Basic photography—Art, composition, and computer principles

AEE 211

February 24, 2003

What makes these images effective?

Overview

• Basic composition– Mood and atmosphere– Qualities of a good photo– Basic composition– Improving composition

• Working with the computer– Files– Scanning– Printing

Creating mood

• Overall feel of a picture

• Created by– Perspective– Color– Focus (isolation and distance)– Weather and light

• Sunrise/sunset

• Misty, rainy days

• Sun vs. overcast

Characteristics of a good photo

• Shape

• Line

• Pattern

• Texture

• Size and space

Shape

• Tends to be noticed first, before texture and pattern

• Easiest and most recognizable composition tool– Shape helps create a mood/character for the

picture– Search for the unconventional or surprise shape

in objects

Creating shape

• Common—– use backlighting to create a silhouette

• Uncommon—– side lighting with simple background– underexpose to focus on shape vs. color or

texture

Line

• Lines create – Shape– Pattern– Depth– Perspective

• Line leads the eye– Focal point/subject– Diagonals– S-curves

Line creates perspective

• Lines into the horizon show depth and perspective for the viewer

• Vanishing point– Point at which lines converge and vanish in to

the horizon– Place off-center

• Close-ups decrease perspective while wide-angles can exaggerate it

                                      

Pattern

• Orderly combination of shape, line, or color

• Pattern can help echo the character of a photo

• Catching attention– Random patterns– Slight variation in a pattern– Pattern in common places

Texture

• Adds realism (sense of touch) to a photo

• Sharp (hard) light highlights texture

• Especially important for close-up and b/w shots

• Side lighting highlights texture

• Most portraits use front lighting to decrease texture on skin

Using light for depth

• Sometimes hard light is inappropriate for illustrating shape and depth

• Soft side lighting can give a sense of shape and depth without high contrast– Portraits– Still life– When shape/depth is more important that

texture

Size and space

• 2D pictures distort depth, relative size, and distances– Include reference item– Include parts of the fore- or background– Use a frame– Be creative—maybe you want to distort

Giving perspective

• Linear—Lines which converge into the distance

• Diminishing size—objects further away are smaller

• Aerial perspective—atmosphere creates haze, which lightens objects farther away

Depth and perspective

• Overlapping forms—overlapping objects in a picture create depth and distance

• Selective focusing—focusing on the foreground and blurring the background

Improving composition

• Rule of thirds

• Simplicity

• Angle and perspective

• Framing

Have a strong center of interest

• Take pictures at different angles with different compositions

• Work around the rule of thirds

Simplicity

• One strong center of interest– Foreground or background should be simple or

complimentary to center of interest– Include foreground or background for sense of

isolation, distance, depth, etc.

• Avoid mergers

                                    

Cut offs

• Avoiding cutting out parts or wholes of people or main subjects

• Avoiding cutting out the path of a moving object

Give the object somewhere to go

Working with angles

• Low angles– Clear sky backdrop– Accentuate movement or action

• High angle– Eliminate cloudy sky

• 45 degree angles will cut glare

• Avoid centered horizons

Framing

• Adds depth• Should fit theme• Helps subject fill the frame• Can block unwanted subjects from view• Watch focus on foreground

– Focus on foreground in landscape– Focus on subject in portraits– Auto-focus should be centered on main topic– Overall—DEPENDS ON CAMERA

Balance

• Balance color and weight in a picture

• Formal and informal

• Symmetrical and asymmetrical

Symmetrical

Asymmetrical

Fill the frame

• Would this picture look better if I was closer?– Focus on subject– Detail

• Start far and move closer

• Fill the frame with objects that “fit”

• Long range shots provide depth and perspective

                  

Digital issues

• File formats

• Scanning

• Printing

Native file formats

• Format used by computer program

• Retains ability to edit within native program

• Unreadable on WWW or graphics programs

• Product families (Adobe, Microsoft, etc.)

• Examples– .ppt, .doc, .mix

Nonnative file formats

• General formats that multiple programs can open– .gif, .jpg, .tif, .bmp

• Formatting cannot be undone within a program – picture must be reedited

• Save pictures in both native and nonnative file formats

Resolution

• Quality of the pictures on a screen, print, or file– DPI = dots per inch (printer)– PPI = pixels per inch (screen)

• More resolution means higher file size

• Different file types contain more or less information (resolution)

Resolution and bits

Tagged Image File Format

• Very flexible and can be opened by most programs

• Saves as pixels• Scan as a .tiff or as a native file format if

possible

EPS files (vector)

• Only some programs use: FreeHand, Illustrator, CorelDraw

• Saved as separate images not as pixels – no resolution lost with resizing

• Use the “Options” button under PRINT in PageMaker to save as EPS

Graphical Interchange Format

• Great for the WWW

• 8-bit – 256 colors (indexed color)

• Usually set at 72 pixels for the WWW

• Allows for transparency

• NOT used in printing

Portable Network Graphic

• 24-bit (millions of colors)

• Transparency with jagged edges

• Alternative to the .gif

• Newer computer programs only

Joint Photographic Experts Group

• 24-bit color

• Lossy compression

• You can usually set your compression here

• Best for WWW pictures

Portable Document Format

• Embeds all data into a single file– Fonts– Format– Pictures– Text

• Works on any computer with reader• Standardizes your document• Work on WWW and as attachments

Postscript files

• Will print on any postscript printer

• Do not need program to output data

• Print to file

• Make sure you know what kind of printer you are dealing with

PNG – GIF – JPG - TIF

General rules

• Scan a photo as a .tiff file

• For web pictures, use .jpg

• For print pictures, use .tiff or vector format at a minimum of 300 dpi

• When possible, scan/save the picture at the size to be used – 300 dpi will look poor if enlarged

RGB Color

• Red-green-blue

• Monitors and scanners determine level of the three to put on a pixel

• Light directly into the eye = cannot look the exact on paper

• Out of gamut (cannot be printed in CMYK format)

CMYK Mode

• Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Key (black)• Commercially output documents or special

printers– Four-color printing– Process colors

• Color bounces off object and onto your eye• Get a process book or color guide to select

(Pantone, Tru-Match, Agfa)

Comparing the two

• RGB have smaller file sizes

• RGB has some features that the other does not

• Convert between the modes at the end or you will lose information

Understanding resolution

• Resolved to our eyes = realism and accuracy

• Printer = DPI

• Monitor = bit depth (colors displayable)– 72 ppi is good enough for electronic photos

Understanding pixels

• Picture elements (dots) per inch

• Standard monitor displays 640 by 480 pixels– 640 by 480– 1024 by 768

• More pixels requires more RAM, which may mean lower bit depth

Enlarging with pixels