The document discusses key concepts of composition in photography. It defines composition as arranging visual elements in a way that guides the viewer's eye to the subject. Good composition has a clearly defined subject and background, a sense of balance, point of view, and simplicity. The document outlines the basic elements of art like line, shape, form, space, color, texture, and principles of design such as balance, emphasis, movement, pattern, proportion, scale, repetition, rhythm, and unity. It provides examples of how these elements and principles are used to create effective compositions that engage the viewer.

1. COMPOSITION
FUNDAMENTALS

2. What is composition?
Good composition is the process of arranging forms and tones in a
way that is pleasing and that guides the viewer's eye to bring
attention to your subject. In a good composition, you will know
precisely what the subject of the image is.

3. In a bad composition, you might find yourself thinking: I'm not sure what the point of
that photo is, or, what am I supposed to look at?
Good composition can reveal things in the scene that the viewer might not notice on
their own: patterns, repetition, a play of light and shadow, or in a really effective
photo, a feeling about the particular moment that was photographed.
Sometimes the right composition is obvious. At other times though, you might find that
the only reason that a particular thing is interesting is because the photographer
composed it in a way to bring your attention to it.

4. All FORM, ALL THE TIME
When discussing composition: we are going to be looking at images
purely in terms of the shapes and forms within the image and
ignore the subject matter.
A poorly composed image of a really dramatic subject will still be a
poorly composed, less-effective image.

5. SEEING
Fully 80% of what you perceive with your
visual sense comes from your brain, not
your eyes.
Your camera is objective; it captures an
image of what's there.
But your brain is subjective; it interprets the
scene before you-- and this often gets in
the way--of you actually being able to
see the scene accurately.

6. LOOKING VS SEEING
This inability to perceive things as they really are is not a great trade
for a photographer. It makes it harder for you to recognize good
subject matter, especially if you're in a place that you're already
very familiar with, think about how one looks for lost keys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

7. VISION
AND
ATTENTION
You have almost a 180-degree
field of view, but able to
pay attention to one area at
a time. But camera still
will record the whole
scene.

8. Dynamic Range
Your eyes also have a dynamic range, and their dynamic range is
larger than what any current photographic technology can offer.

9. What Good Compositions Have?
Not every image will have every
compositional idea that we're
going to discuss, but all
images should have four
things:
- clearly defined
subject and background
- sense of balance
- point of view
- degree of simplicity
http://www.adampretty.com/

10. ELEMENTS OF ART &
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
IN COMPOSITION

11. The Visual Elements of Art:
• Line
• Shape
• Forms
• Space
• Color
• Texture
• Time
• Motion

12. Principles of Design
• Balance
• Emphasis
• Movement
• Pattern
• Repetition & Rhythm
• Proportion & Scale
• Scale
• Variety
• Unity

13. LINE
• the simplest and the most complex of the
elements of art
• serves as the basic building block for all
art
• has the capacity to evoke thoughts and
emotions
• Line may be perceived as delicate,
tentative, elegant, assertive, forceful, or
even brutal with its various expressive
qualities.
• Lines can: rise, fall, disappear, divide or
connect, thick or thin, short or long,
smooth or agitated, real or implied

15. EDWARD WESTON. Knees (1927). Gelatin silver print. 6-1⁄4” x 9-3⁄16”.

16. RIMMA GERLOVINA AND VALERIY GERLOVIN. Madonna and Child (1992). Chromogenic print.

17. SHAPE & FORM

21. Shape as Icon
• Certain shapes carry with them immediate
associations that resonate within a culture.
– Christian Cross
– Jewish Star of David
– Chinese Yin Yang

22. SPACE
&
POINT OF VIEW
• Objects exist in three-dimensional space.
• Some art is truly 3D, such as sculpture and
architecture.
• Other art/design tries to depict space on a 2D
surface.

24. BACKGROUND and FIGURE
(negative shape) (positive shape)

25. Figure-ground reversal

28. ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE
(or aerial) representing the effects of light in
Creating believable space.

29. Color

30. Bands of Colors separated by a prism, known-spectrum.

31. There are 12 HUES
SATURATION:
Color’s relative
brightness
or
dullness
(intensity)

32. Color mixtures of reflected pigment— subtractive process.
If mixed together we end up with black, the absence of color.

33. Color mixtures of refracted light (colored light)—additive process.
When full spectrum combined results in white light.
Primary:
Red-Orange
Green
Blue
(RGB):
Secondaries:
Yellow
Magenta
Cyan
:

35. Hiroshi Sugimoto. Seascape: Baltic Sea, near Rügen. 1996.
Silver gelatin photograph. dimensions variable by edition.

36. Shirin Neshat. Fervor. 2000.
Gelatin silver print. 66 × 47 in.
CONTRAST: Light and Dark

37. Psychological impact
of color:

38. COLOR SCHEMES
ANALOGOUS: hues that neighbor each
COMPLIMENTARY: hues that lie opposite
TEMPATURE: WARM and COOL colors
SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST: complimentary colors appear
brighter next to each other without mixing

39. EXPERIMENTS WITH COLOR

40. Vincent van Gogh. The Night Café. 1888.Oil on canvas. 28-1/2 × 36-1/4 in.
SYMBOLIC USE OF COLOR

41. Texture

42. Principles of Design
• Balance
• Emphasis
• Movement
• Pattern
• Repetition & Rhythm
• Proportion & Scale
• Scale
• Variety
• Unity

43. Taj Mahal, Agra, India. Mughal period, c. 1632–48.
VISUAL
BALANCE

46. ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE

47. SYMMETRICAL BALANCE

48. RADIAL BALANCE

49. EMPASIS AND FOCAL POINT

51. PROPORTION – relationship between
the parts and the whole

52. SCALE – the comparative size of an
object in relation to other objects and
settings

54. REPETITION AND RHYTHM

55. Pattern

56. UNITY & VARIETY

57. Time
&
Motion

58. Actual Motion

59. THOMAS EAKINS. Man Pole Vaulting (c. 1884). Photograph.
Implied Motion