question/musings on composition

[atlcruiser]

Check out Michael A Smith. He revels in items filling the sides of his photos. In particular, check out his Chicago series and his Tuscanny work.

[Shen45]

Great topic for discussion and viewing. Thanks Merg and Kirk - excellent examples. The Stravinsky portrait is a very famous example. Anyone have anymore as these types of images are challenging images to view. To me they feel "unsettled" but I very much enjoy the pull to leave the frame and stay within it at the same time.

[Ken Lee]

Winter Sunrise from Lone Pine
Ansel Adams, 1944

[Brian K]

Two of my very favorite images in this thread, Stravinsky and Winter Sunrise.

For me Winter Sunrise works because of the horse. I've seen better images of Whitney, more interesting skies, but the horse and that highlighting around it just makes this image so special.

I have an image," Sailboat, Surfer, Submarine" which is a bit cornball for me because it has a sunset in it. However I shot it because of the fortunate lineup of the sailboat and surfers with the Sun. That was a fortuitous arrangement in itself. But when I blew up the image I also discovered something previously un-noticed by me, a nuclear sub coming out of Pearl Harbor. This detail, near the horizon on the right side of the image is easily overlooked, especially on the internet sized images, and is still somewhat subtle on a print. But it seems to bring surprise and amusement to those that notice it. Prior to that most people assumed the addition of "submarine" to the title was a tongue in cheek joke, like that of a ocean scenic devoid of any apparent vessels being called "Submarine Races". I think people enjoy finding, to coin a gamer's term, "easter eggs" in an image.

The addition of this element well away from the center adds a bit of asymmetry to an otherwise very centric image.

[neil poulsen]

I can't find a copy on the internet, but there's an Edward Weston photograph of Tenaya Lake whose composition includes a log near the top of the photograph. While not obvious at first, the shape of the log duplicates a portion of the lake.

After studying the image for a moment, it occurred to me that this was the point of the photograph.

[Ken Lee]

Marblehead, Massachusetts
Arca Swiss Discovery, 240mm Fujinon A
4x5 Kodak TMY, D-76

Here's something along these lines, from a few years back.

[h2oman]

Kirk and Merg,

Nice examples.

Brian,

I always wondered where the submarine was! I went back and found it, but it is sure hard to see on the web image, as you said.

[tgtaylor]

Top.

Why is it there? I thought it belonged.

Thomas

[sun of sand]

I think you're thinking more
hidden interest/secret garden
than asymmetrical balance

but I'd say it's difficult to "hide" something in a very symmetrical world

asymmetrical balance isn't that far from the rule of thirds

of course it isn't
because all composition is
is balance

no "gimmicks"
I'd say if you call it that you ought to put your camera in the closet
It's all gimmicks then

[Richard Mahoney]

So now I finally get to the point: does anyone know of examples of this in photography? That is, putting something of major interest on the edge of a photo, cutting it off partially or almost entirely? Have any of you tried this?

In general I find myself uncomfortable standing directly square of something and almost always find myself cutting things off. Here I was concentrating mostly on the space between the near two handles:





Best,

Richard