Survey the Edges of Your Image
This post is by one of our forum members withlime. Learn more about her at her blog and Flickr Stream.
When I first started shooting I became so captivated with what I saw in the center of my viewfinder I would just clicked away. Only to find, after sending hours in the darkroom, there was some distracting detail, or worse, a missing detail that I didn’t see in the viewfinder.
Even today, the last step I take before pressing the shutter is survey my edges.
Surveying your edges improves your compositions by reminding you to reduce or eliminate distracting details missed when you concentrate on your subject. It also helps you discover details that can strengthen your composition – taking your photographs from good to great.
Some details to look for include:
Lines. For lines entering, exiting, or running parallel to an edge, can you re-position them to strengthen the visual geometry? Do they need more room or less… or should they be eliminated?
Useless (or missing) space. Look at the space around your edges, is it useless? If so, re-compose to reduce or eliminate it. Or could your subject benefit from more?
Secondary subjects. Look for other subjects – people, objects, colors, shapes – that compete with your subject, or that can enhance it. If you find one, re-compose to reduce, eliminate, or include it.
Missing body parts. For people and animals, look for cut off body parts – avoid slicing at a joint. If a limb is almost all there, show it all – such as a hand, foot, or the tip of a tail.
Tops and bottoms. Check if you are chopping off the top, bottom, or side of an object. If something is almost whole, should you make it whole or take more away?
Details found along the edges of your photograph can give your composition strength or create a distraction, weakening your photograph. Relying on post-production doesn’t always work – especially if a detail is missing or you needed to re-compose the shot.
So always remember to survey your edges!
Notice the distracting blue light from the TV.
Recomposing to eliminate the distraction strengthens the focus on the boy.
Recomposing again to add the second boy creates a more dynamic story.
12 Responses to “Survey the Edges of Your Image” - Add Yours
April 21st, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I think the result is great, but why not to “burn” the TV screen with burn tool in photoshop? I know many might not like the “digital” intervention, but “burning” is something that was done in labs even in film days, so it’s “legitimate” modification of the image.
By “burning” the screen you add the needed head room for the final result.
That’s only my humble opinion of course :)
April 21st, 2009 at 4:22 pm
The illustrations at the end are excellent reinforcement of the concept. It would be nice to have more of these in the essay. For example, composures that weaken and then strengthen lines at the edge of an image. For my money, the examples really bring to life the abstract ideas of the piece.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
As a picture framer I often get pictures in that have great composition – but forget that a little space needs to be left so that the image can be mounted. The advice that limbs shouldn’t be cut off could go as far as – make sure they have a little space away from the very edge of the image.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Good job withlime. I like it. I especially liked the images at the end to drive the point home.
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 am
Hi llan… Yes, you could definately darken the TV or even use the clone tool to get rid of it completely. I use these techniques as needed too. For me, it wasn’t just about getting rid of the TV, it was about including the cake. (My 350 word limitation cut out some of the explanations in the captions.) The first shot was a nice photo of the boy, my son – more of a traditional portrait composition. In the following photos, I am looking beyond a ‘traditional’ photograph. I want to tell a complete story within the frame of my photograph. By eliminating negative space and getting my boys head out of the center of the photo, I felt the photo became more dynamic. Also by increasing the importance of secondary subjects – the cake and his brother – the story was strengthed. Looking at a lot of my photos, as a rule, I don’t add head room. Adding head room often leaves the subjects face in the center which, for me, violates the rule of thirds (this rule runs deep in my veins thanks to a former teacher.). So I add head room only when I feel the space is needed for the composition, ie to get my subject in the right place or add needed negative space. I guess I enjoy filling the frame, so to speak. Luckily, photography in many aspects is subjective.
Hi John… the contest only allowed three photographs to accompany the tip. As you can see I could have talked about these photos, and others, for hours – even though I’m actually as shy as a turnip.
April 22nd, 2009 at 3:20 am
Sara,
Didn’t know about the three picture restriction. Doesn’t strike me as a good constraint for explaining ideas oriented around visual images.
April 22nd, 2009 at 5:48 am
@John
Second getting rid of three picture restriction from posts like these! This is about photography and a picture is worth two thousand words here :) !
April 26th, 2009 at 1:51 am
great posting, thx ! I do check it rather instinctively, but not with a check-list; I’ll pay more attention from now on, thx again !!
April 26th, 2009 at 2:37 am
The images at the end of your article break all the rules you talked about in the article. Eliminating the TV did improve the image, and recomposing to include the second boy did work well, but what happened to the rest of your rules? You cut the top of both boys heads off, and you cut the edge off the cake. What ever happened to your “if it’s almost whole, make it whole” idea??? Or are they meant to be examples of what you shouldn’t do??
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
That’s the great thing about the art of photography – there are no rules. In fact, some of the best photos I have seen break one or more of the so-called rules. So another way you could look at this advice is… Consciously consider your alternatives. People who have an eye for photography do some of this naturally… but I would guess, based on the reading I have done, that all great photographers at some level make conscious decisions about thier composition.
June 13th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
It’s very sound advice. You need to slow down just a little when taking images – digital can make us very trigger happy and as a result lazy in our looking.
June 20th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Best example images I’ve seen with any online article. The relevance and especially the progression of the images was a perfect micro-lesson.
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