Many of those who pick up any gadget to take a photo think that this same gadget will do everything for them. Nowadays, cameras really do a lot for the photographer - for example, they calculate the exposure (that is, they adjust the brightness of the image).

Yes, they can handle the technical side of the issue, and that is until it comes to difficult lighting conditions. But the creative component lies entirely on the shoulders of the person who holds the camera in his hands and looks through the viewfinder.

In the first series of lessons, I would like to look at the concept of photographic composition and outline the basic principles of constructing a photograph. These principles will help you understand how to take good photographs.

What is photo composition

To put it very simply, photographic composition is the orderly arrangement of elements in the frame. If the person with the camera does not apply the rules for constructing a picture, then he can ruin the most amazing plot. And on the contrary, guided by the principles of photographic composition, he will be able to turn a photograph of the most ordinary object into a masterpiece.

Composition can be studied for years; many books have been written on this topic, as it is incredibly multifaceted and complex.

But even if you start applying just a few basic rules of composition when shooting, your photos will turn out much better.

The rule of thirds is one of the most important principles of image construction. Anyone who is even a little interested in photography knows this principle and applies it when shooting.

The idea is to divide the frame equally with two horizontal and two vertical lines. The intersection points of these lines are “strong” places in the frame, and at these points it is best to place the main subject of the photo, for example, a person’s face.

In this example you can see how the photographer used this rule:

• the peak of the volcano is at the intersection of two lines,
• the right edge of the track runs along a vertical line
• the horizon is almost on the top line.

Most modern cameras, be it a camera or a phone, have a feature that displays lines of thirds in the viewfinder or on the display, which can be useful to you while shooting.

Odd number of elements

The next rule says that you should place an odd number of elements in the frame: one, three or five look much more harmonious than two or four elements.

This is due to the fact that the eye moves across the frame, jumping from one point to another. When the photograph captures two elements, he tries to find support between them and cannot. As a result, the viewer feels uncomfortable.

There is a concept of negative space, that is, free space in the frame around the subject. For example, the space around a person in a portrait. This space should be enough to allow the important element in the frame to be free. If you crop the frame too much, it may feel like the subject is cramped within the boundaries of the photo.

The availability of space should also be taken into account when photographing movement. If you're photographing a moving subject, frame the frame so that it has room to move. That is, when photographing a car on the road that is driving from left to right, position it in the left third of the photo.

When photographing people, you need to leave space for the gaze, since the viewer’s eye involuntarily tries to follow where the person in the photo is looking, and if the model’s gaze immediately rests on the border of the frame, the viewer again becomes uncomfortable.

If you don't get close enough while photographing a turtle on a beach with lots of footprints in the sand, the turtle will get lost in the frame. It will be difficult for the eye to find what you actually photographed. The frame needs to be filled with the subject so that the viewer does not have any questions about what the photographer wanted to show.

The same goes for any scenes where there are many different elements other than the main one. For example, a busy street. There are a lot of cars, passers-by, houses, wires, advertising signs and the rest. All these details distract attention from the main subject of the photo.

If you see an interesting object, eliminate everything unnecessary from the frame and leave only those elements that enhance the main one or help tell the story.

Above, I have already spoken several times about comfort for the viewer who looks at our photograph. The balance of elements in the photo plays an important role in this comfort.

If you place all your subjects on one side of the frame, and there is nothing on the other to balance them, then one part of the photo will be overloaded, and when you try to look at the other side, the eye will not be able to find clues. As a result, that same comfort will be lost.

The basis of balance can be not only any object, but also its tonality or color. In the example, the light-colored boat in the foreground is balanced by the dark roofs and boats in the background.

In the works of many photographers you can find obvious violations of the listed rules, because photography is a creative process, and there can be no rules in creativity.

However, it is worth remembering that before you violate the principles of composition, you first need to learn how to confidently apply them.

In the following lessons you will learn how to use the shooting point, depth of field, different frame formats and other secrets of the photographer.

• 2. How to take good photographs: perspective in composition

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- that's what it's based on artistic, that’s what our photographs sometimes lack.

Having a modern digital camera can make you feel like you don’t need to do anything special. There is an automation that will do everything for you: it will focus and select the exposure. The technical characteristics have already reached quite decent heights. Even small point-and-shoot cameras allow you to take very clear, high-contrast pictures with normal brightness, etc. Why then are not all pictures taken by such a machine liked by those who look at them? What are they missing?

And here we have to turn to such a concept as photo composition.

What is it photo composition photo?

The word composition translated from Latin means composition, connection, connection. I don’t want to bore you with a long definition of this concept. In short, this is a beautiful, harmonious arrangement of the objects being photographed in the frame. Photo composition is one of the most important visual means in photography, as well as in painting, to which it is close artistic. In painting, the concept of composition arose a long time ago, one might say with the birth of painting itself. The best works of art of the past are admired because their composition is harmonious and pleasing to the eye. The concept of composition is quite capacious, understood more intuitively than consciously. But nevertheless, some rules point the way to understanding the basics of composition.

The camera captures a short moment from life, rich and multifaceted, some fragment of it. And from this fragment the viewer is already conjecturing the overall picture, as if creating a certain story. There is no need to say a lot of words, the picture speaks for itself. And in order for this overall picture to be recreated, it is necessary to determine the main element, the central plot link, which contains the whole meaning of the picture. And each author determines this link for himself. Actually this is included in the concept photo composition.

You need to ask yourself the question: “What am I actually filming?” Otherwise, sometimes it is not clear what was filmed - a person against the background of an architectural structure, for example a monument, or most importantly - a monument, but the person is not really visible. The absence of the main element, the plot center of the photograph, makes the picture motley, attention does not linger on anything, and such a photograph is of little interest. An inexperienced amateur photographer strives to photograph everything he sees. It is impossible to embrace the immensity. Sometimes a tree branch with swollen buds says more about spring than images with a lot of detail.

And the rules of composition just talk about how to highlight in the frame, how to attract the viewer’s attention to it, how to show space, volume on the flat surface of the picture, how to reflect this endlessly changing dynamic world in a static image. The role of lighting of the subject being photographed. These and other questions are precisely included in the concept of image composition.

Generally speaking, the composition of a photograph also includes other issues that are discussed in

For dessert, listen to the great jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani. This little man, for whom a piano was specially made so that he could reach the pedals with his feet, died early, but left an indelible mark on the history of jazz.

Lesson 3. Certificate of photo composition and shooting. The basis of camera photography: the ability to see and choose.

Methodological development of an art teacher of the highest category at MBOU “Secondary School No. 50” in Ulyanovsk

Zhaleeva E.V.

Target:

• Mastering the basic basics of the filming process: studying photo and video cameras, choosing a shooting mode.

Tasks:

• Know the specifics of a photographic image and the technology of its production processes.
• Learn the basic rules of photo composition and shooting.

Personal results

• Development of aesthetic consciousness through the development of the artistic heritage of the peoples of Russia and the world, creative activity of an aesthetic nature;
• Formation of a responsible attitude towards learning, students’ readiness and ability for self-development and self-education based on motivation for learning and cognition;

Meta-subject results

• The ability to independently determine the goals of one’s learning, set and formulate new goals for oneself in learning and cognitive activity, develop the motives and interests of one’s cognitive activity;
• The ability to correlate your actions with the planned results, monitor your activities in the process of achieving results, determine methods of action within the framework of the proposed conditions and requirements, adjust your actions in accordance with the changing situation;
• The ability to evaluate the correctness of completing a learning task and one’s own capabilities to solve it.

Subject results

• Gaining experience in specific forms of artistic activity, including those based on ICT (digital photography, video recording, computer graphics, animation and animation).

Checking homework

• Photo story about yourself.
• To whom is it addressed?
• Is the meaning conveyed?
• What group of people is it interested in?

Update:

• What type of art is photography?
• How are these types of fine art similar?
• Can all photographers be called artists?
• What genres are there in fine art?
• Are there these genres in photography?

Composition in painting

• What is composition?
• Composition in painting is such an arrangement of image elements on the picture plane that allows you to express the idea with the greatest completeness and force. In any painting, the artist strives to build a composition, showing the object in the most expressive form. Everything unnecessary is discarded, only what is necessary is left, the secondary is subordinated to the main thing. All elements of compositional construction and a wide variety of visual means are used. Everything affects the strength of the emotional impact of the picture.

• The size of the painting depends on its content.

A successful composition is achieved when the viewer has no desire to expand or reduce the edges of the canvas or change its scale.

• Composition - what's in common?

Do you think there are similarities in the compositional solution for a painting and a photograph?

• Repetition: canvas format and size
• The round format of the canvas gives the painting a calm completeness.

An oval portrait goes well with the roundness of the face and gives the person depicted softness and femininity.

A rectangular canvas that is excessively elongated horizontally fetters and degrades the depicted object.

Point of view in composition

Where are still life objects arranged more successfully?

Point and angle of view

Which landscape looks better in the pictures?

Composition center

• Everything in the picture should be subordinated to the expression of the main thought, idea. The integrity of the composition depends on the subordination of the secondary to the main, linking the entire image into a single organism of the work. Every detail should add something to further the concept. Secondary, insignificant things in the composition should not be conspicuous; the main object should be highlighted.

Equilibrium

In which picture

In which picture has equilibrium been achieved?

Contrast

In Surikov’s film “Menshikov in Berezovo”

the compositional contrast is made up of the huge figure of Menshikov

and the low ceiling of the hut,

which creates the impression

that the indomitable figure of Menshikov is cramped in this room,

like in a cage. The painting contrasts with each other and the clothes

sisters: Alexandra’s gold-embroidered fur coat and black robe

Mary is made to feel the difference in their characters.

Rhythm in composition

In painting, rhythm is manifested in the repetition of individual elements of the image:

in alternating scale ratios,

in the arrangement of light and color spots,

in the dynamics of gestures, movements, etc.

Rhythmic constructions are carried out both on the picture plane itself and in the arrangement of objects in space. Rhythm is always connected with the content of the picture and is subordinate to the expression of the idea. Rhythm helps the viewer focus on important points and tunes him into a certain mood, enhancing the expressiveness of the image.

The role of color in composition

• The perception of color is inextricably linked with the perception of the object of the image.
• Just as the harmony of sounds in poetry is inseparable from meaning and content, so the aesthetic impact of colors, their harmony and beauty are inseparable from the things depicted and their properties.
• Color in painting is the result of the artist’s knowledge of the actual color richness of nature.

New material

• I suggest students find 10 rules of composition in a frame on the Internet and write them down next to

requirements for composition in the fine arts.

Then we summarize the information.

Requirements for composition in painting and photography

• format and size;
• point and angle of view;
• composition center;
• golden ratio;
• equilibrium;
• contrast;
• rhythm:
• color.

• To contrast ;
• R accommodation ;
• R balance ;
• h bare section ;
• d iagonals ;
• f format ;
• T shooting glasses ;
• n direction ;
• ts vet spot ;
• d movement in the frame .

1. Contrast . There should be contrast in the frame:

A lighter object is photographed against a dark background, and a dark object against a light one.

Do not photograph people against a yellow or brown background, the color of the photo will be unnatural. Do not photograph people against a colorful background; such a background distracts the viewer’s attention from the model.

2. Accommodation. Important plot elements should not be placed randomly. It is better that they form simple geometric shapes.

3. Balance . Objects located in different parts of the frame must match each other in volume, size and tone.

It was known back in ancient Egypt, its properties were studied by Euclid and Leonardo da Vinci. The simplest description of the golden ratio: the best point to position the subject is approximately 1/3 of the horizontal or vertical border of the frame. The placement of important objects at these visual points looks natural and attracts the viewer's attention.

5. Diagonals. One of the most effective compositional techniques is diagonal composition. Its essence is very simple: we place the main objects of the frame along the diagonal of the frame. For example, from the top left corner of the frame to the bottom right.

This technique is good because such a composition continuously leads the viewer’s eye through the entire photograph.

6. Format .

If the frame is dominated by vertical objects, shoot vertical frames.

If you photograph a landscape, shoot horizontal frames.

7. Shooting point . The choice of shooting point directly affects the emotional perception of the photo.

8. Direction. Our brain is accustomed to reading from left to right, and we evaluate a photograph in the same way. Therefore, it is better to place the semantic center on the right side of the frame. Thus, the gaze and the subject of shooting seem to move towards each other. Always keep this point in mind.

9. Color spot . If there is a spot of color in one part of the frame, then there should be something in another that will attract the viewer's attention. This could be a different spot of color or, for example, an action in the frame.

10. Movement in the frame . When photographing a moving subject (car, cyclist), always leave some space in front of the subject. Simply put, position the subject as if it had just “entered” the frame, rather than “exiting” it.

Advice from an experienced photographer

Let's remember a few simple rules:

• For a portrait, the best point is at eye level.
• For a full-length portrait - at waist level.
• Try to position the frame so that the horizon line does not divide the photo in half. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the viewer to focus on the objects in the frame.
• Keep your camera level with your subject or you risk skewed proportions. An object taken from above appears smaller than it actually is. So, taking a person from the top point, you will get a short person in the photo. When photographing children or animals, get down to their eye level.

Reflection

• Conclusion: the requirements for composition in fine art and photography are the same, which once again proves that photography is a form of fine art. The difference is that painting uses paints, while photography uses light painting.

Practical work

• Create a still life from school objects.
• Take a photo.
• Explain the choice of format, point of view and angle of view, color scheme.
• Who is the photo addressed to?
• Will it be considered and for how long?

Homework

• Take photos of your pets using the advice of an experienced photographer.

A source of information

• https://fototips.ru/category/praktika/

• http://oformitelblok.ru/

10 simple rules for creating a composition in a frame.

1. Contrast

How to attract the viewer's attention to your photo? There should be contrast in the frame:

• A lighter object is photographed against a dark background, and a dark object against a light one.
• Do not photograph people against a yellow or brown background, the color of the photo will be unnatural.
• Don’t shoot people against a colorful background; such a background distracts the viewer’s attention from the model.

2. Accommodation

Important plot elements should not be placed randomly. It is better that they form simple geometric shapes.

3. Balance

Objects located in different parts of the frame must match each other in volume, size and tone.

4. Golden ratio

The golden ratio was known back in ancient Egypt, its properties were studied by Euclid and Leonardo da Vinci. The simplest description of the golden ratio: the best point to position the subject is approximately 1/3 of the horizontal or vertical border of the frame. The placement of important objects at these visual points looks natural and attracts the viewer's attention.

5. Diagonals

One of the most effective compositional patterns is the diagonal composition.

Its essence is very simple: we place the main objects of the frame along the diagonal of the frame. For example, from the top left corner of the frame to the bottom right.

This technique is good because such a composition continuously leads the viewer’s eye through the entire photograph.

6. Format

If the frame is dominated by vertical objects, shoot vertical frames. If you photograph a landscape, shoot horizontal frames.

7. Shooting point

The choice of shooting point directly affects the emotional perception of the photo. Let's remember a few simple rules:

• For a portrait, the best point is at eye level.
• For a full-length portrait - at waist level.
• Try to frame the frame so that the horizon line does not divide the photo in half. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the viewer to focus on the objects in the frame.
• Keep your camera level with your subject or you risk skewed proportions. An object taken from above appears smaller than it actually is. So, when photographing a person from the top point, you will get a short person in the photograph. When photographing children or animals, get down to their eye level.

8. Direction

When building a composition, always take this point into account.

9. Color spot

If there is a spot of color in one part of the frame, then there should be something in another that will attract the viewer's attention. This could be a different spot of color or, for example, an action in the frame.

10. Movement in the frame

When photographing a moving subject (car, cyclist), always leave some space in front of the subject. Simply put, position the subject as if it had just “entered” the frame, rather than “exiting” it.

Lesson topic: “Certificate of photo composition and filming”

Goal: To form ideas about photographic art. Competency in photography and cinematography.

Teach the rules of photography. Laws of composition. The golden ratio rule. The role of light in photography.

Develop an understanding of the photographic image as an artistic convention.

To cultivate love for the reality around us, aesthetic taste through photography.

Equipment for the teacher: presentation, necessary information material.

Equipment for students: notebooks, computers, cameras.

Lesson structure.

1. Organizational moment.

State the topic and purpose of the lesson.

2. Conversation about the knowledge gained in the previous lesson.

Communication of new knowledge

a) Introduction to the concept of composition.

b) Composition techniques.

c) rules of composition.

d) A photographer is also an artist.

e) What is the Golden Ratio?

f) Photography. Photo portrait. Acquaintance with the work of photographers.

g) Analysis of photographs. Comparison.

m) A photograph can speak. Foreshortening in photography. Light.

3.Introduction to professional cameras, the art of light, photo processing.

4. Explanation of the task.

5. Summing up. Questions about new material. Delivery of homework at home.

During the classes.

1. Organizational moment.

Hello guys, the topic of our lesson with you is: “Certificate of photo composition and filming.” Goal: To form ideas about photographic art. Competency in photography and cinematography.

2. Conversation about the knowledge gained in the previous lesson. Let's remember your last lesson, what was it connected with? What exactly did Louis Jacques Dugger invent?

In your opinion, what is the value of photography? What is its significance?

As you already know, but let me remind you, on January 7, 1839, the first photograph appeared. We owe this event to Louis Jacques Dugger, who invented a method for obtaining images on silver salts. In the same year, the first negative was invented by Fox Talbot. Talbot was able to improve the quality of photographic images using the photographic print he invented - the negative. Thanks to this new feature, pictures could now be copied. The first color photographs appeared in 1840, a black and white photo was taken and retouched using watercolors. At the beginning of the 19th century, the first photographic cameras began to be manufactured in Russia. Thanks to the Russian inventor A.F. Grekov, the first photographic apparatus was created.
In 1889, the name of George Eastman Kodak was established in the history of photography, who patented the first photographic film in the form of a roll, and then the Kodak camera.

Photography cannot leave anyone indifferent. For some, photography is an opportunity to brag to friends about how and where you spent the weekend, which translates into a range of emotions; for others, photography is a hobby (everyone takes pictures); for others, photography is an art.

A) But every art is performed according to some laws or rules, techniques. So in photography, knowledge about composition is used. Do you know what Composition is?

Composition is a composition, connection, combination of various parts of one whole in accordance with some idea. The word “composition” as a term of fine art began to be used since the Renaissance.

The word “composition” refers to the picture as such - as an organic whole with a pronounced semantic unity, a combination of drawing, color, plot. It doesn’t matter what genre the painting belongs to and in what manner it is made, it is called the term “composition” as a finished work of art.

B) There are composition techniques, their number is 13. (slides, photographs where these techniques are used.)

Bird's-eye;

Alleynaya;

Zigzag;

Frieze;

Grotovaya;

Backstage;

Central;

Empty-empty (low, high horizon line)

Serpentine;

Spiral.

B) Rules of composition.

The composition should seem natural and organic, not impose the idea of ​​the picture on the viewer, but, as it were, imperceptibly lead to it.

To achieve integrity, you need to highlight the main thing, that is, the center. The center of the composition - combining light, tone, or color

The integrity of the composition depends on the artist’s ability to highlight the main thing, the relationship of the elements with each other.

No part of the composition can be removed or replaced without damage to the whole.

Parts cannot be interchanged without damage to the whole;

No new element can be added without damaging the whole

D) A photographer is also an artist. An artist uses a brush, paints, and a photographer uses a camera to create his work. The artist conveys the meaning and significance of a particular time in his works. The information is contained on the canvas. And the photographer is in an instant captured frame, capturing the moment. We can pay tribute to the work of photographers. Their skill.

D) What is the Golden Ratio?

Nowadays, it is no longer difficult to believe that the lyrical principle of any artistic creation can freely coexist with exact science. It was much more difficult for the ancients in this regard. However, they, and primarily the outstanding masters of antiquity and the Renaissance, constantly sought to “test harmony with algebra,” to curb (and therefore enrich) creative emotions with precise, almost mathematically reliable calculations. Not a single step in their work was completed without relying on the doctrine of proportions, which, for example, when constructing human figures, was formulated in the form of precise tables of ideal ratios.

The golden ratio, which personifies the balance of knowledge, feelings and power, occupied a place of honor among symbolic quantities. In the Middle Ages, the study of the golden ratio continued. Thus, it was enriched by the works of Leonardo of Pisa, nicknamed Fibonacci, an outstanding Italian mathematician of the 13th century. Having created an infinite series in which each next number is the sum of the two previous ones (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...), he established that the ratio of neighboring numbers is close to the proportion of the golden ratio.

A rectangle whose sides correspond to the Fibonacci numbers has remarkable properties. When divided into a square and another rectangle, the latter retains the same aspect ratio. The outstanding German astronomer of the 16th-17th centuries I. Kepler compared the phenomenal reproduction by proportion of itself with the ability of God to “create like from like.”

Well known during the Renaissance, this proportion was almost forgotten until the middle of the century before last, and already in the current century it has been studied again by a number of scientists and architects, but more on that in the next article...

The golden ratio is an irrational ratio that arises when a segment is divided into two unequal parts, in which the entire segment is related to its larger part as the larger one is to the smaller one.

The number called the golden ratio (equal to approximately 1.62 and denoted as Φ) is one of the three most famous irrational numbers

Golden ratio in photography.

An example of the use of the golden ratio in photography is the placement of key components of the frame at points that are located 3/8 and 5/8 from the edges of the frame. This can be illustrated with the following example.

Here is a photo of a cat, which is located in a random place in the frame.

Now let’s conditionally divide the frame into segments, in proportion to 1.62 total lengths from each side of the frame. At the intersection of the segments there will be the main “visual centers” in which it is worth placing the necessary key elements of the image. Let's move our cat to the points of the "visual centers".

This is what the composition looks like now. True, much better.

I'll repeat it again. The golden ratio is an irrational ratio that arises when a segment is divided into two unequal parts, in which the entire segment is related to its larger part as the larger one is to the smaller one.

H) A photograph can speak. Foreshortening in photography. Light.

As you already know, each artist’s painting is not just drawn or depicted objects, a painted landscape tells us about something, tells us. Likewise, a photograph can tell us about a person’s activities - if he is depicted in a photograph, even his inner world. Each photograph can evoke an emotional attitude, whether it is joy, or sadness, pain, worries, anxiety. Has a mood. Looking at the photo you can even determine its name. Light is the visual language of photography. The light in a still life is staged, while the light in a landscape is natural. The transfer of the light and color state of nature is a means of emotional-figurative expressiveness of a landscape photo. Natural and light effects (rain, fog, fireworks) as a theme for photography. Culture and figurative possibilities of light in photography, transforming it into “naturalness” into “artisticness”. Thus, we can say Photography is a documentary story about the object being photographed. choosing a subject for filming is the art of vision. The basic law of fine art applies here: everything passed by, I didn’t see anything interesting, but I’m an artist, I saw it, conveyed it, recorded it.

Here the main nerve of artistic development is the culture of vision, the ability to sharply see the expressiveness of an object, the expressiveness of a frame.

Shooting point and angle are artistic and expressive means of photography.

G) Analysis of photographs. Comparison. Let's try to contrast two photographs. Let's compare them. How do you feel looking at the pictures? your attitude of joy or tension. It is immediately obvious that the pictures differ from each other. The photo on the left is more intense; pay attention to the color; it also plays an important role and complements the content of the photo. Take a look at the girl’s face, what can you tell me about it? The eyes, as you know, are the mirror of the soul. The look is sad, anxious, tense. Clothes highlight this tension. Tousled hair tells us about tension. There is a feeling of wind behind her back. The pose and the angle itself can tell us a lot. She is facing the viewer at three quarters, we can only guess she is passing by us, or she is leaving and turned to look after us. It’s such an interesting work that you can’t even call it just a photograph. This is a whole work. The girl’s gaze will remain looking at the descendants of many generations and it will be a mystery.

And the photo on the right is different in mood, color, and flavor. The pose speaks of lightness, increased strength, emotions and a joyful mood. The eyes are filled with light, the smile expresses a joyful mood. The gaze is raised upward. Light daydreaming.

3) Acquaintance with professional cameras, the art of light, photo processing.

4) Explanation of the task. You should try taking pictures at home. You can have pets, parents, brothers, sisters, boyfriends, girlfriends. Only the photograph must combine all the rules and techniques that I have communicated to you. the snapshot must not be empty. There must be an idea. Think before you start taking photos. What do you want to tell, convey. Maybe the person you have chosen is so attractive to you that you can even convey your attitude towards him through a photo of this person. Using color, light, angle, scale...

5) Summing up.