be conscious of where lines are entering your frame: from which side? From which corner? Which of these images is most successful?

76 Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

77 Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

78 Patterns and Repetition

79 Use strong lines

80 Use strong lines

81 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

82 LIGHT AND SHADOW

83 LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

84 LIGHT AND SHADOW - Sebastian Salgado

85 LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

86 LIGHT AND SHADOW

87 SHAPES

88 Texture -- Aaron Siskind

89 Texture -- Aaron Siskind

90 TEXTURE

91 TEXTURE

92 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

93 Use the edge of the frame

94 Use the edge of the frame

95 COMPOSITIONAL GUIDLINES These are guidelines, not rules. Understanding them will help you create more purposeful compositions. Center or Point of Interest / Subject Placement Framing 3-D world into a 2D Photograph Avoid mergers Balance Symmetrical-even Assymetrical-a heavier presence vs a lighter/foreground vs background Keep it simple Empty frame Shallow depth of field Use a frame within a frame Rule of thirds Use strong lines Shapes / Light & Shadows / Texture Frame tension Vantage point Birds eye Worms eye

96 Vantage Point: your angle of view

97 Vantage Point: your angle of view

98 Vantage Point: Birds Eye

99 Vantage point: birds eye

100 In order to accustom people to seeing from new viewpoints it is essential to take photographs of everyday, familiar subjects from completely unexpected vantage points and in completely unexpected positions.one should shoot the subject from several positions, as if encompassing it--not peer through one keyhole - Rodchenko

101 Vantage point: close up/abstraction

102 CLOSE UP

103 DAIDO MORIYAMA from TIGHTS AND LIPS

104 Vantage point: close up/abstraction

105 Vantage point: close up/abstraction

106 Vantage point: worms eye

107 Vantage point: worms eye

108 And one last thing Consider placing a moving subject so they move into the image

109 Strategies: Composition and Shooting How do I balance these ideas? Shooting with a preplanned idea when photographing Things you may be able to plan ahead: location Props time of day vantage point artificial lighting Make a list of things to shoot Improvising in a rapid situation Keeping subject at center of frame Moving frame around with subject somewhere in picture Editing a group of images down to ones that have compositional strength Shoot in quantity, edit for quality Constant experimentation to ensure a variety of images, more chances for success

110 Make a list.

111 What composition elements are these photographers using?

112 Elliot Erwitt

113 Elliot Erwitt

114 Robert Frank

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117 William Eggleston

118 Candida Höfer

119 Roy DeCarava

120 Elliot Erwitt

121 Andreas Gursky

122 Elliot Erwitt

123 Lee Friedlander

124 Elliot Erwitt

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