absolutely necessary for that specific message. With this type of composition, everything in the frame is necessary.
In a simple design, repeating elements can provide a great amount of aesthetic value. Their rhythm can reveal itself to viewers with a minimal amount of distractions, and this means you can include subtle patterns that are more likely to be noticed.
The composition in Figure 12-7 is clean and contains a minimal number of compositional elements. The obvious message is that this is a pretty photograph of the moon reflecting on the ocean at nighttime. With further examination of this image, however, you begin to notice that there's much more to the story.
Figure 12-7 looks like a simple photo at first, but many relationships take place in the composition, and some are subtler than others. The moon is mimicked in a mutated way by its elongated and warped reflection in the water. The seashells in the foreground mimic the stars in the sky — they have wet surfaces, which reflect tiny highlights similar to the stars. The fall of night helps to minimize details that are revealed, making the details that are revealed more powerful. In addition to being a pretty photo of the moon reflecting over the ocean, this image could be viewed as a story about light and patterns in nature. Additional elements in this photo would take away from the current message and decrease the simplicity of the composition.
Figure 12-7: Minimizing the amount of elements helps to emphasize the ones that are included.
Reinforcing your subject or intended message With repeating elements
Sometimes you face situations where a strong competing element creates confusion about your subject or intended message. In this case, you need to find ways to direct attention back to your subject.
Including a repeating element that mimics or mirrors your subject is a great way to assure a viewer as to exactly what the photo's subject is. When shooting Figure 12-8, for example, I was excited to have the moon positioned above the pool house. However, I also was aware that the moon would compete directly with the woman (the subject) standing in the doorway. Luckily, I could include the woman's reflection in the pool as a repeating element, which causes you to examine her figure more than if no reflection were present. This composition helps to establish the woman as the subject and the moon as a supporting element rather than the other way around. This is partially due to rhythm, because the woman's presence is seen twice and the moon only once. As a result, you'll notice her more often when scanning the image.
Conversely, you can isolate your subject by making it the only element that isn't repeated in a pattern. When the subject breaks the pattern, it stands out from the elements that are alike. An office building with many windows that all look the same is more interesting when just one of the lights is not on. That window stands out as the subject by breaking the repetition. Or imagine a line of men wearing white T-shirts; if one man wears a pink T- shirt, he becomes the subject. (And the message becomes 'This guy doesn't know how to separate laundry.')
Figure 12-8: A repeating element helps draw attention to that is which it repeats.
Creative Ways to Break the Rules or Cheat the System
Creating successful compositions by following the rules and going with tried-and-true practices is rewarding and guarantees that your photos will at least be nice to look at. However, you'll likely become bored with creating appropriate compositions — doing so may make you feel unoriginal. In these situations, let go of the rules and experiment with some new ideas. In this section, I cover some of the techniques and practices that I've tried when searching for something different.
You don't have to break every compositional rule in one photo. And you should have a purpose for breaking the rules you choose to break. There's a thin line between creating anew message and destroying an existing one. Knowing the difference is vital to breaking the rules successfully.
Experimenting With the tilt-shift lens
One of my absolute favorite tools in my camera bag is the
Create multiple points of focus when using a shallow depth of field
Maintain sharpness throughout vast areas both in the foreground and background
Raise, lower, and shift my composition without moving the camera at all Stitch together multiple images to form seamless panoramic compositions
A tilt-shift lens's design makes these things possible. The lens is divided into two parts that work together to direct light toward the digital sensor. The front part of the lens can tilt, swing, shift, rise, and fall in relation to the back part and the camera's digital sensor.
Understanding how the tilt-shift lens works is the first step toward creating unique compositions with it. The lens is equipped with an axis that allows the front element to tilt up and down or swing from side to side while the back element remains in its original position. Where the lens meets the camera body, a slide allows the lens to move up, down, and side to side.
Each of the different movements the front elements of the lens can make affects how the composition is changed. I explain each movement's effects in the following sections.
On a tilt-shift lens, when you tilt the front part of your lens toward the ground, your camera remains level but your focal plane rotates in the same way as the lens. So, instead of having a focal plane that's standing straight up, you have one that's angled from the foreground toward the background. The more you tilt the lens, the more horizontal the plane of focus will become.
This type of plane of focus helps to achieve the illusion of having a great depth of field and is great for shooting wide landscapes with interesting details in the foreground and in the background. (Check out Chapter 7 for more on depth of field.)
With this in mind, you can achieve focus on both a subject that's close to the camera and one that's farther from the camera as long as they're both positioned on the angle of the plane of focus. Having a shallow depth of field in this scenario lets you put the two elements in focus while everything else in the frame goes blurry. This technique is the same as selective focus (see Chapter 7), but you have two sharp points of focus at different
