Composition
Germany, Munich, parc, Jun 2023
Summer is here.
It's hot outside and sunny.
In the parks the predominant color is green. Green is not so my color. Then I prefer a black and white picture. It is more expressive.
This could be the beginning of a project: 30 days of black and white pictures. When the color is gone the light, the composition and the contrast is even more important.
Staying curious is important........
A picture usually is flat. Yet it’s possible to deceive the viewer and to create an illusion of depth.
How to create depth in a picture:
This is possible with lines, light, blurriness, sizes and so on….
To create depth has something to do with the composition of a picture. In general one can say that a composition can make a picture interesting or boring. There are rules, yet it’s possible to break.
I realized that I neglected depth in a picture by now. Spontaneously I put my models in front of a wall. A wall can also be bush or a house or a door. A wall is something that doesn’t allow to look deeper. The picture stops usually behind the motive.
The question ‘why should I create depth’ is as important as the how. There are reasons for both compositions.
I tend to prefer flat pictures. Taste is surely also a criteria why to chose a composition.
It makes sense to look at pictures with the questions:
Is there depth in a picture or is it a flat picture?
How is the depth created?
If there is no depth, which background is used?
Why makes the composition of depth a picture interesting? Which story is told with this depth?
The ‘rule of third’ was one of the first composition rules that I learned and applied. I set my camera in a way so that I saw the 4 lines that divided my frame into 3 parts, horizontal and vertical. This gave me an orientation. Later I checked my picture in Lightroom and cut them accordingly. I’m convinced that my pictures got better with this rule in mind. To center the main subject is way too balanced. There is no tension in the picture that comes from composition. Tension can come from other sources, of course. Contrast i.e. can make a picture exciting. Nevertheless the composition of a picture is important. With the composition I can lead the eye of the viewer.
The rule of third is very useful for a landscape or portrait frame. Instagram has only squares. With Instagram I moved my subject to the middle of the frame again. Everything else feels off.
The first consideration when I take a picture is what frame I shall use. I love the ratio 2:3. This frame allows to move the subject to the side.
I’m convinced that applying the rule of third makes most pictures better.
Reasons for breaking this rule exist.
Yesterday I was in a museum here in Cape Town, SA. In one floor they showed African fashion shows. For me fashion is art, too. The models, the clothes were so beautiful. I sat down and watched one show after the other. In that room were also use dolls dressed in contemporary African clothes. Suddenly a woman entered the room with a huge camera. She took a picture and in the next second she took another one. She asked me to take some pictures with her in the frame. I agreed. Quickly she wanted to terminate the photo session. As fast as she entered the room, she was out.
Sometimes one has to be fast, very fast with the camera. Being ready is everything. Moments don’t repeat. When sleepwalking many situations will get missed if one is not ready. But dolls cannot run away. Why not taking time to think first what one wants to capture. Perhaps details are more important than all these dolls. One must set the camera correctly in such a difficult light situation.
Being fast and ready is a very useful skill.
In order to improve the art of photography one must pause from time to time. Before taking a picture it makes sense to ask oneself a few questions. These questions can change….
For the next month I focus on the following questions before I take a picture:
What’s the subject and do I like it? I want to take pictures of people, but I don’t like to take pictures of people checking their iPhones. There are more interesting activities than that.
From where comes the light? Perhaps I must move?
What composition can I apply? Today it’s the ‘rule of third’ that I want to apply.