Photographic composition

See also: Composition

The photographic composition consists of the arrangement deliberated on the elements of a scene. The goal is to choose and lay out the elements in a harmonious way in order to communicate ideas and impressions with the reader. The composition is a big part in Dessin, and one of the major elements in Photographie. On many points, the photographic composition takes as a starting point the Règles of composition in Western painting.

The factors which the composition exploits are:

space on the image used for the illustration,
the perspective , the space provision of the objects on the image, the Depth of field, and all the processes which give the impression of depth on a two-dimensional image,
the line or direction followed by the eyes when the image is read,
the play on let us tons clear or dark.

The artist decides point of attention of his work and composes his work in function. The eyes of the reader should then spontaneously move towards these points of attention. In addition, the image can constitute a very harmonious carrier of direction.

Concretely, a photograph will incorporate seldom only one element of the rules of compositions; in the vast majority of the cases, it is the setting for benefit of several of the rules which contribute for a purpose. In addition, as in all arts, a step can be based on the play with the limits of the rules, even their rejection. For example, one of the " règles" the naked one is that one should avoid simultaneously showing the genitals and the face of the subject; Mapplethorpe sat a good part of its career on the rejection of this rule.

Plane rules

The photographic composition comprises a certain number of canonical rules purely related to the parties taken of the photographer.

Regulate of the three thirds

It consists in even placing the elements key of the image on the lines which separate the vertical and horizontal thirds from them, on the intersections between these lines. By doing this, one releases the subject and the important components (like the horizon) of the center of the photograph. This avoids “cutting” the photographs, which gives a static and banal impression; a photograph made up according to the rule of the three thirds is supposed more dynamic and gives more space to the glance to rove.

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