The composition of a photo can not only make it pleasing to the eye, but it can also be addressed directly to your audience, which is why we asked ourselves: what are the ways to use cinematography to raise the aesthetic energy of an image, as well as to use it as a narrative device? In other words, what are the rules of good film composition and why are they considered good? (Hint: this has something to do with human biology. ) Editorial photographer Steve McCurry, best known for his portrait of “Afghan Girl,” which first appeared in National Geographic, offers 9 tips that can help.
Rule of thirds
- Is that probably? Best known rule of film composition.
- This principle states that by placing points of interest along one or more of the imaginary horizontal and vertical lines.
- Or at one or more of the four intersections.
- Your image will be more pleasing to the eye.
See our article on?Framework and composition of the board?
Main lines
These imaginary lines, also called peaks, help guide the viewer’s eye in your image, what creates depth ?, an obligation to make a better composition. This creates a sense of physiosis and movement, which increases the aesthetic energy of your image.
Diagonal
As main lines, diagonals are vertices that take the viewer’s eye to a specific point, but instead of bringing the eye to their image, they cause it to pass through the image, creating a “movement”. This is probably more important for the composition of the photograph, but what if you take a more static shot?even if the frame elements move?it’s a great way to create kinesis.
framed
You can use something natural like windows and doors to create a frame within a frame, but you can also be creative in your film composition.
Contrasting figures
Do we tend to notice things that contrast, in fact, it’s one of the main ideas of Gestalt psychology. By creating a contrast between the object and the background, you can create depth and help your audience orient themselves in photographic composition.
Complete the box
To get close! According to many aesthetic theories, the size of an object in the frame directly determines the amount of aesthetic energy (i. e. importance) it has: the larger it is, the more important it is?he is. (Also, keep in mind that this will be the first thing your audience will likely see. )
Dominant central eye
As photographer McCurry points out in this video, placing your character’s dominant eye in the center of the frame gives the illusion that you are being followed.
Models and repetition
Are human beings naturally drawn to role models? I think we don’t like chaos. So using repetition and patterns will immediately draw the viewer to your image, but including something that breaks the pattern will keep your images engaging and the audience’s interest.
Symmetry
Just as we love patterns, symmetry is for our eyes what Nutella is to our palate. Scientists still don’t know why humans love symmetry so much, but evidence has shown that people with symmetrical faces are considered more attractive (some say it indicates health), while those with asymmetrical faces are considered less attractive. There have even been studies showing that babies will look at more symmetrical images than asymmetrical images.
Conclusion
Let me say that and is this point important? There are no rules when it comes to cinematographic art, whether writing, editing or filming. Using these techniques correctly will almost guarantee that your image will look good, due to our human biology, but you risk creating predictable, commonplace, and frankly boring images. Ultimately, you have to play around with these techniques and find out what works for your style.