1. Composition in Photography Digital Photography Apollo Technology Education

2. Composition in Photography
Definition: composition refers to the way visual details are selected and organized within a photograph.
~What comes to mind when we say composure?
Five Elements of Composition
Line
Color
Mass
Tone
Contrast (tonal contrast)
Musical composition elements would be things like melody, instruments, pitch, volume, etc. Music is very similar because a composer needs to start with an idea in their mind, and then organize many elements to make it a reality. Who else composes? Architects, artists, designers, software designers, poets, lyricists, woodworkers, speechwriter.

3. Five Elements of Compostion
Line, Color, Mass, Tone, Contrast
Starting point
Interrelated
Overlapping concepts
More elements exist
These 5 elements are simply a starting point, and more elements or concepts are out there. How a person looks at these elements, multiple interpretations can be can about and be applied. Balance, symmetry, rule of thirds, depth of field, perspective, etc., are all very important, but will be covered at another time.

4. Line
Lines refer to the arrangement, real or imagined, of the contour, edges, or other connecting characteristics of an image

5. Color
The visual sensations produced by different wavelengths of light. Different colors create different moods, agendas, focal points, and so on.

6. Mass
Mass refers to the areas of density that work together, balance each other, or establish varying degrees of strength. Do not confuse larger areas as having more mass all the time – mass as a photographic element deals with depth, intensity, and anchoring the photograph.

7. Mass “Heavier” at the top
What's wrong with the two-tone picture above? Do you feel comfortable viewing this image? The problem is that our minds "know" that black is a "heavier" tone than white. Thinking about the real world, it makes perfect sense that this relationship has been "locked" into our subconscious. After 100,000 years of mankind's perceptual development, it's now part of our DNA -- the sky is lighter than the ground or ocean -- defining our visual concept of up and down. Consequently, the picture above "feels" unnatural and is doomed to fall over. This is an unsettling arrangement of dark and light.

8. Example
A real example of a dark mass above a light base. Where is the photograph anchored? Where does you eye go?

9. Natural position of mass
This is much more comfortable. Now the image is stable and in its "proper" position. The dark tone will support the picture, and it won't easily collapse. We experience this mentally troubling relationship when large light areas of a picture are placed below large dark areas. There are times when the photographer needs to break the relationship intentionally. But start your mastery of composition by being aware that the mind wants to stabilize the images it views by having the greatest weight or mass at the bottom of the picture.

10. Example
The fishing boat and dorsal fins of the Orcas add balance and focal points to offset the unnatural look of a dark mass at the top and the bright sheen of the water. The overall look is still a bit out of the ordinary, but composing the shot with the proper elements helps the mind come to ease.

11. Tone
The color quality or brightness value in a portion of the image. Tone in a picture refers to the arrangement of the various shades of black, white and colors that make up an image. Our eye/mind is making assumptions based on a lifetime of experiences. Many of those assumptions are based on the tonal values we perceive in a scene. Two tonal "facts of life" assumed by our eye/mind are that: 1.Light colors advance while dark colors recede
2. Our eyes are drawn "first" to the lighter objects in a scene.

12. (Tonal) Contrast
Contrast refers to the magnitude or difference in brightness between adjacent mass; digital displays like LCD tv’s have a company-generated “contrast ratio” that measures its ability to display extreme bright and darkness within the same image. More contrast generates more visual energy.

13. Reference
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