• The river running through the valley gives a sense of scale. Because the river appears so small in comparison to the mountain, you can assume that the mountain is massive. By positioning the river in the bottom corner of my frame, I allowed space for the mountain to dominate the frame. (See Chapter 12 for more on scale.)
• The background is dramatic and ominous. The background gives a sense of depth because of the way it fades in contrast and is consumed by the haze. (You can read more about choosing an effective background for your image in Chapter 9.)
• The clouds in the sky give you an idea of the mountain's elevation.
The mountain reaches the clouds and almost seems to divide the sky into two sections. To the left of the mountain, the clouds are much thicker than they are to the immediate right of it.
• The body of water that the river feeds into tells you that this mountain begins at sea level. If you started at the base and hiked to the summit, you would experience many shifts in weather. I only had to show a small amount of the body of water to relay its part of the message. Minimizing its presence in the frame gives more drama to the mountain.
Leading the eye to Important elements
After years of reading, your mind is trained to automatically respond to the words on this page. You start at the top left corner of a page and scan the printed letters from left to right, working your way down. The large, bold fonts in the headings capture your attention and give you an idea of what information is on the page. You probably read those headings first and then decide whether you want to read the normal print under them. Advertisements often include fine print used to reveal information that's necessary for legal reasons without encouraging you to read it.
A photograph works much like printed text, but it can be much more complex. Your job as a photographer is to tell a story, so the way a viewer reads into an image will have a major effect on the message. Having an idea of how people look at images helps create successful compositions.
You can use any of a long list of techniques to direct a viewer's eyes through a photograph. Here's a list of ways to draw attention to important elements:
Pay attention to your contrast. The area with the highest contrast (the most drastic transition from light to dark) usually is the first place viewers look in an image. You also can use color to create contrast. Chapter 6 gives you more information on contrast.
Keep your focus on the subject. Your focal point is the area in the scene that you focus on with your lens. Usually this point is the subject itself. When you look at something, your eyes focus on it. And the point in an image that's in focus is most similar to how you see things in real life. So, you'll probably pay most attention to that area when viewing an image. For more information on how to focus on a subject, read Chapters 3 and 7.
Provide leading lines. Leading lines get the attention of a viewer's subconscious and direct his eyes from one element in the frame to another. Photographers use leading lines as a way to keep your eyes in the frame and to tell a story in a certain order. Picture, for example, railroad tracks that lead your eyes to a vanishing point on the horizon. For more on lines, head to Chapter 4.
Direct viewers through the frame with tonal gradations. Tonal gradations are areas that go from lightness to darkness or vice versa. These gradations help direct a viewer through a frame because if your eye starts at the point with the highest contrast, perhaps it will next go to the point with the second highest contrast.
Draw attention in a photograph using color. An outstanding color can help viewers determine the subject of a photo. If, for example, a photograph includes a crowd of people wearing white hats and one person wearing a red hat, viewers' eyes naturally go to the person with the red hat, which is likely your subject. Chapter 6 covers various methods of using color to draw a viewer's eye or create a specific mood.
Include patterns and repeating elements. These elements tend to catch a viewer's eye — perhaps because humans have the natural ability to recognize similarities in things. A mirrored image (like the reflection of mountains in the water) adds interest to a composition. Natural and manmade patterns add interest as well. For more about repetition and patterns in composition, see Chapter 12.
Create a visual frame within your frame using the compositional framing technique. Your frame refers to the edges of your viewfinder or photograph, but a compositional frame is something you create that occupies the area inside the edges of your frame. Its purpose is to keep viewers' eyes from wandering away from the photograph. If a leading line goes to the edge of the frame, a viewer's eyes follow it, leading him directly out of the image. A compositional frame creates lines that go along the edges to direct eyes back toward the elements of the scene. For examples and more information on framing, flip to Chapter 11.
These techniques don't exist in a vacuum; you often mix and match them according to the effect you want to create. If, for example, you arrange your composition so the subject is in focus and is positioned in the area with the highest contrast, you pretty much guarantee that a viewer's eyes will go directly to the subject. If your subject is in focus but another element in the scene creates higher contrast, the two elements compete for attention.
Achieving balance
When photographers create compositional balance, they create a space that's easy for viewers to look at — one in which the various elements are evenly distributed throughout the frame. If too many elements are bunched together in one area of the frame, the other areas become empty and uninteresting. Viewers generally spend more time looking at images that contain points of interest throughout the frame.
Figure 1–2 shows compositional balance in one of its simpler forms. You can see how the eagle provides a counterweight to the mountains. If the eagle weren't flying through the sky, your eyes would only be drawn to the mountains — and, as a result, you probably wouldn't spend too much time viewing the image. Chapter 12 provides more detailed descriptions of balance and techniques on how to achieve it.
135mm, 1/250 sec, f/S, 125
Figure 1–2: Balance is achieved by positioning elements evenly throughout the frame.
Gaining Control of Compositions
You can't create great compositions without making some important decisions — from how to set up your camera and choose which angle you shoot from to what elements make it into your shot. Many — if not most — of these decisions become second nature to you as you gain experience with your camera. However, as you dip your toes into the compositional waters, you have a lot to consider, so this section alerts you to the kinds of decisions you need to make when you compose a photograph.
Working your basic camera settings
The best photographers can pay attention to their scenes and concentrate on creating the finest compositions possible without having to worry about their cameras producing bad technical results. In other words, they're familiar and comfortable with the settings and technicalities of their cameras. To improve your own compositions, you too need to know what your equipment is capable of and how to use it.