Diagonally Composed Shots

[nickbedford]

A subject I've wanted to discuss for a while has come up on Stack Exchange (composition - Do you still take diagonal photos? - Photography - Stack Exchange). It's in regards to throwing a big tilt on your camera right before shooting the shot, something that can either work, or not, but for me, it rarely works for such big angles.

So I wrote a blog article about it here. Here's an excerpt:

Let's Roll

The angle of the camera in a photograph is not often discussed. Maybe it's because it's not normally "abused" that much. What I mean by "abused" is that for no reason, the camera is tilted to an extreme angle of around 45 degrees before the shot is taken. Does it work? Often not, and often what works is no more than a moderate tilt of 5-10 degrees.

But I think personally, that it comes down to the subject. In photography, the subject of your photo comes first. It leads the way in how you compose a photograph. If you're taking a portrait of someone, you'll often use the Thirds or Golden Ratio rules to line up the shot, but when might you throw an angle into the mix?

I have done this on some occasions and most of the time it comes down to whether or not the subject is physically vertical or not.

One of my friends who does band photography for local bands does this quite often and I've only ever felt like it's ruined an otherwise good photo. Do I go to a concert and tilt my head whilst watching the set? Not really.

What do you think? Do you think it should only be done moderately to serve to enhance the framing for the subject or do you not mind big angles on a shot? As stated in one answer on the SE question, the poster believes he does it for variety, which I don't think is a good enough reason to do it at all.

Discuss

[PowerPix]

I rarely do it.

[nickbedford]

Originally Posted by PowerPix

I rarely do it.

Well if you're throwing that in as an example, I think this one works fine, although I probably would have gone for a little less of an angle. The problem is when it actually starts to disorient the person trying to comprehend the scene, particularly when it's a garrish 45 degree angle.

Here's some of my own photos that I'll show as an example of where I believe it has worked because the subject hasn't been thrown out of orientation.





I think for this one I intuitively tilted the camera to keep both my subjects framed properly and the angle of the environment itself in no way intrudes on the understanding of the photo.



I understand this is quite subjective so maybe we could get some more examples of non-angled or angled photographs where it may or may not have worked.

[Jim Bryant]

It's a gimmick! That's all and an old one at that.

[nickbedford]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

It's a gimmick! That's all and an old one at that.

I don't think it's so much as a gimmick, but something people were shown or told once while they were learning and accepted it as a technique when it's not.

As I said, the only time I put an angle on the shot is when I'm trying to keep the subject framed well.

[Jim Bryant]

True...most of which don't know how to properly use a wide angle lens to fit everything into the view finder. To tell the truth, I have never, ever taken a photo like that.

[Jonbar18]

rarely do that. Usually only if the main subject is crooked, I'd tilt the camera to keep the subject straight.

[Jim Poor]

Just like anything else, it has it's (limited) place and yet, will be overdone by the masses.

Same thing goes for HDR, Lens flare, Orton Effect, Selective Color, etc.

[ravncat]

I'll do it, if I intend to display the image diagonally, or if I need to imply motion - just look at some of the baroque period compositions. It works best when there is no horizon, or you can make the elements appear to be positioned naturally - for example clouds - or leaning trees, etc. It has to maintain a feel of balance, and that's the hard part, I think. I'll also sometimes do it for keeping a subject well framed.

[Biomech]

I think it works well when looking down on kids. It's not something I particularly do, but had a blast during a practice shoot once. Apologese if this doesn't work, I'm linking from facebook:


Jamie O'Rourke Photography | Facebook