The Art of Photography

 The Art of Photography • Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. Jonathan Swift

 What do you think makes a good photo?

 Art of photography • Photographers learn how to create visual art with cameras, similar to the way musicians learn to create music with instruments. • But even tough photographers need cameras and other technology to make art, the same visual art elements and principles that apply to painting and sculpture apply to the art of photography

 The art of photography • Photography is more than combining cameras, lensed, and film; it is about using those tools in combination with the elements of art and principles of design to create visual art. Understanding the elements and the principles will make your photography more than just snapshots. • You will learn about the elements of art, the principles of design and how to use these to make photographs

Words to know • composition • Elements of art • texture • form • shape • space • color • value • line • principles of design • unity • balance • perspective • emphasis • movement • rhythm • pattern • repetition • hue • saturation 5

 Composition • When we talk about the way an image looks, we talk about its composition. • Composition refers to the arrangement and relationship of the different parts that make up the whole image.

 Composition • Composition is broken into two areas: • Elements of art- which are the composition’s individual visual parts. Elements are the real and tangible parts of an artwork. • Principles of design -which are the composition’s organizing ideas. Principles are the intangible plans and blueprints for creating and arranging elements.

 Composition like a sandwich • Like a photograph, a sandwich is also composed of “elements” and “principles”. The elements are all the possible ingredients, or the individual parts: bread, meat, cheese, peanut butter, mustard, and the like. We don’t use all these ingredients in one sandwich, but they are all available. • Before we make a sandwich, we decide what kind it will be. We can call the sandwich plans the principles because they are the organizing ideas • The elements and the principles work together to create a finished form.

 composition • In photography, composition is the arrangement of visual elements within the frame of the camera’s viewfinder. The challenge of photographic composition is where to place the subject in the picture and whether you emphasize the subject or de-emphasize it in relation to the background. • The ULTIMATE goal of any piece of art is to communicate an idea, an emotion, or an experience to the viewer

 The elements of art • Line, Shape, Form, Value, Color, Space, Texture

 Line • In photography, a line is one of the most fundamental art elements. • Line- a point moving in space. It can be real, implied thick or thin, straight or curved, horizontal or vertical.

 LINE

 Shape and Form • A shape is created when a line meets itself. • A shape can be either geometric (circles, oval, square, etc.) or organic (ranom outlines like puddles, leaves etc.) • Form is similar to shape, but while shape is flat and 2d, form has volume and is 3d. • When you take a photograph, you turn 3-d forms into 2-d shapes.

 shape

 Color • Just as oil or watercolor is a painter’s medium, light is a photographer’s medium, and when you talk about color in photography, you are always talkbing about light. • There are three qualities that apply to all colors. • Hue • Saturation • Value

 Color • Hue is the name of a color. (red, green, blue, etc) • Saturation is the intensity or purity of a color • Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a color

 • Primary colors- red, yellow, blue (cannot be made) • Secondary colors- orange, green, purple (made by mixing two primary colors) • Warm/cool • Complements

 Value • Value refers to the quality of light and dark • Value gives you visual clues about the shapes, they can carry emotional content as well (low-key= sadness, suspense or dread- high-key= positive) • You always want a full value range

 value

 Space • Looking through your camera’s viewfinder, you see a specific area contained within a frame. In art that area is called your picture’s space. • Space is the two-dimensional arrangement of objects in a photograph. • Space also refers to the three-dimensional illusion of depth in the image

 space • Space can be positive or negative. • Positive space is the subject and the negative would be the background

 Texture • Texture is the way something feels or appears to feel • Texture makes a photograph look real and suggests it is three dimensional , rather than the two-dimensional object that it actually is.

 texture

 The principles of art • Balance, Unity, Variety, Movement and Rhythm, Emphasis, Proportion, Pattern

 Pattern • Pattern is achieved by the repetition of any of the elements of art. • Repeating a line will create a pattern of stripes- the key to pattern is repetition.

 Pattern

 Balance • Balance is the appearance of equal visual weight within a composition • There are three types of balance • Symmetrical • Asymmetrical • Radial

 Symmetrical balance • Symmetrical balance is best described as a mirror- image composition

 Asymmetrical balance • Asymmetrical balance still looks balanced, but objects are not centered in the frame. • One way of making asymmetrical balance work in your photographs is by using the rule of thirds

 Radial balance • Radial balance is a circular style of composition. This occurs when objects radiate from a central point in an image

 Unity and Variety • Unity and variety are the opposite sides of the same coin. Too much unity results in monotony. Too much variety results in chaos. • Unity results when all the individual parts of your photograph come together and support each other to make one unified image. ( to be unified elements in an image must relate to each other) • Variety is all the diverse art elements and principles found in a picture, such as light and dark, big and small, smooth and rough. You can create variety with objects or subjects, color, textures etc.

 Movement and Rhythm • In a photograph movement is real or implied motion. • Rhythm is another type of movement in visual art. It is created by the organized repetition of art elements like color, value, shape, and line

 Real and implied

 rhythm

 Emphasis • What is your image about? What will you emphasize? • Emphasis refers to dominance and subordination-giving some objects greater visual importance.

 Making artistic choices • Choosing what to photograph can be effortless for some and frustrating for others • The first step is determining a direction • Once you have decided on a subject choose a setting • Be aware of your background and surroundings.

 Choosing viewpoint and timing • Apart from what you choose as the subject, nothing has a greater impact on your image than the viewpoint you choose for your composition and the moment you decide to make the exposure

 Viewpoint • You can be close up or far away, taking a microscopic or a panoramic. What every you are focusing on try different points of view. • Types of points of view: • Above the head • From below • Subjects level • From the hip

 Timing • Timing also contributes to the success of your pictures.

 Proportion • Proportion is the relationship between the sizes of objects or components in an image

The Art of Photography