Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: Redcrown on January 24, 2016, 12:54:31 pm
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A small group of local club photographers argued over which of these similar images has the strongest composition. What are your thoughts. Not looking for edits or re-crops, just comments on composition and your reasoning.
Thanks.
(https://kellyphoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZB5g7tf/0/O/i-ZB5g7tf.jpg)
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Are you second guessing the judges? I would argue that C has strongest composition. Those tire tracks only create unnecessary business and hold the eye where there is little interest. C has a simple line/wall-walkway, to guide the eye, and the horizontal yellow members creates rhythm and resting points for the eyes- a nice flow. All those elements have been reduced or eliminated in A and B.
JR
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Thank you. I'm not second guessing "judges". Just a small group of experienced amateurs who sometimes critique each other's work. Actually, a group of old WASPs. With this example I was struck by the wide ranging opinions. Just wanted some additional, and perhaps more diverse, analysis.
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A is too cluttered. C is too symmetric. I prefer B.
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For me it's B
The three trees offer a second curve to the composition - in A the tree branches are disruptive, and in C the line of trees is too regressed. However I agree with John that the tyre tracks are distracting. I guess that is the difference between composition and pictorial details.
I've even tried to imagine what 'A' would be like without the offending branches but still think B wins it - maybe it is the other line offered by the snow-covered wall
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B.
I get the scale of what I'm looking at and the composition looks the most natural.
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So far you seem to have one vote for C and three votes for B.
The correct answer is... (ripping open the envelope...)
A!
C is so simple as to be boring.
B has that strange rectangular thing at the bottom that might be a truck or some kind of very narrow building, but I can't tell what it is, and the tire tracks are partly cut off, which I find annoying.
A, on the other hand, shows the essential parts of the tire tracks, which are the most interesting item in any of the three images.
Well, you did ask for diversity of opinion. ;)
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Are you second guessing the judges? I would argue that C has strongest composition. Those tire tracks only create unnecessary business and hold the eye where there is little interest. C has a simple line/wall-walkway, to guide the eye, and the horizontal yellow members creates rhythm and resting points for the eyes- a nice flow. All those elements have been reduced or eliminated in A and B.
JR
+1
Thierry
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A futile exercise? Why? Because none of us was there which means we don't know what was outside of the frame. If we knew what was outside of the frame then it might mean there was something that could have made the image stronger?
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Thanks for the feedback. FWIW, here's the feedback I received from the local group. They viewed the images on a laptop by cycling through them individually, not as a side-by-side triptych as shown here.
Zero votes for A, two votes for B, 8 votes for C.
This from a group of old white males. Mostly gearheads, but with vast experience. I don't think any have formal training in art or photography, but most are well read and self-taught.
Comments on A: Too busy. Too many elements, none have central focus. Tree branch in lower right is very distracting. Tree branches can extend out of frame, but should never extend into frame.
Comments on B: Still too much competition between elements. Walkway, tire tracks, tree line, neither becomes the "subject". One fan of B argued that a strong curve element should originate in a frame corner. The other B fan said it had better "balance" between the elements. He did not like the blank snow-on-grass in C (frame left) taking up so much of the space.
Comments on C: The curved walkway is clearly the central focus. The horizontal lines in frame left lead the eye into center. The small detail top right keep the eye from wandering out of frame. The trees are less dominant and the tire tracks are gone, thus removing competition for the main element.
One comment was interesting: He said, "A is a picture of snow, B is a picture of a courtyard, C is a picture of a walkway."
I was struck by the differences in what they fixated on as important. I posted here hoping to get more diversity. But from names and profiles, still looks like an all male group. I wonder what women would say.
And for stamper - you are absolutely correct. There was a nude sunbathing on a blanket just outside frame left. If she was included there would be no argument over strongest composition. But then, the post would have been deleted by moderators.
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A small group of local club photographers argued over which of these similar images has the strongest composition. What are your thoughts. Not looking for edits or re-crops, just comments on composition and your reasoning.
Thanks.
(https://kellyphoto.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZB5g7tf/0/O/i-ZB5g7tf.jpg)
This is a very interesting exercise because the appreciation of composition lies at the heart of our response to an image so often. It would seem that there is a slight polarisation to image C but I'm intrigued bu the concerns that a "WASP' panel has a homogenous view. woiuld be very interesting to see if age or gender made a difference. I suspect not but a Psych student might like this as a workshop project?
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"To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravity before going for a walk" Edward Weston
I think C is the strongest composition of the three, but the composition could have been improved
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"C" for sure IMO. A is too busy, B cuts off the tire tracks (well, OK, A does too). C is simple and relatively uncluttered. Now I know you didn't ask, but none of these are particularly remarkable photos and it's sort of like asking "which is the least bad." .
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I vote for "C" for it's simplicity.
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"To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravity before going for a walk" Edward Weston
I think C is the strongest composition of the three, but the composition could have been improved
Great quote from EW. Thanks, Walt.
Eric
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My preference is in reverse alphabetical order.
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We have a curved line and four intersecting straight lines in here. Those are the elements of interest. "C" shows them the most. A better composition would have been to move them even further to the right, so the curved line almost touches the edge of the frame.
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"C" is very conservative; everything is neat, uncluttered, as it "should" be. It is "safe" as it doesn't break any rules. So, compositionally, it's the "strongest". It's understandable that it would be the photo of choice for a bunch of old WASPs as you call them.
"A" is avante garde; it forces you to think, ask questions, interact with the photograph. And the tire tracks create the potential for a story. Because of this, A is the stronger photograph.
"B" is on the fence. It edges towards the avante garde, but doesn't quite make it.
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"C" is very conservative; everything is neat, uncluttered, as it "should" be. It is "safe" as it doesn't break any rules. So, compositionally, it's the "strongest". It's understandable that it would be the photo of choice for a bunch of old WASPs as you call them.
"A" is avante garde; it forces you to think, ask questions, interact with the photograph. And the tire tracks create the potential for a story. Because of this, A is the stronger photograph.
"B" is on the fence. It edges towards the avante garde, but doesn't quite make it.
Thank you, Terry!
As so often, once again you express what I was thinking better than I could.
-Eric
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I prefer the entrance and the exit of the walkway in C. In A and B, the walkway seems to be intruding into the frame rather than being a part of the composition. In composition C, both the entrance and exit and the arc of the walkway plainly make it a part of the composition.