Tag: Composition

Color composition in photography

Emotions

Colors and emotions go hand in hand like horse and carriage from that famous song by Frank Sinatra. And as such it can be used as a tool for your photography and the emotions you want to induce.

Think of a midsummer morning where the sun is just rising, filling the room you are in with warm light and long shadows. What colors do you think of? Probably yellow, orange and red. If I had asked you to think of a frosty windless winters morning, what colors would then spring to mind? Probably more cool blue or white. Filmmakers are exceptionally good at using colors to underline or emphasize a mood using colors – I often notice the color coding they use (and the music of course) to create a certain mood. In dystopian movies like Blade Runner the blue and brown colors are often dominating to underline the unsettling look into the future.

Beech leaves in the woods.
The warm and golden colors of the beech leaves are a stark contrast against the dark background made up of the trees in the wood. The effect is achieved using a flash and the effect of light falloff.
Orange leaf.
Blue and orange are complementary colors and gives a pleasing contrast.

Colors not only induce emotions, but can also be used to create patterns and connect objects that would otherwise seem without relation.

Green bokeh.
Green is often associated with nature and harmony which is probably why this image signals a calm atmosphere more than anything.
A black cat.
Sometimes less is more. The cat here is by nature black and white, and the colors of the eyes hence makes a big contrast.
Desaturated but natural colors.
The colors here are desaturated and underline the tranquil scene. The stronger the colors, the stronger the effect. Desaturated colors calm the mind.
Leaves on a wet table.
Here the color of the leaves help bring them together despite the more structural elements in the composition pull in the opposite direction.
Winter landscape.
White and blue are often associated with calmness and clarity. Also sterile and purity, which is why these colors are often used in bathrooms!
Winter silhouettes.
By altering the color temperature to a colder tone, the freezing cold winter day is emphasized.

Next step

One way to study the effect of colors using your own reaction as guide, is simply to make both a color and black and white version of an image and see how the different versions work for you. You can also try to alter the colors in post processing and play with saturation, hue and brightness.

The point with this post is not that there is a right and a wrong when it comes to colors. If you learn how to use the colors to achieve a certain effect, then your images will have a much bigger impact. And of all the tools in the photographers toolbox (composition, exposure, etc), color is the strongest of them all.

Related reading

Why color temperature is vital in color photography

Triangles as a way of composing and creating interest

What is visual weight in photography?

Visual weight

Visual weight has nothing to do with the weight or the density of a given subject in your frame, rather it is an informal scale that tells how well elements in your frame manages to pull the attention of the viewer. So it is a different way of getting attention than say leading lines.

Some of the dimension often quoted in relation to visual weight are:

  • High contrast
  • Good sharpness
  • Bright areas
  • Saturated colors
  • Visual size
  • Recognizable (vs abstract)

So a subject in your frame that is sharp, filled with contrast, bright and colorful will simply draw more attention than out of focus areas with no contrast and desaturated colors. It is obviously a simplification, but I think you get the gist of it.

Best to look at a few examples. Brightness. In the image below, my guess is that you immediately notice the sunrays coming through the treetops as it clearly is the brightest areas in the frame. The rays hold a lot of visual weight relative to the subtle nature of the rest of the frame.Sharpness. The blackbird below is actually the only that is sharp in the entire frame.  The out-of-focus stems are used to frame the bird, but they do not draw attention despite their size, as they are not in focus.

Color. The chest of the little fellow below stands out and draws attention, relative to the rather de-saturated background and the branch that is not exactly colorful! Also notice that eyes have great visual weight, as we tend to seek eye contact, irrespective if the subject is a person or an animal.

Contrast and brightness. You may notice the  bright sun to the right as the first in the frame below (brightness), but my guess is that right after that you notice the backlit straws. The straws have a strong contrast to the dark background hence stand out with very strong contrast. Silhouette photography has the same ability.

Another example with brightness below. Again the strong sun in the top holds a lot of visual weight and it takes some time before you notice the leaves in focus and their structure. You could consider to crop the image so that only the leaves are there – I leave it to you to decide if that would yield a better image.

Finally, one of my favorite examples of visual weight below. Although both small and not especially bright, the moon draws attention being the only bright element in the frame, with good contrast to the blue sky.

Further work

The above was only intended to be an appetizer for visual weight. Once you start to notice, I think you will start to see images slightly different and hopefully also start using visual weight as a tool in your photography.

Thank you for reading this far! Comments and questions more than welcome!

Related reading

What is the rule of odds in photography?

What is the golden ratio in photography?

What is the rule of thirds in photography?

The rule of thirds says that you should divide your frame by to vertical and two horizontal lines at equal distance, so you get 9 equal size areas:

The “trick” is now to place your subjects and whatever you want the viewer to focus on along these lines. Here you can see that the eye of the duck (we automatically go to the eyes of both humans and animals) is positioned at the intersection of two of the lines from the rule of thirds.

Nobody really knows why this works and gives better images. Maybe it really does not, but it seems we better like images where the subject is not smack in the middle, or landscape images where the horizon does not divide the image exactly in two. So give it a try and see if it works for you.

All composition rules are rules of thumb. Use them when you see fit, and break them when not. It is not intended to be a straightjacket, just a guide you can use whenever you see fit. As the photographer, you are the boss and the director when it comes to what you put in your frame.

Related reading

What is negative space in photography? And why use it?

What is the golden ratio in photography?

What is negative space in photography? And why use it?

More than just empty space…

The use of negative space is simply using nothing to put emphasis on something, i.e. leave a lot of unused or empty space to draw the viewers attention to what is in the frame:

It doesn’t really matter what the subject you want to emphasise is – it can be the tree above (or the man walking), or it can be a spider sitting on your kitchen window:

It may seem counter intuitive to use negative space, as the frame itself is a reduction or a selection of a part of reality, but it does give the picture a special mood of calmness:

However, it is important that there is a subject to be emphasised, otherwise the viewer is simply puzzled and cannot figure out what the point with the picture is. In the below example, there really is no apparent subject to be emphasised:

Sometimes negative space can be used to express isolation and loneliness:

Or being together in a bigger frame:

Or put emphasis on the sunrise and the silhouettes:

Or feeling very insignificant in a big universe:

Or simply majestically rise above the haze:

Or waiting for something to happen:

Or simply emphasizing a beautiful view:

Whatever your chosen use of negative space is, I hope the above has given inspiration for your creative work. Please leave a comment or question below – happy to try to give answers and inspiration for your work.