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Composition and Lines

17 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by Kathleen Scanlan in composition

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

composition, creativity, focus, garden, gnome, lines, Photography

 

 

 

Hi Everyone. Building on my last blog about lines in images (November 10, 2017 “Leading Lines”), this week I thought I would show you how composition and lines really work hand in hand. There is no doubt that there are shots which probably will not have any apparent lines to follow but if you look, you will find them!

When composing a shot, whether it is a portrait or a simple landscape, its always important to double-check what you see in the viewfinder. As mentioned in previous blogs, with practice it will become second nature. Watch for things cut off by the edge of the frame or something sticking out of your subject’s head that shouldn’t be there! Although the latter might be funny at first, the subject might not think so later. Now, if that was your intent, to have a tree growing out of their head well…great!

The images I have below are from my backyard garden. I love shooting with natural light and really enjoy capturing it at all angles when I can. Today, I want to show you how to create a story with your image without words. The title of these images is Garden Cop. My thought process was to capture this little figure peeking out from the flowerbed. I wanted the viewer to get the sense that this little guy was looking out for the flowers and was working his beat, doing his duty.

Although the image does have something of the rule of thirds on an angle (upper right corner empty, bottom left filled with flowers, and center angle with the subject matter) drawing the eye to the little officer, the greenery is going every which way. It just does not feel balanced. The lines of the greenery really don’t point to any one thing. Not a terrible image but could use some improvement.

Compo2-0036

So, I changed my position and focused on the statue’s face. As you can see, the green lines now frame the face pretty good but are such a distraction that its difficult to really determine what I was aiming at with the image. Yes, I wanted to focus on the cute face, but all the greenery pulls the eye to the unfocused forefront of the image. Way too busy. The face looks so small in the image that the story gets lost. It’s just a shot of a statue in a garden. …Kind of dull, to my way of thinking.

Compo1-0044

My final product is what I was looking for in an image. By slightly changing my position from the front of the statue, focusing on the face, and watching the green “lines”, I captured this little copper on his beat in the garden. As you look at it, the left side is not longer so thick with a mishmash of lines and they are now in a soft focus. The wall on the right is slightly darker in the shade, and my copper has enough sunlight to draw attention to him. Although the face is in shadow, it looks natural. As you can see, I framed his upper body with the greenery so the viewer is focused on the statue.

Compo3-0037

In the end, I had to really look for the image lines, make sure they helped to focus the eye on my subject, and move around until I had the right composition to tell my story. Did it work?

Everyone takes pictures today. Everywhere you are, you can see someone snapping off a shot. What makes one image stand out against another is the composition. Did the photographer clearly identify the subject matter? Is it in focus? Are there distracting lines disrupting the flow of the image? When you look through your viewfinder, ask yourself this…”What is it that I want my viewer to feel and see?” “How can I help him or her focus on what I want them to feel and see?” “How can I take this average shot and make it into something wonderful?”  If you ask these questions of yourself before you take that shot, you are on the road to a great composition. One that will take their breathe away and have them asking you “how did you do that?” Have a great day and have fun with your camera!

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Leading In…

10 Friday Nov 2017

Posted by Kathleen Scanlan in composition

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Tags

attention, background, composition, focus, images, leading lines, lines, story

Leading lines. Everyone seems to talk about them when it comes to Photography. What are they and why are they so important when composing your image in camera? Is it really necessary to keep an eye out for them in the viewfinder? The simple answer is yes.

If you are not aware of what leading lines are, here it is in a nutshell.  Almost every photograph has some form of lines in it.  The lines could be bridges, roads, sidewalks, windows, trees, buildings, pathways, household furniture, etc.  They can be curved or straight but more importantly, they lead the eye toward something in the image. Many people simply snap the picture for posterity and don’t worry too much about how the lines interact with the entire scene.  And that’s fine. But if you want to tell a story with your image, then lines are very important in directing attention to your subject.

As you look through the viewfinder, get into the habit of doing a “once over” of the entire image with your eye.  It only takes a second.  With practice, you won’t even really notice you are doing it whenever you take a shot. In that second, you will see the full image, notice if there are any distinguishing lines, and much more (to be covered at a later date). Practice taking a step back from the scene and really look at it. I think of it as putting distance between the actual scene before me and what I want people who see the image to actually “see” and feel. The human mind processes data with amazing speed which means I have plenty of time to take it all in.

Sometimes, simply by shifting your focal point a bit, the “lines in the image will draw more attention to your subject matter.  Instead of the image being chaotic and resulting in the viewer being a bit confused as to what you want them to see and feel, you “aim” their eyes to the very thing you want to grab their attention.

In this first image below, the viewer can clearly see the lines of headstones leading to the trees and blue skies at Arlington National Cemetery.  Although the story is the amount of men and women who gave their lives for their country and are remembered with wreaths during the Holidays (Wreaths Across America organization), it also points to serenity and beauty.  The blue skies and trees in the background help to soften the pain and anguish one may feel for the many lives given for our Freedom. Is that what you see and feel?

Arlington Wreath Laying-3315

The second image has all the rows heading out into the distance. And if you follow those rows, you can see that they continue on and on. There are several lines in this photo. The white headstones leading into the cemetery, the shadows of the headstones pointing toward the ones in front of each line, and the tree trunks and two people at the top of the image drawing the eye upward and inward,. Do you see it? Simply by adjusting my position to capture the shadows of the headstone, I added lines, which pointed to each soldier buried there as if to say “we are all one”.

Arlington Wreath Laying-3247.jpg

Now that you see how lines affect an image, take a look at this last one. The only thinking I did was that I wanted a picture of Audie Murphy’s headstone. I did not take that second to look at the whole scene before me. I simply focused on the headstone and pressed the button, because I wanted the headstone to take center stage. Unfortunately, I did not take that second to really “look” at the scene in the viewfinder resulting in a very chaotic and distracting background. Headstones going every which way, too many people at the top of the image, the angle of light “whited out” the tombstones…I could go on and on as to why this image is simply a snapshot that does not tell any kind of “story”.

Arlington Wreath Laying-3331

Are leading lines important? In my opinion, yes. If you still don’t think as I do, that’s fine, too. What I would suggest is that you pull out your past photographs and really look at them. Would using the lines in the image have helped improve it? That is the question of the day! Have a good one until next time!

 

 

 

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