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alias_sqbrI finally got back to this! Masterlist.
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
Not going to write up anything like the rules of thirds that I'm already super familiar with, read the chapter yourself ;P
I wasn't expecting to get much out of this since I already think a lot about colour as an artist, but it did make me go wait how did they get that colour a few times. Did they ask people to change their clothes etc, or did they do subtle colour edits? In some ways photos are as constructed as art, yet its easy to forget that and think of them as a simple representation of reality.
Frame Magnetism: This is an idea I had encountered before but can have trouble properly internalising except as vague artistic instinct, so I'm going to quote a bunch.
Theres some great visual examples here of how cropping a photo portrait can totally change the mood.
Aesthetic pleasure often comes from positioning objects or subjects so as to create a modicum of imbalance, but not too much.
Posting images on dreamwidth is too painful so I did it on tumblr.
Shapes
A square or rectangle within a two-dimensional frame conveys reliability, stability, solidity, confidence, and strength. Circles don’t tend to direct a viewer’s attention in one direction, and bring harmony within the frame. There is no shape more interesting than a triangle. Why? Triangles have the power to point: they create lines and vectors that direct viewers’ eyes up, down, over, and outside of the frame.
edited from “FI0010672,” Clear Lake, IA, 1917 by Doug McMurray/Fortepan Iowa
Mannn, I can see it now that it's pointed out but this sort of thing never comes naturally to me as an artist or viewer.
Also, in making sure I got the attribution for this right I discovered fortepan.us which has a timeline of photos which was interesting to scroll through, if sometimes disturbing since not everything happening in 1917 was so cheerful.
Lines
Horizontal lines signify peace and stability. Vertical lines bring more upward thrust and energy, and often contrast vigorously with horizontal lines. Diagonal lines, which are often tied to triangles, can convey meaning by dynamically directing the eye across an image, and sometimes slicing the photograph or design in really interesting ways, pointing and instructing us to one or multiple focal points.
A Dutch angle – when a photographer cocks the camera to tilt the horizon line while taking a photo – is another way photographers can add additional tension, queasiness, instability and directionality in the frame, even if it’s accidental. Pharmaceutical commercials have relied on Dutch angles to visually signify a feeling of discomfort, and then shift to a horizontal framing when the patient is “cured.”
Lines can be inferred: the direction someone is looking or pointing, or multiple separate objects/people forming a line.
Standing high and shooting downwards creates an exciting invisible diagonal line between photographer and subject. Because high angle photos situate the photographer above their subject(s), they can construct an additional layer of meaning, making the subjects seem weaker, smaller, and less powerful. The higher the angle, the more diminished the subjects. The reverse is true of shooting from a low angle.
Movement
People who grow up reading Western languages also “read” images left to right. A line which angles up from left to right reads as "uphill". A photo of someone at the left hand side of the image moving right will seem "faster" than the same image mirrored.
For “speed,” the truck is shown traveling left to right. For “toughness” the truck is shown going “right to left”.
In a movie, the camera panning from left to right creates even more sense of speed, while panning from right to left creates a sense of calm.
looking to the right is a way to convey “looking into the future” because left to right feels “forward.” Looking towards the left side of the frame is a way to depict someone “looking to the past.” Image creators use this tactic to evoke introspection or regret: they are looking backward, against the grain.
Making a political candidate look “bad” often means making them look to the left.
Vectors
Amazing. I used to teach undergraduate 'vectors', but not like this haha. Afaict in this context it means when there's multiple moving objects and you consider the relationship between the (possibly implied) directions of motion.
Punctum
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist who wrote an important book about photography called Camera Lucida (1980)
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Gonna answer these off the top of my head and then double check anything I'm unsure of.
1. Why is the color red so riveting for photographers and designers?
We have more receptors in our eyes so it captures more mental attention.
2. How does the rule of thirds work with frame magnetism to create aesthetic balance?
Being 1/3 of the way across like... makes you feel drawn towards that side but not drawn SO far that it feels unbalanced.
3. Why does a car in a photo or graphic seem like it is traveling faster when it’s moving left to right ? And how does knowing this give us power over how we place images?
If you usually read left to right, that direction has a subconscious sense of momentum. We can make images look faster/slower or like they're going uphill/downhill depending on direction.
4. How can the concepts studium and punctum explain a photo’s power?
The studium is the context and the punctum is the pow!
ACTIVITIES
Can't be bothered embedding it but I was struck by the first image in this article.
The red cross is very vibrant and eye catching, esp against the green. Which makes me wonder how much editing the colours underwent.
The red cross sits at a rule of threes spot and is definitely meant to be our primary focus and punctum against the relatively uniform green and grey background. Its also very obvious human made when everything else looks super natural. The hill doesn't *quite* go through two different third-points on the edges of the frame, but its not far off. The angle of the stone contrasts with the angle of the hill creating a slight sense of dynamism which contrasts with the subject.
Take some photos: Ok I am skipping this one because then I can be done versus going and getting my phone, but I will definitely think about this stuff next time I take any photos or draw something.
The chapter: Construction of Meaning: Picture Composition.
It was really interesting reading this as someone who has read lots of art theory for the purposes of being better at art, and picked up some more formal theory via vague osmosis from my artsy parents and their books, but not generally thought about composition very deeply from a media analysis angle.
Not going to write up anything like the rules of thirds that I'm already super familiar with, read the chapter yourself ;P
Activity: Go to New York Times’ Lens (https://www.nytimes.com/section/lens), which showcases the Times’ best photojournalism, or the Awwwards website (https://www.awwwards.com/websites/), which showcases the best web design.
Search through either photos or web projects and examine the way color is used in either photography and design, or both.
I wasn't expecting to get much out of this since I already think a lot about colour as an artist, but it did make me go wait how did they get that colour a few times. Did they ask people to change their clothes etc, or did they do subtle colour edits? In some ways photos are as constructed as art, yet its easy to forget that and think of them as a simple representation of reality.
Frame Magnetism: This is an idea I had encountered before but can have trouble properly internalising except as vague artistic instinct, so I'm going to quote a bunch.
When you enclose any form or forms inside a 4-sided frame, the frame suddenly exerts a forceful pulling power over them, pulling the form over to its side. Centering a form renders it motionless, inert, or impotent because all magnetic forces are acting on the form at once, pulling in every direction. An image closer to the top of the frame gets pulled upward; an image close to the right of the frame gets pulled to the right.
Theres some great visual examples here of how cropping a photo portrait can totally change the mood.
On the left, the bonneted woman is being pulled to the bottom of the frame; she looks uncomfortable (like she’s sinking). But maybe through this placement, there is even an element of humor. Likewise, on the image in the right, when she is pulled to the right, the bonneted woman suddenly seems to have agency, almost like she is peeking back at you, and is free to move further beyond the frame, turning into a person of intrigue.
Aesthetic pleasure often comes from positioning objects or subjects so as to create a modicum of imbalance, but not too much.
Frame magnetism practice
Find a photograph with people in it.
To control the aesthetic pleasure and meaning of this photo, crop it in different ways to better understand the principles of frame magnetism and the rule of thirds.
Posting images on dreamwidth is too painful so I did it on tumblr.
Shapes
A square or rectangle within a two-dimensional frame conveys reliability, stability, solidity, confidence, and strength. Circles don’t tend to direct a viewer’s attention in one direction, and bring harmony within the frame. There is no shape more interesting than a triangle. Why? Triangles have the power to point: they create lines and vectors that direct viewers’ eyes up, down, over, and outside of the frame.
edited from “FI0010672,” Clear Lake, IA, 1917 by Doug McMurray/Fortepan IowaIn this image of fun water recreation, the ladder and slide create a triangle that directs the viewer’s eye up to focus on the folks on the top of the ladder, before bouncing around to other parts of the photo.
Mannn, I can see it now that it's pointed out but this sort of thing never comes naturally to me as an artist or viewer.
Also, in making sure I got the attribution for this right I discovered fortepan.us which has a timeline of photos which was interesting to scroll through, if sometimes disturbing since not everything happening in 1917 was so cheerful.
Lines
Horizontal lines signify peace and stability. Vertical lines bring more upward thrust and energy, and often contrast vigorously with horizontal lines. Diagonal lines, which are often tied to triangles, can convey meaning by dynamically directing the eye across an image, and sometimes slicing the photograph or design in really interesting ways, pointing and instructing us to one or multiple focal points.
A Dutch angle – when a photographer cocks the camera to tilt the horizon line while taking a photo – is another way photographers can add additional tension, queasiness, instability and directionality in the frame, even if it’s accidental. Pharmaceutical commercials have relied on Dutch angles to visually signify a feeling of discomfort, and then shift to a horizontal framing when the patient is “cured.”
Lines can be inferred: the direction someone is looking or pointing, or multiple separate objects/people forming a line.
Standing high and shooting downwards creates an exciting invisible diagonal line between photographer and subject. Because high angle photos situate the photographer above their subject(s), they can construct an additional layer of meaning, making the subjects seem weaker, smaller, and less powerful. The higher the angle, the more diminished the subjects. The reverse is true of shooting from a low angle.
Movement
People who grow up reading Western languages also “read” images left to right. A line which angles up from left to right reads as "uphill". A photo of someone at the left hand side of the image moving right will seem "faster" than the same image mirrored.
For “speed,” the truck is shown traveling left to right. For “toughness” the truck is shown going “right to left”.
In a movie, the camera panning from left to right creates even more sense of speed, while panning from right to left creates a sense of calm.
looking to the right is a way to convey “looking into the future” because left to right feels “forward.” Looking towards the left side of the frame is a way to depict someone “looking to the past.” Image creators use this tactic to evoke introspection or regret: they are looking backward, against the grain.
Making a political candidate look “bad” often means making them look to the left.
Vectors
Amazing. I used to teach undergraduate 'vectors', but not like this haha. Afaict in this context it means when there's multiple moving objects and you consider the relationship between the (possibly implied) directions of motion.
- Continuous vectors: All in the same direction, extend beyond the frame, no sign of stopping. Can give a viewer pause or apprehension, because we don’t exactly know when the motion stops (especially if the motion is left to right)
- Converging vectors: Objects are going to meet and then stop. Calming because they represent a sort of resolution. "As the baseball player slides into base (and almost into the catcher), one can imagine the motion completing a few seconds after the photo was taken." Hmm. Would a punch heading towards a face count? That is cathartic but not really calming.
- Diverging vectors: Moving away from each other. Can create a very troubling feeling, and is a favourite tactic of professional photographers, both to add motion and to unnerve the viewer so they’ll linger on the photograph and search for meaning.
Punctum
Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist who wrote an important book about photography called Camera Lucida (1980)
- Studium: the background of a photograph, including whatever a person might bring to interpreting the photo and the context in which it has been created (its original purpose and function). As background information, studium is more passive and even boring or banal.
- Punctum: the thing that pierces the studium, a prick of visual pleasure or interest. It’s the part that makes you look again, that holds your attention, and that makes the photograph delight you. Punctum is not evident in all photographs, and is very subjective. It could be an expression on a person’s face, the way a light shines in a certain corner of the photo, even a discoloration on the original print that adds a layer of beauty, a point of amusement, a piece of symbolism, or something personally profound.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Gonna answer these off the top of my head and then double check anything I'm unsure of.
1. Why is the color red so riveting for photographers and designers?
We have more receptors in our eyes so it captures more mental attention.
2. How does the rule of thirds work with frame magnetism to create aesthetic balance?
Being 1/3 of the way across like... makes you feel drawn towards that side but not drawn SO far that it feels unbalanced.
3. Why does a car in a photo or graphic seem like it is traveling faster when it’s moving left to right ? And how does knowing this give us power over how we place images?
If you usually read left to right, that direction has a subconscious sense of momentum. We can make images look faster/slower or like they're going uphill/downhill depending on direction.
4. How can the concepts studium and punctum explain a photo’s power?
The studium is the context and the punctum is the pow!
ACTIVITIES
New York Times Lens picture analysis: Pick a photojournalist’s image series, and practice looking. Do you see thoughtful applications of color (particularly the use of red)? Do you see carefully placed figures in the frame (look for frame magnetism and elements that add dynamism through pointing). Do you notice line direction and movement, like index or motion vectors leading our eyes out of the frame, or keeping our focus on a singular element? And is there punctum for you in the photo? Pick one photo to share in class and be able to articulate as many of these elements as you can.
Can't be bothered embedding it but I was struck by the first image in this article.
The red cross is very vibrant and eye catching, esp against the green. Which makes me wonder how much editing the colours underwent.
The red cross sits at a rule of threes spot and is definitely meant to be our primary focus and punctum against the relatively uniform green and grey background. Its also very obvious human made when everything else looks super natural. The hill doesn't *quite* go through two different third-points on the edges of the frame, but its not far off. The angle of the stone contrasts with the angle of the hill creating a slight sense of dynamism which contrasts with the subject.
Take some photos: Ok I am skipping this one because then I can be done versus going and getting my phone, but I will definitely think about this stuff next time I take any photos or draw something.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-09 01:13 pm (UTC)