Picture Decisions: The Vantage Point and Frame
Quote
How do you make a photograph that is more interesting than what happened? How do you make a photograph that is more beautiful than what was photographed? — Garry Winograd
The History of Photography in 5 Minutes
The Vantage Point
- vantage point = where is the camera
- Be careful of the “normal” vantage point
- Look for something unexpected to “block” the nominal subject
- Looking too close can sometimes cause discomfort
- Try go lower or higher
- Create seeing-through vantage point
- What it allows you to see? What it allows you not to see?
The Frame
- Create relationships between things, as we chose to frame them together.
- Balance composition = everything has a purpose, it’s about the weight of interest
- Negative Space = the space surrounding the nominal subject
- Positive vs Negative space, foreground vs. background.
- Frame within a frame.
- Orientation - framing horizontally or vertically
- Level - the normal perception for gravity, or skewed picture
- Asymmetry - 1/3 vs 2/3
- Abstraction - isolate the objects
- Black line around the frame indicates that the photographer is not cropping the frame.
- Chopping elements in an unexpected way. It may create tension, ominous feeling, mystery, or fast movement.
- Juxtapose
Responding to Photographs - words useful for evaluating photographs
Questions to Ask
- What techniques are used?
- What visual elements make up the photograph?
- How did the elements work together?
- How is the image composed.
Before judging good/bad, like/dislike, try understand the picture.
- Camera Work
- Exposure
- Depth of field
- Light
- ISO
- Vantage point
- Focus/Lack of Focus
- Framing
- Subject blur/stop action
- Camera blur
- Composition
- Form
- Dominant Feature/Detail
- Symmetry/Asymmetry
- Tone
- Line/Shape
- Vertical/Horizontal
- Perspective
- Negative Space
- Texture
- Point of View
- Pattern
- Content, Concept, Meaning
- Documentary
- Allegorical
- Portrait
- Still Life
- Metaphorical
- Experimental
- Landscape