Photography 1: P & P, Proj 22: Adjusting the Balance Between Person & Space

Project 22: Adjusting the balance between person and space.


In this project I drew on my photography so far in the course and on the techniques learned, to vary the balance in any one picture situation.  I created two images, using the same general viewpoint and composition, varying the balance of attention between the person and the setting they were in.

The images created are shown below:

3053

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These two images were taken from almost the same position.  The first image gives the person more prominence compared to the building.  The second image in contrast gives more prominence to the building.  In each of the photographs the person is facing away from the camera.  This has altered the relationship between the person and the rest of the image.

Balancing the attention between figure and setting involves deciding on both relative size and placement.

In the first image the person has greater visual weight and commands more attention in the frame than the building.  In the second image the stress is laid on the building.

Photography 1: P & P, Proj 21: Making Figures Anonymous

Project 21: Making figures anonymous

In this project the intention was to discover ways of including a person or people in a photograph of a place, while deliberately making them unrecognisable and as a result less prominent.  A successful image will be one that is primarily about the place, but in which one or more figures play a subsidiary role to show scale and give life and to show that it is in use.

Among the common ways of achieving this while shooting are the following:

• Small and many - A crowd of people naturally have a certain dominance because of their numbers, but individually they command less attention.
• Facing away - The human face is such a powerful visual attractant that simply by photographing someone from behind or with their head turned away from the camera alters their relationship to the rest of the image.
• In silhouette - Shooting from darkness towards a bright background communicates "person" but rarely "personality".
• Partly obscured - Figures and faces even partly hidden behind some other object are automatically reduced in visual importance.
• Motion blur - Useful if slightly mannered technique when you have a tripod and the light is sufficiently dim to use a slow exposure.  Needs experience to judge the effect of length of exposure on the appearance of a moving figure.  Light figure against dark background is always more noticeable than dark figure against light background.
• Small human against a dominant location - Extreme size relationship is key.  Figure must have sufficient contrast against the setting to be noticed.  Typically, contrast is in the form of colour difference or tonal difference, (dark against light or vice verse).  Abandon identity.  More likely to give a general description based on clothes and action, e.g. a farmer among fields, a worker in a large factory space, or a climber and mountainside.

 The images produced for this project are shown below:

124809; "Small human against a dominant location".

12848; "Facing away".

3044; "Motion blur".

163043; "Small and many".

When the place is the principal subject, but when it will look better inhabited, it is often useful to find ways of reducing the visual attention that a person or a face tends to command.  There are a number of useful visual techniques that allow the photographer to achieve this objective.

Photography 1: P & P, Proj 20: Busy Traffic

Project 20: Busy Traffic

For this project I chose a busy location, The National Gallery in London on a Friday afternoon.  I was lucky enough to get a seat opposite this popular painting - "The Toilet of Venus" by Diego Velazquez.  I spent a long time watching the ebb and flow of the crowd around this painting.  Sometimes there were few people and at other times there were many.  The crowd seemed to move in waves.  There always seemed to be some people who were stationary, looking at the painting and others who were hurrying on to see other works.  I had in mind the work of Thomas Struth when carrying out this project, especially his work in the public art galleries.

My aim was to show the busyness of the location.  I kept the exposure relatively slow to create some blur.

The resulting photograph is shown below:

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The problem with shooting people in a gallery such as The National Gallery is that photography is not normally allowed, as an official gently reminded me.

The essential things to bear in mind when attempting to show busyness are:

• Choose a busy location and find a viewpoint that will give you a satisfying composition as well as a good sense of the nature and function of the space.
• Spend some time watching how the flow of people works - the patterns they make, any surges or lulls in movement and numbers and how this can contribute to the composition of the shot.
• The inclusion of some blur can add to the feeling of business of the location.

Photography 1: P & P, Proj 19: A Single Figure Small

Project 19: A Single Figure Small

For this project I looked for a location that was for the most part free of people, yet with and occasional figure within the frame.  I wanted the figure to be noticeable but only just.  This would give some delayed reaction so as to add to the interest of the photo.  There is also an element of surprise.  I tried to make the figure big enough in the frame so that it is not lost and the viewer fails to notice it.  I chose to place a small human being against a dominant location.

The resulting image is shown below:

Cliff Reflections

The important aspects of this type of image are:

• The figure should be visible to the viewer's eye.  The point of this style of image is lost if the viewer fails to notice the figure.
• Some delayed reaction adds to the interest of looking at this kind of image and there is an element of surprise if the scale of the place is larger than expected.
• If possible place the figure off-centre as this gives a more dynamic composition.
• If the figure is walking, consider placing it off-centre so that it walks into the frame.
• The figure must have sufficient contrast against the setting to be noticed.