CREATIVE CONNECTIONS

Go beyond the basics to help tell a story with your shots

THE basic rules governing the positioning of objects and focal points are great for many shooting situations, but they can only give a bare structure to images. Thinking about how the different areas, objects and subjects in the picture interact with each other and add to the story will enable you to go beyond simply where to position them in the frame.

These connections are sometimes obvious and literal, such as a line or an object linking two areas of the frame, but can also be more ephemeral, such as using similar shapes or subjects to add to the story. It can also involve using two strikingly different subjects or colours to create a contrast to add impact or even conflict to the narrative of the image.

When you are thinking about these connections and contrasts, it’s also worth considering how we normally ‘read’ an image. In western cultures, most people read from left to right, so this corresponds to the way that we will tend to look at images. This means that the distribution of elements in an image from left to right is normally more pleasing to these cultures than right to left. Obviously, the opposite is true in other cultures, though, which can influence how they react and read an image.

1 Leading lines

The two curved roads leading from the bottom-left and centre-left of the image create strong leading lines towards the middle of the image. These are intersected by the strong diagonal from right to left, enabling the viewer to create their own visual pathways into the image.

2 Vertical obstacles

The main diagonal line leads out of the frame, but this has been countered by the strong vertical lines of the building on the left-hand side. This barrier prevents your eye following the road out of this side of the frame, and encourages your view to return back into the central area of the image.

3 Focal point

This brightly lit tower creates a perfect focal point because it is located at the end of the strong diagonal line of the road. This means that as you follow this line, your eye naturally rests here for a while before you move on to take in the rest of the image.

4 Vertical lines

The horizon is broken up by the vertical lines of the towers and buildings. These verticals make you take more time to explore the shapes and details of the different areas around the centre of the image, rather than simply following the horizon out of the image to the right.

5 Blurred clouds

The blurring of the clouds creates a subtle counterpoint to the stronger leading lines of the roads in the bottom of the frame, as they create opposing diagonal lines to lead you back to the main focal points of the buildings in the centre of the image.

6 Strong diagonal

The strong diagonal line created by the largest road from the bottom right to the left leads your eye across the whole frame, enabling you to then scan across the focal points of the buildings. This ends in a gentle curve, to draw you back into the frame.