Comp I

• Not about the Camera
• Comes After Content
• Helps support your content
• Composition is the way that elements are arranged in an image
• Composition includes all the elements of an image, not just the subject
• The rules of composition are not actual rules, they are suggestions or tried and true ways to create harmonious compositions
• It is suggested that the human eye has a tendency to embrace order and rejects chaos
• Complexity does not equal chaos
• Complexity would be the use of multiple rules at one or the breaking of the rules but still in a way that works

How do we Compose:

• It begins with the catch of your eye or an idea
• Decide what your photo is about; what do you want to be the center of the visual interest; what your subject is and what’s not; and compose the photo accordingly
• working the scene
• it begins with an intuition/something catching your eye
• Then moving around the subject and trying different angles
• zooming in or out/shooting it tight and wide
• standing your ground around well composed elements and then waiting for something to change or for something else to enter the scene.
• making sure that the composition isn't cluttered with distracting elements, like power lines or parked cars in the background, etc.
• before releasing the shutter roll your eyes around your viewfinder and review all the elements of the scene before taking the picture. We have a tendency to only pay attention to the subject.

Poorly Composed

Well Composed

Poorly Composed

Well Composed

class i -  looking in the streets

5 rULES:

1. Rule of Thirds

• Most widely known and perhaps overused rule
• Avoid the Middle
• Splitting the images into thirds both horizontally and vertically
• place subject on the imaginary line or intersection
• Rule of thirds offers a sense of balance without it looking too intentionally balanced (not that an intentionally balanced images it bad)

Elliot Erwitt

2. Leading Lines

• Lines direct your viewer so they aren't visually wondering around aimlessly (not that I'm opposed to that)
• converging lines give a strong sense of perspective and three dimensional depth
• emphasizes movement
• draws you in
• curved lines can lead you around to the main subject\
• horizontal lines are calming, gives a sense of organization
• vertical lines feel strong and stable
• diagonals feel dramatic, uncertain, unstable
• Wider angle lenses can offer a distortion to lines, creating diagonals and can be very dynamic.
• DUTCH ANGLE: A Dutch angle is a camera shot in which the camera has been rotated relative to the horizon or vertical lines in the shot. The primary use of such angles is to cause a sense of unease or disorientation for the viewer

Cartier Bresson

Dutch Angle

Cindy Sherman

3. Balancing Elements

• balancing weights
• each elements carries a weight
• formal balance is a symmetrical balance. When two similar objects are lined up and the weight is obviously balances
• informal balancing is an asymmetrical balance.  When dissimilar objects are balancing on each side of a point

Tierney Gearon

4. Framing

• blocking the subject in
• it can offer context, example is it's foliage from trees, overhanging branches, through a window, a tunnel, arches, a door, or the shoulders and profiles of other people who are surrounding your subject
• offers depth and multiple dimensions
• leads the eye into the subject
• it does not need to go completely around all edges like a traditional frame
• frame inside of a frame

Vivian Maier

5. Depth

• Can be considered a more advanced composition technique
• Two definitions of depth 1.) measurements from front to back  2.) Complexity and profundity of thought
• Depth like all other composition techniques should support the images content
• conveying depth gives the photo dimensions, foreground and background, and keeps it from appearing flat (not that there is anything wrong with a photo being flat) 
• depth can be achieved by overlapping objects and obscuring that objects in the foreground
• Best illustrated when your subjects are not on the same focal plane
• Having elements in the foreground and background
• Shooting with a wide aperture and creating a shallow depth of field with multiple elements in the scene

Alex Webb

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Class II 

 6. Symmetry/Patterns - in architecture

• ​emphasizing patterns by filling the frame with the pattern
• One method of creating symmetry is by creating an image that if you divided in half you would have 2 mirror images on each side.
• the line that splits the symmetry is called the line of symmetry, it can be vertical or horizontal
• symmetry is easily found in architecture

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Julius Shulman

Nadav Kander

7. Interrupting Patterns

• symmetry can be boring
• it's obvious and perhaps over used and in unimaginative ways
• breaking the symmetry adds interest and depth
• it can be broken with human elements, random objects, an imbalance of light on each side, or simply an abrupt break in the patterns.

Julius Shulman

The Abstract Image

​Hiroshi Sugimoto

 9. Simplicity and the abstract image

• According to Leonardo de Vinci it is the ultimate sophistication
• Simple can be very elegant, the idea of less being more
• uncomplicated backgrounds
• avoid distraction
• avoid lines that lead the viewers eyes away from the subject
• minimal amount of elements

Edward Weston

 desert ebrahim bakhtari bonab

Continuing With Simplicty

Texture 

• There is not a whole lot to be said for texture beyond the word texture
• It's about adding layers to an image and depth
• telling the story about the life of a thing or a person
• The texture of the subject can be one of the main parts of creating the drama and narrative
• It's great in portraits of faces but also of great significance in photographing food, nature or even architecture, like old barns or old doors

Martin Schoeller

10. Filling the Frame

• Sometimes improving you image means to just move closer
• eliminating extraneous information
• adding intensity and all focus on the subject, even certain parts of the subject

Linda McCartney

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Golden Rules

 Golden Triangles

• As we discovered above composition can get a little complicated but  two things that will always work well in an y kind of design or composition: simplicity and balance.
• ​ imagine diagonal lines going through your photo
• The golden triangle is a good composition guideline to use when your photograph contains strong diagonal lines.
• splitting the photo into three triangles that contain the same angles. The golden triangle is simple and works the best with lines but almost every photo will benefit from applying it
• ​ Just roughly place three subjects with approximate equal sizes in these triangles and this rule will be kept
  

Harvey Stein

The Golden Ratio - properly allocated space
​the mathematical representation of natural aesthetic beauty

'The Golden Ratio'Book Examines the Mystery of Phi, Pi's Lesser-Known

​Cousinhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1191723
​

The golden ratio is found everywhere in nature from the smallest objects such as plants and shells to the cosmos. the Golden Ratio allows for a composition that is perfectly balanced from a viewer’s perspective, creating a photograph that is most pleasing to the human eye. We naturally prefer to look at an image that is balanced and harmonized, and the Golden Ratio provides this.

The Fibonacci Spiral was created from a series of squares using Fibonacci’s numbers, with the length of each square being a Fibonacci number. A series of diagonal points on each square will then create a path for which the spiral can flow through the frame. Using the spiral as a tool to compose a photograph will allow the viewer to be led around the image in a natural flow

A simplified version of the Golden Ratio is Rule of Thirds

• Essentially, it is said that the Rule of Thirds was designed as a simple way for photographers to locate the sweet spot, the point at which the human eye is first drawn to, of the Golden Ratio.

Phi Grid - more weight in the center

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Understanding the Golden Ratio

• also know as natures ratio as this equation shows up everywhere in nature. A mysterious, perhaps divine, and complex mathematical equation that results in a pattern that is found in shells,flowers, beehives, in the curve of waves, in our DNA and in our solar systems like the milky way conforms to the golden ratio.
• The golden ratio appears in man made things also.  One can assume that there is something intuitively or instinctual in us that designs things in this way.​​
• ​Scientists claim that the closer to the golden ratio an object is, the more the human brain finds it agreeable and pleasant​
• In design it starts with a golden rectangle. Once you start splitting a golden rectangle by the ratio, you can keep sub-splitting it down forever. The spiral this produces exactly matches the growth of the Nautilus shell in nature.
• No one really knows what it is about the golden ratio that pleases our eyes. Most assume that the fact that it appears everywhere and is a “universal” proportion is what makes us accept it as a logical, harmonic, and organic proportion. In other words, it just “feels” right to our brains
  

8. Leaving Space

• if everybody needs space than so do the people in your photographs
• often adheres to rule of thirds
• creating space around your subject that directly relates to them
• Leaving empty space allows your subject to breath and be relaxed without the intensity and weight of them filling the frame.  It's a little poetic in that it allows them to exist in a larger world, it externalizes the subject where filling the frame internalizes.
• creates a sense of size and size relationships
• showing the environment around the subject gives context to who this person is and what their life is like, where they have been and where they might be going. (editorial)
• lead room/rule of gaze is the space in front of and in the direction of the moving or stationary object.  Leaving space is the direction the subject is facing/looking or moving

Annie Liebovitz

Background

• Background is incredibly important and when I see it neglected in photograph it really bothers me
• Everything that is behind and surrounding your subject is important
• Make sure to eliminate clutter and unintentional distractions such as power lines, parked cars, a McDonald's cup, whatever it is that detracts and does not add
• It's tragic when a person has a pole sticking out of their head or a tree limb coming out of their shoulder
• a good way to deal with a messy background is to put it way out of focus using a shallow depth of field
• If it's going to be sharp it needs to be attractive and/or cohesive

Mark Seliger  (enjoyed a brick wall)

He eventually evolved to a grey painted wall

Orientation

• Landscape (horizontal) or Portrait (vertical)
• The names imply that some subjects are better suited to one orientations than another (but this isn't really true)
• I think photographers after awhile tend to one orientation over the other no matter what they are shooting ( I prefer shooting horizontally but I'm not totally held to it)
• I recommend shooting all photos in both orientations
• If it's a collection of photos you are creating I recommend all images in the collection adhere to the same orientation (although it's not a rule, it just looks better on the wall)
• You can always crop images to have a square orientation

Photography and Color - light sources give different colors

Kelvin Scale and white balance:
Different Light sources give off different colors, we talk about them in terms of temperature. This comes from the Kelvin Scale. The color the light source the warmer the color it projects.  For example a candle does not burn very hot, thus the color it puts on the photos is very warm or yellow orange, the sun burns extremely hot thus throwing blue on the image.  In the camera, your white balance, which is based on the kelvin scale aims to correct these color saturation.  We call it white balance because it aims to make the whites look white and for colors to appear true to life.
​KELVIN:
1000-2000 K Candlelight
2500-3500 K Tungsten Bulb (household variety)
3000-4000 K Sunrise/Sunset (clear sky)
4000-5000 K Fluorescent Lamps
5000-5500 K Electronic Flash
5000-6500 K Daylight with Clear Sky (sun overhead)
6500-8000 K Moderately Overcast Sky
9000-10000 K Shade or Heavily Overcast Sky

• Using color deliberately in photography. When we are shooting improvisational, candidly we don't always give a deliberate consideration to the colors that are occurring in our scene,  being conscious of the colors in the image can produce more interesting images.
• Using Color deliberately in photography requires a change in how you see things.  To start looking at the world in terms of colors is a pratice.

William Eggleston - in terms of the advent of color film

David LaChapelle - in terms of using color as your signature

Color Theory

Hue: natural color before anything is added. Any primary, secondary or tertiary colors
Tints:  are created when you add white to any hue on the color wheel. This will lighten and desaturate the hue, making it less intense.
Tones: are created when you add both black and white to a hue. You could also saygrey has been added. Depending on the proportions of black, white and the original hue used, tones can be darker or lighter than the original hue, and will also appear less saturated or intense than the original hue. Tones can reveal subtle and complex qualities in a hue or combination of hues, and are more true to the way we see colors in the real world.
Shades: are created when only black is added to a hue. This results in a rich, often more intense and darker color.
Saturation: Also called chroma, the degree of colorfulness
Harmony: Color harmony is the theory of combining colors in a fashion that is harmonious to the eye. In other words, what colors work well together. It is the reason the Hulk wears purple pant
Color Schemes: colors that work well together
Complementary Colors: Complementary colors are any two colors which are directly opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and yellow-green
Analogous Colors: Analogous colors are any three colors which are side by side on a 12 part color wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-orange. Usually one of the three colors predominates.eel
Monochromatic: tints, tones, and shades of a single hue. Monochrome describes photographs in one color value,
Grayscale: black and white photography

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Color Stories

Interiors - Woody Allen

​The Best Example I Could Think Of For  A Really Effective Color Story Is The Film Interiors By Woody Allen
The title for the film interiors is a double entendre: It's about a woman who is passionate about interior spaces, she is an interior designer but who is also extremely troubled, all of the characters in this film are incredibly introspective and living a very rich interior life. The color story for this film is very intentional and consistent throughout. The palate is that of the beach.  A primary color is introduced to the film when an extroverted person is.

Black and White 

Color being the most used contemporary medium in Photography Black and White can be perceived as a part of history and reminiscent of vintage photographs.  Black and White can certainly be used to evoke a feeling of history or the past. It gives a sense of timelessness.

Joel Peter Witkin - not only shoots in black and white but uses a camera that is from a previous century, a twin reflex camera with film. He uses no computers to enhance his images but scrapes the negatives. 

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Street - Anne Marie D'Arcy