Learning to See: Finding Foreground

When we're on location, we spend a lot of time looking for foreground. We're looking for something more interesting than scrub or gravel. We want to convey a sense of location - not just distant, untouchable beauty... but the feeling that you are a part of this place. You can feel the air on your skin, reach out and touch it, walk into it. We want you to feel that this place is right in front of you. You are standing there experiencing it in person. Maybe that's asking a bit much from a photograph, but we do try. :)

The above photo is from Snowmass Wilderness in Colorado. We spent hour wandering these beautiful hillsides - looking for foreground in a place that offered stunning beauty, but not much foreground. I used the interesting bark of the tree to give the viewer a sense of the texture of the bark. When you know how that papery, white bark looks and feels, you gain a deeper understanding of the place. That's my theory, anyway.

I think that if you can get up close and personal, your brain interprets the image more fully. You start to feel the textures in the bark, the warmth of the sun on your face - you know these sensations, and when you see a photograph, memory mingles with vision to evoke a response. This shot from the everglades in Florida is entirely different from the last one. When you look at a photo, do you take the time to let the sensations of the place sink in? The dry grass crackling underfoot, the wind rattling in the trees, the light filtering through heavy thunderheads. And does the foreground in this shot help draw you in?
And what about shooting in locations that seem similar to one another? Is one desert just like the next? Sand, tumbleweed, dune... how do I convince you that you haven't this this desert before? The sky - lovely as it is - doesn't tell you a thing about where you are. The distant mountains are indistinct... it's the foreground that gives you a sense of place.This is Utah's beautiful desert (above). And this one is in California's Death Valley National Park.
And this is Arizona. Foreground isn't always necessary - but it can be an important defining element. Get creative! Invite the viewer to step into your mind and see through your eyes.

Does finding a foreground element and composing an image come naturally to you? Or do you struggle to include foreground details in your photos? Do you have suggestions or tips for other photographers? Comments are always welcome. Maybe others can learn from your experience!

What makes the image effective?

Our Composition and Perception webinar is coming up! This is a brand new, two-hour course on making your images more effective using principles and theories of perception, and traditional rules of composition.

Here's the information you'll need if you do decide to join us - click on the link for details and registration:

Composition and Perception Webinar
www.regonline.com/composition
March 14, 2010
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (EST)
$49 per person

As always - RECORDED sessions will be available to students who can not attend the live webinar.

Take a look at the photograph at the top of the post- these are the mud flats at the Mequite Dunes in Death Valley National Park, CA. I've used the gestalt principles of similarity and proximity here - as well as the rule of thirds for the placement of the horizon line and the moon.
This second shot is also from the mesquite dunes - again, the rule of thirds is pretty obvious in this shot... though I chose not to use it for the placement of the horizon. During processing, I tried to make sure that the foreground bush was clearly delineated from the sand behind it... allowing it to take it's place as "figure" in the composition. Sky and sand need to seem separate, but related - and in this case, they work together to create the "ground" part of the figure/ground relationship. Color is a pretty important element of this shots as well - and that's something else we'll be talking about on March 14.
This last shot was taken near Badwater - also in Death Valley. Texture is, perhaps, the most important element here - but notice the leading lines as well. Color is a very subtle element of the image - and because the focus is on texture, this image is an excellent candidate for black and white conversion. The salt flats and the dunes are an incredible place to work on composition.

It's tough to go too deeply into concepts like these in a blog post - but I wanted to give you a basic idea of what we'll be talking about in this upcoming webinar. If you are interested, take a look at the link. We hope you'll join us!

Webinar: Composition and Preception

We've had so much interest in our presentations and short posts on composition and perception that we've decided to put together a webinar. We'll be talking about the "rules" of composition, and the Gestalt principles of human perception. We'll show lots of examples, and discuss how we use the rules of composition and knowledge of the Gestalt principles to create more effective images.

We're offering Early Bird Pricing for anyone who signs up before February 15th, so if you are interested, sign up right away.

Registration:
https://www.regonline.com/composition

• Cost: $39.00 (before 2/15/10), $49.00 (on or after 2/15/10)
  

• Location: Online
• Date: 3/14/10
• Time: 1:00 PM EST - 3:00 PM EST

• Participant Limit: 20

I have to admit, we're a bit excited about this new offering. This is a really fun subject to teach! We hope you will be able to join us!

Gestalt - Proximity Principle

Previous posts on this subject:
Gestalt Figure/Ground Articulation
Similarity Principle

The proximity principle states that objects which are closer together will be seen as belonging together. Take a look at the picture below:Most people will perceive two groups of shapes, rather than sixteen individual circles. We can see the individual shapes, of course, but our brains process them as two distinct groups. The principle holds true even when the shapes in the group have nothing in common with one another. The unrelated shapes in the picture below seem to be divided into two groups - simply because of their placement within the frame.
The gestalt principle points out the fact that we tend to perceive separate shapes as a unified whole because of their proximity to one another.

So - the principle is simple enough... but what about photography? How does the proximity principle apply to the composition of a photograph?

Take a look at this shot from Paria Canyon in Arizona.
Hundreds of small patches of mud make up the foreground shape you see here... and yet we are not overwhelmed by the complexity of the photo. In fact, the image feels quite simple. It seems to contain just two elements - the interesting foreground pattern of patched mud, and the unusual "windowed" walls of the canyon. Our brains group the individual elements into groups. In this case, the proximity principle is working hand-in-hand with the similarity principle I wrote about in an earlier post.

Here's another example of the proximity principle at work:
In this case, the two main elements of the piece (aside from the water and sky) share an obvious relationship - they are both rocks. However, because they are at a substantial distance from one another, they appear as two separate entities within the image. Here, it is the lack of proximity that separates them in our mind. Of course, that physical separation is amplified by the obvious lack of similarity as well. So in this case, the principles of similarity and proximity are working in reverse.

Now, take a look at the water in this shot. It is made up of silky lines of light and shadow... but we tend to perceive it as a single element in the image. Why? The water seems to create a continuous sheet because the water in the foreground is visually similar to the water in the distance. The similarity principle is at work here - and because there is no separation between foreground and distance, the proximity principle is in effect as well.

Photographers and other artists use these principles all the time - usually without even realizing they are doing it. Some artists have a hard time visualizing a 3-dimensional scene as a 2-dimensional image, and understanding gestalt principles like these can be helpful.

Gestalt - Similarity Principle

At the beginning of November, I wrote a bit about Gestalt Figure/Ground Articulation. If you haven't read that post, you might want to start there. :)

...How can we apply a basic understanding of perception to composition in photography?...

Let's take one principle at a time. The Similarity Principle states that we tend to see things with similar visual characteristics as belonging together. The image below illustrates the point...

Do you see a triangle in the image, above? Almost all of us do. And yet - there isn't one. The figure is entirely made up of circles and squares. Our minds do the rest. We see the individual elements as two separate parts - (remember "figure" and "ground" from my first post on gestalt?) - and that happens because of the similarity principle. The circles become one group, and the squares become a second group. Our brains process this collection of shapes as two distinct groups.

So, how does this apply to composition in photography? Take a look at the image below. Can you see the similarity principle at work?

The lines in the sandstone are similar to one another, so our eyes see them as part of a whole. Rather than individual elements, they become an interesting "ground" - a single element. And the leaf? It is dissimilar... and so it is not associated with the diagonal lines. It becomes "figure" because it is different.

How about something a bit more complex?

This shot is made up of thousands of individual elements. Each tiny flower, every blade of grass... countless trees in the distance... And yet, our brains are not overwhelmed. We process the image in groups made up of similar elements. The bright red flowers become a single group. The blues blend together - and though we distinguish between mountains, storm clouds, and hazy distance, the elements are perceived as one.

In this case, the image is broken into two parts - foreground and distance. And each of these two parts is broken down once more - into figure and ground. The sunbeams and the flowers are "figure", and the blue and green areas are "ground". The image is so much simpler when we break it down in this way!

Of course, most of us never take the time to consider this when we're looking at a photograph - and yet, our brains are constantly grouping and categorizing in this way.

More on gestalt principles another day! :)

Go to Gestalt - Proximity Principle

Gestalt - Figure/Ground Articulation

A pleasing composition begins with an understanding of how we see - and that leads us to the gestalt theories of perception. Gestalt - which is a German word literally meaning shape or form - is defined by Miraiam Webster as "a structure, configuration, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts." But what does that mean, exactly?

The whole is more than the sum of it's parts. An image is made up of individual elements - shapes, lines, colors, textures, etc. As the photographer, we can change the elements within an image - their placement, color, relative size, softness, and so on.

So - let's start with the most basic premise of Gestalt. Figure/Ground articulation simply states that we generally perceive our visual field as being divided into two parts - Figure and Ground.


Take a look at the figure above. The small green object seems more important than the larger blue figure. In this case, because it is smaller, and seems to be on top , the green shape has become "figure", while the blue shape has become "ground". In photography, the goal is often to separate figure from ground using compositional elements. Here's an example...


Here - the small, light colored circles are perceived as "figure", while the orange sandstone becomes ground. The distinct color and shape of these elements separate them in our minds.


The unusual ridged stone in the foreground becomes "figure" in the image above, while sky and rock become "ground". And in the image below, the beams of light are clearly "figure", even though some of the overlapping walls of the slot canyon are closer to the camera.


So - why do our brains separate elements in this way? How can we begin to understand why we see things the way we do? And how can we apply a basic understanding of perception to composition in photography?

I'll talk about this more in future posts. :) Stay tuned!

More gestalt:
Similarity Principle
Proximity Principle

Learning to See: Creative Compositions

As landscape photographers, we are trained to look for perfect light and stunning skies. We’re taught to shoot only during the golden hour, and only when the clouds are positively radiant with sunbeams. Most of us won’t even consider pulling out the camera when the sky is sunny and bright, or on hazy days when the image contrast is fairly low. Is this because there is nothing to shoot? Or are we just not looking at things creatively? Learning to see creatively is about thinking outside the box. Look for unusual lighting and unique composition. A different perspective can make all the difference in unfavorable conditions. And why not take it a step further? Creative processing techniques can bring out detail and interest that might get lost with more traditional methods.


One of the most common challenges for landscape photographers is capturing a unique image of an iconic location. “The Wave” in Arizona has been photographed by thousands, and it seems to have been shot from every angle many times over. Rather than taking standard shots, I forced myself to avoid the compositions that I had seen before. On this day, a pool of water filled the base of the wave. Bending down low, I noticed that I could fill a frame entirely with the wave and its reflection – creating an abstract composition that I had not seen before. I waited for the winds to calm down and took this shot under bright sunlight.
Tips for Creative Compositions

• Find a new location to shoot that icon
• Experiment with different zoom lenses
• Change elevation of your camera
• Get up close to focus on textures and patterns rather then location
• Use reflections if available
• Place a human or wildlife element in the photograph

Continued on Learning to See: Creative Compositions: Part II