Project: Rhythm and pattern

Rhythm has been defined in our text as dynamic repetition and pattern as spatial repetition.  What does this mean?  When we want to have the viewer's eye move across the frame or photograph we need to establish a sequence across the photograph which conveys movement.  An example of this from some of my previous photographs could be:

Beach Huts: ISO 200  160mm  f16  1/250

 In the photograph above, I have reproduced it cropped to emphasize the rhythm or movement across the frame.  Even though these are static objects, the differences in colour create a flow across the frame.  This was shot at an optimum aperture to ensure sharpness and good depth of field, whilst still providing a good shutter speed to ensure lack of camera shake.

Pattern is very much static and not neccessarily ordered.  There is no flow so the eye takes in the whole.  Ideally patterns would fit the frame to ensure there is no distraction.  Patterns would also have large numbers of individual items, whether actual items, shapes or patches of colour.

Peacock:  IS0 200  80mm  f5.6  1/125

In the photograph above I have used an old image of a peacock which I have given a tighter crop to emphasize the pattern and to contrast it with the photograph which shows rhythm.  The tight frame also suggests that there is more of the pattern available.

Project: Circles

The text says that circles are less easy to find and they are dependent on real objects.  They are a powerful boundary and carry greater weight of importance compared to other design features.

Ring:  ISO 800 100mm f5.6 1/500

 In the photograph above, despite there being an implicit triangle in the design, whose boundaries are the tree branches, the Gunnera plant on the left and the lake edge, it is the lifebelt which leaps out of the photograph.  I saw this image in precisely that way - unfortunately in my haste I did not consider the camera setting which I had used - an ISO of 800 was unnecessary here.

Red Cabbage Tree:  ISO 200  105mm  f8  1/200

The cabbage on this vegetable stallattracted my attention - even though we have the strong, white core of the cabbage pointing inwards - diagonals - the main design feature to me are the concentric rings provided by the cabbage's own structure.  The shallow depth of field, created by the close up and use of a telephoto setting adds to ensuring that the focus of the viewer's attention is the heart of the cabbage.

Door decorations:  ISO 200  28mm  f9  1/80

I consider this to be an example of an implicit circle which has been created by the "ring" of metal "flowers" arranged on this door.  The eye is not distracted by the shape to the right, it is always led to the centre by virtue of strength of this circular arrangement.  I used a square framing to this image as I felt this was the most appropriate way to present it.  Somehow, circles work well in a square, perhaps because they have, in common, a regularity and tightness of shape.

Project: Rectangles

Rectangles to me are solid frames within which there may be something else.  They reflect the "frame" of a "negative" and are strong at providing structure and order to the image.

To us, frames are typically doors and windows, so there may be a suggestion of something else within.  Use of rectangles and the more specialised form of rectangle, the square, are a design device of splitting the overall frame into parts, the most classic of these being the Golden Section. As a consequence, because this organisation is no longer implicit, rectangles need to be positioned carefully in order to have a well designed image.

Red Door:  ISO 400  35mm  f10  1/125

 The door and window is an architectural rectangle which successfully further sub-divides the frame into into sections.  Here the door is balanced by the white window which is located nearer to the centre of the frame.

Shop in a church:  ISO 2500  90mm f5  1/50

 This rather curious juxtaposition of a goldsmith's shop in the front facade of St Mary's Church at Moorfields caught my eye because it all seems to be contradictory.  However from the design perspective, it is full of rectangles so a useful illustration here.  The top third is a rectangle in itself, bounded by the frame, but also contains the two frescoes which themselves split that rectangle into two parts.  The shop front is split into three main parts - the sign and then the window and the much darker area of the doorway.  The sale signs and other advertising are all in rectangular format as well, though I consider these to be more points of interest rather than part of the main design.

Boxes:  ISO 2500  55mm  f5  1/80

 The streets are full of rectangular shapes - you just cannot get away from them.  Here my eye was caught by the black telephone box which was conveniently bounded by the rectangular pillars.  The background is yet more rectangles - the metal screening and then the building with its windows.  I placed this telephone box centrally to exagerate the mass suggested by the black colour.  It almost seems to act as a pivot for the two stone pillars on either side.

Shopping Mall:  ISO 2500  105mm  f5  1/40

This shopping mall has a concentric rectangular design.  It feels much more enclosing, than if it was rounded, the regularity, almost bellows-like, providing for a very stable structure.  This photograph, and the next one, provide examples of the rectangle as a frame within a frame.  The outer frame of photograph providing the boundary and telling the viewer that there is something within and theen in the case of the mall above, a concentric series of frames leading the viewer through to the end-point.

Palma street:  ISO 640  105mm  f4  1/125

 Hear I framed the side street by using the archway created by the building and the road / pavement in the forground.  A picture within a picture - the outer structure provides a framing for the woman walking past - herself creating a triangular shape, and then the eye being drwn in to the lighter part, through a series of rectangles created by the buildings.

Home decorations:  ISO 800  24mm f5.6  1/25

Here the rectangles are in fact the edges of box shapes which house various shells and other materials to be used in decorating a room.  The edges provide order to the more random shapes contained within.  This is one of the functional design devices, where rectangles provide a sense of order to their contents.

Project: Shapes - Triangles - other examples

I thought at this point to add some more examples of implicit triangles.  It was fun looking for these and the results I wanted to share here.

Triangle 1:  ISO 200  300mm  f16  1/125

 An opportunist photograph above with the children unwittingly creating an implicit triangle.  The rill flowing from a higher lake to the formal lake was stepped enabling them to be at different levels.  The long focal length has flattened the perspective creating a very obvious triangle.

Medieval cloth:  ISO 3200 35mm  f4  1/50

 At this moment, as the seller was organising her rolls of medieval cloth in one of the barns in Cressing Temple two triangles were formed.  A smaller triangle with her head as the apex and the base being the roll of cloth which she is holding and the much large triangle extending from there down to the base of the photograph itself.  The larger triangle being caused through perspective and the use of the wide-angle lens.  The location was at the back of the barn with very little natural light.  I used Auto WB here and have since considered altering this, but did not like the effect of additional blue and the warm colour was much closer to the feeling I had when there.
 

Preparing Onions:  ISO 200  310mm  f5.6  1/2500

 Here the implicit triangle is formed through the arms leading to a point in the onion on the chopping board.  This device helps to focus the viewers attention on the subject which is the action of slicing an onion.  I focused carefully on the fingers and had the aperture fully open in order to have as shallow DOF as possible.

Project: Shapes - Triangles

The text says that "in theory at least, triangles of one kind or another can be found photographically in many places".  That is at least until you try to find them and they become incredibly elusive! 

Triangles, whether physical or implied, give structure to a photograph and therefore the viewer can clearly see what is intended.  It is equally true whether the photograph is that of fashion or a family portrait.  It could also be a landscape or a still-life.

An exhibition I went to in January of last year had many examples of the use of triangles in some of the most successful or iconic photographs.  The first of these is that of Sienna Miller, photographed for American Vogue in Rome, 2006 by Mario Testino.  It can be seen here. Sienna Miller in her dress creates the triangle.
In the photograph called Friends of the Spanish Press, 1968, by Malik Sidibe, even though the group portrait has 4 subjects, the structure is such that a triangle is formed.  It can be seen here. 

The photograph, The Qajar Series, 2001 by Shadi Ghadirian, seen here, makes use of an inverted triangle, joining the faces of the two women to the small table below them which is covered by a white table cloth.  As the image is in black and white, the link between the faces and the table is natural.

Don McCullin used triangles in many of his constructs, for example, the photograph of the shell-shocked soldier in Vietnam.

Project: Using Lines in Composition

Up to this point, we have been examining lines in their own right and how they add to composition.  So:

• Horizontal lines - these give breadth to a photograph and there is also implied strength and stability;
• Vertical lines - these naturally provide height, but there is also implicit strength and power;
• Diagonal lines - these provide strong dynamics and tension.  Through this tension there is drama;
• Curved lines - like diagonals, these provide movement, however instead of the direct movement associated with diagonals, these are more graceful and smooth and could suggest relaxation.

In the previous exercises, these have been generally complete, however lines can also be implicit.  In other words they may either be incomplete or they can be suggested through movement, direction in which a person, animal or any object which has sight associated with it, is looking. 

The purpose of all of these is to endeavour to convey a story to the viewer, by leading him, using these methods in the direction where you consider the focus of the photograph exists.  Of all of these implied lines, I consider those constructed as a result of where an individual is looking to be the most powerful.  This is so as we have a natural affinity to a person's eyes, or that person's line of sight.

Taking an example, using one of my favourite photographs by Robert Doisneau - Fox Terrier on the Pont des Arts.  This is a rather curious title as the dog, though in the photograph has really very little to do with the photograph.  There is a great number of questions about the artist, the nude he appears to be painting and the extension of the nude in the painting through to the foot which can be seen just past the artist's left knee.  All of this is very important to the construct, but for me, the highlight is the man with the dog and the lines down which he is looking.  We cannot see his eyes, but these lines, or his line of sight, are constructed by interpreting the angle of body and the position of his head.  The big question is, is he simply trying to see the painting on the easel, or is he trying to look around the easel at the nude woman (perhaps) on the bench.  A copy of this photograph can be seen here.