Elements of Composition - #5 - Point of View aka Perspective

One goal with your photography is to try and show people the world in a new and interesting way. Probably one of the easiest ways to do this is to change people's perspective on how they usually look at things - literally.

In the US men are, on average 5'9" tall and women are 5'6" - if you are around that height and you stand there taking pictures, you are essentially showing people what they would they would already see themselves.  Finding new perspectives mean get down low, get up high, get close, and anything else that breaks you out of that standard mold.

For kids that often means get down to their level - kneel down and shoot at their eye level.  Below is a series of images I took of my daughter.  In each of these I was kneeling to be closer to her level.

This also works for various other things like shooting weddings, bands, and portraits. 

Band - Prime Eights

DJ Prezident with the band the Prime Eights

She was looking up, so I got above her and shot looking downard to get this shot. 

Well thanks for reading this far.  More articles on the Elements of Composition are coming.See the links below to the previous artiles in this series.  

If you like this blog please subscribe!  

Links to other articles in the series:

To see #1 - Rule of Thirds - Go HERE

To see #2 - Balance - Go HERE

To see #3 - Lines - Go HERE

To see #4 - Framing - Go HERE

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/goddom

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Twitter: @capturedphotons

Elements of Composition - #4 - Framing

The easiest way to describe the concept of framing is it's like having a frame inside the image.  This has two purposes, one is it can contain the image and trap the audience's eye, and secondly it can ad depth.

In this case I think it's easier to see what I am talking about than to try and explain it. 

  

The window pane frames the spider in the image above.  This is a pretty clear example of a frame, but you might also have elements that are dark or imply framing.  Below are more examples.

Here the scaffolding frame the crucifix. 

In the image above, the straight lines and darker areas frames around Faris from the band Prime Eights. 

An example of artificially inserting framing during post processing is to add a vignette.  Sometimes this is obvious and one would presume that the photographer was not trying to hide this effort.  Other times it can be applied subtly to bump up otherwise poor composition, lighting or various other reasons. 

Below is such an example.  I was shooting a model testing out a new flash and I was limited in my choice of location so I didn't have ideal situation.  So I made the best out of what I got and I tried to use some vignetting to help focus the audiences attention on the model. 

Below is the original picture out of the camera:

There was just to much stuff going on around the subject that was distracting - plus the flash hit her straight in the face and her head looks photoshopped. In post processing I decided to tone down the beam above her head and get rid of some of the other distractions using the vignette tool.

 

In Lightroom, vignettes are pretty easy to add. You will find it in the Develop Tab toward the bottom. It looks like this.  The screenshot below shows the settings for the image above. 

Well thanks for reading this far.  More articles on the Elements of Composition are coming.See the links below to the previous artiles in this series.  

If you like this blog please subscribe!  

Links to other articles in the series:

To see #1 - Rule of Thirds - Go HERE

To see #2 - Balance - Go HERE

To see #3 - Lines - Go HERE

Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/goddom

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapturedPhotons

Twitter: @capturedphotons