What about the composition and tone of Hungry Sudan?

In this work, a skinny Sudanese girl with a big head is about to starve to death and kneel on the ground, while vultures are not far behind her, waiting for the picture of killing her.

The composition of this photo is a common dichotomy (the composition method of the word "well"), and the raptor and the little girl are located at the upper left point and the lower right point of the four intersections of the word "well" respectively; The empty environment makes the two subjects more prominent. A powerful raptor and a weak child lying on the ground dying should not be together and appear in one picture.

The strength of birds and the weakness of children form a great contrast with people's normal thinking, which gives people a stronger visual impact and ideological impact. Color is the imaging effect of ordinary color film, and there is basically no post-processing; Under the strong sunlight at noon, coupled with the empty and barren environment, the drought in Africa at that time was highlighted.

Photographic composition is related to the light, color, lines and other factors in the picture, and needs their cooperation. However, they can only play a supporting role. Technically speaking, the most important thing in composition is to use the above factors to construct the most important posture or form on the picture, so that the viewer can perceive the center of gravity and theme of the picture at a glance.

But in the final analysis, technology should serve the theme, and the ultimate goal of composition is to better reflect the theme of photos, which is the most important thing. This shocking picture "Hungry Sudan" is technically a balanced composition. The main shape is prominent and clear, and the little girl and the vulture visually echo each other.

If only from the overall composition, the author just caught the scene, met good content, photographed it, and the composition and position were not very good. This is news photography, which only records this cruel reality, and the art is very general.

Therefore, the technical content of this photo is not high, just some basic techniques (but the basic skills are solid), and it is a snapshot. The key to winning the prize is not the shooting level of the photo, but the information it contains, which gives people a shocking feeling and highlights the great famine in Sudan.

Extended data:

1993 Sudan suffered from frequent wars and famines at the same time. Kevin Carter, a freelance photojournalist from South Africa, came to Sudan, an African country devastated by war, poverty and hunger. One day, he saw such a shocking scene: a skinny Sudanese girl couldn't walk any further on the way to the food relief center and fell to the ground.

Not far away, a huge vulture is squatting, greedily staring at the dying little life on the ground, waiting for the upcoming "delicious meal". Kevin carter caught this shot.

1On March 26th, 993, the famous American newspaper The New York Times published this photo of kevin carter for the first time. Subsequently, other media quickly spread around the world, causing strong repercussions among people in various countries. This is a photo that won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Hungry Sudan