DESCRIPTION
Presents instructions on traditional photographic composition and addresses the new techniques of digital photography that allow the image to be edited, manipulated, or montaged to produce a radically different final result.
My Summary
Main Ideas, Takeaways & Similarities
Questions
I. What is the problem?
A. How is this problem formulated?
B. Why is this problem important?
C. What is the history of this problem?
D. Which prominent personalities have been interested in this problem?
II. What solutions to the problem are there?
A. What are the conclusions reached?
B. By what argument(s) is the conclusion reached?
C. What facts or assumptions serve as premises?
D. When a prominent personality offers a solution, does he also argue for or against other prominent personalities? Does he raise objections to alternative solutions? Does he consider objections to his own solutions?
III. Evaluation
A. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative formulations to the problem?
B. Has the importance or history of the problem ever been misrepresented?
C. Are the solutions logically related to the premises?
D. Are the facts true? Are the assumptions acceptable? Are the objections answerable?
AI Summary
Highlights
One simple device for originating an image that has prominent lines is to align one or two of them with the frame. (Location 174)
Alignment like this emphasizes the geometry of an image. (Location 175)
interplay of diagonals with the rectangular frame. (Location 179)
the 2:3 proportions of an SLR frame are a little extreme, and this often leaves the upper part of the picture under-used. (Location 271)
The eye is naturally reluctant to scan up and down, and the bottom edge of a picture frame represents a base; thus gravity affects vertical composition. Subjects tend to be placed below the center, the more so with tall formats, (Location 273)
very few images lend themselves well to square composition. In general, it is the most difficult format to work with, (Location 284)
In part, this has to do with the axis of the subject. Few shapes are so compact that they have no alignment. Most things are longer in one direction than in another, and it is natural to align the main axis of an image with the longer sides of a rectangular picture frame. (Location 287)
they impose a formal rigidity on the image. (Location 291)
symmetry of the sides and corners keeps reminding the eye of the center. (Location 292)
imagine a vertical or horizontal direction to the picture, and to crop the resulting image later. (Location 295)
We see by scanning, not by taking in a scene in a single, frozen instant. (Location 317)
A third factor is the subjective relationship that the photographer wants to create between the viewer and the subject. (Location 391)
Another possible risk with running the edges of the subject right up to the borders of the picture is that the eye may feel uncomfortable concentrating on points falling very near the edges of the picture. It often needs—or at least benefits from—a little free area around a subject to be able to move without feeling constricted. (Location 399)
placing the subject anywhere but in a natural position needs a reason. (Location 433)
The importance of placement increases as the subject becomes smaller in the frame. (Location 435)
A position dead center is so stable as to have no dynamic tension at all. (Location 439)
even a slight secondary point of interest is usually enough to influence the placement of the subject. (Location 441)
position of the sun above and left; there is an inferred relationship here, one that makes it natural to offset the houses slightly in the opposite direction. (Location 443)
Any image, of any kind, automatically creates a division of the picture frame. Something like a prominent horizon line does this very obviously, but even a small object against a bland background (a point, in other words) makes an implied division. (Location 470)
Frames within the picture have the effect of pulling the viewer through; in other words, they are a kind of window. (Location 565)
Walker Evans, for example, often made deliberate use of this device. As his biographer, Belinda Rathbone, writes, “That his photographs saw through windows and porches and around corners gave them a new dimension and power and even an aura of revelation.” (Location 568)
foreground creates a rotating vector to enliven the image. (Location 595)
The two most fundamental principles are contrast and balance. Contrast stresses the differences between graphic elements in a picture, whether it is contrast of tone, color, form, or whatever. Two contrasting elements reinforce each other. Balance is intimately related to contrast; it is the active relationship between opposing elements. If the balance (between blocks of color, for example) is resolved, there is a sense of equilibrium in the image. If unresolved, the image seems out of balance, and a visual tension remains. (Location 608)
Denying the eye perfect balance can make a more interesting image, and help to provoke the response the photographer wants. (Location 613)
Contrast between light and dark (chiaroscuro), between shapes, colors, and even sensations, was the basis for composing an image. (Location 624)
an implied shape tends to strengthen a composition. It helps the viewer make sense of it. Triangles are among the most potent of “closure-induced” shapes in photography, (Location 695)
THE GESTALT LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION: 1. Law of Proximity. Visual elements are grouped in the mind according to how close they are to each other. 2. Law of Similarity. Elements that are similar in some way, by form or content, tend to be grouped. 3. Law of Closure. Elements roughly arranged together are seen to complete an outline shape. The mind seeks completeness. (Location 712)
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Law of Simplicity. The mind tends towards visual explanations that are simple; simple lines, curves, and shapes are preferred, as is symmetry and balance. 5. Law of Common Fate. Grouped elements are assumed to move together and behave as one. 6. Law of Good Continuation. Similar to the above, this states that the mind tends to continue shapes and lines beyond their ending points. 7. Law of Segregation. In order for a figure to be perceived, it must stand out from its background. Figure-ground images (see page 48) exploit the uncertainty of deciding which is the figure and which is the background, for creative interest. (Location 716)
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Emergence. Parts of an image that do not contain sufficient information to explain them suddenly pop out as a result of looking long enough and finally grasping the sense. 2. Reification. The mind fills in a shape or area due to inadequate visual input. This includes closure (above). 3. Multistability. In some instances, when there are insufficient depth clues, objects can be seen to invert (Location 725)
spontaneously. This has been exploited more in art (M. C. Escher, Salvador Dali) than in photography. 4. Invariance. Objects can be recognized regardless of orientation, rotation, aspect, scale, or other factors. (Location 729)
If one diagonal line in another image creates a strong sense of movement in one direction, the eye is aware of the need for an opposite sense of movement. (Location 745)
dynamic balance tends to be more interesting than static balance. (Location 804)
This process of trying to compensate for an obvious asymmetry in (Location 811)
an image is what creates visual tension, and it can be very useful indeed in making a picture more dynamic. It can help draw attention to an area of a scene that would normally be too bland to be noticed. (Location 811)
In reality, most photographs contain several layers of graphic effect. (Location 818)
There is a natural tendency to apply our experience of gravity to images and image frames. As we’ll see in Chapter 3, verticals express a gravitational pull downwards, while horizontal bases provide a supporting flatness. This is probably why the placement of a dominant element in a frame tends to be lower, particularly with a vertical frame (Location 825)
The techniques for achieving dynamic tension are, however, fairly straightforward, as the examples here show. While not trying to reduce it to a formula, the ideal combination is a variety of diagonals in different directions, opposed lines, and any structural device that leads the eye outward, preferably in competing directions. (Location 839)
the real background is lighter than the real subject, which tends to make it move forward; the areas are nearly equal; the shapes are not completely obvious at first glance. (Location 877)
Repetition is a necessary ingredient, but this alone does not guarantee a sense of rhythm. (Location 892)
Rhythm is a feature of the way the eye scans the picture as much as of the repetition. It is strongest when each cycle in the beat encourages the eye to move (just as in the example to the right). (Location 898)
When the rhythm is predictable, as in this palace façade in Jaipur, India, the repetition is frequently boring. (Location 911)
In this case, an anomaly that interrupts the rhythm can make the image more dynamic. (Location 912)
as the eye naturally follows a rhythmical structure from left to right, it works better to place the figure on the far right, so that the eye has time to establish the rhythm. (Location 913)
Patterns tend to be directionless, and so often make better backgrounds than subjects in themselves. (Location 965)
The angle of view to the surface that carries the converging lines determines the strength of the perspective effect. (Location 1021)
Too low fails to read clearly; too high shows little convergence. (Location 1022)
a red or orange subject against a green or blue background will have a sense of depth for purely optical reasons. (Location 1037)
“When I discovered that I could look at the horror of Belsen—4,000 dead and starving lying around—and think only of a nice photographic composition, I knew something had happened to me and it had to stop.” (Location 1147)
Several points carry the sense of occupying the space between them, (Location 1233)
Creating disorder that still remains cohesive is usually more difficult than establishing order. (Location 1255)
A single vertical form understandably sits more comfortably in a vertical format than a horizontal. (Location 1300)
diagonals introduce the most dynamism into a picture. They are highly active, with an even stronger expression of direction and speed than verticals. (Location 1332)
A diagonal leads the eye along it, more than any other line. (Location 1349)
headscarf brings a visual relief, and also a point of focus for the attention. (Location 1982)
but without the one taped in red, the composition would have been directionless. (Location 2003)
colors harmonize most completely with each other when their areas are in inverse proportion to their relative brightness. As proposed by Goethe, red and green are equally bright, so combine 1:1; orange is twice as bright as blue and so their ideal combination is 1:2; while yellow and violet are at the extremes of the brightness scale, with ideal combined proportions of 1:3. Three-way combinations follow the same principle. (Location 2012)
(even imitative techniques are based on some style). (Location 2098)