After a break I’m back into the study and practice routine. I’m now looking out of the window and seeing if the light is any good outside for photography. This is something I rarely thought about before but expected my photos to all have good colours and detail. It’s through theory and practice I realise good light is as important and good composition.
For this exercise I have been trying to practice the theory of their being three main classes of position in a frame which are the middle, off centre and close to the edge. I used the same frame for each photograph but placed the subject in one of the three classic positions:
Centre
With the subject in the centre of the frame I find the image to be quite flat. I’m not really looking at the rest of the frame except for the distracting bannister to the top left.
Off Centre
Placing the subject off centre has suddenly given some depth the steps. The bannister isn’t so distracting as it parallels the steps giving the impression they are steep. The subject is more balanced with the surroundings and creates a better composition than when the subject was positioned in the middle.
Close to the Edge
I was quite surprised with the results when placing the subject close to the edge of the frame. I expected it to look forced and awkward but what I like about this position is the balance it gives to the composition. The wall perfectly balances the steps and the bannister balances the subject. I wouldn’t naturally position a subject this close to the edge, worried that it would look out-of-place but I really like this photograph.
When creating a division, using my favorite photograph of the three above, it becomes clear how the points within the frame are proportionate giving a sense of movement or in this example life.
I don’t think I’ll ever look through the viewfinder in the same way again. I naturally look to place the subject off centre believing it will give the most interesting composition and find something to balance it out. I would like to explore this further to see how this works with different subjects and ways to balance the frame.
Sam Bennett 