Thursday 12 January 2012

Exercise: positioning a point

Where we position a single point within a frame indicates how we view the image, it divides the frame and depending on the position that it is placed can give different qualities to the image.
A centrally placed point can give a very static image because of the even division of the frame, this can give a dull quality to the image as the eye settles the scene very quickly without any movement around the scene. A point that is placed off centre creates a more interesting composition, this is due to the points relationship with the edge of the frame and the division that it creates, it causes the eye to move to the point from the edge of the scene creating a sense of movement. The closer to the edge of the frame that the point is placed the more eccentric the composition becomes.
Good balance is achieved when the point is placed somewhere between centrally and close to the edge (rule of thirds), however these rules are just a guideline and  are there to be justified within each single composition.
The first exercise in this section required three images to be produced with a point placed in a different area of the frame, in the centre, slightly off centre and close to the edge. The reasons for the positions needed to be justified.
I have converted the images to black and white so that the point is not enhanced by colour.


Point centrally placed












For the shot of the window I deliberately placed the point in the centre due to the static nature of a window within a stone wall.

Point off centre.

 
























I placed the berry slightly off centre to produce a composition that was not to static and created a sense of movement with the relationship with the edge of the frame.


Point close to the edge























I placed the point (bus stop) close to the edge of the frame in an attempt to give a sense of openness or emptiness to the scene. Lonely bus stop !!

I have really enjoyed this exercise, the experimentation with point's in different positions has helped me to understand how the position of the point affects the image. I think that I may have needed to pick slightly smaller subjects to demonstrate this better.