Photo of the Week - Week 18

When I compose my photos, particularly with landscapes, the goal is to draw the viewer in. I want the viewer to feel like they are in the scene, that they are there or have been there. At the bazaar I sold at earlier this month, that was one of the comments I heard about some of my photos - that people felt like they were there or could step into the image to be there. Hearing that was very gratifying - it meant that I had achieved my goal; with some of my photos, at least.

How to accomplish this? I'm no expert, but I have a few ideas of how I at least try to draw a viewer into an image.

Let's walk through the below image, which I took in Papallacta, Ecuador not too long ago.

Camera Info
Shutter Speed: 0.4s
Aperture: F22
ISO: 100
Lens: Tamron 17-50mm
Focal Length: 34mm

First, have a goal that you are leading the viewer towards. In this case, it's a chair near the rear of the image.

Second, leading lines. Lines in an image direct our gaze and tell us where to look. We have a pathway that winds us towards the goal - the chair - in the back.

Third, lighting. In the above example, the lighting is a combination of natural and post-processing. The area of vegetation and trees was naturally dark while the area by the chair naturally light. I heightened this just a bit by selectively under-exposing the periphery of the image and leaving the pathway up to the chair not as dark. In retrospect, I should have lightened more of the area around the chair to heighten this effect a bit more - the area above the chair remained a little too dark.

Fourth, composition. The above image places the focal goal - the goal - roughly on intersecting lines, one-third of the way down from the top and one-third of the way from the left of the image.

So, those are a few of my thoughts on composition and leading the viewer into an image. Again, just a few ideas I keep in mind when composing and creating an image!