The Art of photography

yondthe

ordinaryusesoffilmandprinting

paperbysandwiching

negativesfor

compositepictures,creating

photogramswithoutcameraor

lens,orimposing

variousothersortsof

organizationonhiswork.

Suchbasic

mattersestablishthebroadframework

ofdesigninphotography.

They,like

thepainter'spaletteand

canvas,determinewhatcanbe

donenext

increating

apicture.Withinthis

framework,thephotographerstill

hasanenor-

mousnumberofdesign

optionsfororganizingthevisual

componentstopro-

ducetheeffect

hewants.

Bychanging

hiscameraangleorwalking

aroundasubject,hecanexercise

greatcontroloverwhatwillappearin

thepictureandhowitwillbearranged

—

choosingabackground,for

instance,orestablishinganewrelationship

be-

tweentwoobjects

bymakingthemlookclosertogetherthan

theyreallyare.

Theselectionof

alensallowshimtocontrolthe

effectofperspectiveandalter

therelative

sizesofnearandfarobjects,

aswellastheamountofmaterial

includedinthepicture.(Awide-angle

lensmightbeplacedclosetoapiano

player'shandstomake

themseemdisproportionatelylarge;a long

lenscan

makecarsin

a

traffic

jamseemcrammedtogether

by

rendering

themalmost

the

samesize.)Byadjustingthelensaperture,the

photographercaneither

keepalmost everypartofapictureinsharp

focusorextinguishsomeunwant-

edelementinavaporousblur.

Bychoosingtheappropriateshutterspeed,

he

canfreeze

a

moving

objectinonespotorcauseittodrawastreak

ofcolor

across

thepicture.Throughhischoiceoflighting,hecancontrol

thebright-

nessofascene,itsshadows,andwhatis

disclosedorobscured.Eachof

thesedecisionshelpsdeterminewhich

componentstheviewerwillseeina

situationandhowimportant

theywillseemtohim.Theyhelpsetthedesign.

Thislistof

techniques(bynomeansexhaustive)indicatesonlyhowapho-

tographercanimposeastructureonhisimage—andimmediately

raisesthe

questionofwhatthatarrangementshouldbe.Thereisno

all-purposeanswer,

forthedeploymentofelementsin

apicturedependsontheintentionofthe

photographerandon

thetechniquesthatareavailabletohim.Butinstrivingfor

effectivecommunication,hecanexploitcertaindesignprinciplesthathave

beenknowntoartistsforcenturiesandarestillusefulguides.Familiarity

with

theseprincipleshelpsdeterminethewaytheviewer

interpretsrelationships

betweenthevisualingredientsin

a

picture.It

istherelationships,ratherthan

theseparateingredients,thatmainlyinfluence thewaytheviewerperceives

thepictureanddetermineitssuccessasadesign

Viewingapicture,peoplewillnotedifferencesorsimilaritiesamongits

parts—variationsinshape,texture,form,color,size,orientationand

perhapsa

numberofothercharacteristics,depending
on

thetraining

andpatienceof

eachviewer.Dueto

thedifferencesorsimilarities

thatareperceived,theparts

seemtogainavisualequivalentofweight,andtheymakethepictureseem