Michael Freeman demonstrates the creative and aesthetic uses of triangles within your frame and composition
By using one of the simplest shapes in existence you can compose a striking frame of photography
Nto be confused with the Creative Triangle that I introduced at the beginning of the year. Working an implied triangle into an image is one of the most fundamental ideas in composition. Could it even be worthy of being called creative? There are degrees of creativity, from high-concept cutting-edge, back down to the delicate thoughtful touches that help set interesting photography apart from robotic snapshots. Implied triangles are near basic, but they also lend themselves to some more sophisticated uses that can add an extra layer to your compositions.
The basic premise, which makes triangles so accessible in composing an image, is they are the simplest of all shapes. Unless they’re in a straight line, any three prominent points make a triangle, and for an image that means any three self-contained objects in one frame. When I say ‘make’ it means that the human vision naturally tends to ‘see’ a triangular structure. That goes all the way back to the Gestalt principle of the brain wanting to put things in some kind of order. It’s a natural tendency, and something that’s easy to take advantage of when shooting. I’m titling this ‘quick-fix’ because it’s an idea you can often bring in to enhance a composition.
Waiting for triangles
In this street scene in the town of St. Pierre on the island of La Réunion, there was a certain amount of waiting. The process went like this: Bright primary colours are a feature of the island’s Creole culture, and this is one such old building. The squared-up view from across the street had possibilities with its graphically strong basic colour pattern of red on white and black, with an accent of yellow thrown in. The bars of the crossing, which looked freshly painted, also reinforced the whole thing. Okay so far, but even though there were few people about in the midday heat, the right person would add an important touch. Hence the waiting and the several moments shown here. But what raised the image a notch was that the diagonal hard shadow of the lamppost went most of the way to adding a triangular structure – a graphic overlay. Even so, it might have been a predictable street-passer-by shot were it not for the private coincidence of one moment: as one of these two men reaches the apex of the triangle, his leg completes the triangle’s longer side. And they’re both in black.