Composition lesson

Composition lesson

This is a lesson in photographic composition, derived from my experience in Photography.

There may be better and more comprehensive references you may find on the Internet. This is just a summary of what works for me and I hope for you as well. 

In a nutshell composition is the way you frame the subject and objects around it. The light and tones are important too, but they are accesories. 

What does make you say "I should take this picture"?

Most often than not we are attracted to a scenery of some sort without fully knowing what made us to have that urge at the first place. 

I ask you to step back and think.

What makes this picture special starts with stark whiteness of the subject. The opera house is the whitest object in the frame (the sky has white openings but not entirely), everything else is an accessory and they should stay as such. The beauty of the sails opens up like a swan or a magnolia. 

The urge is to capture that white beauty in its essence. 

Knowing your subject and objects

This is not a picture of just the Sydney Opera House, but other elements surrounding it. As soon as you realise that a subject can rarely exist on its own, possibilities of crafting a meaningful story emerge.

Every picture must have a subject or a group of them. A subject is an object we think is the most significant one. Your photograph stands out depending on how you frame your subject and other objects around it.

In this picture the Sydney Opera House is the subject. The Harbour Bridge is an object. The sky is an object. The sea is an object. The flags are a group of objects. The pair of pylons is an object. The pier is an object. The skyline is an object.

The Light

In this image the entire sky acts like a giant shade. The overcast day eliminates harsh shades. Gray clouds at the background make whiteness of the sails pop up, emphasising their gentle contours. This picture would be dead under a clear sky, or if the background was whiter. Remember "Light Gods". They can either make your picture or kill it.

Leading lines

Leading lines help gently navigating our gaze into the subject. In this frame curvatures of the Coat Hanger (The Harbour Bridge) make leading lines that lead our gaze from the top left corner to the bottom right. 

Using the bridge as an instrument that draws leading lines has another advantage; it makes the harbour bridge a secondary object blending with the rest of grayness. Afterall we should eliminate all other objects stealing the show from the subject.

Note the harmony of curvatures, as if someone used the same template to draw the coat hanger's and sails' curves. Such harmony is essential for pulling the attention to the subject.

Rule of thirds 

The rule of thirds is a well known composition tip to maintain a well balanced look. 

The idea is to divide the picture into rectangles in multiples of 3, and place your subject in one of them, but not in between.  Usually dividing the frame to 9, 6 or 3 quadrants will do the job.

The idea is to maintain an eye-pleasing area alignment between objects trapped in each segment.

Take a look at the top left quadrant. We see a section of the bridge close to its center, and flags at the top. Everything in that quadrant is in harmony. The vertical steel strings have equal distances next to each other, the curveture starts gently, the flags nicely fit; they are not too close nor too distant from the edges.

Declutter

I left the most important tip to last. Do not press the shutter unless you are certain there is no clutter left anywhere around the frame. No boats cutting the frame, no colorful foreground objects, no signposts or tree branches nearby that get in to our view. 

You must avoid clutter to make your comopositions stand out.

Winter dusk

 

A winter late-afternoon in downtown Sydney. 

Light is puring from the new Cartier building, and the Louis Vuitton behind it. Beams of a dying sun mixing with warm light paint a familiar perspective. 

When you walk down on that street you my feel the warmth of your home. Snuggling into your cossie corner in your  home, smells of baking biscuits and the whisle of your kettle. Soon you will be home.

A good photograph should make you feel emotions, this is what I seek. The depth, the light, the texture and the frame. When I see it, I know it.

Sydney Modern Project

The Art Gallery of NSW North Building is extraordinary. From the outside you see a one storey glass building. But inside it opens up to a vast space tingling your creative mojo. 

In the book Universal Principles of Design by W. Lindwell, K. Holden, and J. Butler, Cathedral Effect is described as “concpicious ceiling height” that promotes abstract thinking and creativity. This building is a great example of that.

This painting by Jude Rae reminds me Edward Hopper’s work. The clean overlay of layers and reflections brings a gentle interplay between realism and abstraction. The painting sits in that boundary without imposing.

One of the three studies from the Temeraire by Cy Twombly.

These two ceramic artworks by Lubna Chowdhary were my favourites of five in the series exhibited.

A detail from Yayoma Kusama’s playful sculpture Flowers that Bloom in the Cosmos. 

Here are some random pictures I took after I left the exhibition.

When the light shines

The simple stained glass panel is filtering the late afternoon light in a McMahons Point house. 

I have been walking in the area for several years. Old houses slowly give way to new ones. Most often developers build small apartments if the land permits, otherwise owners renovate old houses.

It is interesting to witness dying houses, long past their heydays. In this case the light coming through the stained glass, briefly makes the old house sigh, reminding us what would be like sitting in that veranda in the past.

Reference:

McMahons Point