I recently had the opportunity to judge the Emporia Camera Club annual photo show. As I prepared to judge the images, I took some time to think about what makes a great image. One of the things that differentiates a great image is that it
engages the viewer. Although we would tend to think that the
subject is the primary determinant of whether the photographer is successful at attracting and holding the viewer's attention, in reality the techniques employed by the photographer can have as much or more effect on whether or not they are successful at "drawing the viewer in." A successful composition enables the viewer to imagine the scene they are viewing is real, and gives them the impression that they could enter the scene and experience the sensory stimulus displayed in the image. In order to convey this impression, the image must have
depth.
We've covered techniques to draw the viewer into the scene in past assignments such as the "Linear Perspective," "Atmospheric Perspective," "Controlling Perspective," "Near, Middle, Far," "Depth," and "Wide and Close" assignments. Still, many of us consistently compose images that fail to use techniques at our disposal to convey depth and draw the viewer into the scene. Why is this? One of the most persistent bad habits we need to break in order to become successful at conveying depth is our natural tendency to compose the image from our normal standing height. In many cases, taking the image from standing height doesn't allow us to get close enough to the foreground, or compose the image with the proper perspective to enhance the viewer's perception of depth. I alluded to the need to "go wide and get close" in the "wide and close" assignment, but I didn't specifically say, "get closer to the ground!"
Hopefully this assignment will help many of us to become conscious of, and practice avoiding, the persistent habit of composing our images from standing height. You might want to review the information covered in the
wide and close assignment, since this previous assignment provided pertinent guidelines for how to effectively obtain adequate depth of field when photographing closer to objects in your foreground.
The assignment for the week of 14 - 20 June 2010 is "In the Dirt," meaning that you should attempt to compose your image with the tripod or camera lower to the ground. Dave Leiker suggested that you compose your image while crawling on your belly in the dirt, which is where the title of this assignment came from.
I won't require that for the assignment; however, you should try to compose your images from a kneeling height or lower, instead of a standing height, and observe the changes in perspective and additional sense of depth you can achieve from placing the camera closer to your foreground elements.
Please upload your images to the "In the Dirt" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no-later-than midnight, Mountain Time (GMT -07:00) on Sunday, 20 June 2010.
I'll look forward to seeing the dust on your lens.
Keith
