composition

All posts tagged composition

Fibonacci, Nautilus Shells, and Photography

Posted by Richard Harrington on March 1, 2013
Posted in: Tips. Tagged: , , , , , . 8 comments

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about composition lately.  I am really trying to push myself to get beyond the rule of thirds and try  out some new methods.

The method I’m experimenting with now is called the Golden Spiral.  It’s based on of all things an ancient sequence of numbers that often repeats in nature.

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144

The sequence is often called the Fibonacci numbers and is named after  Leonardo Fibonacci who was an Italian mathematician.  He didn’t actually invent the series (it’s though to have originated from the Hindu–Arabic numeral system.

The sequence is based on adding the adding adjacent numbers in a string, then carrying the results.

0+1=1, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5, 3+5=8, 5+8=13, 8+13=21, 13+21=34 (and so on)

A tiling image with squares whose lengths are successive Fibonacci numbers By Borb — Wikimedia Commons

A tiling image with squares whose lengths are successive Fibonacci numbers
By Borb — Wikimedia Commons

If you draw  circular arcs to connect the opposite corners of squares, you end up with an approximate shape of the golden spiral.  This shape actually takes on the exact look of a nautilus and expresses the number Phi (or golden ratio).

By Dicklyon — Wikimedia Commons

By Dicklyon — Wikimedia Commons

Okay, enough match class…  but you have to admit it’s a little creepy how often this appears in nature… the most obvious is here.

Detailed photo of a halved backlit shell of a chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) isolated on whitePhoto by Fyletto — iStockphoto

Detailed photo of a halved backlit shell of a chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) isolated on white
Photo by Fyletto — iStockphoto

But it shows up in lots of other places too… by using this ratio, you can often add some energy into the composition.  The good news is that you can also get here trough cropping in Photoshop or Lightroom.

gs1

  1. Open an image with Photoshop or Lightroom.
  2. Choose the Crop tool.
  3. Press the O key to cycle through the crop methods.
  4. Press Cmd+O (Ctrl+O) to rotate the asymmetrical options.
  5. Crop as desired using the Golden Spiral as a guide.

gs2

There you have it… the Golden Spiral applied to postproduction as well.  Give it a shot and see that you think.  Aim for in-camaera composition for the best results, but use the Crop tool where needed.

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Composition Basics For Photographers – Leading Lines

Posted by scottbourne on January 31, 2013
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: , , .
Photo by Scott Bourne - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

If you ever wonder why you’re drawn to lines don’t worry, it’s normal. As humans we tend to prefer certain shapes and leading lines are one of our favorite distractions. Some people see them better than others. But those who do see them are immediately drawn to them. And for that reason alone, leading lines are a valuable compositional tool in photography.

Photo by Scott Bourne - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

I made these two images a few years ago for the Tacoma Glass Museum. I wanted to show off the architecture without doing a cheesy postcard shot. So I got my wide-angle lens out and leaned against the building, pointed up and BAM – leading lines. Lots of them.

Leading lines help guide the viewer through a photograph. When composed well, they may even hold the viewer in an endless loop – sort of like a crop maze. They’re a powerful way to draw the eye into, through and out of a photograph.

Next time you have 20 minutes to spare, grab your camera and go for a photo walk in your own neighborhood. Find out how many leading line images you can score in 20 minutes.

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Photofocus Boocast – Beginner’s Composition Tips

Posted by scottbourne on August 1, 2012
Posted in: Audio Podcast. Tagged: , , .

You can subscribe to my Photofocus Boocasts here.
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Seeing A Photograph – Looking For What Isn’t There

Posted by scottbourne on July 11, 2012
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials. Tagged: , .

Photo by Scott Bourne – Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

This post won’t be for everyone. It’s in fact a very advanced concept and it might miss the target. If it does, I’ll take the blame because of my inability to share the heart of what drives me to find the perfect photo. But here’s trying a little bit.

Some photographers go through life randomly documenting what comes their way. Others pre-visualize their photography and set out to tell a story. There are many approaches to photography. All of them are valid. But there’s one you may not be familiar with. It’s a little bit Zen, but it’s very rewarding. It’s based on something I learned from landscape great John Shaw. Shaw always said, “The difference between a professional and an amateur photographer is that a professional knows what NOT to include in the photo. Shaw believes that by a process of elimination, the photographer can start to exclude things from the scene until all that’s left is the desired end result.

There’s another more ethereal way to approach this. Try looking for what isn’t there.

When photographers are presented with iconic locations like Yosemite National Park or the Grand Canyon, it’s easy and tempting to try to “remake” photos that have been made famous by the masters.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, I encourage it. Because ultimately, no two photographers will see the same thing – even if they are standing at the same place.

But to take this to a very high level, try standing at those places and look for what isn’t there. What story aren’t you seeing right away. Beyond the obvious such as the waterfalls at Yosemite or the lakes on Mt. Rainier, what aren’t you seeing? Try looking past the obvious. Try to find the secret treasure buried beneath the clutter of the everyday and mundane.

Slow down. Be quiet. Settle your mind so you can think clearly. Search. Question. Explore. Be prepared to be surprised. Have an innocent and open mind. Be completely and precisely aware of your surroundings. Look at what’s in front of you and then close your eyes. Now imagine what you saw and recreate that in your mind. Often your sub-conscious will be drawn to something deeper in the scene than the painfully obvious.

This type of photography was practiced by a great landscape photographer named Galen Rowell who tragically lost his life in a plane crash. There are others who’ve taught me to think like this. It boils down to some high-level concepts that are beyond most photographers’ will. We live in a drive-through window world. I’m suggesting that by searching for harmony in our photography – by looking for what’s not there, we can elevate our images to the highest level.

It’s hard to explain in a blog post, but I hope it starts you on the path to seeing in new ways no matter how you get there. Why? Because that’s where true growth as an artist starts to happen – when you learn to see in a new way.

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Photographic Composition Tip – Look For Something That Stands Out

Posted by scottbourne on April 22, 2012
Posted in: Tips. Tagged: , , .

Photo by Scott Bourne - Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons

If you want to help your photos get noticed – arrange your composition so that the viewer needs to work just a little bit to find the treasure. Here, there is one bright stand of orange poppies sticking out amongst an entire field of purple flowers. The eye is naturally drawn to the thing that doesn’t appear to belong. And that’s exactly what I am going for. You’ll also note the placement in the lower right corner of the frame – homage to the rule of thirds. Lastly – I shot with a long lens to compress the distance between the single stand of poppies and the lavender. When you combine composition tactics like this it helps the photo stand apart from the ordinary tourist shot of a field of lavender.

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The Power of Selective Framing

Posted by scottbourne on February 17, 2012
Posted in: Tips. Tagged: , , , .

Guest post & photos by Tamara Lackey - Follow Tamara on Twitter

One of the most significant aspects of photography is that the way you see things is the way things end up being seen – and few things determine that more than the power of selective framing. The recognition that we, the photographers, have the power to frame things however we choose to, knowing it will completely change the way the viewer will experience them, is an extremely liberating realization. Just like in the entirety of life, things are hardly ever “just the way they are” – it’s often just the way we see them.

And if this is an expedition of truth, you get to lead it. In fact, you are often being commissioned to lead it. Look at these two images, for instance – do you see a man and woman in love and and in sync with each other, or do you see a mother and father surrounded by the beautiful chaos that is having children? You choose how you wish to portray them simply by determining what is in the frame. I would suggest, however, that since you’re helping to create interpretations of these individuals for years to come, you frame wisely.

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Composition Tip – Lines & Circles

Posted by scottbourne on August 2, 2011
Posted in: Technique & Tutorials, Tips. Tagged: .

Copyright Scott Bourne 2011 - All Rights Reserved

Photographic composition is a tricky thing. It depends on taste. It depends on point of view. It depends on being able to see before there is something to be seen. It’s an art and a science and it’s very subjective.

When I took my first few photo workshops, the composition instructors used to tell me that you can’t mix lines and circles. Like many when I was young, all you needed to do was tell me I can’t do something and I decided to try. Most of the time it turned out my instructors were dead on. You really couldn’t do most of the things they talked about. But with regard to their belief that you can’t mix lines and circles, sorry – that one they got wrong.

In the photo above I’ve got all kinds of lines and circles going on. I made this a vertical shot to exemplify all the leading lines and how they can successfully interact with the circles from the burnout.

If you want the visual emphasis on the subject, place the subject at the intersection of circles and lines and the viewer’s eye will be drawn into the place you want it to land in the photograph.

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