The Power of the Frame

Image's structure and composition

José María Castillo-Pomeda, Ulises Campos Rodriguez

• Publisher: Babelcube Inc.
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781071526927
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Photography

Beauty is a subject that has obsessed man since ancient times. While the concept of "the beautiful" is true is relative and depends on each social group and each era, it is also true that our perception of beauty is subject to the harmony of the measures. In any facet of our life, we instictively seek harmony and balance.
Why, before two seemingly equal or similar images, one attracts us more than the other?
The information they transmit to us is the same but... one is better, we like it more... The answer is inside, in its geometry, in its structure, in short: in its composition.
By studying the basic components of an image, the fundamental elements of visual communication, we find a universal language. Knowing how to recognize them in our frame, relocate them and compose with them is as much or more important than the correct handling of the camera.
There is still for some the common place that the image does not articulate a language itself, it does not go beyond being an illustration and that it is necessary to "explain" it.
I once heard José Saramago, affirm the absolute superiority of the word over the image and condemn the old saying "worth a picture more than a thousand words" to the garbage can. This view, which seems logical in a Nobel Prize for literature, can underline the superiority of written language in the field of abstraction or mental creation. But it is to want to close your eyes (and never better) to the communicative and poetic value of the image. Of course, this controversy settled it, already in the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci when he said: "Write the name of God next to his image and see where they look," (da Vinci 187:98)

1- CONCEPTS AND PARAMETERS

1.1-FRAMING?

1.2-CONCEPT OF COMPOSITION

1.3-TO FOCUS

1.4-THE PERSPECTIVE

1.4.1-GIOTTO’S REVOLUTION

1.4.2-PERSPECTIVE AND THE THIRD DIMENSION

1.4.3-LEONARDO: CAPTURING THE ATMOSPHERE

1.4.4-DARK CAMERA: BEGINING OR SOLUTION?

1.5-IMAGE'S FORMAT

1.5.1-THE RATIO OR WIDTH/HEIGHT PROPORTION

1.5.2-HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL AND SQUARE FORMATS

1.5.3-COMPOSITION IN THE PANORAMIC IMAGE

2-THE HUMAN VISUAL PERCEPTION

2.1-PROCCESS OF THE VISUAL PERCEPTION

2.2-THE EYE IS NOT AN OBJECTIVE: CENTRAL AND PERIPHERICAL VISION

2.3-THE RETINAL PERCEPTION

2.4- VISUAL ZONE CAPTATION

2.5-DEPTH PERCEPTION

2.5.1-MONOCULAR INDICATORS

2.5.2-BINOCULAR INDICATORS

2.6-PERCEPTIVE CONSTANCIES

2.7-THE GESTALT AND THE VISUAL PERCEPTION.

2.8-THE GESTALT LAWS

Proximity law

Similarity law

Law of good continuity or of the uniformity

Closing law

2.9-SUBLIMINAL IMAGES. THE GESTALT AND THE UNCONSCIOUS.

3-THE THIRD DIMENSION

3.1- POINT OF VIEW AND PERSPECTIVE.

3.2-REALITY THROUGH THE OPTIC

3.2.1-FOCAL DISTANCE AND VISUAL ANGLE

3.2.2-LUMINOSITY AND f NUMBER

3.2.3-DEPTH OF FIELD

3.2.4- HOW DOES OBJECTIVE'S FOCAL DISTANCE AFFECTS THE PERSPECTIVE

Normal objective

Wide angle

Telephoto

The Zoom

4- IMAGE’S VISIBLE STRUCTURE

4.1-THE FRAMING

4.1.1-WERE DO WE LOOK?

4.2-FRAMING ATTRIBUTES

4.2.1-CENTRE OF MAXIMUM INTEREST

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION IN THE CENTRE

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION NEAR THE EDGES

THE CENTRE OF ATTENTION UNCENTRED IN A STRONG POINT

SEVERAL ATTENTION CENTRES

4.2.2-SIZE WITHING THE FRAME

4.2.3-INNER BOUNDARY OF THE FRAME

4.3-BALANCE AND VISUAL WEIGHT

4.3.1-SIZE:

4.3.2-POSITION:

4-3.3-COLOUR:

4.3.4-TONE:

4.3.5-SHAPE:

4.3.6-TEXTURE:

4.4-SYMMETRICAL AND ASYMETRICAL BALANCE

5-THE INTERNAL GEOMETRY OF THE IMAGE

5.1-THE GOLDEN RATIO.

5.2-THE PHI NUMBER (Φ), THE KEY TO HARMONY

5.2.1-ORIGIN AND A LONG ROAD.

5.2.2- FIBONACCI’S SERIES.

5.2.3-CALCULATION AND APPLICATION OF THE GOLDEN SECTION

5.2.4-THE GOLDEN RECTANGLE.

5.2.5-THE FOUR STRONG POINTS AND THE LAW OF THIRDS

6-THE LINES THAT...

Table of contents

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• PROLOGUE
• 1- CONCEPTS AND PARAMETERS
• INTRODUCTION
• 1.1-FRAMING?