Frame and Composition: Activity 4

Frame and Composition: Activity 4

Q: Collect one image where the photographer has placed the main subject off center and retained a sense of balance and one image where the photographer has placed the main subject off center and created a sense of imbalance. Discuss the possible intentions of the photographer in creating each image. Create four images, placing the focal point and/or visual weight in different areas of the frame. Discuss whether each image is balanced.

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http://tinybuddha.com/blog/9-tips-to-create-a-balanced-life/

In this photo, the photographer has placed the subject (the person doing yoga) off to the right, but has still maintained a sense of balance. The picture is still balanced because the ocean and the sun are just as interesting as the person, and draws your eye just as much.

Photo by: Jule Berlin

This photo is not balanced, however because the subject (the lone tree) is overpowered by the gold grass, and the tree is not immediately noticed. 

This is one of the photos I took in Payson, AZ. I tried making it balanced by putting two subjects (the trail post and my sister) on opposite sides of the frame.

With this image, I tried to put the visual interest on the in-focus rock on the right side, so that someone might not initially notice the girl peeking out from the tunnel behind it.

In this photo I tried to place visual interest in different areas of the frame. I put two cacti in the left side of the frame, however it is the bright sun in the right side of the frame that catches your attention first. 

I tried to create horizontal visual balance in this photo. The mountains and highway overpass in the top half of the photo balance out the rock and wood fence in the bottom half. Leading lines in also present in the picture. 

Frame and Composition: Activity 3

Frame and Composition: Activity 3

Q: Find two photos that show rule of thirds composition and two that don't.

http://www.empowernetwork.com/jennempowered/blog/cash-flow-rule-of-thirds/

This photo shows rule of thirds because the ant carrying the cookies is in the right 2/3 quadrant of the photo.

http://marcis95.blogspot.com/2012/11/composition-rules-of-photography.html

This picture also shows rule of thirds because in all the empty blue background, the tree is located in the right third of the photo. 

http://digital-photography-school.com/forum/archived-assignments/138494
assignment-break-rule-thirds-nov-3-17-a.html

This photo doesn't show rule of thirds because if lines dividing the photo into 9 even square sections were drawn, the leaf (subject of the photo) would be in the center, not in one of the thirds sections.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/blogs/yowie-man/frosty-reception-20130711-2pthc.html

Although the two stone towers are located in either thirds sections of the photo, this picture does not show rule of thirds composition, but rather symmetry or balance. 

Frame and Composition: Activity 2

Frame and Composition: Activity 2

Q. What does John Szarkowski mean when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’ when they make photographic pictures?
Q. The frame often ‘dissects familiar forms’. At the end of the last century photography was having a major impact on Art. Impressionist artists such as Degas were influenced by what they saw. Look at these examples of Degas work, which clearly shows the influence of Photography, and explain why the public might have been shocked to see such paintings.


1. When Szarkowski says that photographers are quoting 'out of context' he means that what a photographer is basically doing is providing a picture without any other information about the photo or the settings it was taken under.

2. The public might have been shocked to see these paintings by Degas that were influenced by photography because in that time paintings usually had the subject in the center while in this painting the ballerinas are the not center of the photo, their position in the painting makes it more interesting. 

Frame and Composition: Activity 1

Frame and Composition: Activity 1 

Q: Look through assorted photographic websites and observe how many photographers have moved in very close to their subjects. By employing this technique the photographer is said to ‘fill the frame’ and make their photographs more dramatic. Find two examples of how photographers seek simple backgrounds to remove unwanted detail and to help keep the emphasis or ‘focal point’ on the subject. Attach two images you find to your reply to this discussion.

http://photoinf.com/General/KODAK/guidelines_for_better_photographic_composition_simplicity.html

In the photo on the right, the photographer not only zoomed in on the seagull enough to fill the frame, but also eliminated the cluttered background. 

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/fill-the-frame-photography-composition/

In this photo, the photographer zooms up extremely close to the girls face and has very little of the white background showing.