The Art of photography

WhattheCameraSees

TheVisual

ElementsinCombination

Shape,form,pattern,textureandcolor

arefundamentalelementsofphotogra-

phy

—andconceptsthathelptoexplain

howpicturesworkandhowtomakethem

better.Butintheworldasseenthrough

a

cameraviewfinder,thescenecomposed

entirelyoftextures,orsolelyoffieldsof

colororflatshapes,orofanyisolatedvi-

sualelement,isarareoneindeed.

Farmorelikely,the

sceneundercon-

siderationwillcontainmostofthoseba-

sicelements,andmayexhibitseveral

of
themprominently.Thephotographer

thenmustdecidewhetherhewishes
to

isolateany
oneoftheelementsortore-

cordtheminsomecombination.Hemust

basehisdecisiononhis
judgmentof

whatitisaboutthesubjectthatmakes

himwanttotakeitspicture,andhow

that

elementorthoseelementscanbemade

toevokeasimilarresponseintheviewer

ofthefinishedphotograph.

Whetherhecomes

to

hisdecisionintu-

itivelyorthroughdeliberateanalysis,he

mustdeterminewhichelementshelpthe

picture,

andwhichhinderit.Foranypic-

ture,thebestcombinationofelements

willbeirreducible

—

theminimumthatwill

expressthephotographer'ssenseofthe

subject.Thepicturehere

and

thoseon

thefollowingpagesevincesuchacom-

bination—onethatrespectsthepossible

visualcomplexities,yetatthesametime

paresawayallbuttheessentials.

Gracefulform,blazingcolorandasharply

delineatedshape combineinthisstriking

pictureof

wind-sculpted

dunesundulatingacrossthe

Sahara.Lateafternoon'sstrongcrosslighting

accentuatesthecontoursofthedunes,which

createaseriesofangularforms

dominatedbythe

pointedtriangle

thatopensintotheorangeglow

ofthenearestdune.Thesand'sadvancingcolor

approacheslikewavesofheat,while

thesky's

recedingblue,

deepenedwiththeaidofapolarizing

filter,appearsinfinitelydistantandcool