The S-Curve: Composition's Secret Weapon

Nature in all of its forms offers the photographer an unending array of photographic events. Capturing nature effectively can often prove to be an elusive endeavor, but we keep trying, keep pursuing the art of photography until at last we discover that one magical moment. Composition plays a vital role in being able to capture magical moments and effectively using composition to portray your vision can be influenced by some basic understandings like using one of natures secret weapons; The S-Curve.

Taken using a disposable 35mm film Camera

The S-curve in a scenic landscape serves to move the eye, to lock it into what is important. It leads the viewer toward what you the photographer wants them to see. When anchored between blocking compositional elements such as a darkened treeline or a distant ridge or even a shadowed hillside, the S-curve then becomes the most important part of the image. Those blocking elements serve to keep the eye from wandering off the page so the story line then becomes more condensed and is no longer simply a portion of what you are seeing, it becomes the main focus of why you are even looking.

S-curves can be bold and dominant, or more subtle and suggestive. Regardless, they serve to take your eye into the image. They can provide a platform upon which the remainder of the composition resides.  It is important to include them with other strong elements that compliment the reason the S-curve is there. Other building blocks serve to frame the image to isolate the importance of the curve. You the photographer must then position yourself in the most advantageous location to take advantage of the natural flow of the curve.

Light can also influence the nature of the S-curve. Used effectively, you can actually create a curve that may or may not be all that noticeable. Blended with blocking shadows and framing elements, then allowing the light to glow across the image toward the viewer is an effective way to render how S-curves tell the story.

It takes an experienced eye to see past the chaotic distractions and to focus in on what is important. Visualization is key here, where using your knowledge of how the camera captures light, you are able to generate the desired emotional balance that so effectively stops a viewer and keeps their eyes on the story you wanted to express.

Over time the process become instinctive and you feel the situation as much as you see it. You begin to look beyond the obvious and drill into the sublime to see the finished product before you ever take the shot.

When this begins to happen, you pass beyond accepting the ordinary to dwell within a realm where creating the extraordinary becomes a part of why you are a photographer. Using natures secret weapon, the S-curve, just makes life as a photographer a little bit softer.

Evaluating Your Own Photo's - Passing the "Eye Test"

I am probably my own worst critic when it comes to evaluating the photographs I've taken and that is probably a good thing for the most part. I am constantly looking deeper into an image to identify what works and what does not work. By doing so, I feel like I've gained a great deal of discernment about what makes a great photograph. Along the way I've also learned just how wide of a gap exists between what I think vs what other people think. Although I do value evaluations from others, I don't always agree with them simply because they were not there working under the conditions at the time and they simply do not know what your intent was in creating the photo. Those things do affect the image. So, critically evaluating your own photos becomes even more important and doing so helps you recognize what works for you, and that after all is what is most important.

Taking time to critically evaluate your own photos will often reveal inadequacies in your technique especially the lighting, but it also includes composition issues. Evaluating your photo's can take any number of paths, however what I find most useful is to ask myself two questions.

1. What works with this photo.
2. What doesn't work.

Then I begin to drill into the image breaking it into components and separately evaluating the merits of the different segments. By using this simple approach you will be able to focus in on what is important. The answers to these two questions will certainly vary with each image, but, one answer I always avoid is to simply say, "I just like this picture." An answer like that does nothing to improve your critical eye. Even so, every image must pass the "Eye Test" first even before you begin to drill down into the merits of the image. If it doesn't pass that preliminary eye test, well...maybe you should move on to another image.

Let's take a closer look at the photo above and try to answer these questions, just to give you an idea of how it might be done. Of course everyone is different, but the idea here is to develop and improve your own critical evaluation tools.

What works with this photo?  

First of all, let's look at the "Eye Test". Their expressions work very well here. Mother and Daughter show a genuine connection to each other through their embrace and by doing so they are projecting a positive connection to those who might view the image. They both have nice genuine smiles and do not appear to be overly "posed". The background is plain and does not interfere with the overall composition, and there appears to not be any overly glaring elements that stand out. To me, it passes the eye test. 

From a technical point of view...The lighting is pretty good (Two speedlights were used). They are well lit with no extra glare coming off the mothers glasses. The whites show detail as do the darks and midtones...and there is a good range of whites, midtones, and darks scattered across the composition. The back lighting is soft and not overwhelming but just enough to provide some highlights across their hair which helps to separate them from the background. The focus is on them with the background just out of focus. Compositionally, they are spaced slightly to one side within the frame and they appear as a natural fit within the frame as well.

What doesn't work?

The Eye Test...I would prefer the mothers hand which is spread out and lying across the top of one of the large rocks, would not be so widely spaced. It should be more curved inward and lying naturally on the rock instead of looking like it is supporting her arm. There is also a bit of a "Hot Spot" in the upper left which could distract the eye away from the main subjects. However it is somewhat balanced by the whiteness of their tops and the softer middle values of the rocks especially on the lower right.

From a technical point of view...Overall it is good, not much I see technically from this image that distracts from the image except their faces are a little soft and the eyes are not quite as sharp as they should be. This is possibly caused by the Gaussian Blur that was added to the image and then removed across the faces. The GB is what created that softer background look...a nice addition but can create a too soft look if not carefully applied. 

So...you get an idea of the thought process I go through when I evaluate an image. All of the Positives tend to be strong elements but always can be improved, while all of the negatives are easily corrected. It is a matter of applying what you learn from an exercise like this to your shooting in the field next time. It is something you must make a conscious effort to do at first and eventually you will begin to instinctively see these things before they happen. This technique can be applied to any kind of photograph, so give it a try sometime.

Eliminate Confused Seeing - Carry Your Theme All the Way Through the Image

Ansel Adams, one of America's greatest photographers, once provided some critical insight about one of his earlier photographs. He called it a product of "Confused Seeing". His critical insight focused on how the theme of the photograph was not clear...there were too many competing elements with one particular element providing a distraction to the overall impact of the image. Oddly enough, this is a common problem for all photographers, even experienced ones. Sometimes we get so caught up looking, we fail to spend time seeing what is there.

Composition is a workshop-required element of photography and a simple blog post such as this will never provide enough space to cover all of the intricacies of the subject. However we can take a look at the concept of carrying your theme all the way through you image.

First of all, one of the most important elements of a composition is to create a theme for the image. Simply put, the theme is what the image is about. As a photographer you are attempting to show the viewer why this moment was important to you. Capturing it then requires you concentrate the composition in such a way as to eliminate all of the distractions that might interfere with the viewer being able to interpret what you are presenting to them visually.

The photo above is a good example of how a theme is carried all the way through the image. There are no distractions, everything in the image is there for a reason, and everything falls into place. It is also a good example of simplicity. There are just three elements here, the sky, the background hill, and the water reflection. Even the colors compliment each other. It is no coincidence how simplicity and carrying a theme all the way through tend to define the subject.

The photograph on the right is a good example of "Confused Seeing". On the surface it carries an element of appeal. I saw something here that warranted a second look, however, the capture fell well short of what I wanted. There are so many competing elements it is difficult to focus in on what the theme is suppose to represent. Is it the tree(s)? Is it the rocks? Is it the Misty haze? Certainly it is not the light as it is flat and bland. Hard to tell on each of these points.

The difficult part is learning how to see. Simply looking at a scene, like I did with this one, is not enough. You must observe beyond that confused instinct and focus in what is truly important. Ask yourself, "What is capturing my attention? Where does my eye want to go"? More often than not if you can answer those two questions, you will be able to discover the best theme from that moment.  The trick then is to focus in and create a composition that captures that theme. You may have to move around, change lenses, change your angle or camera orientation. You might even have to wait on the light, or even come back another day when the conditions change. There are risks doing so, however most of the time your trained instincts will prove correct and with better light you will capture a more powerful image.

The photo below is a good example of how to focus in on a single element. It is just a part of a fallen tree limb that fell into a pond. My confused instincts wanted to capture the whole pond and the entire tree limb. Needless to say, the first attempts at doing so fell well short of expectations. Then I stopped for a moment and asked myself what stands out...where does my eye want to go? The answer was this photograph. I used a longer focal length lens to compress the image, to isolate the main subject and blur the background, but I used the continuity of the green background to help provide a soft contrast and frame the tree limb. The theme of the moment was carried all the way through and the basics of photography combined with focused seeing resulted in a nice photograph.

Eliminating Confused Seeing requires time and practice to perfect. It is one of those intangible elements of becoming a better photographer we all must learn how to apply through trial and error. Simply knowing about the concept helps, yet you must take the time to look beyond what your "Confused Instincts" tells you to do, to train yourself to utilize a more focused portion of seeing photographically.