Article on Composition - Geoff Roe

I enjoyed reading an article on composition in Royal Photographic Society Journal by Geoff Roe. Given my recent feedback on the last assignment it seemed very timely. Roe has written a book on composition which so far I have not been able to track down.

some of his principle recommendations are

1. Simple uncluttered designs, free from distractions are generally more successful
2. Our emotional response to visual input is strongly influenced by association - red means blood, heat etc, black darkness, death etc. Similarly, our response to shape curvature and proportion are often associated with human references - rolling landscapes mean curvaceous bodies, sharp rocks with teeth etc
3. A viewers eye falls most comfortably on a doughnut excluding the tension of the centre and corners and within this zone there is a pull towards the corners. This natural tendency gives rise to one of the strongest rules of composition the golden section and its derivatives such as the rule of thirds
4. Placing the subject in the centre creates in your face tension and is often used for bulls eye impact
5. Edges can also be unsettling, but do provide a connection to the world outside the frame. An open composition where there are elements which are cut off by the frame and as such show the viewer that there is activity outside the frame. A closed composition conversely contains everything inside the frame
6. Corners are interesting. Foreground detail in the bottom corners anchor the picture. Conversely top corners create some instability - hanging the picture by its ears. Upright triangles at the base or top of a picture also create stability
7. An image should be aware of its frame. Taking a wide angle picture for later composition misses this point and is far from satisfactory. Placing the focal points based on the rules of golden section etc attract the eye and are attractive to the viewer. Conversely placement near the edges and corners can be used to deliberately disturb the viewer
8. There are alternative ways to create a focal point. Singularity within a pattern is a good example - one black sheep in a flock of white sheep for example
9. Negative space can also be used but is much rarer. The negative space forces the viewer to concentrate on the occupied space
10. The brain also likes patterns and rhythms so these should not be ruled out

All in all this was a very succinct and useful article. A hard copy is in my learning log.