Concentrate on Isolating a Subject from Its Surroundings

By: Marion L. Brown

Some time ago, I posted the below article which I am reprinting below. I feel it and a few more comments here might be helpful. If there is one thing that might help many who post photographs here, it is that so many do not isolate their subjects from their surroundings in ways that will heighten the impact on viewers. These suggestions and thoughts have been used extensively in my workshops, my lectures, publications and other writings, usually having a very beneficial effect upon on the listeners’ work.

First, let me suggest that what I see as a very weak aspect of so many photographs is that the photographer sees something that catches their interest. Then the merely point the camera in that direction and release the shutter, not giving any consideration to what they include in the picture. Mainly, they pay little or no attention to what they include or how they compose the picture.

HOW THE SUBJECT OF THE PHOTOGRAPH IS ISOLATED AND ARRANGED WITHIN THE PICTURE’S FINAL FORMAT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT KEYS TO GOOD COMPOSITIONS.

Pictures of flowers are good examples to make these points. More often than not, I see flower pictures whereby someone saw a nice bed of flowers, so they pointed the camera towards it and shot. No thought was given to what is near edges, or what patterns are there. Or, they see a flower and do the same thing: they shot it without regards to what else they include, or how the light is illuminating the scene or how the light is distributed. And, they don’t pay attention to arranging the parts and light into a well-designed composition.

It is helpful to consider that a good photograph composition is an arrangement of all of the parts: curves, all geometric shapes or particle shapes, lines, light areas and shadows, In flower pictures, it is arrangement of pedals, stems, leaves, the lighting on the parts, and how leaves and flowers are grouped. Pay attention to what you locate near the picture’s edges. This is controlled basically by where you set the camera and what you include in the overall picture. And, to some extent, as to any cropping you do in the darkroom.

I hope this helps some of you. If so, you may want to read some of the other articles I’ve written here.

I published Journal of Creativity & Expression for seven years – a total of 28 issues. While it is not out-of-print, I can have the missing issues reprinted. I’ll sell whole sets at a discounted price from what they originally sold for if enough people are interested in purchasing sets. I’m not sure whether members are allowed to sell anything on this site, so I’m not quoting prices. Also if not allowed to mention items for sale, would someone let me know.

Importance of Study and Isolation to Composition (Reprinted)

By: Marion L. Brown

One thing that has long amazed me in my teaching, lectures, etc. That is: the ability of most people to pick the best photograph or art painting out of a group that includes everything from great to mediocre to poor. Yet, when it comes to their own art or photography, they don't seem to know what to include, what to leave out, how to arrange the parts into meaningful compositions. Why?

My experience suggests that it may be due to several reasons:

1. They want to advance too fast; not willing to take a step at a time.

2. They never carefully examine great works to figure out for themselves why they find particular work appealing to them. And, they don't try to use the ideas others have used. Most artists start  out using others ideas. Then they get good at it and begin to see how to organize compositions on their own.

3. They have not tried to figure out how compositional elements work together -- how shapes affect the picture, how shadows affect them, how light and shadow can work together, what is near the edges and what is not and how to use edges to advantage, etc.

4. They don't realize how often the whole composition is a quite simple, only including a very small fraction of the original scene. My advice has long stressed: "Isolation is the name of the game!"

Some people think they should not study the masters, because this will influence them too much, to block them from developing their own way personal expression. Consider this: Ansel Adams studied all the great photographers and knew their work thoroughly, yet he developed his own distinctive style. At his workshop that I attended, he constantly referred to the work of many of the great photographers. He wrote about them, too. Cartier Breeson, a great French photographer, studied art first and studied the great artists' works. I could cite many other greats who did the same things.

So, my advice: look at great works and study how they use edges, how they exclude distracting things or light globs that distract, how they use angles, circular forms, etc.

Marion