The document discusses various photographic design elements including focus, depth of field, movement, timing, optics, exposure, flare, glare, and silhouettes. It explains that focus draws the viewer's attention and selective focus emphasizes a specific area. Movement can be used to create motion blur. Timing is important to capture decisive moments. Focal length, lens type, and tilt affect the geometry and perspective of an image. Exposure controls contrast and where the eye is drawn. Flare and glare happen when light is reflected in different ways. Silhouettes require backlighting to render the subject in shadow.

1. photographic elements
Chapter 3 continued

2. Focus
• Sharp focus is an accepted standard
• The question of where to focus is usually very
obvious, but can be used as a design element
• Focus is so engrained into us that whatever is
in focus becomes the point of attention
• You have to make the decision of what to
focus on what kind of depth of field you want.
– In dark situations you may be limited to shallow
depth of field, but in brighter situations it is a
choice you will need to make

3. Focus
• Focus contains a directionality from
unsharp to sharp
• Think about your lens s focal length
and its affect on focus and depth of field

4. Focus and movement from focus

5. Selective Focus
• Choosing one specific are to focus on
gives to viewer a clear idea of what the
photographer wants them to look at
• Having the out of focus parts of the
frame still be intelligible helps this affect
also
• Selective focus is a decision in depth of
field

6. selective focus

8. Designsponge.com

9. Motion
• The range of sharp to unsharp can also be
controlled with the use of motion and motion
blur
• Motion blur can be caused by camera shake
(a jerky ghosting effect), streaking from a
moving subject, and panning…there are also
combinations of these
• There is also a technique called rear curtain
shutter technique in which the subject is
blurred from a long exposure and then a flash
is shot off at the end of the exposure to
superimpose a sharp shot on top of the
blurred shot

14. Moment
• Only completely static objects do not concern timing
• Timing can concern milliseconds of a quick action or
the hours waited to get the best light for a shot
• The Decisive Moment is that moment when the
elements in motion are in balance
– Henri Cartier-Bresson
• This action, whatever it may be, inevitably affects the
design of the photograph
• As a photographer, you must try to anticipate the
composition as the objects move in your scene

15. Moment/repetitive action

18. Optics
• Photography is made optically, so lens type is
very important to the design process
• Focal length affects the geometry of the
image as well as the focus and depth of field
• Some lenses can also change the shape of
objects, like fisheye or tilt lenses
• The focal length affects the angle of view and
thus affects the linear structure of an image
as well as depth perception and size
relationships

19. Wide angle optics
• Shorter focal length means wider angle of view
• Taken with little foreground there will be little change
made to the perception of depth, but with a
foreground a wide angle lens gives and impressive
sense of depth
• Wide angle also tends to produce diagonal lines
which increases dynamic tension
• They also encourage a subjective point of view
drawing the viewer into the scene
• On the edges of a wide angle lens there is a
stretching effect which helps to envelope the viewer
like a circle
• It also emphasizes that the scene continues beyond
the frame

20. optics/wide angle

26. Telephoto Optics
• Telephoto lenses have a strong
tendency to compress objects
– Make objects that are far apart appear
closer together
• With a telephoto lens, you are taking
the photo from further away and this
give a more objective view

27. optics/400mm

28. telephoto compression

30. Fisheye
• Circular fisheye allows you to see the
round edges of the lense
• Full frame fisheye covers the entire
sensor filling the rectangular frame

32. Tilt Lens
• Titling the lens tilts the plane of focus
• Even at the smallest aperture you can
distribute the focus at will
• The sensor or film plane can also be
tilted which will have this affect on the
focus but will also stretch the image in
the direction the sensor is tilted

35. Exposure
• Exposure also plays a role
• Exposure is assumed to have one
possibility
• We tend to look at the brightest thing in
the image first
• High contrast calls attention to darks
and lights while low contrast allows the
eye to wander over the image

36. lighter exposure

37. darker exposure

38. Flare
-happens when you point your
camera at a light source
-Can take on many different
appearances
-it’s helpful to have an object
halfway block the light
-consider using a polarizing
filter if you want strong
starburst type flare
**Flare is technically
considered incorrect

39. Flare

41. Glare
-glare is often mistaken
for flare
FLARE AND GLARE
ARE NOT THE SAME
-glare happens when a
bright light is
REFLECTED off of a
shiny object

42. Silhouette
-you must have your subject in a
relatively dark place with a strong
light coming from behind
-you are using backlighting to
make a creative exposure
-meter the light coming from
behind your subject rather than on
your subject
-bracket to make sure you got a
pure silhouette