The art of reduction
By keeping it simple, we actually make a greater statement. Shelton Muller explains the art of reduction….
If a picture speaks a thousand words, then no more are needed to explain it. That should be the case with every image we take.
However, as many photographers who judge competitions will understand, this is sadly not the situation with many photography enthusiasts. It is not difficult to fix, once we understand fully the nature of the problem.
That problem, more often than not, is a failure to emphasize the subject.
The subject is the reason we take the picture. Your photograph can naturally be anything from a landscape to a portrait, a social comment image or a close-up of an insect. Either way, that subject should be quickly identified, with all other elements being the context.
Images with strong subject matter are always interesting. This is because the engage the viewer for no other reason than the subject itself, and often the subject need not be particularly fascinating. If the nature of the subject is relatively mundane, it can still be interesting if conveyed visually in an interesting or dramatic way.
Eliminate the Competition
One of the first rules of photography is “get close.†This simple rule highlights the need to let go of their excitement about the subject when actually placing it within the frame. When you fix upon a certain element in a scene, it can become much larger in your mind than it actually appears in the final image. In effect, you zoom in on it in your mind. So, ensure that where possible -and appropriate – you fill the frame with as much of your subject as you can.
Much of the success behind every image is in deciding what to leave in and what to leave out. This decision becomes easier with experience, but is a necessary learning process for all photographers. Either way, removing unnecessary distractions from the image is imperative in highlighting the subject and giving the viewer’s eye and mind much less to deal with and fewer decisions to make as it scans the picture.
This is not always possible however. The subject may be too far away, or it may require context in order for it to be fully explained. This is particularly true of travel and social comment photography. Nevertheless, the context cannot be allowed to become a distraction either. So, here is where other very clever and simple techniques become necessary.
Using Depth of Field
Closely related to this is the understanding of the power of depth of field. This optical tool – so seldom used to its full potential in most amateur photography – is one of the most powerful weapons against unwanted distractions. Essentially, wider apertures decrease depth of field and smaller apertures increase it. This means that you will have more background and foreground in focus if you use f16 as an aperture setting instead of f2.8. The higher the number, the more you will have in focus.
Use this control you have over the image’s overall sharpness to remove distraction and highlight the subject by remembering that the eye will immediately pas over any part of the image that is not sharp and search for that which is. Minimising depth of field is a powerful tool used in fashion, portrait and wedding photography, and can naturally be employed wherever you see fit. Minimal depth of field is made even more effective when combined with the compressive effects of telephoto lenses. For this reason, fashion photographers are often seen with very long and fast lenses, standing several metres away from their subjects while simultaneously filling the frame with them.
But what happens when greater depth of field is preferred, such as in landscape photography? This is no problem if we remember what the eye does – it looks for sharpness. In an image that is sharp throughout, the photographer needs to use the depth of field in league with compositional guidelines to lead the eye through the frame to the subject or a point of interest, which is presumably placed in a compositionally
pleasing position.
Often it is the vista itself that is the subject and not one particular aspect or element within it. In these situations you need to be very careful. A two dimensional image is nowhere near as impressive as the reality in which you find yourself and these kinds of all-encompassing images can be disappointing when they do not fully reveal the grandeur of the scene. Putting a frame around something beautiful and calling it “My Picture†does not in itself make a beautiful picture. It is beautiful in its own right. You just stuck a frame around it.
Use the techniques described in this editorial to make the image truly yours. Strong foreground interest, dynamic skies and strong composition are often the keys to success in these kinds of images.
Composing for Impact
Placing your subject dynamically within the frame is vital to the success of the image, and it is often irrelevant how small or large, impressive or mediocre the subject may be.
Compositional placement is imperative to its identification as the subject.
The Golden Mean is one of the most powerful tools for subject placement, and relies upon the old rule of thirds. This compositional guideline suggests dividing the frame into equal vertical and horizontal thirds and using those thirds as placement points. This effect is doubly effective when the subject is placed in one of the four places within the frame where the horizontal and vertical thirds intersect. Any subject, large or small, that is placed on one of those four points will immediately grab the viewer’s attention.
The use of repeating patterns, leading lines, viewpoint and perspective are also important techniques with which every photographer should be acquainted in order to ensure that the reason for every image is clearly defined.
These techniques are an editorial in themselves but are easily learned and applied.
Expose the Subject
Exposure is a powerful tool for subject enhancement. With camera meters being as accurate as they are these days, we often tend to leave this matter to the camera’s onboard technology. However, light and shade has the potential to add dimension and importance to the subject and clever use of exposure and light is yet another key to eye-catching images.
A subject can be immediately brought forward simply by placing it within a contrasting environment. A bright face in a dark surrounding, a silhouette against a bright sky- that sort of thing.
For this to be done effectively, the photographer has to disagree with the meter and realize that ‘correct exposure’ is the kind of exposure that is needed to make the image succeed. It might be one, two, three or more stops brighter or darker than the recommended setting. However, it will be the correct exposure for that particular image.
Darkroom techniques – both digital and traditional – can also be used to highlight the subject with light and exposure. These techniques – vignettes, dodging, and burning, light painting – have been around for as long as there have been darkrooms. If you have access to these facilities, such as a traditional darkroom or a computer loaded with programs like Corel Paint Shop Pro or Adobe PhotoShop, you can give these techniques a try.
If your images are to succeed, they should require no explanation. This is not to say that additional information about the images should never be discussed or offered. However, as images go, they should be stand-alone, dynamic and interesting – with no further explanations required. When this starts to happen with your pictures, you know are on the road to image making success.
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