Module 3B: Utilizing the Natural Environment - Detailed Notes

Organizing What You See

  • Photography involves designing and composing a visually pleasing or effective image and recording it technically correct on the sensor.
  • Photographers need both technical and artistic minds.

Composition

  • Definition: The placement or arrangement of elements within an image.
  • Photographers must decide what to include and exclude.
  • Elements to consider:
    • Subject
    • Foreground
    • Background
    • Props
    • Center of Interest
  • Elements of composition are tools to design the image and tell a story.
  • Examples include:
    • Rule of Thirds
    • Balance
    • Diagonals
    • Repetition
    • Pattern
    • Leading Lines
    • Framing

Center of Interest

  • Every picture starts with a center of interest.
  • It's the focal point of the photographic story.
  • Can be an action, person, object, or location.
  • It’s the reason for the picture.

Color Harmony

  • Similar to music where notes form a chord, color schemes create a pleasing palette.
  • Groupings like warm and cool or similar hues (blues and browns) tend to be harmonious.
  • Example: Image using warm tones to create color harmony.
  • A red gel can be added to the background light with white diagonal elements to create color harmony with a red shirt and white skirt.
  • Complementary colors (opposite on the color wheel) can produce visual harmony, not because they are similar, but because they are pleasing.
  • Example: Warm lights inside a church create harmony with the blue sky.

Pattern

  • Repeating patterns create strong compositional interest.

  • Repeated patterns in the background can set the subject apart.

  • They can provide visual movement.

  • Example: A bridal portrait with strong repeating vertical patterns contrasting with the triangular composition of the bride and her dress.

  • The horizontal pattern of stairs sets off the diagonal and triangular composition of the subject.

  • Diagonal lines of corrugated tin help set off the vertical pose, acting as leading lines to the subject.

Direction of Lighting Analysis

  • Analysis of the environment includes understanding the direction of light.
  • Light direction and quality change throughout the day in natural environments.
  • A location suited for afternoon photography may be unsuitable in the morning.
  • Look for directional lighting patterns for raking light to create highlights and shadows, adding texture and detail, and desirable lighting patterns on the subject.
  • If the light strikes the dress from the front, the result is that much of the detail of the dress is blown out because of the flat lighting on the dress.
  • Turn the bride’s body away from the window so that the directional light would rake across the front of the dress to create nice texture and detail in her dress. Turning her head back toward the window also created a nice short lighting pattern on her face.
  • Example: Image taken in the morning with the sun behind the building versus afternoon with full sun and hard shadows.
  • Dramatic seasonal changes occur due to the changing position of the sun.
  • Note these changes throughout the year.

Distractions

  • Analysis includes awareness of distractions in the location.
  • Distractions: unwanted highlights and hard shadows, people/cars in the background, unsightly power lines, busy backgrounds.
  • Minimize distractions with a long telephoto lens and shallow depth of field or by changing camera angles.
  • Using a higher camera angle and zooming in can crop out distracting horizon lines.

Perspective

  • A 28mm lens gives an expanded view, allowing the foreground and background to overpower the bride.
  • Backing up and using a 120mm lens compresses the image, creating a nice proportion of the bride to the foreground and background.

Selective Backgrounds

  • A bridal portrait taken with a 28mm lens may have a busy background.
  • Backing up and using a 70mm lens changes the perspective, isolating the background to the best part of the scene.

Balance

  • Created when all elements in an image are in visual harmony.
  • Includes physical balance (weight and size) and color balance.

Symmetry

  • Images with even balance left/right or top/bottom have symmetrical balance.
  • Example: Image with elements on the left and right that are practically even in size and tonal values, including illuminated light fixtures.
  • The center placement of the subject between the elements of balance keeps the viewer’s attention on the bride.
  • Symmetry in composition is passive because it does not create tension.

Asymmetry

  • Physical balance doesn't require elements to be the same size or symmetrical.
  • Heavy objects can be counter-balanced by lighter, smaller objects.
  • Example: The Mittens in Monument Valley; without the formation on the right, the composition would be heavily weighted on the left.
  • Birds in flight create asymmetrical balance with an old beach house; without the birds, the house weighs heavy, and the sky becomes a distraction.
  • Boys in the foreground are in asymmetrical balance with their parents in the background. Because they are visually larger, they are the primary center of interest, and the parents are the secondary center of interest.
  • Asymmetrical balance is active because it calls the viewer’s attention to the larger element.

Visual Balance

  • A tall, thin shrub on the left can provide visual balance to a dark window on the right.
  • Removing the shrub throws the image out of visual balance.