31-AUG-2007
Boat in Weeds Histogram and Image
This demonstrates what a histogram looks like for a specific image. As can be seen, the distribution of lights and darks in this photo is just about ideal. There is no stacking up of the historgram on either the dark (left) or light (right) side of the graph.
Hopper on Nail -- An Extreme Histogram
This slide demonstrates the histogram for an extremely contrasty picture. Note how the histogram is stacked up on the ends and very minimal in the middle. There is nothing wrong with this histogram in this case, but if you wanted a normal picture this would be a disaster. This is the kind of manipulation an artist would do to get an abstract picture.
Rule of Thirds -- Reflection Picture
In this series of pictures I will illustrate some fundamental guidelines for effective composition. Nothing of this sort is absolute, but these guidelines have been proven as solid fundamentals by visual artists for centuries.
The first of these is "the rule of thirds". In this case the scene is divided by two equally spaced lines, two vertical, and two horizontal. The interesections of these points is where the center(s) of interest in a scene should be placed.
Note how this picture of a reflected barn on Boxley Mill Pond uses this rule. The barn is centered both on top and in the reflection using these lines. The tree on the right side of the barn follows the right third line as well.
Rule of Thirds -- Coyote on Bale
In this example you see a very rare picture of a coyote atop a hay bale, apparently awakening after a nights sleep. While the image is not centered, it is also not on the intersection points. See the following crop of this image to move the coyote on to the intersection point.
Rule of Thirds Crop -- Coyote on Bale
Note that this crop places the coyote on the intersection of the third lines and would be generally considered to be more effective. This crop also increases the relative size of the coyote. These two impacts of the crop strengthen the composition. Note that the vertical tree on the right roughly follows the right vertical third line.
Odd # of Elements -- Doe and Twin Fawns
Another important "rule" of composition is that odd numbers of subjects are easier to make into good picture than even ones are. Our minds work hard to relate things together in twos. Odd numbers also create an interesting tension.
Here we have three deer, two being fawns, arranged around the "third lines". Note that the fawn on the right is grouped with the doe which reduces our tendency to relate the two fawns together as a two. Also, the three heads form a triangle if you draw a line between them.
This brings up another principle. Is is useful to visualize lines and shapes in your subjects. Note that there are three different lines formed along the spines of these animals. They are also at three different heights. Also, the fawn on the left has one ear just tipped away from the camera. All these little details add interest in the picture and draw you in.
Even # of Elements Counterpointing -- Does at Dusk
This is an example of a few things. First, it is the counter-pointing of two elements, the heads of the does, one facing forward, the other facing to the side. Odd numbers of elements are easier to compose, but counterpointing helps with even numbers of elements.
This also is a color photo so underexposed that it is really monochrome. It has been made into an abstract nature photo. Making a photo abstract often reveals the effectiveness of the composition because all the distractions of color are removed. Its all shapes here and they seem to work. The monochrome also makes the point that is is dusk.
Note that the heads are outside the third lines on the right and left as well. This creates tension right and left because it violates the rules a bit -- it certainly stretches the rules.
Photographers should not be afraid to experiment and challenge convention. At some time in the past, all rules were created the first time. Why not play the edges and see what you can find? This isn't film anymore, there is no financial risk in experimenting with new compositional strategies.
Three Elements -- Buck, Doe and Fawn at Dusk
This is another example three elements working along the third lines. Note that the lines fall along the spines of the animals giving the picture a direction. In this case it was not possible to set the heads on the intersection points, but they could be organized in a balanced way around those third points as was done here.
This was taken at sunset, and the light was very dim. That is why this photo is soft. This technical problem is overcome by the power of the composition and this apparent "deer family" picture.
This illustrates another point as well. People attribute emotions to animals that animals themselves do not have. At the time of year this was taken, whitetail bucks form herds separated from the does and fawns. Interest in the does will return with the rut, but that was months away. This is really not a family, but it is an oddball buck that follows the does.
This illustrates another basic principle. Photos are not emotional, they elicit emotions. Many times these emotions really have no basis in reality. Perhaps that is the better part of artistic expression.
Experiments in Light and Pattern -- Deep Woods Spider
This is an example of venturing into new territory. Certainly the third lines and the intersection points were used as a guide, but this is very different.
This is one of my visual experiments where a part of the picture is very literal, and the remainder is abstract. It's a hybrid composition. It is about line, form and color. It is also an unusual way to approach lighting. Note that the out of focus spider web intersects and points roughly to the spider in diffused light. The spider is tack sharp in contrast. There are also soft bubbles of light in the bokeh. On the right is a fairly focused strand of web pointing to the spider.
One of the principles of effective composition is "contrast". In this case, the contrast was created with soft focus versus sharp focus, and dim light versus bright light.
I believe this composition works, at least it works for me. While it appears to violate the rules of composition, in many ways it follows them. This is jazz and not classical. It is the kind of stretching outside the rules I advocate if you are to find your own voice as a photographer.
This picture was taken in the deep woods, hand held, under mottled and diffuse light. A fairly strong beam of light illuminated the spider. By wandering around this subject, and shooting toward the light sources (for the most part), I got some soft iris flare in the bokeh. I shot this at a fairly long focal length to create a very shallow depth of field.
Cross Lit Spider Web in Deep Woods
This is an experiment is capturing a spider web that was almost perfectly cross-lit. This is illustrated by the shadow of the spider on the face of the web. By moving around, I could adjust the reflection of light in different areas of the web. With the light focused on the lower left hand side of the photo, the circular web is evident, but it fades away from this corner. This sets the focus on the spider. The reflection on the web also is changed by the spider tugging on it as it weaves new strands.
This composition also conforms to the rule of thirds, but the subject itself is novel. I cropped it to a square because the web was round. Round subjects (radial subjects) lend themselves to square frames.
Eye Contact -- Bear Along Tree Line
This picture of a black bear follows the rule of thirds closely.
This picture also illustrates an important basic strategy of effective wildlife photography. It is my belief that eye contact, and good focus on the eyes is essential. Here the bear was walking toward me. I took this picture at about 30 yards, then picked up my shotgun and drove him off.
Eye contact creates an emotional effect on viewers. There are many good nature photos that don't have direct eye contact, but the eyes should be looking at something and be in strong focus. Even with butterfly photos, sharp focus on the eyes is important.
Dramatic Lighting -- Cat by Fireplace
This is another example of using the thirds rule and light to set the focus of the picture.
Our cat Boat was resting in front of the fire on a winter evening. Her eyes are in perfect focus while the remainder of the photo is quite soft and the light relatively dim. While Boat is not looking directly at the camera, she has her eyes slightly averted to the left. I think the existing light is far more effective than a flash picture would be in this case.
Seeing Shapes -- Cedar Bonsai B&W
The rule of thirds applies in black and white photos as well. One key to black and white is that a photo should have nearly black and nearly white areas in any photo. This is the same as saying the photo has a long contrast scale. I believe this is a good idea for color photos as well, if possible.
Note how this tree twists and turns all directions. I placed it on the right of the frame with the trunk line along the left third line. The twists and turns are placed on the intersection points to the extent possible. To make the compositional placements, you must see the curves and twists in your subject. You will get better at this over time and it will become instinctive.
This ancient cedar bonsai is atop Goat Bluff in the Buffalo National River Park, a trail near the Cecil Cove Trailhead.
Curves and Compsition -- Timber Rattler
This picture of a timber rattler follows the rule of thirds, but it also illustrates the visualization of shapes in a composition.
Obviously a snake is a linear subject that creates curves as it moves. The trick is to capture the right combination of curves to create an effective composition. Note that this curved snake starts roughly at the lower left intersection point and ends at the upper right intersection point. The linear nature of the snakes body contrasts with the round rocks in this composition. The head is in sharp focus and the snake is clearly "in action" hunting. This is the story.
Dramatic Light and Curves -- Penquin on Fence
Here is a picture of one of our mongrel chickens, Penguin. He was fortunate to inherit both the shiny black of our Black Javas, and the reddish brown lacing of our Black Breasted Red Phoenix chickens.
This picture captures a highlight on his eye that is in sharp focus. The light on his feathers is indirect and captures the green casts that black chickens have. His head is placed outside the intersection point to the left and his body forms a curve to the outside right of the frame. The pipes of the horse corral provide an interesting contrast to the curve formed by his body.
Lines and Thirds -- Moonpie by Tree
This is our alpha Java rooster, Moonpie. He is a beautiful black bird. The challenge with this picture was both placement and light.
When you take pictures of a black subject one challenge is to capture the shiny surfaces of the hair or feathers. To get this right, you need to pick a day with good diffuse light and walk around the subject to find the right angles to capture the reflections. Here you can see the waxy feathers and the metallic greens common with black chickens.
Moonpie's red comb and head provides a natural focal point to place on the right intersection line. Here it is right of the right line which creates a bit of tension. The other dominant shape is the tree trunk that seems to form an arrow pointing to Moonpie.
This photo was selected as a magazine cover for the August/September issue of Backyard Poultry.
Dramatic Light in Color Photos -- Ivy on Log
This is one of those wonderfully lit photos of an ordinary subject. I think it is the ordinary subjects that challenge us most in our craft. I think it is also true that these ordinary subjects teach us the most about our craft if we get it right.
This whole picture is carried by two things. First, the leaves are organized in two groups of three (remember the odd number rule?). Second, the light is spectacular. The leaves are back lit, top lit, and side lit, and combinations of all three. The leaves have interesting curves, the light illuminates the veins in the leaves. This composition has it all. But most of all, the subject is very ordinary. Plain old ivy leaves.
This also demonstrates the thirds rule. The clusters of leaves fall right on the intersection points.
It also demonstrates another principle of compostion, repitition or rythm. The two clusters of leaves both repeat one another and counterpoint one another.
All these compositional features, coupled of a long tonal scale from bright to dark, led me to try this in black and white. (next picture)
Dramtic Light in B&W -- Ivy on Log
Well here it is in black and white.
A while back I uploaded this and the prior picture to a nature photographer's site and they could not agree whether the color or black and white version was better. This has to be the best compliment I could hope for.
Time to step aside and talk about one of my favorite exercises. I work at my craft and one of the things I do fairly often is tackle a totally mundane subject and try to make it beautiful photographically. I think it is easy to take beautiful pictures of beautiful things, it is another to move past your limitations and find beauty in the ordinary. Try it. Go to a fence row, or a ditch beside the road, and find the beautiful photos. They are always there. If you find them, you will find another level in your craft and learn a lot.
I have to confess something about these last two photos. They were the product of failure. I went to the Boxley Valley looking for nursing calf elk and could not find even one elk. In disgust, I headed back up the valley to the Ponca low water bridge and just parked and wandered aroud looking for something, anything. This was the gift for that day. I think there is a lesson in this. We must be opportunistic and expect to find something, we must absolutely believe it. I think it was Lincoln or Pastuer who said that "chance favors a prepared mind". Do the exercise above and you will be better prepared for these chances.
Negative Space -- Butterfly on Cone Flower
Time for another principle -- negative space. Most beginners think that a photo must be a riot of activity and they are uncomfortable with places in the photo where nothing is going on. The parallel for this is a musician who has to learn about creating drama with silence. Listen to Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and you will get it.
Negative space is visual silence, or at least whispering. This photo roughly conforms to much of what has been discussed, the rule of thirds, repetition (the cone flowers), and odd number of elements (the three cone flowers). Now we have negative space on the upper left. Negative space creates tension with the rest of the image, and equally important, provides dramatic contrast and probably makes the image look more vivid. As they say, it is the silence between the notes that creates the music.
Bokeh and Pattern -- Swallowtail on Purple Flower
This is another useful illustration of negative space. Here, in the background is a pleasing intersection of two stalks of grass that intersect almost perfectly at the top third line and at the intersection points. The dark mysterious color of this out of focus background (called bokeh by professional photographers) offers an interesting contrast to the brightly lit and colorful foreground subjects.
Setting Context -- Swallowtail on Bluff
This picture was taken along the bluffline at the Buffalo National River Park. The leaning plants provide an interesting, colorful, backdrop against the butterfly. Note that the stalk of the most visible plant nearly perfectly intersects with the upper right intersection point and it roughly parallels the back edge of the butterfly wing (repetition or rythm, albeit abstract). Here the flower nicely parallels the body line of the butterfly as well.
Butterflies are most often photographed very tight. I admit that I have done that often and still do. This slight pull back provides more details about the context and tells a story. More visual elelments provides more opportunity to create wonderful compositions.
Cropping Subjects -- Skipper on Sunflower
There is no need to photograph an entire object. In fact, there are good reasons not to. This type of photograph holds interest because the viewer is stimulated to complete the image. The skipper butterfly is very small and it also benefits from this closeup. In this case, we have to zoom in to get the subject right. It demonstrates the size of the butterfly.
Natural Frames -- Passion Flower along Fence Line
Another general track in photographic composition is to find a new point of view. This photograph of a single passion flower bloom is one of those photos.
The bloom is relatively small in the frame. There is an interesting frame within the frame that is the parallel strands of barbed wire. It is interesting that there are tendrils crossing the lower third intersectons. The curls at the ends of tendrils create interesting accents. The two buds next
to the open bloom create an interesting repitition, as does the vine paralleling the barbed wire.
Existing Light for Drama -- Purple Iris
This is another example of dramatic, complex light on a very colorful subject. The conventional approach to a subject like this would be flash. Existing light provides extreme animation and subtlety in many shades of color and shadow. The bloom is almost symmetrical but not quite. Note how the third point intersections fall on the composition.
This was taken with a point and shoot camera on a tripod just before sunset. It was a rather long exposure and could not be hand held.
Dramatic Light -- Sunflowers along Fenceline
This photo has very strong contrast from light to dark. A single bright sunflower is illuminated by the sunrise. Other blooms counterpoint it facing in different directions and in different places in the tonal scale.
Taken along a fence row near my home.
Tell a Story -- Relating Elements
This photo tells a story. Two baby gray foxes sniff one aother in an apparent moment of affection. Of course moments before, and after, they were running all over the place and even fighting.
It is interesting that the curved body line of the fox on the left seems to lead the eye to the touching noses. The big rock atop them forms a nice upper frame and contrast with the color of he foxes. This was taken in morning light that provides interesting contasts in the photo.
Landscape -- Waterfall and Rain During October Color
This demonstrates landscape composition. A very important principle is to have a foreground element to increase interest, and, to reveal scale for the viewers. This complexity draws one into the photograph.
Nature as Abract -- Rocks and Ice
This is the product of one of my exercises. Here I spent a couple of hours taking pictures along the ditch out front in winter. As the water level dropped below the level of the ice, there were many intersting compositions like this one to be had. These are basically duo chromes, two colors. Taking this kind of picture sharpens your sense of composition.