Shapes as the building block in visual design for photography. This continues from my original posting on the book Photographing the world around you.
As with lines, shapes are only visible or created though contrasts of tone and colour.Being photographers we work with two-dimensional design as we’re only able to capture a flat surface of plane. However it is possible to create the illusion of three dimensions through form and perspective. Good form is created through light, giving the subject form through light and shade as the light reflects off the surface of the object. Perspective will be covered in a future article.
There are two fundamental groups of shapes; primary and secondary. Primary shapes are the circle, square and triangle, which create a sense of order and stability within a composition.
Secondary shapes are ovals, rectangles and complex shapes such as leaves that cannot be identified as a specific regular shape. Unless these secondary shapes are placed in a definite, regular manner within a composition they loose the formal sense of order thus creating greater dynamics to the picture design.
The shapes formed in the picture are under the photographers’ control as the visual design takes place within the camera viewfinder before the shutter is pressed. A simple illustration of how the shapes change within the view finder is to imagine a plane green field and perfectly blue sky. If the horizon is placed dead centre a formal composition is created with an equal amount of blue and green shapes. Depending on the format of the camera or subsequent crop these could be two square shapes joined with the line of the horizon. This creates a formal stable composition. However consider if the camera is tilted up or down
slightly to move the horizon up or down – this puts the emphasis on one of the shapes becoming larger whilst the other becomes smaller. It will also create at least one rectangle possibly two depending on the format or crop of the final image. The further the horizon is moved in any one direction the greater the emphasis on the larger shape, creating a more dynamic visual design. This is why many landscape images place the horizon on either the lower or upper third unless there is a desire to create even more emphasis on one shape within the design. Generally placing the horizon on the centre line of an image is not dynamic and is not used as much unless it is to create symmetry.
To make effective use of any shape, you must first be able to recognise it. Removing the name associated with an object and identifying its shape helps with this process. When you use this abstraction and see a tree as a triangle, for example, it is possible to arrange these shapes within the composition. With landscapes using the camera’s stop down feature can help as the darkened image may only be visible as basic shapes, it can also be a good way to see distractions that were not noticed when initially composing the image. The human face can be abstracted to a simple oval.
The placement on the shape within the composition give rise to Gestalt theories, which relates to the effect the positioning of the shapes have on the viewer. Depending on the placement of the shape within the picture it will have a huge effect on the dynamism of the final image. The further the shape is moved from the centre towards the edge of the image the more dynamic it becomes creating a sense of tension. Taking the object beyond the edge of the image causes at effect called Closure, which is not only dynamic but forces the viewers’ participation in completing the shape. This is beyond the scope of this article but you
may find more information here on the Gestalt Theories.
Pat Bloomfield is your photographer / artist. Years of experience and craftsmanship goes into every portrait he creates for you.
Imke Bloomfield is your make-up artist. A keen make-up practitioner trained by professional artists; she has a great flare for creating beautiful make-up especially for you.