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

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

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

Center or Point of Interest

Center or Point of Interest

“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

ELLIOT ERWITT

LEE FRIEDLANDER

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

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

Examples of Mergers

MERGERS

Playing with Mergers

Elliot Erwitt

Playing with Mergers

Playing with Mergers

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

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

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

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

SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

DIANE ARBUS

Roy DeCarava

Asymmetrical Balance

ANDRE KERTESZ

Asymmetrical Balance

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

Keep it simple: an empty frame

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

Keep it simple: an empty frame

Keep it simple: an empty frame

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Keep it Simple - Shallow Depth of Field

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Keep it simple: shallow depth of field

Elliot Erwitt, NYC 1950

Elliot Erwitt, Ernst Hass 1955

Matthew Tischler

DEEP DEPTH OF FIELD - Walker Evans

Martin Parr

Martin Parr

Martin Parr

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

Frame within a frame

Frame within a frame

Robert Frank, Butte, Montana

Robert Frank, New Orleans, 1955

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

SUBJECT PLACEMENT

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

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

Rule of Thirds

The Golden Ratio / Fibonocci Spiral

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

Use Strong Lines

“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

use strong lines

use strong lines

use strong lines

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?

Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

Strong Lines / Patterns (repeated)

Patterns and Repetition

Use strong lines

Use strong lines

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

LIGHT AND SHADOW

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Sebastian Salgado

LIGHT AND SHADOW - Imogen Cunningham

LIGHT AND SHADOW

SHAPES

Texture -- Aaron Siskind

Texture -- Aaron Siskind

TEXTURE

TEXTURE

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

Use the edge of the frame

Use the edge of the frame

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

Vantage Point: your angle of view

Vantage Point: your angle of view

Vantage Point: Birds Eye

Vantage point: birds eye

“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

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

CLOSE UP

DAIDO MORIYAMA from TIGHTS AND LIPS

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

Vantage point: close up/abstraction

Vantage point: worms eye

Vantage point: worms eye

And one last thing…Consider placing a moving subject so they

move into the image

Strategies: Composition and ShootingHow 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

Make a list….

What composition elements are these photographers using?

Elliot Erwitt

Elliot Erwitt

Robert Frank

William Eggleston

Candida Höfer

Roy DeCarava

Elliot Erwitt

Andreas

Gursky

Elliot Erwitt

Lee Friedlander

Elliot Erwitt