Advanced skills of photographic structure

Lead: In shooting, deliberately abandoning important theme elements will make many photographers feel surprised, confused and even disgusted. However, if anyone can't use this composition method, it means that he has given up an effective means to make the audience feel intimate when watching the photos and make them willing to stay in the photos for a long time. Because everything doesn't have to be reflected in the photo? Incomplete content will also have an important impact on photos.

Holographic image

We often say that the blunt cutting of the theme will confuse the viewer, because the viewer expects to see the complete outline of the theme when enjoying the photos. This expectation is not for all image elements, but only for the most important image elements, because every photo reflects a part of reality? It can't completely present all the image elements. For example, when shooting a single house on the grass, including the path in front of the house and the surrounding trees and shrubs, the viewer does not expect to see the whole grass or path, but expects to see the whole picture of the house and the nearby trees. The panoramic view of the house constitutes the theme of the photo in a simple way? Especially when it is further emphasized by some way of composition. Not cutting is also a way to emphasize and highlight image elements.

The human brain can only accomplish part of the theme mentally. You can cut image elements. In this way, you can shift the focus of the theme from the gecko's body to its head.

Reduce the dominant position of vision

If the photographer only takes a part of a house now, the image area of the house in the photo will be reduced and its importance will be reduced, so the content to be expressed in the whole photo will change? Perhaps it is a certain detail of the house, perhaps the relationship between the house and the surrounding environment, or another image theme, such as the color of the scene. Cutting the image when shooting can reduce the importance of some image elements and highlight the less important elements in the image. It can be seen from the portrait photos of people's faces on the right that even a slight haircut can reduce the prominent features of people's heads (see page 94), make hairstyles dominant, and at the same time make the image elements of people's eyes, nose and mouth stand out in the foreground.

A slight clipping of the upper part or the lower part will give a theme a visual support and prevent it from appearing lonely and desperate in a larger space.

Many people dare not drastically cut their image. In fact, such cutting will not only bring high concentration to an image element, but also give high attention to the whole photo.

Does the intensity of image cropping affect the position and composition of image elements in photos? Compared with intentional cutting, slight cutting is (sometimes) almost imperceptible. It can visually support image elements in monotonous areas and prevent them from being isolated or even divorced from the theme. When shooting, you can cut an image element greatly or completely, which can obviously reduce the importance of an element in the photo and even make it completely out of the content of the image.

Approach by cutting

Image cropping can not only highlight the importance of image elements visually, but also narrow the distance between the viewer and the theme in a very simple way. The more you cut a theme, the closer it is to the viewer, the more detailed and direct the image looks, and the easier it is for the viewer to eliminate the emotional distance. When someone or something appears directly in front of a person, he has to study it deeply. Similarly, the viewer of this photo will feel as if he is standing in front of the theme.

The above contents are basically applicable to all subjects, but the role in portrait photography is particularly obvious: due to some social factors, there will be a certain sense of distance between two people (strangers), and in order to make both people feel comfortable, it is necessary to keep them at arm's length. At this distance, they can see each other's heads when they talk, so we will have such expectations when we appreciate the photos. Only in front of people we know very well? When we are partners, family members and friends, we will be closer to them. At this time, we can't see each other's heads or even faces at all.

We instinctively keep the shortest social distance with people we don't know? About an arm long, not too long, is it? Close to each other? . This distance allows us to see each other's heads completely, so we look forward to it when we look at the photos. Only in the face of close friends, family members or their own partners will they approach them without scruple, and then they can only see each other's faces. Through the selected image area, the viewer can be brought into this scene, giving him a feeling of closeness, intimacy and knowing the people in the photo.

As a photographer, you can clearly express this kind of intimacy by cutting the heads of the characters in the comparison film, and visually reduce the sense of distance between people, thus forcing the audience to close the distance between themselves and the characters in the photo. As a result, the photos are either very attractive? Is it because the viewer can feel this feeling, or let the viewer resist from the heart and try to widen the distance from the characters? It depends on whether the characters created by photographers can make people feel good.

Cut rather than cut.

Image editing has emotional power, on the other hand, it can encourage viewers to study photos for a long time: if the viewer does not fully see the specific image elements, then he will be disappointed with the ideas to be expressed in the control film. However, this disappointment can also stimulate his fantasy very strongly, because the viewer knows that this element is complete in reality, and he will unconsciously begin to imagine the content of that element that is not presented in the photo. In this process, the lines of image elements will extend indefinitely, and their patterns or structures will also extend indefinitely (without changing their direction or appearance). Therefore, it is not appropriate to cut off the widest part of the human body when creating characters, and you will soon feel that this is not good.

According to the different shapes, appearances and positions of the cutting elements in the image area, it is difficult and easy for the audience to supplement the whole process of cutting the theme part (see page 96). But no matter how difficult it is, he will do it anyway, that is, the viewer will study the image for a long time as if the main body of the photo had not been cut. Therefore, image cropping can attract the attention of the audience.

The cutting of a photo is not always achieved by the edge of the photo, but also by the overlapping of one image element with another within the photo range. In this example, the hat cut the child's face, making his real identity unrecognizable.

Common position

Generally speaking, we can cut image elements in two different ways: one is by overlapping with another element, and the other is by the outer edge of the photo. The latter effect is stronger and clearer. However, cropping does not have the same effect on all four sides of the photo: if an element is cropped off by the lower edge of the photo, the audience will hardly notice it? Unless extreme cutting methods are adopted, important image areas are cut off, such as cutting a person's face between the nose and mouth. However, if the image element has content, the part that can be separated from the content is cut off by the lower edge of the photo, which still gives the viewer a complete feeling. For example, when cutting at the height of a person's abdomen, the viewer will still have a complete feeling when enjoying the photos of the upper body of the person intercepted from the full-length portrait.

Image elements are cut by different edges of the photo, and the effect is also strong and weak. Right cutting and up cutting can bring strong effects to photos and greatly reduce the visual advantages of image elements.

In many cases, the upper edge of the cut image will be unconsciously accepted by the viewer, especially when this cut can produce a closer sense of closeness or stability to the originally helpless image elements. But in this case, the extreme cutting of key image elements is also easy to be noticed by the audience.

Generally speaking, the cutting of the image plane is more noticeable, and some image elements can be emphasized more permanently, thus making the other side of the photo more prominent. If the viewer cuts the image through his own imagination, the process will be more intuitive and faster on the right side of the photo? Because we are used to reading from left to right. In short, compared with natural shapes, regular patterns or structures extend beyond the image edge more easily than irregular patterns or structures. No matter which side of the image, this rule applies equally.

If an image element is cropped not only on one side, but on multiple sides, the uncut side will stand out, and the more cropped sides, the stronger the viewer's familiarity and closeness.

Background segmentation

Of course, the cutting of image elements not only affects itself, but also affects its background and surrounding environment. Especially when the background content is uniform, monochromatic or the same texture area, the cutting of image elements is helpful to reduce the leading role of the background. Because once an element in the foreground goes beyond the edge of the photo, the background of the photo will be divided into two parts. When a large area is divided into two small areas, its visual component will be reduced. If many faces of the photo are cut, which will lead to multiple segmentation of the background, then the role of the background is even weaker.

In order to achieve this effect, the cutting itself cannot be obvious. Just letting the image elements touch the edge of the photo slightly is enough to weaken the role of the background.

Cutting image elements can not only reduce the visual components of image elements, but also reduce the importance of background. In a monochrome background, a single, connected area is divided into two smaller, less important isolated areas.