So, welcome back to From Brand to Image.
We're going to continue talking about the language of images.
And now, we're going to talk about the use of composition.
Now, composition is a very important technique.
It's critical in telling the story.
The best way to think of composition is what do I
want in my photo and what do I want to leave out or my photo?
The important thing here is to really focus on
the most essential thing because anything that is in the photo that
doesn't help you to tell your story is superfluous
and it's actually going to confuse and distract the viewer.
The other thing we think about when we think about composition is the point of view.
In other words, what is the angle that I'm using to shoot the photo?
Where am I shooting the photo from?
And how does that help to tell the story?
So, let's look at some examples.
This is a photo by one of my students.
It's a fabulous photo.
And what you can see in this particular image is that the composition of the photo,
it really becomes much less about the structure itself and more about
all of the lines and how all of the lines interact and play with each other.
And what you can see is that she's used symmetry here as well.
But what happens is, by leaving
all the other information out of the photo and just focusing on the most essential part,
it's very clear to the viewer what the photo is about.
So, here's another example.
In this photo, what we see is that we're using the bokeh to focus our eyes here.
But the other thing is that by allowing all of this space into the photo,
what it does is it tells us that she's in this environment,
she's in this beautiful seaside environment,
but her eye is focused here.
And therefore, the composition is really about her,
but it's about her kind of disappearing into her own little world.
Right? Let's look at another example.
Here, the composition by juxtaposing the sort of
the craziness of these two guys jumping up onto this wall,
with this almost unaware man who's walking down the street.
What we do is we're juxtaposing
these two ideas and the composition of the photo leaves everything else out,
so that it really just focuses our eye on the story that's being told.
So, here's a photo of Belén Rueda,
who's a Spanish actress.
Again, this was shot for Chocrón Joyeros.
So, what we see in this particular composition is that in addition to
using the rule of thirds to focus our eye where we want it to go in the photo,
what we've done is we've left all of this empty space here using
the lines of the chairs to tell us that she's alone in the cinema.
It tells us the story about her maybe after hours she's gone and she's put on a movie,
she's watching it by herself.
Right? So, in this particular photo,
if you had composed the photo only putting her in the center,
then we might have the idea that maybe there are more people.
But by using this particular composition,
we're able to tell the story.
The other thing obviously here is the use of color because
the only thing in the photo that really pops out of
the photo that's a different color is the watch,
which in this case is the product which is being advertised.
In this particular composition,
this is an interesting one I think because this photo of Susanna Griso.
She's a Spanish journalist,
what happens here is that the airplane is in the photo.
We see all of this information by composing the photo in such a way.
But by using a lower angle of view,
in other words, rather than shooting it from her eye level,
by shooting it lower,
what we're doing is we're actually making her larger than the plane.
So, she becomes the protagonist.
If we had shot it with her at more at an eye level view,
the plane would have been more dominant in the photo.
And therefore, it would have been a story more about the plane and less about her.
Here's another example and I think this is a great example of
composition because what happens in this photo is that,
the photo is cut off.
So, we don't see the land that the photographer is standing on.
The water starts right from the edge of the photo and what that
does is it gives us this sense of expense and openness.
And so, the boat which obviously using color here to tell
us that the boat is ready for us to go out and explore.
So, you can imagine if the same photo was shot with land showing in front of it,
it wouldn't have given us that same story.
So, composition is critical.
Here, Tamara Rojo, she's a ballerina with the London Royal Ballet.
She's in the middle of the photo.
So, she is obviously the protagonist.
But what we've done here is that
the sun which is shining onto her and her leaning towards the sun,
it really becomes a story about her and the light.
And it's almost as if she is the one who is
activating the light by using the composition and the color in this way.
In this particular photo,
this is Samantha España,
Samantha Vallejo-Nágera, who's a Spanish chef.
What happens in this photo is that by composing the photo from the bulls perspective,
we're being told it's almost like we're the bull.
And so, her eye is almost looking at us.
Right? So, by shooting the photo from this particular point of view,
the composition is telling us that story.
If you imagine the same photo being shot, for example,
from the side where you can see the bull and her,
it would tell a completely different story.
So, you can see how composition is used in this important way.
In this particular photo which was shot for Last Wave,
it's a Spanish brand,
what we see is that the three guys are obviously looking at her.
And that's what the story tells us.
In other words, she is the sort of the principal aspect of the photo,
the principal element of the photo.
And by placing the composition in such a way,
we are able to invent this story.
All right. Again, same thing here.
But what happens here is slightly different.
What's interesting is that by using this line in the photo,
the composition creates two environments.
In other words, here we have the guy with his dog, relaxed.
He is completely unaware of this crazy situation that is going on over here.
And the light is helping us here as well because as you can see,
the light here is slightly different than it is here.
And so, it creates almost these two environments within one photo.
Again, composition.
So, here's a great example of composition.
I love this photo,
the winning move in a chess match.
And the composition is brilliant,
because it tells the entire story.
The piece is falling over,
the piece is being placed,
but the composition is such that using bokeh,
we can still see our chess champion,
the eyes of the chess champion in the background.
So, it's very carefully,
very crafted composition and anything that's superfluous to the photo is left out.
It's only focused on exactly the elements that we want to tell.
So, here's a photo of Fernando Torres,
the football player in London in Piccadilly Circus.
And what the composition does here is again,
it creates these two environments.
So, you have the environment: the safe environment
inside of the car with the warm light and then,
outside, you have this other environment with this cold light,
this sort of the cold dangerous city with all of the movement.
And so, by creating these two environments,
the composition has allowed us to create these two worlds.
This by the way is shot with a wide-angle lens,
which is why we're able to get so much information into one photo.
Brian HallettAssociate Professor
