determining format based on the subject
When the subject itself is the most important aspect of an image's message, you'll most likely format the image according to what works best for showing off the subject. As a general rule, a vertical subject works best in a vertical frame, and a horizontal subject works best in a horizontal frame. After all, distributing the space around the subject in a more balanced way is easier when the frame's orientation is similar to the subject's. The subject can take up more space in a frame that shares the same orientation.
Figure 11-7: Vertical and horizontal image comparison for an environmental portrait.
If your subject is a winding river, for example, you'll most likely choose a format based on which way the river runs through your scene. If you're looking up or down the river, you probably want to shoot vertically to capture the distance that the river stretches. If you're looking at the river from the side, shoot horizontally to fit as much of it as you can into your composition.
General rules are great to follow most of the time, but they don't work all the time. When photographing a person's portrait, you generally use a vertical format because people are taller than they are wide. Remember that, but also consider other variables that may affect the way you format a particular scene. If a person is sitting or lying down, a horizontal frame may be more suitable. And someone who's in motion may require some room in front of him in the frame to provide active space in the composition. (Chapter 16 tells you more about active space.) In this case, it may not be possible to provide enough space with a vertical frame.
In Figure 11-8,1 chose a vertical format because I was shooting a vertical subject. The background isn't important to the message, so I minimized it. The shapes and lines of the subject fit nicely into a vertical frame; a horizontal frame would have provided only more gray background.
50mm,
Figure 11-8: The subject dictates the format of this composition.
Letting the environment dictate format
Sometimes the environment surrounding your subject is as important to telling the story as the subject itself. In that case, you include in your frame all the scene's elements that are relevant to your intended message. If, for
example, you're photographing a doctor who developed a robot that can perform surgery, you may want to choose a format that provides enough space to include her and her creation. The robot would be equally important to telling the story as the doctor.
Opting for the square format
The square format was made popular in the days of film, when photographers used to shoot with medium- format cameras. Today, digital cameras produce large files, so you can easily crop into an image to create the square format with any camera. When doing so, remember to compose your scenes accordingly. Focus on what's in the center of your frame, keeping in mind that you'll crop out anything outside the square.
The basic rules of composition (see Chapter 5) apply in the same ways to the square format as to the rectangle. You can break the square into thirds to locate areas of compositional strength, frame a subject, and lead viewers into the image and around it using leading lines
and shapes. Photographers often use a square image to bring a sense of harmony between the subject and its environment. The square offers benefits from both the vertical and horizontal formats without going in either direction all the way.
In this figure, I chose the square format in order to fit the length of my subject's body in the frame without losing details in the foreground and background. A horizontal format would have either included unnecessary space on the edges of my frame or cropped into the foreground and background. A vertical format would have been difficult to fit my horizontal subject into without adding too much foreground and background.
If the elements of interest in an environment are spread out in a horizontal or vertical manner, you can easily determine the best format for composing the image — regardless of what your subject is. If you compose an image vertically and notice that a bunch of empty, unnecessary space exists at the top of your frame, you may be able to use a horizontal format instead.
Figure 11-9 gives an example of an image in which the environment, not the subject, dictates the format of the frame. The full moon acts as the subject in this image. The moon is fairly small in the frame and is neither a vertical nor a horizontal subject, so I could have used a horizontal or vertical format. Instead, the skyscrapers and the lights on the metro rail determined how I formatted this composition.
The horizontal format of Figure 11-9 enabled me to show more of the buildings and to fit the lit area of the metro rail into my frame. I could have achieved great results by shooting this scene vertically, but the subject wouldn't be affected by the change as much as the environment would be.
50mm,
Figure 11-9: The environment, notthe subject, determined the format of this image.
Chapter 12. Exploring Other Compositional Ideas
Achieving balance in your compositions
Driving home your message through repetition
Avoiding traditional compositions with creative techniques
The composition of a photo is part of what makes it unique. However, you won't apply all the compositional rules all the time (in fact, doing so isn't possible), and what works for one scenario may not work for another.
Think of compositional rules and techniques as tools, and be sure you know which tool is right for each job. Your intended message of a particular scene determines which techniques work best. Sometimes you photograph a scene that presents its elements in a nice, clear way, and you don't have to think very hard about how to compose the frame. Other times you have to examine a scene more deeply to reveal what's special about it. If at first glance nothing jumps out at you as the subject or as having much meaning, use the techniques discussed in this chapter to draw something out of it.
Creating Harmony With Balance and a Sense of Scale
Television keeps a viewer's attention by providing a continuously changing image. You're always seeing something new (apart from the fact that much of the content on television is reruns), so you likely spend more time
